Monthly Archives: October 2019

HBOs Watchmen companion website, Peteypedia, includes a memo sent by FBI Director James Doyan to the Anti-Vigilante Task Force on August 29, 2019, eleven days before the start of the series. Titled The Computer and You, it encourages his employees to embrace their new legally mandated crime-fighting equipment: a computer model first released in our own world in 2000. The document is an inside look at why Ozymandiass squid made the world turn its back on tech, and how it is finally making a comeback.

The FBIs new cutting edge device is the IBM NetVista X41, a computer line first sold in our timeline back at the turn of the century. It houses the agencys new electronic database, replacing agents hard copy blue books (which were completely taken away). Doyans memo also encourages his employees to start communicating with electronic mail (called El-mail), and to use their word processors to produce inter-office memos. Any questions or issues can be directed to the special agent responsible for Peteypedia, Agent Dale Petey, who is eager to help.

Doyan writes hes not worried about his agents shar[ing] the old technophobia that still persists in some sectors of society, but its unclear from his memo just how much he actually believes that versus how much he is telling them technophobia is not an option. (Later in the memo he does explicitly say the law prevents agents from publicly denouncing the computers or sharing any worries about their safety.) Either way, federal policy requires the director to present the following assurances, disclaimers, and orders to his agents, and they help explain why this worlds technology is 20 years behind our own.

After the giant squid appeared, the regulation of technology became equivalent to ensuring the safety of food and drugs, with tech formally becoming the domain of the FD(T)A. The same agency responsible for making sure chicken and Tylenol doesnt poison you also makes sure the pager Regina Kings Anegla Abar uses wont either.

D.I.E. stands for Dimensional Incursion Event, the official name for the giant squid. Surgeon General Oz appears to be TVs Dr. Oz, proving there are always worse timelines.

Most important is the guarantee the computer was not built with Manhattan-made components. In the early 60s, Dr. Manhattan used his superpowers to synthesize mass quantities of lithium, giving birth to electric cars thanks to his now-outlawed batteries we saw the Seventh Kavalry collecting in the Watchmen premiere. However, after Ozymandias made the world believe that Manhattan gave his former associates cancer via radiation, people became wary of using any technology Manhattan created or was the basis for.

Also, after D.I.E., the world worried that the transdimensional passage the alien squid had seemingly traveled through was created by technology that had tore a previously unknown (hypothetical) dimensional membrane, which we know does not exist. When baby squids started raining down not long after D.I.E. (an occurrence that still takes place in 2019), the world shunned most of the technology that had been developed during the previous 25 years, explaining why they are just getting 2000 computers now.

The world became so fearful of any technology after 1985 that reintroducing it into society has been equivalent to fighting a war. In response, a 1993 a law allowed the president to literally draft federal employees like soldiers into a 30-year plan that would slowly convince the public that tech previously feared unsafe was totally fine.

Did Adrian Veidt have anything to do with this law, or did he possibly oppose it for being too slow? He viewed science as a pathway forward for mankind, and he was the leading Democratic political donor and friends with President Redford until 1993. The last thing Veidt wanted was for his squid to set technology back decades.

Later in the memo, Doyan discusses his own hesitance to use computers in the 70s even though they proved highly efficient and effective in fighting crime. In a country beset by domestic terrorists, its understandable computers are considered among the highest priorities of to bring back. (Good luck to any society just getting the internet for the first time. Youre going to need it.)

This device has been deemed ESSENTIAL to the performance of your job duties. Failure to use this electronic device in the performance of your duties may result in demotion, reassignment, or termination.

The reintroduction of technology into society is so daunting its equivalent to a publicity war, one that requires the drafting of combatants who might otherwise not enlist. Taken together these two passages are troubling, making federal employees de facto propagandists by enforcing them to be compliant with the wishes and message of its government. But they do reveal that the governmentfor reasons we dont know yethave properly learned the truth: technology was not to blame for the squid and scientific advancements were possible without Dr. Manhattans help.

Doyan ends his memo by saying, The computers, the phones, the towers that would have provided communications without wireswe destroyed it all, hoping it would save us. And yet, baby cephalopods still rain from the sky. Our fear of technology was for naught. Dont be like me. Dont be stupid. The future is here again. Dont fear it. Embrace it.

Hes right; technology is safe. But it isnt just a mere PR battle to make the world believe that, its a war, and when has one side being right ever stopped a war from happening?

