Artificial intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science that deals with the creation of intelligent agents, which are systems that can reason, learn, and act autonomously. AI has the potential to revolutionize many aspects of our lives, from the way we work to the way we interact with the world around us.
There are many potential benefits to the AI revolution. For example, AI could be used to automate tasks that are currently done by humans, freeing up our time for more creative and fulfilling pursuits. AI could also be used to improve healthcare, education, and transportation.
However, there are also some potential risks associated with the AI revolution. For example, AI could be used to create autonomous weapons that could kill without human intervention. AI could also be used to create systems that are able to manipulate and control human behaviour.
It is important to be aware of both the potential benefits and risks of the AI revolution. We need to ensure that AI is used in a way that benefits all of humanity, and that we do not allow AI to become a threat to our existence.
Here are some of the pros and cons of the AI revolution:
Pros:
AI can automate tasks that are currently done by humans, freeing up our time for more creative and fulfilling pursuits.
AI can improve healthcare, education, and transportation.
AI can help us to better understand the world around us.
AI can help us to make better decisions.
Cons:
AI could be used to create autonomous weapons that could kill without human intervention.
AI could be used to create systems that are able to manipulate and control human behaviour.
AI could lead to mass unemployment, as machines become capable of doing many of the jobs that are currently done by humans.
AI could lead to a widening of the gap between the rich and the poor, as those who own the AI systems will benefit from increased productivity and efficiency, while those who do not will be left behind.
In Conclusion
It is important to weigh the pros and cons of the AI revolution carefully before making any decisions about how to use this technology. We need to ensure that AI is used in a way that benefits all of humanity, and that we do not allow AI to become a threat to our existence.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has taken the world by storm and is revolutionizing the way we live, work, and interact with each other. AI is a technology that enables machines to learn and perform tasks that would typically require human intelligence, such as problem-solving, decision-making, and natural language processing. The AI revolution is happening right now, and it has both pros and cons.
On the positive side, AI is bringing about significant improvements in various industries, including healthcare, finance, transportation, and manufacturing. AI-powered robots and machines are taking over tedious, repetitive, and dangerous tasks, allowing humans to focus on more creative and productive work. AI-powered medical devices are helping doctors and healthcare professionals to diagnose and treat diseases more accurately and efficiently. AI-powered vehicles are making transportation safer and more sustainable.
AI is also helping businesses to improve their operations, increase their efficiency, and reduce costs. AI-powered systems can analyse vast amounts of data, identify patterns, and provide insights that help businesses to make informed decisions. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are enhancing customer service, providing 24/7 support to customers, and improving customer satisfaction.
However, the AI revolution also has its downsides. One of the most significant concerns is job displacement. As machines become more intelligent, they are taking over jobs traditionally performed by humans, leading to job losses and unemployment. This could have a severe impact on society, particularly for low-skilled workers who may find it challenging to find new employment.
Another significant concern is the potential misuse of AI. As AI becomes more advanced, it could be used to create autonomous weapons, surveillance systems, and other technologies that could threaten human rights and freedoms. There is also the risk of AI being used to perpetrate cyber-attacks or manipulate public opinion, which could have disastrous consequences.
In Conclusion
The AI revolution is happening right now, and it has both pros and cons. While AI has the potential to bring about significant improvements in various industries, it also poses significant challenges and risks. As we continue to develop and deploy AI technologies, it is essential to be mindful of the potential risks and take steps to mitigate them. Ultimately, the key to harnessing the power of AI lies in responsible development, deployment, and regulation.
Microsoft has done the very thing it said it wouldn’t and launched a new operating system, Windows 11. They had always said that Windows 10 would be the last and it would be tailored and updated. However, here we are with a new version of Windows. So, Windows 11 then?
So lets all go and download and install it.
Microsoft has said it is a free download for Windows 10 users, so surely it should be a simple case of downloading and installing it. Well, unfortunately, no it isn’t.
So what are the issues, or known issues just now?
