Ken Garen, CPA, Co-Founder and President, UBCC

Here’s how one of Google’s top scientists thinks people should prepare for machine learning By Matt Hunter April 29, 2017 CNBC.com People like famed physicist Stephen Hawking and Tesla's Elon Musk have issued dark warnings of a world where computers become so sophisticated, so quickly, that humanity loses control of them—and its own destiny as a result. Yet Peter Norvig, a leading artificial intelligence scientist and a director of research at Google, thinks that's far-fetched. "I don't buy into the killer robot [theory]," he told CNBC this week. The real worry is how to prepare for the mass elimination of jobs that is surely coming, he said. "I certainly see that there will be disruptions in employment … we've already seen a lot of change, that's going to continue," Norvig said in an interview, before a lecture on machine learning at the Stevens Institute of Technology. By now there's wide consensus on this matter, the...

Google exec, Mark Cuban agree that these college majors are the most robot-resistant By Marguerite Ward Friday, 21 Apr 2017 | 4:08 PM ET If self-made billionaire Mark Cuban was starting college right now, he'd choose philosophy as his major over accounting. That's because he strongly believes artificial intelligence will automate many jobs involving technical tasks, such as an accountant's. Jobs that rely more on personal judgement, critical thinking and creativity — skills more often associated with a liberal arts degree — are less at risk, he says. "Knowing how to critically think and assess them from a global perspective I think is going to be more valuable," Cuban said, speaking at SXSW in March, "than what we see as exciting careers today which might be programming or CPA or those types of things." While liberal arts majors such as philosophy, sociology or English have been deemed some of the worst in terms of job prospects, Cuban...

Apple Halts License Payments to Qualcomm in ‘All-Out War’ Chipmaker forced to lower forecasts issued only days ago IPhone maker says talks have dragged on for more than 5 years by Ian King April 28, 2017, 4:32 AM PDT April 28, 2017, 9:40 AM PDT Apple Inc. cut off billions of dollars in payments to Qualcomm Inc., turning a contract dispute into what one analyst called an "all-out war" that forced the chip supplier to slash forecasts given only days ago. The world’s largest publicly-traded technology company and one of the main suppliers of components to the iPhone, its most important product, have traded accusations of lying, making threats and trying to create an illegal monopoly. The fight involves billions of dollars of technology licensing revenue that, if permanently cut off or reduced, would damage Qualcomm’s main source of profit and help bolster Apple’s margins. Apple told Qualcomm it will stop paying licensing revenue to contract manufacturers o...

After holding Netflix hostage, hacker group claims Fox, National Geographic, IFC and ABC next on their list The FBI is reportedly already investigating the cyber attack and ransom demands. By Lara Rebello April 29, 2017 10:52 BST      Netflix found itself in serious trouble after a hacking group announced that they had stolen the complete season 5 of its hit comedy drama Orange Is The New Black. The hackers reportedly asked for an undisclosed ransom to prevent them from sharing the series online ahead of its premiere on 9 June. Now, it seems, Netflix is not the only network in a soup. The hackers announced that Twitter, Fox, IFC, National Geographic and ABC were next on their list.  Follow  thedarkoverlord @tdohack3r Who is next on the list? FOX, IFC, NAT GEO, and ABC. Oh, what fun we're all going to have. We're not playing any games anymore. 7:54 PM - 28 Apr 2017   39 39 Retweets   81 81 likes Going by the moni...

The Rise of the Smart City Officials are tapping all kinds of data to make their cities safer, healthier and more efficient, in what may be just the start of a sweeping change in how cities are run As city officials across the country begin to draw on data about income, traffic, fires, illnesses and more, big changes are already under way in leading smart cities. By Michael Totty April 16, 2017 10:12 p.m. ET Cities have a way to go before they can be considered geniuses. But they’re getting smart pretty fast. In just the past few years, mayors and other officials in cities across the country have begun to draw on the reams of data at their disposal—about income, burglaries, traffic, fires, illnesses, parking citations and more—to tackle many of the problems of urban life. Whether it’s making it easier for residents to find parking places, or guiding health inspectors to high-risk restaurants or giving smoke alarms to the households that are most likely to suffer fata...

Will the high-tech cities of the future be utterly lonely? By Jessica Brown April 24, 2017 Humans are inherently social animals, and our health suffers if we're cut off from social ties. So it's no wonder the so-called loneliness "epidemic" is being called a public health crisis. But as we sit on the cusp of massive technological advances, the near future could exacerbate this growing problem. Loneliness can happen to anyone. It is indiscriminate of age, country, and social status. In Britain, more than one in eight people say they don't consider anyone a close friend, and the number of Americans who say they have no close friends has roughly tripled in recent decades. A large proportion of the lonely are young; almost two-thirds of 16 to 24-year-old Brits said they feel lonely at least some of the time, while almost a third are lonely often or all the time. One pervasive source of our loneliness is technology. While it offers an easy way to keep ...

Check out this building that was 3-D-printed by a robot Watch the digital construction platform create a building from scratch and see what researchers have planned for it in the future. By Amina Khan April 28, 2017 6:05 PM The future of construction just got a little bit more real. Researchers at MIT have created a mobile robot that can 3-D-print an entire building in a matter of hours — a technology that could be used in disaster zones, on inhospitable planets or even in our proverbial backyards. Though the platform described in the journal Science Robotics is still in early stages, it could offer a revolutionary tool for the construction industry and inspire more architects to rethink the relationship of buildings to people and the environment. Current construction practices typically involve bricklaying, wood framing and concrete casting – technologies that have been around for decades in some cases, and centuries in others. Homes and office buildings are oft...