And when you have a war you have casualties.

Featured Image: HBO

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Why the World of WATCHMEN Rejected Technology - Nerdist

JavaScript and Java are the most in-demand languages for software developers, while Linux and Ubuntu are the top technologies for IT operations professionals.

IT professionals face an array of technologies, languages, and other skills that they need to know to stay current for their existing jobs and potential new jobs. But of course, there's only so much time and energy that an IT pro can devote to learning and mastering different skills. Knowing which technologes are most in-demand is half the battle to keeping your career on the right track. To help IT pros determine where to focus, Pluralsight has expanded its Technology Index to include in-demand technologies for IT operations professionals, information security pros, and data professionals.

To rank the demand and growth for more than 850 languages, tools, and frameworks, Pluralsight's Technology Index grabs information from more than 23 billion data points across eight different sources. The goal is to help technology leaders, experts, and other professionals keep pace with the ever-changing and fast-paced landscape of technology.

SEE: Python is eating the world: How one developer's side project became the hottest programming language on the planet (cover story PDF) (TechRepublic)

"The pace of technology change is faster than ever, and tech leaders are struggling to keep pace," Nate Walkingshaw, chief experience officer at Pluralsight, said in a press release. "We created the Technology Index to give organizations an effective and easy-to-use tool to better understand the direction and cadence of the latest enterprise tech innovations. Using the Index, tech leaders can leverage independent data points to help inform their next tech investments and develop the skills their teams need."

The index breaks down its results across four different professions: Software Developer, Data Professional, IT Operations Professional, and Information Security Professional.

The top ten software development languages are dominated by legacy languages such as Java, Javascript, C and HTML, according to Pluralsight. But four new technologies--Python, Android Development, PHP, and Git--have entered the top ten since last year, pushing out Blockchain, jQuery, CSS, and Arduino.

"Software engineering teams face the challenge of maintaining expertise in core legacy languages such as JavaScript or C, while staying open to new technologies that enable them to create new products and services for their customers," Travis Kimmel, head of developer productivity at Pluralsight, said in a press release. "As software development languages, tools, and frameworks continuously evolve, engineers must find ways to stay informed on what's new and keep pace with the speed of change."

Rising demand for data-intensive applications using machine learning and artificial intelligence has created a greater need for data technologies in the enterprise market.

"Data is playing an increasingly important role for businesses looking to gain a competitive edge and as such, enterprises are investing heavily in technologies that enable machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI), and analytics to get the insights and deliver the services they need to stay ahead," James Aylward, head of learning at Pluralsight, said in a press release.

SEE:How to choose between Windows, macOS, and Linux (free PDF)(TechRepublic)

Although platforms such as Linux, Ubuntu, macOS, and Microsoft Windows dominate the list, technologies such as Docker and Amazon S3 show the growing importance of cloud computing in the enterprise.

"The speed of technology innovation is faster than ever before, and technology leaders need to stay informed on the changing nature of enterprise tech in order to ensure they have sufficient resources to keep up with the pace of change," Walkingshaw said in the press release.

SEE:Microsoft Azure: An insider's guide (free PDF)(TechRepublic)

As security threats continue to grow, data breaches are getting more common and more expensive, forcing enterprises to stay abreast of the latest security tools to protect their data and assets.

"Security is a top of mind concern for all technology leaders, especially heads of security and CISOs," Walkingshaw said. "As cyber threats evolve and adapt, enterprises must stay on top of the most relevant, up-to-date technologies to ensure that sensitive company and user data is protected from attacks and breaches."

We deliver the top business tech news stories about the companies, the people, and the products revolutionizing the planet. Delivered Daily

Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto

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The most in-demand technologies for IT professionals - TechRepublic

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) Alex Lopez is a junior at Toledo Technology Academy. Her life has been impacted by domestic violence.

"Growing up I lived in domestic violence shelters. I didn't piece it all together until I was older and I realized most of my life I've been surrounded by violence. I am grateful to be here today."

This is why Alex organized a 5k run and fun walk this Saturday. All the proceeds will go to Bethany House, a long-term shelter for victims and their children.

Locally, there have been 56 murder victims in the last 10 years because of domestic violence. Just this Monday, a mother of two lost her life in Maumee.

"It's a tragedy that we have had another loss in our community. It's a sobering reminder how dangerous domestic violence is."