Here is what we know so far and it is changing every day. Windows 11 looks at two main things and they are as follows: –
It checks if your current hardware system has something called TPM version 2. (Earlier versions are not supported.) What is TPM, well it is explained here? I have version 1.5 on my system.
The next thing it checks is your processor and it must be 8th generation or higher CPU. I have an i7 and it won’t install on it as it must be an older generation. Now being a green focussed guy I purchased my desktop last year as a refurbished machine and has an i7 and 32Gb of ram and a 480Gb SSD and can handle everything I throw at it. I won’t be changing my machine soon.
Work arounds, what are they and are they recommended?
Now you may have read about various workarounds and even Microsoft posted a link to give a workaround for the TPM check. It involves changing registry settings on the current machine and then running the install package from a downloaded ISO of Windows 11. Someone has also come up with a workaround for the CPU being a problem. Some people I know have managed to install even though Windows 11 said their system wasn’t compatible.
But, the big elephant in the room is that Microsoft even in their own article about the workaround for the TPM has said, “We do not recommend this as the system maybe become unstable and it may affect future updates.”
The problem with these specific workarounds is that when Windows 11 updates run in the future the system may become corrupted or even completely brick itself and the machine will have to be flattened and reinstalled with a system that works. So do these at your own risk.
So what are Microsoft playing at?
Answers on a postcard, please. They have copied Apple on the TPM front which ties the Operating System to the Hardware. But making the processor such a new version seems a bit ridiculous, as I can’t see larger organisations and even some smaller orgainsations I deal with replacing all their machines just to get Windows 11. The cost would be massive and very prohibitive. This would suggest that Microsoft is going to have to support Windows 10 well into the future until these organisations replace their machines with the later kit. I honestly think that Microsoft has lost the ball here and/or is playing a new card that we are all unsure of. They may be trying to force people to replace machines, they have rumored that Windows will become a Software as a service like Office 365, and in fact, they have that just now where you can purchase Microsoft 365 which includes the Operating System. How this will be affected by Windows 11 being so selective, for the people who have already purchased this I don’t know.
Here are a few other links that talk about the workarounds and some of the Windows 11 stuff. ( I do not recommend these, do them at your own risk)
A question I am asked a lot is, “What technology should I be using?”
The better question would be why should I use that technology?
So, what is the point of this article.? It is all about what you need and what you do.
The technology of yesterday, is not the technology of tomorrow as it is changing so fast. This matters because of the reason that technology is changing. It is changing because of customer demand a lot of the time and the new technology helps users work smarter and not harder.
So, what are the key factors about adopting new technology?
The ultimate answer is you are the key factor, let me explain further: –
I could easily go into any of my clients and simply say here is the new tech and you need it now. This of course is a broad-brush approach and they may not need half of what I am telling them they need.
So, I never do that, I ask loads and I mean loads of questions. I need to get inside their heads and their business. My forte is that I keep an eye and focus on what is out there and can advise accordingly.
I try and establish the following: –
What do you and your business do just now?
What may you be doing in the shorter term?
Where do you see things in the longer term?
This enables me to focus on exactly you do and how you currently are doing it.
I can then look at solutions that are there just now that may make your tasks smarter and with emerging tech, I can advise on when you should maybe put your toe in the water.
I.T. is an ever-changing horizon and you have your focus and business to run. So why not hand it over to someone who focusses on the tech and get them to advise on what may be beneficial for you.
So, the key factors about adopting technology is you and your team and business. I always start from that point.
This month we have trawled articles on the Net and looked at some ideas of where tech is going. Most of the credit for this content belongs to https://highexistence.com/10-ways-the-next-10-years-are-going-to-be-mind-blowing/, I have then added some of my observations. Here are some we have pulled together for you to think about and watch this space as they appear over the next few months and years. Please note that these ideas and statements are pulled from various sources and just give a reflection of what is happening. The nature of the beast is by the time you type these articles things have moved on.
Bio Technology
Bionic Hand controlled by brain signals
Okay, it doesn’t let you crush rocks as you would think, BUT it does allow people without fingers to have fully functional hands that can pick up and handle delicate objects. It is completely controlled by the brain and requires no surgery. Touch Bionics, the company the produces the Pro Digits hand, is able to install the hand complete with “living skin,” a plastic covering resembling human skin, for under $50,000.
