The Guardian (January 1)
In 2004, “people shifted their attention, on average, every three minutes or so (including to interact with colleagues). When restricted to just computer activity, it was about 30 seconds quicker.” Eight years later, “the average time spent on any screen before switching was down to 74 seconds.” In 2021, that dropped to “just 47 seconds.”
Tags: 2004, 2021, 3 minutes, 47 seconds, 74 seconds, Attention, Colleagues, Computer, Interact, Restricted, Screen, Switching
Financial Times (July 23)
“Computer algorithms encoded with human values will increasingly determine the jobs we land, the romantic matches we make, the bank loans we receive and the people we kill, intentionally with military drones or accidentally with self-driving cars.” The way those human values are embedded “will be one of the most important forces shaping our century. Yet no one has agreed what those values should be” and the “debate now risks becoming entangled in geo-technological rivalry between the US and China.”
Tags: Algorithms, China, Computer, Debate, Drones, Encoded, Geo-technological rivalry, Human values, Jobs, Loans, Self-driving cars, U.S.
The Economist (June 3)
“It is the fourth time in a year that BA’s computer systems have suffered a major crash. And debilitating IT breakdowns are becoming increasingly common” across an industry with particularly high IT demands. “The sheer quantity and complexity of the data they handle make airlines particularly vulnerable to IT disasters.” And yet, “in 2015 airlines spent 2.7% of their revenues on IT, half the norm across all industries and a lower share even than hotels.” The pressure to pressure to cut costs is strong, given the industry’s harsh competition. The cost of an IT melt down, however, is much greater. Airlines must “refrain from pruning investment in IT too far.”
Tags: Airlines, BA, Complexity, Computer, Crash, Data, Investment, IT, Quantity, Systems
LA Times (August 8)
“Delta’s computer outage highlights the airline industry’s vulnerability.” On Monday, over 650 flights were cancelled and over 2,000 delayed when Delta’s system went down. These massive failures are becoming more common amidst airline consolidation and expansive systems. “Experts have blamed the rash of outages on massive, interconnected computer systems that lack sufficient staff and financial backing.”
Tags: Airlines. Vulnerability, Cancelled, Computer, Consolidation, Delayed, Delta, Flights, Outage
Institutional Investor (May 30)
Firms “are doubling down on machine learning and other quantitative investing efforts.” More advanced than rule-based algorithms, “with machine learning, a computer sifts through billions of data points, picking up patterns. Armed with this knowledge, it learns trading behaviors such as buying dips or selling high over time, based on what it has gleaned about the market from past and present data.” Despite the inroads, however, human ingenuity remains essential.
Tags: Algorithms, Computer, Data points, Dip, Firms, Ingenuity, Investing, Machine learning, Market, Patterns, Quantitative, Trading
Wall Street Journal (July 8)
“The computer glitch that led to a halt in trading at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday shows that even after years of investments in resilient and redundant networks, problems with financial technology are remarkably persistent.” The four-hour shut down and other “recent problems highlight the challenges facing companies as they transition to a digital model. Many are trying to adopt new technologies while maintaining older systems.”
Tags: Computer, Digital model, Glitch, Investments, Networks, NYSE, Technology
The Economist (November 29)
Regin, the latest computer virus for cyber spying, appears “to have been designed by a Western government. Due to its ease over conventional methods, cyber espionage is attractive to governments, but they should remember that it’s a slippery slope. “Cyber-warfare is an unruly business, where rules will be flouted. But it needs them. Cyber-warriors should remember that what they do to others will be done in turn to them.”
Tags: Computer, Conventional, Cyber-espionage, Governments, Regin, Rules, Slippery slope, Spying, Virus, Warfare