You can support Bethany House by participating in the 5k run/fun walk this Saturday.

You can make a donation on their website as well.

Registration begins at 8:00 AM, and the run starts at 10:00. Cost is $15 per person in advance or $30 on the day of the run, and all proceeds benefit Bethany House - a shelter for battered women. Entry forms are available at Dave's Running Shop, TTA,

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Toledo Technology 5k to support battered women - 13abc Action News

What to Know

When James Corden kicked off the Tony Awards this year, his opening number was a full-throated endorsement of the live theatrical experience.

"It's live, we do it live, and every single moment's unrepeatable," the late-night TV host sang. "There is a visceral bliss you only get in a theater seeing people do this."

Turns out he wasn't correct.

These days, you can watch a Broadway musical from a subway train seat. You can get your stage fix at your local movie theater or hear a play while jogging.

Theater just isn't what it used to be.

Media companies armed with the latest in technology like Fathom Events, Audible Inc. and BroadwayHD are reshaping the experience, evolving it past the quaint notion of patrons filing into an arena, turning off their phones and sitting quietly in the dark.

Kicking yourself that you never saw the musical "Kinky Boots" or the play "Fleabag"? Relax. Cinema distributor Fathom has you covered. Can't wait for the live-action "Cats" movie? Then watch a stage version while cuddling your own cat on th couch, thanks to digital theater streaming network BroadwayHD. Or, if you're in a more serious mood, put on your headphones and listen to the play "True West," co-starring Kit Harrington, via Audible.

"We're really going into a place where I hope people look at what theater is differently," said Kate Navin, who leads the theater initiative at Audible, the world's largest producer of audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment.

The prices can't be beat: A Fathom screening will cost you $20, a monthly subscription to BroadwayHD runs $8.99 and an audio play costs $7.95 all a fraction of a Broadway ticket, which can run you hundreds of dollars.

Broadcasting Broadway shows on TV is nothing new, of course. PBS's "Great Performances" has been doing it for 40 years. But BroadwayHD argues they're using the latest technology to make their shows pop.

If rivals rely on a few cameras capturing the stage from the same couple of angles, BroadwayHD promises the "best seat in the house" for each and every scene. For "42nd Street," it used eight different 4K cameras, shot three different performances and used extra footage to augment them.

These media companies are also changing what success means in the theater world, which usually means total tickets sold. Carey Mulligan's short run of "Girls & Boys" at the small Minetta Lane Theatre in 2018 was well-received but its subsequent reach was much wider than what was captured at the box office.

The Audible audio version of her play has sold the equivalent of 26 sold-out weeks at Broadway's Booth Theatre, which seats 770. "The traditional ways of evaluating whether or not a run was successful don't really apply anymore," said Navin.

Audible has made a strong push into theater, not only recording dozens of in-studio plays but also commissioning writers and staging works at its off-Broadway venue, the 400-seat Minetta Lane Theatre. It is perfecting a form of theater without visuals.

Not everything on stage can work as an audio download. Plays with big visual effects are hard. So are farces. "But really because theater is the art of language, a lot of it works," said Navin. "We're not trying to replace the live experience. What we really think this will do is expand the audience."

If Audible skips the optics in favor of a private sonic drama, Fathom embraces the visual and communal parts of theater. It distributes big Broadway musicals like "Bandstand" and "Newsies" and often partners with the United Kingdom's National Theater Live to put shows on 40-foot movie theater screens.

Fathom, which is owned by the cinema chains AMC, Cinemark and Regal, offers fans a place to gather and celebrate, whether it's coming dressed as zombies to watch a season ending episode of "The Walking Dead," getting romantic watching the latest British royal wedding live (with tea and crumpets served) or cheering diversity at a screening of "Kinky Boots."

"To see people sitting there applauding at the end of an act or at the end of a song as if they were there in that Broadway theater, that is just an awesome experience that you can't replicate at home," said Ray Nutt, CEO of Fathom.

BroadwayHD is hoping it that it can, in fact, replicate exactly that streaming full-length plays and musicals like "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Les Miserables" to your laptop, TV, phone or tablet. The company was the first to live broadcast a Broadway show "She Loves Me" with Laura Benanti and recently captured a big and bold production of "42nd Street" from London.

Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley founded the company in 2015 with a focus on shows with limited runs often with a celebrity or two as well as shows that are closing imminently. They work carefully with theater producers to ensure cannibalization of tickets to the live show doesn't happen.

"We're not in any way trying to kill the goose that lays the golden egg," said Comley. "What we're trying to do is make this available, make it a marketing asset, make it another way for the audiences to have a touchpoint with these brands."

BroadwayHD, which has some 300 shows, is for subscribers who can't fly to New York, can't afford pricey tickets or simply don't want to navigate Times Square. It offers closed-captioning for the hearing impaired and a chance for theater lovers across the world to see a treasured title come to life.

"Once the shows close, people tend to forget what it looked like, tend to forget how big the cast was, what the set looked like," said Lane. "You actually have a reference now to actually use to see whether it would fit on their stage and whether they'd want to do the show."

Some Broadway producers love the idea and some are colder. Many are in the middle, like Mike Bosner, who has produced "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical" and the recent revival of "Sunset Boulevard" with Glenn Close.

"Honestly, I'm not trying to be coy about this. I really don't have an opinion on it. I go back and forth on it because one side of me says theater is meant to be live and it's meant to be experienced and it's meant to live on only in the archives," he said.

"But the plus side when they do that type of thing is you're bringing it to many people around the world that may not get the opportunity to go see that show in any other way."

Other media companies are taking note: Nickelodeon is reforming the Broadway cast of "The SpongeBob Musical" and will film it in front of a live theater audience for a December broadcast. On Netflix, you can catch Kerry Washington in the play "American Son" and Bruce Springsteen's Broadway show, both now closed.

All these companies are helping remake one of the most ancient of art forms, redefining it by playing with its elements visual, communal and live. The result is something more democratic and evolving.

"I think once you get outside the New York bubble, people think that theater is very elitist, inaccessible, for the highly educated. It doesn't mean that," Navin said. "It means something different. Just like TV doesn't mean one thing."

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Broadway in Bed: Technology Is Remaking How We See the Ancient Art of Theater - NBC New York

It was the sixth game of the American League Championship Series. Brett Gardner, the spunky Yankees outfielder, was batting in the second inning with runners on first and second base.

Even though it was still early, this was a crucial part of last weeks game since the Houston Astros were already up by three runs to one.

Gardner could have narrowed the gap with a single or tied the score with an extra base hit, as he has often done. A homer would have put the Yankees ahead.

But home plate umpire Marvin Hudson called two pitches strikes that werent. The one that struck Gardner out was clearly wide on the right side of the plate to the left-handed hitter.

Strike three, motioned Hudson. Inning over. Threat over.

Even the TV announcers made a point several times that the pitch wasnt close to being a strike.

Why am I mentioning baseball in a column like this? Because home plate umpire is the one job in America that shouldnt exist in this technological age.

We, the TV viewer, could tell that Hudson had made a mistake because the computer-generated box superimposed on home plate during every pitch told us so.

The home plate umpires job should be replaced by that box.

Let Hudson and other home plate umps just stand there, if you must, and call out what the computer tells them to. But dont let umps use their judgment anymore when calling balls and strikes.

To be clear, the Astros were the better team in the series. And they deserved to win, which they did. Game Six was fantastic to watch on TV no matter who you were rooting for.

As any sport fan knows, technology now allows all sports to review umpire and referee calls for accuracy. Even baseball plays are reviewed except when it comes to calls of balls and strikes.

In that case, anyone watching on TV knows when the ump calls a ball a strike and a strike a ball. Its right there on the computer box.

Mark Williams, a finance professor at Boston University and founder of UmpScores, has a team of data analysts looking into the performance of umpires. He has put together UmpScores, an app that tracks umpire performance.

According to Williams, his data show that umpire Hudson is the 51st- worst umpire during the 2019 season when he works home plate out of the 76 umps in Major League Baseball.

UmpScores simply uses the superimposed box to determine when umps get it right or wrong.

Hudsons bad-call ratio, says Williams, is about 10 percent. In other words, he is calling one in 10 pitches incorrectly.

And thisll make Yankees fans even more angry: When Hudson was working Yankees games behind the plate, his bad-call ratio increased to 12.07 percent. But his bad-call ratio when working Houston Astros games was only 6.25 percent, according to Williams.

So, Hudson was nearly twice as bad working Yankees games than Houston games.

