Welcome to the ninth issue of Tech Tuesdays!
Here’s what I found interesting this week:
If it will matter after today, don't talk about it in a chat room
Despite the “asychronous” claim, you have to keep a steady eye on it and reply in realtime or the conversation will move on without you. Anyone who takes the time to ponder and respond thoughtfully with context and explanation will find that they’re too late.
Software effort estimation is mostly fake research
While effort estimation is something that everybody in industry is involved with on a regular basis, it is a niche topic in software engineering research. The problem is researcher attitude (e.g., they are unwilling to venture into the wilds of industry), which has stopped them acquiring the estimation data needed to build realistic models.
We don't need data scientists, we need data engineers
There are 70% more open roles at companies in data engineering as compared to data science. As we train the next generation of data and machine learning practitioners, let’s place more emphasis on engineering skills.
GPT-Neo – Building a GPT-3-sized model, open source and free
“We have a codebase built in Tensorflow-mesh (for training on TPUs), and one built with Deepspeed (for training on GPUs). Both can scale to GPT-3+ sizes, but we currently lack the TPUs to train a 175B model to completion. Thankfully, we don't lack GPUs.”
HR is not your friend, and other things I think you should know
HR boils down to paid witnesses in some cases. It changes it from a "you said, the boss said" thing to two-on-one (or worse). They just pay attention and maybe give a sworn statement down the road if things turn truly nasty.
WRT54G History: The Router That Accidentally Went Open Source
In a world where our routers look more and more like upside-down spiders than things you would like to have in your living room, there are only a handful of routers that may be considered “famous.” Steve Jobs’ efforts to sell AirPort—most famously by using a hula hoop during a product demo—definitely deserve notice in this category, and the mesh routers made by the Amazon-owned Eero probably fit in this category as well.
Pirate Bay founder thinks Parler’s inability to stay online is 'embarrassing'
In more recent years, Kolmoisoppi has moved on to fund Njalla, a privacy-centric domain name registration service. One he says was already asked to host Parler, and refused. “Of course we wouldn't,” Kolmisoppi said. “We're pro human rights, which includes the right to not be killed by extreme right wing terrorists.”
What You Should Know Before Leaking a Zoom Meeting
As more meetings take place over the videoconferencing service Zoom, it stands to reason that journalists will receive more and more audiovisual material leaked from such gatherings. This new leak medium poses unique challenges, requiring care to avoid exposing sources through digital watermarks or images of the user interface.
Bill and Melinda Gates: America’s Top Farmland Owner
The co-founder of Microsoft and his wife rank as America’s largest private farmland owners.
We are sending more foster kids to prison than to college
“We are sending more foster kids to prison than college,” said Brent Kent, who spent the past 3½ years helping Indiana foster children transition into adulthood. “And what do we lose as a result? Generations of young people.
New MacBook Pro models to feature magsafe, no touch bar and more ports: analyst
According to Kuo, Apple is developing two models in 14 and 16-inch size options. The new MacBook Pro machines will feature a flat-edged design, which Kuo describes as "similar to the iPhone 12" with no curves like current models. It will be the most significant design update to the MacBook Pro in the last five years.
Workaholism leads to health problems, work addiction risk depends on occupation
Workaholism or work addiction risk is a growing public health concern that can lead to many negative mental and physical health outcomes such as depression, anxiety or sleep disorder. Perception of work (job demands and job control) may become a major cause of employees’ work addiction.
‘Seven Sisters’ Myths May Reach Back 100k Years
Many cultures around the world refer to the Pleiades as “seven sisters,” and also tell quite similar stories about them. After studying the motion of the stars very closely, we believe these stories may date back 100,000 years to a time when the constellation looked quite different.
Toxic positivity does more harm than good
Call it FONO, or fear of a negative outlook. Also known as “dismissive positivity,” it’s expressed as an overbearing cheerfulness no matter how bad things are, a pep that denies emotional oxygen to anything but a rictus grin.
Thanks for reading!
If you got any comments or just want to brainstorm, email me at jacob@unhype.com.