Deep Learning with Shallow Investment:
A DeepCortex Tutorial

Nowadays, a technology company without a data strategy is akin to a company not having a mobile plan five years ago – completely unacceptable. Around 2005, any company without “big data” was small potatoes. More recently, a company without [you name it]-as-a-service was woefully retrograde. Are technology companies a bunch of sheep that hew to the buzzwords du jour? Absolutely. Is it wise for a contemporary company to forgo a… Read More »Deep Learning with Shallow Investment:
A DeepCortex Tutorial

5 Takeaways From Building a No-Code Website

AI-juiced robots now trounce chess Grandmasters and wallop the best Go players. Robo-umps call balls and strikes more accurately than human umpires. Robots in modern manufacturing plants perform heavy lifting and repetitive tasks with a few supervisory humans on-hand. No-code platforms for websites have become so good, I wonder if computer programmers will eventually join the endangered species list. The following is a personal journey, not a definitive treatise on… Read More »5 Takeaways From Building a No-Code Website

Should We Demand Humanity from Our Autonomous Vehicles?

Like it or not, we’re on the cusp of self-driving cars. There’s still plenty to sort out from a liability and insurance perspective, but this is surmountable. The steeper challenge may come from wresting control of the steering wheel from the paws of us fallible humans. The public looks on aghast when a death occurs from an autonomous car crash that is a no-brainer for humans. When the Tesla on… Read More »Should We Demand Humanity from Our Autonomous Vehicles?

The Unpredictability of Covid Prophesyzing

Now that Vegas is reopened, bookies could start a new line of COVID-19 odds-making: Will business travel be forever reduced? Will sneeze-guarded supermarket salad bars become relics of the past? Will the French stop their double-cheek kissing? The bookies would give this last one long odds. Gallons of digital ink have been splashed prognosticating about the lasting effects of COVID-19. There’s nothing wrong with making predictions. If anything, a bit… Read More »The Unpredictability of Covid Prophesyzing

Digital Apps Will Not Save Us:
The Eminent Practicality of Basic Contact Tracing

Contact tracing has been used for decades to fight Tuberculous, Smallpox, Ebola, and STDs. Despite the vast success of contact tracing in eliminating the world’s most dangerous diseases, it has always been a delicate dance between public health and personal privacy. New smartphone technology for contact tracing raises the big-brother hackles of people who distrust the data practices of the big corporations building these apps. As stay-at-home restrictions in the… Read More »Digital Apps Will Not Save Us:
The Eminent Practicality of Basic Contact Tracing

Changing the Culture for Post-Corona Remote Work

Armchair prognosticators wax eloquent about the changes COVID-19 will bring to our future society. The absence of commutes, outside entertainment, and social events affords time aplenty for this sort of crystal balling. One of the most clichéd tropes is that employers who didn’t do so before Coronavirus will be forced to embrace remote work after witnessing how well we’ve functioned during our collective captivity. I call bullshit on this even… Read More »Changing the Culture for Post-Corona Remote Work

When Management Busyness is the Enemy of Productivity

Crew teams have Coxswains; Choirs have Leaders; Orchestras have Conductors. Virtually any endeavor where humans collaborate to create something greater than the individual, from fast food restaurants to launching a rocket, requires someone who choreographs the action. A leader is needed to steer the ship around obstacles and ensure that the workers are synchronized. Often, the most successful leaders are those who have also been workers and can empathize with… Read More »When Management Busyness is the Enemy of Productivity

Coronavirus Consequence: Disrupting the Warehousing of Seniors

Of all the horrors of the COVID-19 pandemic, among the most heartbreaking is the number of outbreaks in senior communities that house the population most likely to perish. The New York Times reports that as of April 14, more than 2,500 of 15,000 continuing care retirement communities across the country have experienced COVID-19 breakouts, and more than 3,800 residents have died. The cruel irony within the spectrum of services in… Read More »Coronavirus Consequence: Disrupting the Warehousing of Seniors

The Importance of Community in Innovation:
From the Royal Society to Meetup Groups

A previous post about Innovation during COVID-19 cited Washington Post Staff Writer, Gillian Brockell’s blog post about Isaac Newton’s innovation during the 1665 Black Plague when he socially distanced at his family’s estate 60 miles northwest of Cambridge. Newton’s quiet time at home gave him the space to think and, among other things, develop early calculus and get started with optics. Despite his preternatural abilities, Newton was gifted with some… Read More »The Importance of Community in Innovation:
From the Royal Society to Meetup Groups

Retooling Our Behavior for Effective Zoom Calls

Those of us who have spent years working on remote teams are veterans of Zoom for video conferencing. We elders react with amusement as this new wave of Coronavirus Zoom converts feels a giddy empowerment, believing that the tool will adequately substitute for person to person contact during this pandemic. There’s no question that Zoom provides an outstanding video conferencing experience, provided users have sufficient internet connections, adequate computer hardware,… Read More »Retooling Our Behavior for Effective Zoom Calls