Walt Disney World plans to deploy driverless shuttles in Florida By Russ Mitchell April 28, 2017 2:25 PM Walt Disney World in Florida appears poised to launch the highest-profile commercial deployment of driverless passenger vehicles to date, testing a fleet of driverless shuttles that could cart passengers through parking lots and around its theme parks. According to sources with direct knowledge of Disney’s plans, the company is in late-stage negotiation with at least two manufacturers of autonomous shuttles – Local Motors, based in Phoenix, and Navya, based in Paris. It’s unclear whether contracts would go to both or just one of the companies. The sources, who asked not be identified to avoid offending Disney, said the company plans a pilot program later this year to transport employees in the electric-drive robot vehicles. If that goes well, they said, the shuttles would begin transporting park visitors sometime next year. Currently, there are no plans for driv...

New computers could delete thoughts without your knowledge, experts warn New human rights laws are required to protect sensitive information in a person’s mind from 'unauthorised collection, storage, use or even deletion' Ian Johnston Science Correspondent April 26, 2017 14 hours ago “Thou canst not touch the freedom of my mind,” wrote the playwright John Milton in 1634. But, nearly 400 years later, technological advances in machines that can read our thoughts mean the privacy of our brain is under threat. Now two biomedical ethicists are calling for the creation of new human rights laws to ensure people are protected, including “the right to cognitive liberty” and “the right to mental integrity”. Scientists have already developed devices capable of telling whether people are politically right-wing or left-wing. In one experiment, researchers were able to read people’s minds to tell with 70 per cent accuracy whether they planned to add or subtract two n...

Apple's self-driving car seen on the road for first time 28 APRIL 2017 • 10:59AM It is no secret that Apple has been working furiously to develop self-driving car technology in a bid to compete with rivals including Google and Tesla. Until now, the operation has been kept from the public eye. Images have emerged of Apple's first autonomous car on the roads of Silicon Valley. The car appears to be a Lexus RX450h that is fitted with a range of sensors, radar scanners and cameras. From the initial sighting, the car seems to use similar technology to efforts by competitors. Apple's car is fitted with a array of sensors for navigation including one called lidar, which has recently become the focus of a high-profile lawsuit between Google and Uber. Some of the sensors appeared to be made by third party companies, rather than Apple itself, someone who saw the vehicle told Bloomberg. Apple is reported to be developing the software that powers the autono...

A robot that picks apples? Replacing humans worries some NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS April 28, 2017 SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Harvesting Washington state's vast fruit orchards each year requires thousands of farmworkers, and many of them work illegally in the United States. That system eventually could change dramatically as at least two companies are rushing to get robotic fruit-picking machines to market. The robotic pickers don't get tired and can work 24 hours a day. "Human pickers are getting scarce," said Gad Kober, a co-founder of Israel-based FFRobotics. "Young people do not want to work in farms, and elderly pickers are slowly retiring." FFRobotics and Abundant Robotics, of Hayward, California, are racing to get their mechanical pickers to market within the next couple of years. Harvest has long been mechanized for large portions of the agriculture industry, such as wheat, corn, green beans, tomatoes and many other crops. But for m...

AMAZON'S NEW AI ASSISTANT WILL WATCH YOU IN YOUR HOME – BUT ALSO RATE YOUR OUTFITS The Echo Look will also recommend clothing, and in doing so will nudge you towards Amazon’s shopping pages It's the company's most capable home device yet AATIF SULLEYMAN April 26, 2017 Amazon has just unveiled the Echo Look, the latest addition to its range of voice-enabled assistants. Unlike its predecessors, the Look is equipped with a camera, which means it can watch, as well as listen to, its users. It sounds potentially creepy, but the company is marketing the Echo Look as a sort of fashion assistant, and says the device can be used to help you choose an outfit. “Get a live view in the Echo Look app or ask Alexa to take a short video so you can see yourself from every angle,” says Amazon. You can also get it to take a full-body picture of you by saying “Alexa, take a picture”. According to Amazon, the Look’s “depth-sensing” camera is built to captu...

How ESPN went from powerhouse to bloodbath By Jeff Spross April 27, 2017 There was a bloodbath at ESPN on Wednesday. A dramatic round of layoffs had long been expected at the Worldwide Leader in Sports, but the numbers turned out much bigger than predicted: Roughly 100 on-air reporters and personalities were let go, plus some additional behind-the-camera crew members. By Wednesday afternoon, people like Ed Werder and Scott Burnside — who'd worked at ESPN for 17 and 13 years, respectively — had announced on Twitter that they were toast. The network, which employs about 8,000 people around the world, actually let a whopping 300 go in October 2015. But this week was unusual for the deep cuts to on-air talent. The bloodbath was the result of several colliding forces. First off, ESPN's personnel costs are unusually expensive. Shows like SportsCenter, for instance, feature a raft of well-paid anchors. Stars at the network often earn anywhere from $1.5 million...

Hackers exploited Word flaw for months while Microsoft investigated By Joseph Menn | SAN FRANCISCO Thu Apr 27, 2017 | 8:50am EDT To understand why it is so difficult to defend computers from even moderately capable hackers, consider the case of the security flaw officially known as CVE-2017-0199. The bug was unusually dangerous but of a common genre: it was in Microsoft software, could allow a hacker to seize control of a personal computer with little trace, and was fixed April 11 in Microsoft's regular monthly security update. But it had traveled a rocky, nine-month journey from discovery to resolution, which cyber security experts say is an unusually long time. Google's security researchers, for example, give vendors just 90 days' warning before publishing flaws they find. Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) declined to say how long it usually takes to patch a flaw. While Microsoft investigated, hackers found the flaw and manipulated the software to spy on un...