Monthly Archives: September 2017

Intel’s new design, named after a submarine volcano in Hawaii, still isn’t much like a real brain. But it’s very different from a conventional processor. The company says this approach could one day make cars, cameras, and robots smarter without having to rely on an internet connection to the cloud. Cutting the cord removes the need to wait for data to traverse the internet and has privacy benefits. Intel says tests indicate its brain-inspired, or neuromorphic, design can do things like interpret video using as little as one-thousandth of the energy of a conventional chip. That, and Loihi’s ability to learn as it encounters new data, are seen as pointing to a future where machines can better hold their own in the always-changing real world. “We’re trying to get better at understanding things that are happening in a natural environment,” says Michael Mayberry, managing director of Intel’s research arm.

Deliveroo, the London headquartered restaurant food delivery startup, has raised $385 million in new funding, giving it a valuation of “over $2 billion,” according to the company. The Series F round is led by U.S. fund managers T. Rowe Price, and Fidelity — who have previously backed the likes of Facebook, AirBnB and Tesla — with existing investors DST Global, General Catalyst, Index Ventures, and Accel Partners also following on. Total funding for the European unicorn now sits at $860 million. The new capital will be used by Deliveroo to invest in three aspects of its business: The first is expansion of its “Editions” (previously called RooBox) programme, which sees it open delivery-only kitchens to enable partner restaurants to expand without any of the traditional upfront costs, whilst increasing food selection for customers and optimising delivery times. Second, the company plans to continue to grow the size of its technology team who, amongst other things, work on Deliveroo’s “real-time logistics algorithm and artificial intelligence systems” to help improve the speed and number of deliveries that can be made in order to increase what are otherwise very thin margins for on-demand food delivery. Another aspect to its data science is working out where it should launch the next Editions kitchens and what type of food is in demand locally.

L’autorité des transports de Londres a décidé de ne pas renouveler la licence de la plate-forme de VTC qui prend fin le 30 septembre. Uber va faire appel. Les chauffeurs de taxi londoniens, qui guerroient depuis des années contre Uber, vont sans doute ouvrir le champagne. Transport for London (TFL), la puissance autorité organisatrice des transports dans la capitale britannique, a annoncé ce vendredi dans un communiqué qu'elle n'allait pas renouveler la licence de la plate-forme de transport à la demande. Uber est donc menacé d'exclusion pour les cinq prochaines années du marché londonien, l'un des plus lucratifs pour elle, avec près de 40.000 chauffeurs affiliés et 3,5 millions de clients enregistrés. Selon un communiqué publié ce vendredi, TFL « a conclu qu'Uber Londres n'est pas apte à détenir une licence d'opérateur privé » dans la capitale britannique. L'autorité reproche à la plate-forme « un manque de responsabilité d'entreprise sur un certain nombre de sujets qui ont des conséquences potentielles sur la sûreté et la sécurité du public ».

« Je n’ai rien à cacher », « je n’ai rien de fait de mal ni d’illégal donc peu importe si on m’espionne ». C’est l’argument auquel se heurtent systématiquement les défenseurs de nos libertés numériques. Mais n’avoir « rien à cacher », et accepter de livrer toutes ses données à Facebook, Google et à une multitude de services « gratuits » tout en sachant, de façon plus précise depuis les révélations d’Edward Snowden, que ces données alimentent directement la surveillance de masse : est-ce vraiment un raisonnement tenable sur le long terme ? Est-ce la société que nous voulons ? Diffusé en salles depuis quelques mois, avant une mise en ligne sous licence Creative Commons prévue pour le 30 septembre, le documentaire « Nothing to Hide » de Marc Meillassoux est une réponse passionnante à cette question cruciale pour notre avenir.

C'est sans doute la décision la plus lourde de conséquences pour Facebook depuis la victoire de Donald Trump. Critiqué de toutes parts pour avoir servi de porte-voix à des messages de propagande et à de fausses informations pendant la campagne électorale de 2016, le réseau social commence à prendre la mesure de son influence politique et va changer de stratégie. Facebook compte collaborer davantage avec les élus du Congrès qui enquêtent sur l'ingérence russe en 2016, et va revoir en profondeur la façon dont il gère les publicités politiques qui apparaissent sur son site. « Je refuse que quiconque utilise nos outils pour saper la démocratie », a expliqué Mark Zuckerberg dans une vidéo postée sur le site jeudi soir .

