Category: Gilbane Advisor (Page 22 of 29)

Better language models and their implications

OpenAI reports results using an unsupervised language model that generates coherent paragraphs of text. The examples are impressive. An additional reason to check this post and their site is the decision not to share the full models because of concerns they will be used for malicious purposes. This seems well-intended but is controversial. Read More

Google Translate & Wittgenstein

While we’re on the topic of language models. I love it when philosophers get credit, and this example is a favorite. In this quick read, Olivia Goldhill does a great job explaining how Google Translate, and other neural networking based natural language applications, are a manifestation of Wittgenstein’s theory of language. Read More

How fast can you go from structured content to working front-end?

Experienced content strategists and web developers know that collaborating as early as possible is the safest and fastest route to success. Chris Atherton shares a short engaging case study that is useful for educating nontechnical colleagues on why early iterative collaboration is important even for “simple projects”. Read More

Google, Dropbox, and the “one-window test”

Scott Brinker on platforms, integration, and DX. The same test, and advice, is useful when building your own non-SaaS, or mixed, systems.

“Does X integrate with Y?” is a deceptively oversimplified yes/no question. In the cloud, the answer is almost always “yes.” It’s kind of like calling a restaurant and asking if they combine ingredients together. Sure they do. But how tasty is the meal? How attentive is the service? How reasonable is the price? Read More

 

April 29 – May 1, 2019, Washington DC
Digital experience strategies, technologies, and practices, for marketing and the workplace.

Learn more & use code FG19 for best available price

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Also…

• Is Alexa working? For Amazon that is. via Benedict Evans
• Very accessible… Explainer: What is quantum communication? via Technology Review
• Way big, and way bigger, storage… DNA Gets a New — and Bigger — Genetic Alphabet via NYT
• For AR and VR… First Public Working Draft: WebXR Device API via W3C

The Gilbane Advisor curates content for content, computing, and digital experience professionals. We focus on strategic technologies. We publish more or less twice a month except for August and December.

Happy New Year Dear Reader! We’re back from our holiday break. Though we don’t publish in December we do continue to read and select trustworthy content worthy of your valuable time. Enjoy.

Congress votes to make open government data default in U.S.

Surprise! “On December 21, 2018, the United States House of Representatives voted to enact H.R. 4174, the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2017, in a historic win for open government in the United States of America… The Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary Government Data Act… (AKA the OPEN Government Data Act) is

about to become law as a result.” Ok, now for the implementation… Read More

AGI is nowhere close to being a reality

When people talk about “AI” the first thing to understand is what they are really talking about. There are three possibilities: first, advanced machine learning techniques such as deep neural networks (DNNs), second, artificial general intelligence (AGI) that will perform tasks at human level, and third, anything or everything from basic software algorithms to super AGIs far beyond human intelligence. Mixing these up causes confusion, hype, and fear. The first of these defines the sense of “AI” of the vast majority of existing and near term opportunities for application. This post, with input from Geoffrey Hinton and Demis Hassabis, who ought to know, explains where we are and aren’t. Read More

Childhood’s End

In this short, rich essay, George Dyson argues that the digital revolution has morphed into something else altogether right under our noses. The new “analog revolution” has begun and we need to deal with it. Definitely don’t rush this one. Grab a coffee and get comfortable. While you’ll likely see his main point quickly, there is much to think about.

We imagine that individuals, or individual algorithms, are still behind the curtain somewhere, in control. We are fooling ourselves. … The search engine is no longer a model of human knowledge, it is human knowledge. What began as a mapping of human meaning now defines human meaning, and has begun to control, rather than simply catalog or index, human thought. No one is at the controls. If enough drivers subscribe to a real-time map, traffic is controlled, with no central model except the traffic itself. Read More

The ‘Future Book’ is here, but it’s not what we expected

An instructive history of electronic books by Craig Mod. Perfectly reasonable predictions don’t always pan out.

… We were looking for the Future Book in the wrong place. It’s not the form, necessarily, that needed to evolve … Instead, technology changed everything that enables a book, fomenting a quiet revolution. … Funding, printing, fulfillment, community-building—everything leading up to and supporting a book has shifted meaningfully, even if the containers haven’t. Perhaps the form and interactivity of what we consider a “standard book” will change in the future, as screens become as cheap and durable as paper. But the books made today, held in our hands, digital or print, are Future Books, unfuturistic and inert may they seem. Read More

Also…

• Latest web dev tools adoption… JavaScript and Web Development InfoQ Trends Report via InfoQ
• How not to defend marketing campaign degradation… It’s impossible to saturate a marketing channel via Mobile Dev Memo
• Now, mobile-first indexing for over half of pages in search results globally… Mobile-First indexing, structured data, images, and your site via Google
• Plenty of room for machine learning startups serving mid-size companies – a healthy market – dive in… The Competitive Landscape of AI Startups via HBR

Mark your calendar for
Gilbane’s DX conference

April 29 – May 1, 2019, Washington DC
Digital experience strategies, technologies, and practices, for marketing and the workplace.