As for that 6th game I just mentioned, Williams says: With two runners on base and two outs, this was a momentum-killing bad call by Hudson an umpire who has a mediocre record at best behind home plate.

Williams says Hudson is a two-and-a-half star ump out of five stars which is below average.

How can MLB put a below-average umpire behind home plate in such an important champion sixth game of a series? says Williams. The division championship was on the line.

The UmpScores group came up with these stats via publicly available Major League Baseball pitch-call data. The company uses the strike zone overlay that MLB employs during broadcasts to come up with its rankings.

The best umpire at home plate, Pat Hoberg, has a bad-call ratio of just 6.9 percent. The computer would have a zero bad-call ratio.

Kill the ump is a favorite saying of angry baseball fans. But that saying might have to be updated to kill the umps job now that computers are doing it better.

Excerpt from:

Technology may make umpires a job of the past - New York Post

FILE PHOTO: Bundles of pressed PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles made out of plastic are seen at the Transcycle Transport & Recycling AG company in Neuenhof, Switzerland November 22, 2018. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - BP (BP.L) plans to build a $25 million pilot plant to test new technology the energy company says will allow plastic bottles and food packaging to be recycled again and again.

Polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, is one of the most widely recycled plastics. About 27 million tonnes of PET is used annually in packaging, with bottles accounting for around 23 million tonnes of that, BP said in a statement, citing data from consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

However, only around 60% of PET used for bottles is recovered, with the vast majority recycled only once before being either buried in landfill or burnt as the current recycling process leaves a lot of impurities.

BP said that its new recycling technology, named Infinia, can transform used PET plastics into brand-new plastic feedstock, allowing them to be recycled repeatedly.

The company will build a $25 million plant in the United States in 2020 to test the technology before deciding on whether it can be fully commercialized.

BPs head of refining and petrochemicals Tufan Erginbilgic said the technology was a game-changer for the plastics recycling industry.

It is an important stepping stone in enabling a stronger circular economy in the polyester industry and helping to reduce unmanaged plastic waste, Erginbilgic said.

Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Kirsten Donovan

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BP to test technology to recycle plastic bottles again and again - Reuters

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In the winter of 2013, a mass of warm water began to spread throughout the eastern Pacific Ocean. The Blob wreaked havoc on marine lifesea lion pups starved, seabirds died, and salmon fisheries suffered.

Helping to unravel this mess is the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR), an antique device that uses rolls of silk and 18th-century clockmakers technology to sample plankton near the surface of the ocean. Invented in England in 1922, the CPR devices design was refined throughout the 1920s, and has been left more or less unchanged since 1929. Since then, the CPR Surveya project currently based out of Plymouth, Englandhas been using these devices to take snapshots of the tiny organisms that make up the oceans plankton.

Such long-term records make it possible to track the effects of ocean events like the Blob, says Sonia Batten, who is using data from these devices to understand how plankton in the North Pacific were affected by the marine heatwave. If no one knows what the plankton looked like before a heatwave, its impossible to track changes. And to have an accurate comparison across time, the data needs to have been collected using the same method all along. Your understanding is only as good as the baseline you have, says Batten.

Each CPR deviceof which there have been hundreds over the yearsis a meter-long, stainless-steel, torpedo-shaped container that houses long strips of silk and can be towed behind any ship. As the crew deploys the device into the ocean, a propeller begins to spin in the churning water, driving a mechanism that unravels the rolls of silk. Water streams through a tiny hole at the front of the torpedo, and the silk traps the plankton. A second roll of silk then completes a plankton sandwich that preserves the sample for analysis.

Each 457-centimeter roll of silk takes 926 kilometers to unspool, capturing a sample of the surface plankton. The original CPR Survey, which began in 1931, followed dozens of shipping routes in the Atlantic. The result is a library of hundreds of thousands of samples, maintained by the CPR Survey in Plymouth. In some cases these records reach as far back as 1946, when samples were first stored for later analysis. Since the CPR Survey began, other projects using the technology have sprung up, covering parts of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean, and parts of the Southern Ocean around Antarctica and Australia.

Understanding plankton is essential to studying how ocean life is sustained, says Carin Ashjian, a plankton ecologist who is not affiliated with any CPR projects. For instance, she says, big, fat, juicy zooplankton tend to thrive in cool water. So what happens when an ocean heatwave comes along?