Computer Speed, Size and
Usability
Speed
Most people tech-nerds
know of Moore’s Law from 1965 (the number of transistors we are able to cheaply
put in computer chips doubles every year, thereby doubling the speed).
However, most people don’t know that Moore, himself, came out and said his law
will most likely fail finally in 2020 where the number of transistors we can
put on chips will be limited by the laws of physics. Does this mean the
exponential rise in computer processing speed will come to a halt in ten years?
Not a chance, says Jim Tully, chief of research for semiconductors at Gartner. “The technology which will replace this is a bottom-up approach, where chips will be assembled using individual atoms or molecules, a type of nanotechnology.”
Ray Kurzweil, a well-respected Futurist, stated in 2008 that
when this molecular computing technology comes out in 2020, computers
will have the intellectual capability of human beings. You might want
to digest that for a minute before moving onto the next section.
That Macbook Air is
pretty damn thin. So thin, in fact, that it makes you wonder if physical
computers will even exist in 2020. Well according to developers at Intel, the
keyboard and mouse surely won’t. Who needs QWERTY when you can control
a computer with your mind?
“We’re trying to
prove you can do interesting things with brain waves,” said Intel researcher
Dean Pomerleau. “Eventually people may be willing to be more committed … to
brain implants. Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your
thoughts.”
Pomerleau and countless research groups around the world are working with brain scanning devices to map blood flow in the brain. They have found that when different individual focus on the same image, they have very similar patterns of blood flow in their brains. For example, one British group announced that they could discern where subjects wherein a computer-generated virtual environment by looking at where blood flowed in their brains.
How we interact with the
world
The way in which we interact with the outside world has changed SO much since the introduction of the internet, smartphones, etc. In the very near future, another huge jump will be made: integrating the information on the internet with our surroundings.
By that, I mean being able to look at a building, product or place and immediately seeing information about the subject on our devices and eventually just with our eyes.
If you’re still
confused as to what I mean, check out the earliest innovation of this concept,
Goggles by Google. This app allows you to take a picture of whatever you are
looking at and instantly receive info about it on your Android phone.
Like the video says, Goggle is only scratching at the surface of this technology. Kurzweil says that “By 2020 we’ll routinely have pop-ups in our visual field of view that give us background about the people and places that we’re looking at.” Your memory and the vast information bank of the internet will be one at all times.
Until we can do this
with a chip in our brain, a new device has come out that overlays video onto
our normal vision using special glasses. It’s called the Vuzix display Wrap 920AR and it goes on sale soon for around
$800.
Energy
Solar energy will
soon leave fossil fuels and inefficient wind farms in the dust. According to
Kurzweil, “the cost per watt of solar energy is coming down rapidly and the
total amount of solar energy is growing exponentially. It has in fact been
doubling every two years for the past 20 years and is now only eight
doublings away from meeting all of the world’s energy needs.”
Emerging technology
from a company called Sandia is making the reality that much closer:
Sandia’s
solar cells are made of 100 times less material than the
current top solar cells while operating at the same efficiency. Since the
biggest hurdle in the path of solar power is the expensive and large nature of
solar panels, these new microscopic cells will make a huge difference. For
example, current panels are massive and require large motors to move them to
track the sun. Sandia’s cells, on the other hand, would only need to be moved a
fraction of a millimetre to track the sun efficiently while weighing next to
nothing.
Even more amazing, they can be suspended in liquids and printed on flexible materials, allowing the cells to be placed on any surface. What if your entire car was covered in these powerhouses? Bye bye, Chevron.
Health
While we still can’t cure a common cold, custom-made organs are just around the corner.
A company called
Organovo has developed the first commercial 3-D bio printer that builds custom organs cell-by-cell.
Each individual cell is based upon sample cells from the body of the customer.
Organovo reports that veins and arteries will be available in 5 years, and more
complex organs like hearts and livers in 10.