Learn more

The Gilbane Advisor curates content for content, computing, and digital experience professionals. We focus on strategic technologies. We publish more or less twice a month except for August and December. See all issues

Business value of design

Some welcome help for those of you struggling to justify the effort, and cost, of good design.

We tracked the design practices of 300 publicly listed companies over a five-year period in multiple countries and industries. … Our team collected more than two million pieces of financial data and recorded more than 100,000 design actions. … The four themes of good design described below form the basis of the McKinsey Design Index (MDI), which rates companies by

how strong they are at design and … how that links up with the financial performance of each company. Read More

Intranet design after a merger or acquisition

When a merger or acquisition occurs, it’s not uncommon for management and employees to become frantic, unsettled, and disorganized. So, it might seem puzzling that truly great intranets may arise after a merger. But they do. In fact, each year, our Intranet Design Annual Award includes remarkable designs that were catalyzed by a merger or acquisition. Read More

The pen(cil) is mightier than the mouse

When the first iPad came out in 2010 my main interest was whether it could eventually replace laptops for general business use. For most of us, the answer is still ‘no’, but that doesn’t mean it won’t get there. Ben Bajarin has a thoughtful post on how the newest iPad Pro makes progress. His headline is about the pencil and its new gestures. But he also argues that in combination with the new keyboard and magnets there is a more integrated experience. This leads to thoughts on packaging. Read More

Is the end near for mobile apps?

Lance Ng thinks so, and though the title is click-baity he believes it, explains why, and is mostly right…

In the next three to seven years, I expect most mobile apps to disappear. With them, we’ll witness the loss of billions in venture capital that we’ve poured into the mobile startup sector. It will all be burned to ashes, with nothing left but stray lines of code. Read More, then see his responses to comments here.

Mark your calendar for
Gilbane’s DX conference

April 29 – May 1, 2019, Washington DC
Digital experience strategies, technologies, and practices, for marketing and the workplace.

Learn more

Also…

• • Brinker perspective on new Gartner survey… Martech jumps to 29% of the CMO’s budget via chiefmartec.com
  • Well, “soon” is relative, but there is a potential solution to the cost barrier… Virtuous spiralsDNA may soon be used to store computer data via The Economist
  • Can AI address health care’s red-tape problem? Target individual solutions for near term success… via HBR
  • With links to some great examples… While AR plays catch-up in other sectors, it’s taking over the enterprise via VentureBeat

The Gilbane Advisor curates content for content, computing, and digital experience professionals. We focus on strategic technologies. We publish more or less twice a month except for August and December. See all issues

CMS ❤ CRM – it’s nice to see two acronyms make friends

As we know, there are thousands of martech products in dozens of categories. Some categories are candidates for a being a center of gravity around which you can focus to build a stack or architecture.

Sometimes there are competing centers of gravity. Paul Ford takes happy look at how two of these, CMS and CRM, can now more easily work together. Read More

Laying the pipes of a post-advertising world

In this excellent post Andre Redelinghuys makes a compelling case that “The shift from brands and advertising to pipes and subscriptions is inevitable — and well underway.” Read More

GDPR helping a contextual targeting comeback

Jessica Davies reports some advertisers and agencies are shifting budgets away from personalization to contextual targeting. Not just because of GDPR, but because it’s value was underestimated. From Carat:

Sophisticated semantic analysis tools, exclusive access to premium environments and high quality content creation and distribution opportunities with publishers and influencers arm us with the toolkit to serve digital advertising that doesn’t require personal data yet is relevant and will resonate with its audience… Read More

AI, radiology and the future of work

Image analysis is perhaps the most obvious example of the power of deep learning, and even Geoffrey Hinton and Andrew Ng have commented on its potential to effect the future careers of radiologists. Using radiology as an example, this short piece by the Economist offers three reasons to temper worries of AI taking over the workplace. Read More

Also…

• Lots of detail yet accessible description of today’s tracking… Field guide to tag hunting: The hidden world of Internet data collection via Data-driven SaaS
• Dear Publishers, if you want my subscription dollars (or euros), here is what I expect…   Me too! via Monday Note
• For those of you already working with deep learning… Why you need to improve your training data, and how to do it via Pete Warden’s blog
• For the few of you who missed this… Mary Meeker’s annual Internet Trends Report. via KPCB

The Gilbane Advisor curates content for content, computing, and digital experience professionals. We focus on strategic technologies. We publish more or less twice a month except for August and December. See all issues