I want to love the Apple TV 4K. I want to love it a lot. It is by far the closest thing to being a fully realized vision for the future of TV that exists. But because it’s so ambitious, it’s also the farthest away from the vision it’s trying to achieve. Cheaper devices with fewer dreams about unified interfaces are much better at simply turning on and putting some video on your TV, with less aggressive video processing and better surround support. For Apple to justify the Apple TV 4K’s $179 price tag against the apps already built into your TV and those very popular cheap streaming sticks, it needs to offer a perfect utopia of the best technical capabilities, a complete content catalog, and a simplified interface. I know a lot of video nerds, and all of them were hoping the Apple TV 4K would be the One True Box. That's what Apple does: it rolls in and confidently fixes complicated tech problems with elegant solutions. The Apple TV 4K does not do that. Worse, its attempts to solve the thorny technical problems of home theaters are less flexible and sometimes not as good as other, cheaper boxes. If you buy one of the most expensive TV products on the market, you shouldn’t have to think about whether you’re getting access to a complete content library, the best audio and video quality possible, and YouTube in 4K. You should get it all, and never think about it again. It should light up all of the lights. IF YOU JUST WANT TO WATCH SOME NETFLIX IN 4K, STICK WITH YOUR BUILT-IN APPS If you’re already invested in a huge iTunes movie library, or you buy so many movies that Apple’s cheaper pricing makes a big difference to you, you’re not going to be unhappy about buying an Apple TV 4K. It’ll be fine, and having your existing library get upgraded will be nice, although the HDR upscaler will occasionally make you sad. But if you just want to watch some Netflix and you’re fine with renting movies from a service like Vudu or Amazon, stick with the apps on your existing 4K HDR smart TV for now or pick up a Roku. If you absolutely must spend a bunch of money, buy an Xbox One S bundle for $249 — you’ll at least get a free game out of it as well. All of this stuff will be messy and annoying in different ways, but they’ll get the job done. I am very confident Apple is going to figure this TV thing out. It’s the only company that has the combination of power and care to actually do it. But the Apple TV 4K’s unrealized potential just makes it obvious that the future of TV is still pretty far away, and it’s simply too expensive to gamble on in the meantime.

« On construit le pack en concertation avec les professionnels, c'est du cas par cas », indique-t-on à la Cnil, où l'on souhaite que la protection des données soit intégrée dès la phase de conception des produits, et que les logiciels permettent à tout le monde de gérer facilement ses informations personnelles. « C'est du droit souple pour une pratique encore naissante », constate Mickaël Fernandez, le cofondateur de Drust, une start-up « cartech ». Les négociations ont toutefois pris un peu de retard. C'est que les discussions, qui concernent aussi Bercy et la Gendarmerie, sont âpres : les constructeurs automobiles, pourtant soucieux de maintenir à distance les « Gafa » de leurs clients, n'abandonnent pas pour autant leur propension à tout vouloir contrôler. « Il y a des divergences de points de vue », constate un participant aux réunions.

If monetary finance sounds a little familiar, it’s probably because it’s the not-too-distant cousin of another unconventional policy: quantitative easing (QE). It may sound harebrained, but monetary finance is only a technical hop away from QE, which was used to extraordinary levels after the 2007 financial crisis. While QE involves (stay with me here) central banks buying government bonds from financial institutions, in order to flood the financial system with new money and push down long-term interest rates, helicopter money involves central banks buying bonds directly from the government — and with no expectation that the debt will ever be repaid. This could inject money into the economy in a more direct and targeted way. Instead of crossing fingers that liquidity filters through the financial system to reduce interest rates for everyone, helicopter money could take the form of central bank–funded investments in public education or infrastructure, tax cuts for the poor or even just free cash. Indeed, some have called the policy “people’s QE” (with the subtext that its parent should rightly be called “bankers’ QE”). And the stimulus could benefit from the famous Keynesian “multiplier effect,” whereby the injected money gets recycled several times through the economy for a multiplied economic boost. “This is a tool that will always work” to increase nominal demand, says Turner. Of course, some economists question whether this supposed magic bullet is too good to be true. For Professor Tony Yates at the University of Birmingham in the U.K., allowing this sort of policy could represent a dangerous “slippery slope” — analogous approaches of printing money to fund government spending led to hyperinflation in 1920s Germany and 2000s Zimbabwe. Indeed, established conventions, or in some cases explicit legal structures, forbid this sort of action in most advanced economies such as the United States and the eurozone for that very reason. Advocates say that the policy can still fit around the principle of central bank independence by allowing only the banks — not the politicians — to decide when the helicopters should be deployed. Critics also have technical concerns that it may not work as desired, or even work too much. But even for skeptic Yates, “if I were the Bank of Japan, I would be contemplating it right now,” because of the country’s seemingly inescapable deflationary quagmire. Indeed, “in Japan’s case, it’s not when they do it, but when they admit that they’re already doing it,” says Turner. In most of the rest of the world, economies are just about muddling through. But know that if things take a turn for the worse, there’s only one unplayed card in policymakers’ hands. Better start loading up the helicopters.

“The legendary brewery has teamed up with Airbnb to offer a beer enthusiast and a friend a fabulous (and free) night in the Guinness Gravity Bar, which will feature a “perfect pint”- shaped bed, a panoramic view, and a Guinness tasting bar with a private butler. Plus, the experience will include getting keys to the Guinness Storehouse and access to the St. James Gate Brewery, as well as a six-course meal complete with Guinness pairings. (This is, after all, for an enthusiast who won’t tire of only one brand.)” Applicants for the Airbnb Night At version of a branded sleepover had to answer the simple question, “What makes you the world’s biggest Guinness fan?” The winner got a chance to step into the brand founder’s shoes and hold the keys to a legacy filled with hundreds of years of history. The invitation received a phenomenal response from across the globe—far exceeding expectations. The competition saw a New Yorker become the first person ever to stay overnight at the Home of Guinness.