On a more general
note, nanotechnology is revolutionizing the health world. The awesome
combination of a higher understanding of how DNA works and the ability to
create very small cellular parts is painting a very bright future for medicine.
Scientists are finding specific sequences of DNA that code for conditions like schizophrenia, autism and even ageing. The cures are actually in sight.
Robots
The first decade of
the 21st century has been a remarkable time for innovation in robotics. While
we’re still far away from having bots helping around the house or doing our
construction, big strides have been made towards that future.
Recently a robot was
able to teach itself human facial expressions by randomly contorting its face
and receiving feedback on what resembled real expressions.
Here’s another robot called BigDog that came out a couple of
years ago, but if you haven’t seen the video, you really should. It’s a
4-legged robot that can navigate difficult terrain and correct its balance when
shoved. If you can’t watch the whole video, at least fast-forward to 1:50 where
the robot can be seen running and jumping.
And finally here is the bipedal version of BigDog that walks heel-to-toe
just like humans do. Again, it can regain balance when shoved.
Clothing
Nanotechnology in Clothing
– Nano-fibres will make garments tremendously more comfortable and durable. “By this process, the textile products can be made more attractive, strong and responsive to customers’ choice.”
– Fibre-based Nano generators will build up electrical
energy in clothing from physical movement, ultrasonic waves and even blood
flow. “If we can combine many of these fibres in double or triple layers in
clothing, we could provide a flexible, foldable and wearable power source that,
for example, would allow people to generate their own electrical current while
walking.”
– Extremely
hydrophobic (water-resistant) Nano filaments allow for completely waterproof
clothing. It can be submerged in water for two months and still remain dry
to the touch. “The water comes to rest on the top of the Nano filaments like a
fakir sitting on a bed of nails.” (Whatever that means…)
2019 Trends
Machine Learning will advance
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovations will
continue to bring scientific breakthroughs, in part, thanks to the vast amounts
of data that new technologies have been collecting and is now available.
In 2019, Machine Learning and Artificial
Intelligence will be embedded in the business platform creating and enabling
smart business operations.
In the Artificial Intelligence space, China is
going to leave the U.S. behind, emerging as a leader in AI developments and
applications.
Advances in Machine Learning technology and
algorithm training will result in new and more advanced AI. Autonomous
vehicles and robotics are the two industries that will see the most rapid
developments during 2019.
In 2019, there is going to be a convergence of
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning in
business applications. As AI and learning technologies get to work together in
order to reach better results, AI will have greater accuracy at all
levels. So far, humans have only developed Narrow Artificial Intelligence.
A superior AI, though, is in the future of mankind. How far should humans go
with AI development is still a subject of controversy. Is this really going to
be mankind’s last invention?
Quantum Computing
(Supercomputing)
Quantum Computing, still an emerging technology, is
one of the most fascinating things researchers, organizations, and governments
have been working on in this century so far. The race toward building the first
fully-functional, fully-working quantum computer (also called supercomputer) is
on.
With its impressive computational power, quantum computers will most like be a cloud service in the near future rather than on-premise machines. IBM is already offering cloud-based quantum computing services.
The first quantum computer is going to have a significant advantage over others. In 2019, the competence to achieve supercomputer supremacy will intensify. As a consequence, the last mile in the race will remain mostly secretive, for obvious reasons.
Augmented Reality (AR) and
Virtual Reality (VR)
Advances in Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Mixed Reality (MR), all of
which can be summarized in R+, will continue to be at the forefront of
attention during 2019 with some fascinating new practical applications for
industries.
R+, which once was only found in video gaming has
been quickly advancing to become a useful tool in industries such as
engineering design, manufacturing, healthcare, space exploration, and many
others.
In 2019, Virtual Reality is going to open up to
innovative industrial applications that will change how people work and
collaborate across geographies.
Augmented Reality has been rising in Virtual Reality’s shadow for the past year. But in 2019, AR is set to grow exponentially.
Global Internet of Things
(IoT) security breach
Hackers never sleep. Everyone in the cybersecurity
industry knows that. As long as you connect something to the Internet it
immediately becomes vulnerable.