Based on the CPR data, Batten can say that the average size of plankton in the northeast Pacific decreased during the Blob years. But, she adds, theres still a puzzle to solve because shrinking plankton doesnt seem to explain the dramatic effects observed in the northeast Pacific ecosystem, since there was still plenty of plankton left in the water, just different species.

The Blobs effects on mammals and fish might be a result of poor-quality food rather than a shortage, she explains: If you ate nothing but celery all day, you might not feel very full. The smaller, warmer-water plankton may not pack quite the same nutritional punch as the big, fat cold-water plankton, leaving animals nutritionally stressed even in water full of plankton. More research will clarify whether her hunch is correct.

Despite the importance of having a solid baseline, long-term monitoring is easy to neglect because its value may only become apparent with hindsight, says Batten. Everyone thinks its important, but its hard to get it supported until something happens and people want the data. But its value comes from keeping a finger on the pulse when there is no disaster, because no one knows when that data will suddenly be needed. I have no idea what next year will bring, she says. No one predicted the Blob.

The oldest CPR device still in operation in the CPR Surveys fleet was built in 1938. Video via Alaska SeaLife Center

The history of the long-running CPR Survey is tumultuous. After the survey peaked in 1970 when 5,506 samples were collected, its scope began to contract in the 1980s as UK government funding for long-term oceanographic monitoring projects was slashed because administrators considered environmental monitoring projects poor science, wrote a group of CPR researchers in 2005. Ultimately, the survey was temporarily shut down in 1989.

A rescue operation quickly sprang up, and a new charitable foundationthe Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science, named after the CPRs inventorwas founded to operate the survey. In 1990, the CPR Survey was moved to its current home in Plymouth. But recent years have brought another shock for the charitable foundation. The CPR Survey was forced to suspend some shipping routes and reduce its staff by a third, and in 2018 was assimilated by the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth.

The CPR Surveys capacity to resurrect might be due in part to its comparatively low running costs. Sending out research ships, or even just putting a researcher on a ship, is pricey, says Batten. But a mechanical device that can be thrown off the back of a ship, with no complicated electronics, is much less expensive. Its not pretty when you get it backall dented and scratchedbut it does work, and works well, she says.

The CPR Survey has a proud scientific record, with its data feeding hundreds of papers on climate change, biodiversity, and sustainability. But there are limitations to the data these antique devices can provide. The CPR device can only gather data from the surface of the ocean, leaving the depths untapped. And the methods reliance on volunteer ships subjects it to the contingencies of commercial routes. But its long-term record, says Ashjian, is really valuable, and the antique technology still complements modern techniques like rapid photography and acoustic sampling, which study the ocean without capturing any physical plankton. If you want to know what species something is, or maybe even what life stage it is, you still have to get the bug, she says.

Although researchers are now attaching more advanced equipment to CPR devices, like temperature sensors, the original design is set to carry on running indefinitely. Weve yet to invent something electronic that can do the same thing, says Batten. Its hard to improve on.

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The Antique Technology Still Taking the Ocean's Pulse - Hakai Magazine

Twitter shares slumped on Thursday after the social network reported lower than anticipated revenues and higher costs and said it expected advertising technology bugs to continue to drag on profits.

Shares fell by almost 20% in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange to a low of $31.10, the weakest since March.

Twitter said the numbers reflected several headwinds including problems with its advertising technology and a dearth of big events such as the mens football World Cup in the summer, although it fared well in the US, its main market.

Twitter reported revenues of $824m (639m) for the three months to the end of September, up by 9% year on year but lower than the $871m expected by analysts. Twitters record quarterly revenue was $908m, in the final quarter of 2018.

The revenue shortfall was caused in part by bugs in Twitters advertising system on mobile apps. Twitter reported this month that it had been using personal data to target adverts without the correct user permissions. It turned off the features when it found the bugs, denting its ability to sell targeted ads.

The chief executive, Jack Dorsey, said the problems would continue to weight on revenues. For the final three months of the year, Twitter now expects total revenues of between $940m and $1.01bn, below Wall Street expectations of $1.05bn.

Dorsey admitted the firm had made some missteps during the quarter, but said upgraded technology meant bugs were still painful but no longer existential as it was in the past.

