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Most developers these days have heard of machine learning, but when trying to find an 'easy' way into this technique, most people find themselves getting scared off by the abstractness of the concept of Machine Learning and terms as regression, unsupervised learning, Probability Density Function and many other definitions. Is anyone else worried about developers running around doing "machine learning" without much understanding of mathematics and probability?
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For those who aren't scared off by the mathematics and probability:
If you really want to learn about Machine Learning and Classification systems, check out the Free, introductory Machine Learning online course from Caltech![^]
It won't give you the code, but you'll learn lots about how to do it yourself!
If you try taking the course, I suggest using Octave (a free Matlab-compatible system)[^] for practicing and homework.
"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed."
- G.K. Chesterton
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No, we already run around doing lots of stuff withoput understanding the math and probability behind it.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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For years, business leaders here have closely studied the San Francisco region, seeking to emulate the way it churns out so many leading technology companies.
In large measure, those efforts worked. But now, leaders in Seattle are looking to the Bay Area as a different sort of model: a cautionary tale. I'm sure the good people of Seattle will figure out a soulution.
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NYT wrote: “It’s not that we don’t want to be a thriving tech center — we do,” Mr. Durning said. “It’s that the San Francisco and Silicon Valley communities have gotten themselves into a trap where preservationists and local politics have basically guaranteed buying a house will cost at least $1 million. Already in Seattle, it costs half-a-million, so we’re well on our way.”
Ugh!
Those devs in San Francisco are making a fortune. Too bad they still can't afford to live there.
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Three British companies have created a device to deter drones from entering sensitive areas by freezing them in mid-flight. Let's kick some ice!
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Startups could get a major lift from NASA if they can find a technology at the space agency that fits their commercial ambitions.
The agency has also launched a new searchable database to help developers discover relevant patents. You get a patent! You get a patent! EVERYBODY GETS A PATENT!
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In a recent interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt, the Tesla CEO took two very aggressive swipes at the company that could one day challenge him in the automotive industry. First, Musk suggested that Apple has been eager to recruit engineers and other employees who failed to pull their weight or make any significant impact while working at Tesla. "They have hired people we’ve fired," Musk said. "We always jokingly call Apple the 'Tesla Graveyard.' If you don’t make it at Tesla, you go work at Apple. I’m not kidding," Musk added. The Apple doesn't fall far from the Tesla.
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I'm certainly not pro-Apple, but I suspect that Tesla is firing (or at least hiring) the wrong people.
This may also actually be a subtle form of industrial espionage -- with engineering information leaking from Tesla to Apple.
Either way, it reflects poorly on Tesla, not Apple.
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I was wondering whether an employee who actually left Tesla of own accord wouldn't be able to sue Mr Musk for substantial damages? It pretty much sounds to me it is as if all the engineers that left for Apple were fired. Could even make it class action...
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Law enforcement agencies are trying to demand “backdoors” to our sensitive data and communications, while civil liberties groups are fighting back through a new campaign called SaveCrypto. And President Obama seems to be trying to find a middle ground, eschewing legal mandates but continuing to informally pressure companies to provide unencrypted access to data.
So where do the tech companies stand? See... tech companies really DO care.
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Work hard(-ly) like ants!
A story of research which was likely induced by Dilbert's colleague Wally:
Ants and bees have reputations as efficient team players. In Temnothorax rugatulus — a small brown ant found in pine forests in North America — division of labor is common, with workers specializing in tasks like foraging, building, and brood care. But new research shows that many ants in a colony seem to specialize in doing nothing at all ...
Out of the “workers,” 71.9% were inactive at least half the time, and 25.1% were never seen working. A small fraction of the ants, just 2.6%, were always active during observation What were those 97% of the ants doing? Were they searching for the coffee kitchen?
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Nature said: 9% were inactive at least half the time, and 25.1% were never seen working. A small fraction of the ants, just 2.6%, were always active during observation
Ha! Just like the human work world! 
Maybe this isn't a joke? 
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I blame nepotism. That's gotta be it. The 2.6% may be undocumented immigrants; the researchers should check their papers.
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Occam's Razor suggests a few hypotheses:
1. there is apparent "over-population" as a result of evolutionary selection related to frequent occurrence of disasters which wipe out large numbers of the population. they are "spare parts."
2. the observations taken may have been taken at times when plentiful food and water were easily available and ample food could be produced with a small pool of workers.
3. the "extra bodies" are there in case of invasion: a peace-time army ready to be mobilized.
Said razor does not suggest:
1. the ant religion calls for a large number of monks who do not work.
«I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center» Kurt Vonnegut.
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Bernhard Hiller wrote: What were those 97% of the ants doing?
They're managers.
Marc
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About 40 managers for one worker... That's real business.
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Bedtime problems boost kids’ math performance
"Daddy, read me a word problem," is probably not a request that many fathers hear. Yet if a school child's parents replace a bedtime story with a math discussion even one night a week, the child's math skill may improve markedly compared with peers who listen to nonmathematical stories, a new study shows. Note to parents: Don't drink and derive - you might confuse your kids.
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Bernhard Hiller wrote: Don't drink and derive
Don't be so integralist and axiomatic about that!  BTW this is one of my favourite wordplays but it is untranslatable in Italian.
Regarding the actual article I agree: exposure to a perspective builds confidence with it, so being exposed to little amounts of maths build the confidence and the mental paths needed to understand it.
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
"When you have eliminated the JavaScript, whatever remains must be an empty page." -- Mike Hankey
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Yet another way to steal away another little piece of our kids already cut-down childhood, just to make them well-performers in the rat race a.k.a. work life. Mad, mad world we live in.
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I understood it slightly different. If you actually manage to boost there capacity for math and problem solving, and that through a little bi of play like activity, they might end up not having to struggle for hours on math problems.
Having that extra capacity would be what make them excel to be inventors, instead of being consumers...
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To my understanding, if someone (no matter of what age) struggles to learn something, it's most likely because he or she is forced to learn it. For example, if someone has no interest in math, he or she will never excel at it because the lack of true motivation to learn it. There is no mastering without interest and motivation. (And it's just not only talent. Talent makes it easier for the individual to grasp it, but without any interest and motivation even the most talented will fail).
Now with math as a bedtime story: It might help to develop certain problem solving abilities, but still it's no guarantee that every single child who is trained like that will later be perfect or single-handedly master at math. It only works out if the child has a certain level of interest and motivation; otherwise, it will just be put under stress being forced to learn and understand it.
Now, wouldn't it be better if we'd find the thing that truly interests and motivates the child, and help to boost that? Of course, that doesn't work out with our current system of education, which forces everybody to fit into a standardized pattern, with the only goal to make them function and perform well in the rat race that our society is - no matter if they are going to be inventors or trash collectors. And the only reason I see for parents to force their kids to be good at math is because they want them to get the well-paid job later, completely ignoring their natural abilities, interests and motivation.
For example, I know a story of a guy (not me), a native German speaker, who has been very bad at English at school. He tried to get better at it, but he had no true motivation, he was only doing it for the sake of the grade and therefore, he ultimately failed. But some years later, he fell in love with an English woman who doesn't speak any German, and guess what happened? That poor guy became fluent in English after just a few months although he almost completely forgot about all he learned in the meantime...
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That doesn't add up.
I think the kids would likely get beat up more.
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