In the past years, we have seen how hackers have turned to the unsecure Internet of Things (IoT) devices to create an extensive botnet which then they could use to push enough traffic to take down Dyn, the DNS provider. As a way to refresh your memory, here is how the DDoS attack using IoT devices happened in 2016.
A quick look at the news tells us that not much has
been learned. However, the great number of security breaches occurred during
2018 should serve as an alert of what can happen at a global scale in 2019 if
organizations don’t take the necessary precautions.
Analyst firm Gartner forecasts that 20.4 billion
connected things will be in use worldwide by 2020. And with the rise of
autonomous things –I will call this the Internet of Autonomous Things (IoAT)–
there is a good chance that many of these things will show a certain level of
weak security.
In 2019, it will be paramount for IoT manufacturers
and all of their supply chain to dramatically increase the security in all the
products that come out to market. It can be a connected refrigerator, a
robot, a drone, a vehicle, or a health tracker.
Manufacturers must implement a level of security
that keeps hackers at bay. Otherwise, there is a good chance we are going to
witness a global IoT security breach in 2019.
Blockchain technology
In 2019, for the delight of organizations,
Blockchain is going to bring the first enterprise applications in active use.
The most innovative corporations will start using Blockchain as a way to
improve collaboration.
Blockchain in 2019 comes out cryptocurrency
transaction and becomes an integral part of the business platform. Blockchain
enables transactional transparency across a variety of business functions. In
2019, Blockchain will be present in many industries at the core of business
innovation.
The current statistics shown that the sales of various tech
is now down and that people aren’t eagerly awaiting to buy the latest thing.
There are various reasons for this and to put your finger in the one would be wrong.
But it begs the question about what we do with old kit? I
have been recently taking 7 year old laptops that have still some very good kit
on board and upgrading by adding a SSD drive to them.
What do we do with our computers?
We need to look at what we now do with computers: –
A few years ago all programmes were on the computer and so was the data until we backed it up
The Internet was growing fast and we are getting faster access.
So cloud storage became a thing and has grown over the last few years to an amazing level.
“According to recent research by Nasuni, there is over 1 Exabyte of data stored in the cloud, or: 1024 Petabytes of data. 1,073,741,824 Gigabytes of data. Quintillion bytes of data” This data was 2013. 6 years ago.
These figures don’t even make sense to us. To try and comprehend this amount of data and storage becomes something we can’t relate to.
Applications are also becoming more cloud driven and this will only increase over the next few years. SAAS. (Software As A Service). Office 365 is a well-known one. Google utilities, (G-suite), etc. Monthly subscriptions and the latest and greatest always at your fingertips.
So what does this mean?
Well, the strain is being taken off a lot of standalone machines as the storage needs to be less as all data goes to the cloud. (See article on using the cloud, here.)
The machines if they have a large amount of RAM and a fast SSD drive can boot up in anything from 4 seconds to 18 seconds. (The one I worked on recently booted up in 4 seconds)
So old kit can be slightly upgraded and cope very well with
what you need it to do. Thus alleviating the direct need to buy the latest kit
all the time.
What’s best for you?
Well, that really depends on how you operate and the things
you need to achieve. But don’t immediately write off all your current kit.
Maybe it is just better connections that you need or you need to think about
the way you operate and see if there are ways it can be done better.
We techie people like to have nice names for things and also
some nice technobabble names for things. The word Vanilla has a rough meaning
of the following: –
“Computer software, and sometimes also other computing-related systems like computer hardware or algorithms, are called vanilla when not customized from their original form, meaning that they are used without any customisations or updates applied to them. Vanilla software has become a widespread de facto industry standard, widely used by businesses and individuals. The term comes from the traditional standard flavour of ice cream, vanilla. According to Eric S. Raymond’s The New Hacker’s Dictionary, “vanilla” means more “default” than “ordinary”
So what we mean is that when a vanilla copy of Windows 10 is
installed onto a machine it is only Windows 10 with all its baggage and faults.
We know that nothing else exists on the machine.