Profits were also weighed down by rising costs. Net income for the quarter was $37m, comparedwith an adjusted net income of $106m in the same period in 2018, excluding a one-off tax advantage. Earnings per share, a closely watched measure of profitability for shareholders, fell to $0.17, below the $0.20 expected by analysts. Costs rose by nearly a fifth year on year to $780m.

Dorsey highlighted continued growth in the number of monetisable daily active users (DAU) those to whom it can serve adverts. It had 145 million daily users on average through the quarter, up 17% comparedwith the same period last year and an increase from 139 million in the previous quarter.

Twitter has been trying to tackle online abuse on its platform. New features include allowing tweeters to hide replies already introduced in the US and forthcoming in the UK and better algorithms to find abusive comments automatically, without victims having to report them manually.

Dorsey said he was more confident that the company could help to tackle industry-wide challenges such as fake news and sometimes venomous debate. The company and other social networks such as Facebook have faced a barrage of criticism, including from US Democratic presidential candidates, over tolerance of false statements by political figures around the world.

Excerpt from:

Twitter shares slump as revenues dip and costs rise - The Guardian

(This article appeared previously in Kaiser Health News.)

At first, Dr. Robert Zorowitz thought his 83-year-old mother was confused. She couldnt remember passwords to accounts on her computer. She would call and say programs had stopped working.

But over time, Zorowitz realized his mother a highly intelligent woman who was comfortable with technology was showing early signs of dementia.

Increasingly, families will encounter similar concerns as older adults become reliant on computers, cellphones and tablets. With cognitive impairment, these devices become difficult to use and, in some cases, problematic.

Computer skills may deteriorate even before [older adults] misplace keys, forget names or display other more classic signs of early dementia, Zorowitz wrote recently on a group email list for geriatricians. Hes the senior medical director for Optum., a health services company, in New York City.Deciding whether to block their access to their bank accounts, stocks and other online resources may present the same ethical dilemmas as taking away their car keys.

The emergence of this issue tracks the growing popularity of devices that let older adults communicate with friends and family via email, join interest groups on Facebook, visit virtually via Skype or FaceTime, and bank, shop, take courses or read publications online.

According to the Pew Research Center, 73% of adults 65 and older used the Internet in 2019, up from 43% in 2010. And 42% of older adults owned smartphones in 2017, the latest year for which data is available, up from 18% in 2013.

Instead of saying I have issues with my memory, people will say, I just cant figure out my smartphone...

Already, some physicians are adapting to this new digital reality. At Johns Hopkins Medicine, Dr. Halima Amjad, an assistant professor of medicine, now asks older patients if they use a computer or smartphone and are having trouble, such as forgetting passwords or getting locked out of accounts.

If theres a notable change in how someone is using technology, she said, we would proceed with a more in-depth cognitive evaluation.

At Rush Universitys Alzheimers Disease Center in Chicago, neurologist Dr. Neelum Aggarwal finds that older adults are bringing up problems with technology as a non-threatening way to talk about trouble with thinking.

Instead of saying, I have issues with my memory, people will say, I just cant figure out my smartphone or I was trying to start that computer program and it took forever to get that done.

If the person previously used digital devices without difficulty, Aggarwal will try to identify the underlying problem. Does the older adult have problems with vision or coordination? Is she having trouble understanding language? Is memory becoming compromised? Is it hard for her to follow the steps needed to complete a transaction?

If using technology has become frustrating, Aggarwal recommends deleting apps on cellphones and programs on computers.

The anxiety associated with Oh, my God, I have to use this and I dont know how totally sets people back and undoes any gains that technology might offer, she said. Its similar to what I do with medications: Ill help someone get rid of whats not needed and keep only whats really essential.

Typically, she said, she recommends no more than five to 10 cellphone apps for patients in these circumstances.

When safety becomes an issue say, for an older adult with dementia whos being approached by scammers on email family members should first try counseling the person against giving out their Social Security or credit card information, said Cynthia Clyburn, a social worker in the neurology division at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia.

If that doesnt work, try to spend time together at the computer so you can monitor whats going on. Make it a group activity, Clyburn said. If possible, create shared passwords so you have shared access.

But beware of appropriating someones passwords and using them to check email or online bank or brokerage accounts. Without consent, its a federal crime to use an individuals password to access their accounts, said Catherine Seal, an elder-law attorney at Kirtland & Seal in Colorado Springs, Colo. Ideally, consent should be granted in writing.

