My wife was put out of a job at the USPS due to the task being taken over by automated computerized machines. That was in 2009.
Yes, robots putting people out of work is nothing new and it's only going to get worse. So they make things cheaper for us to afford. But will we have a job to get the money for them in the first place?
Thousands of WordPress Sites Hacked via Security Hole The critical vulnerability disclosed last week by WordPress developers has already been exploited to hack thousands of websites, security firm Sucuri warned on Monday. When WordPress 4.7.2 was released on January 26, the developers of the content management system (CMS) informed users that the latest version patched three vulnerabilities, including SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS) and access control issues. Roughly one week later, developers admitted that version 4.7.2 patched another flaw, described as an unauthenticated privilege escalation and content injection vulnerability affecting the REST API. The security hole allows an attacker to modify the content of any post or page on a targeted site. The flaw, identified by researchers at Sucuri, was disclosed one week after the release of WordPress 4.7.2 to give users enough time to patch their installations. However, according to Sucuri, many WordPress websites still haven’t been updated. http://www.securityweek.com/many-wordpress-sites-hacked-recently-patched-flaw
Well someone spent way too much time during their childhood playing with one of these (I had one too. )
Only the short intro of the first video is in Spanish, well spoken actually, all the rest is in English.
Google Brain super-resolution image tech makes “zoom, enhance!” real Feb 7, 2017 Google Brain creates new image details out of thin air. From movies such as Blade Runner to shows like CSI, the ability to zoom in on photos or video and enhance the tiny, pixelated images to the point of near-clarity is a trope that’s been around for years. While it continues to remain a fictional piece of technology, Google has come up with a system that’s incredibly close to what we’ve seen on the big screen. The lack of detail in images containing a small number of pixels makes it nearly impossible to create a clearer picture than what’s already there. But the Google Brain team has managed to partly get around this problem by using neural networks that fill in the blanks. The columns below show three sets of images. Those on the far left feature the 8x8 source image, which is unidentifiable. But the column in the center shows what Google’s system was able to come up with from the 64 source pixels. While the accuracy of the results varies, you can see how close they are to the real images, which are in the right column. The team came up with this super-resolution technique by combining two neural networks. The first, the “condition” network, attempts to map the 8x8 source against similar high-res photos to get an idea of what the image should look like. It’s then the turn of the “prior” network, which adds realistic details to create the final image. It does this by checking a large number of similar high-res samples, such as faces, then adding new pixels to the source material using what it’s learned from that category of image. When the results of the two neural networks are mixed, you’re left with a pretty amazing final result - especially considering the source material the system has to work with. It’s still not accurate enough to be used as a way of identifying suspects, and, the images can’t serve as evidence in criminal cases as they’re computed approximations. But the system could still one day assist police with their work. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/02/google-brain-super-resolution-zoom-enhance/ My comment: Amazing! is the only word I can think of, a pic can convey more words:
The Hidden Phenomenon That Could Ruin Your Old Discs Feb 6 2017 CDs and DVDs were sold to consumers as these virtually indestructible platters, but the truth, as exemplified by the “disc rot” phenomenon, is more complicated. Executive summary: The problem that many users have been ignoring for many years is that some discs, mainly the late 80s CDs, are "rotting". There's a phenomenon by the name of "disc rot" that causes the disc to rot by natural causes. It can happen for many reasons, but what you need to know is that it's NOT because mishandle or bad care. It's NOT your fault. It's a physical or chemical damage in some layers of the disc, and generally it happens just by the contact with the environment Often, it looks like a coffee stain—a noticeable discoloration that for whatever reason you can't get rid of. Sometimes, it looks like tiny pin pricks on the surface of a compact disc. And there are other times when the whole thing changes color. In any case, when you run into what's known as disc rot, you're out a great album or an interesting movie. https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/the-hidden-phenomenon-that-could-ruin-your-old-discs
Heard of disc rot about a year ago when I found a disc I had in my garage and 1/2 of the aluminum/shiny coating was gone, It was just the clear plastic. This disc was half exposed to ambient temps in my garage which ranged in Mich from -20 below to 90+ above Fahrenheit. The other half that wasn't exposed looked o.k. (the disc was sticking 1/2 way out from some other stuff. Unfortunately I did not keep it to show. The spots in your pic show where the coating on the clear plastic is starting to lift up and off the disc
No storage medium is eternal: CDs, DVDs, mechanical drives, SSDs, USB sticks. You have to transfer and re-store your valuable data to a new medium every few years. Certainly as soon as you notice erratic behavior from the medium, and hope it's not too late,
I agree. As far as I know, there's nothing for long life data storage that exceeds more than 20 - 30 yrs. Which is a big deal to library's and places like that.
There is something like "archiving disks" that i learnt about some time ago, they claim to live more than a human's lifetime. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pekgrP-v5O0&t=491s
Not only optical media is suffering programmed obsolescence or "media rot", do you remember this one?:
I guess it's one of those things that we will have to wait and see with. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-DISC
no too concerned if my music collection outlives me by a couple years, by then music cd's might be as old and unused as 8 track tapes are today