This, for us IT guys makes life easier for troubleshooting. If there are problems with the machine it can only be between Windows and the hardware as there is nothing else on the system at this point. Once we cure these and the system is running well and all seems to be operating the way we expect, we can then look at installing other programs and seeing how Windows talks to them. Each software install can have its own issues or it can simply work. Guess which one we like?
What is the alternative to a Vanilla Install?
Well, that sadly is what most of us do, thinking all will be well. “That accepting the update scenario.”
Here is the situation, you are running Windows 7 and all is well. It has been around for quite a while and all the patches and fixes have been out and installed. Your system is sweet. The Windows 10 comes out and promises a lot more, it’s faster, it’s better, you can do more and it works well.
Microsoft also offers it for free if you take it now, after
that it will be charging….What do you do?
You click update and it downloads Windows 10. Oh’ the
excitement of the new is always a draw, and surely it must be better, that is
what they promised.
What could go wrong?
As with any installation you have to look at the foundation and what will the new Operating system be sitting on top off. Even though your computer seemed to running smoothly. Under the hood there may well have been issues that just didn’t surface. The software may have been compromising some operational items to get it all to work.
The adage we always like to use is, “If you have any issues
or even minor bugs with the current system an update could cure them, but most
likely it will just make them worse. A clean install and one that cures all the
issues before any other apps are installed means that the foundation is correct
and that issues after this are down to software conflicts of installed
programs.”
Conclusion
I must be honest and I do believe that Windows 10 has some
major bugs and a bit too much, what we call bloatware, (added items Microsoft
think you need.)
I also believe however that some of the troubles people have
had with Windows 10 on machines is because of the update option and not the
flatten and fresh clean install option or vanilla install as I like to call it.
If you want to the latest and greatest operating system it is best to backup and flatten the machine. Then reinstall all the apps and connectivity. You will have a cleaner and more stable machine that you have had for a long time. Windows in itself becomes cluttered over the years with all the programs that have been installed and uninstalled leaving some fragments of files behind. So cleaning all this and installing is always the best option. I have done this to many machines last year and all are faster and getting the best performance they can. Windows also seems to update without any major faults.
If you want to talk about his or get me in to-do some of the
above then get in touch or comment below.
I am asked by a lot of people about the new SSD drives as they call them, (In fact, this type of storage has been around for a while, granted it is developing and getting smarter and better all the time.), However, I digress. They ask me if the guarantee on this type of storage is as good as the older platter hard drives that stored their data to a physical disk using magnetism.
Well, there are many factors that affect both types of storage and cause them to fail or basically run out of life.
I stumbled across an article by CNet and they explain the way both drives work and how the SSD drive is much more complicated but in essence with last much longer. They are some actions you can do to help this but don’t panic you really don’t need to do them.
Check out the article here. (All credits here to Cnet.)
I must admit that my mobiles for a good number of years have all had a sweet tooth. Being named after desserts ranging from Éclair, my first venture, through incarnations of Marshmallow to Nougat and now Pie.
For those who have no idea what I am talking about, these are all incarnations of Android operating systems for mobile phones. Being a Google man for all mobile work this has always intrigued me, and I am usually waiting for the next version and the improvements that come with it.
Android has driven the mobile market and is now the most used operating system for mobile phones worldwide, taking Apple’s crown.
Nowadays we are all fixated and linked to our mobile devices, they feed us with so much information and in my case a business owner, they help me manage my day to day activities both private and business related.
Android has always given me the flexibility and customisation that I would like in a device. Every incarnation allows me to change and alter and get the device working exactly the way I want it to.
Collecting and accessing my emails and web-based file systems. Communicating through various mediums from text-based to video calls. As more of what we do pushes onto the cloud you can expect these devices to be, literally what they have been for a while now, your main computer system. Allowing the flexibly to work anywhere and carry out complex activities and not need to be tied to a desk environment.
Here is a link to some of the new features in Android P (Pie) from our friends at Android Central
What mobile devices do you use and what operating system do they employ/ Do you see this as the way forward and the way we work changing to go more mobile?