With his mothers permission, one of Zorowitzs brothers a physician in Baltimore installed GoToMyPC, an application that allowed him to remotely manage her computer. He used it to reset passwords and manage items on her desktop and sometimes to order groceries online from Peapod.

Eventually, Selma Zorowitz lost interest in her computer as she slipped further into dementia and spent the end of her life in a nursing home. She died in 2014 at age 87.

Older adults with Alzheimers disease commonly turn away from digital devices as they forget how to use them, said Dr. Lon Schneider, a professor of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Southern California.

More difficult, often, are situations faced by people with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), which affects a persons judgment, self-awareness and ability to assess risk.

Sally Balch Hurmes 75-year-old husband, Arthur, has FTD, diagnosed in 2015. Every day, this elder-law attorney and author struggles to keep him safe in a digital world full of threats.

Hundreds of emails pour onto Arthurs cellphone from telemarketers with hard-to-resist offers. His Facebook account is peopled with friends from foreign countries, all strangers. He has no idea who they are. Some of them are wearing bandoliers of ammunition, holding their guns, Hurme said. It is horrific.

Then, theres Amazon, a never-ending source of shopping temptation. Recently, Arthur ordered four pocket translators, several watches and a large quantity of maple sugar candies for $1,000. Though returns are possible, Hurme doesnt always know where Arthur has stored items hes bought.

What steps has she taken to manage the situation? With Arthurs permission, she unsubscribes him from accounts that send him emails and removes friends from his Facebook account. On his cellphone, she has installed a parental control app that blocks him from using it between midnight and 6 a.m. hours when he was most likely to engage in online activities. Theres also a parental control setting on the TV to prevent access to adult channels.

Instead of an open-ended credit card, Hurme gives Arthur a stored value card with a limited amount of money. She manages household finances, and he doesnt have access to the couples online banking account. Credit bureaus have been told not to open any account in Arthurs name.

If Hurme had her way, she said, shed get rid of Arthurs cellphone his primary form of communication. (He has stopped using the computer.) But Im very sensitive to respecting his dignity and letting him be as independent and autonomous as possible, she said. For all the dangers it presents, his phone is his connection with the outside world, and I cant take that away from him.

Judith Graham is a contributing writer to Kaiser Health News and Next Avenue.

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June 1967

From The first battle of World War III: World War I was fought with chemistry, and World War II with physics . World War III, if it ever occurs, may be fought bloodlessly with mathematics. It is not wholly inconceivable that two opposing general staffs will gather some day in full battle dress for a mornings war at an international computer center. At preliminary low-level conferences they will have already agreed on a computer program and, like attorneys at a pre-trial hearing, stipulated essential input data. All that will remain to be done on the fateful morning will be to push the start button and wait for the computer to wage the war 10,000 times. We can envision one commander- in-chief pushing aside a sheaf of print-outs that he has been poring over. Okay, he says. You wiped us out 9,327 times. Ill tell my Prime Minister to pull out of the Balkans.

April 1984

From The Fallacy of Laser Defense: During a televised address to the nation on March 23, 1983, President Reagan surprised many viewers by proposing a long-term plan to shield the United States against nuclear attack Despite the Reagan administrations rhetoric about making nuclear weapons obsolete through defense, the Pentagon is already studying how to penetrate a future Soviet BMD (ballistic-missile defense) system. Under a program operated by the Defense Nuclear Agency at a yearly cost of $3.5 million, pieces of U.S. ICBMs have been exposed to lasers modeled after those used in Soviet research, so engineers can develop countermeasures. DARPA is also working on laser-resistant materials ... In sum, as military analyst Thomas Karas has written, As long as both sides are determined to maintain it, assured destruction is bound to be mutual.

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December 2001

From Recognizing the Enemy: Of all the dramatic images to emerge in the hours and days following the September 11 attacks, one of the most haunting was a frame from a surveillance-camera video capturing the face of suspected hijacker Mohamed Atta as he passed through an airport metal detector in Portland, ME. Even more chilling to many security experts is the fact that, had the right technology been in place, an image like that might have helped avert the attacks. According to experts, face recognition technology thats already commercially available could have instantly checked the image against photos of suspected terrorists on file with the FBI and other authorities. If a match had been made, the system could have sounded the alarm before the suspect boarded his flight.

Excerpt from:

Looking back at the future of warfare - MIT Technology Review