A brilliant speech from TEDtalks by Kevin Slavin, on how increasingly more efficient and complicated algorithms are running our world and our lives; and the detachment of human considerations from their impacts on nature and life.
Month / August 2011
Where in the World?
I Can Do Science, Me!
Now you can do your bit for science. You can put your idle computing power to good use by being part of Internet-connected distributed processing systems that run on volunteered home computers and harness their processing power to conduct large-scale analyses of data.
Recently, the Large Hadron Collider team at Centre for European Nuclear Research (CERN) announced the LHC@home 2.0 project, to tap into the collective computing power of the public to help simulate particle physics experiments. Among other pursuits, the project could help find an immensely important particle, the Higgs boson.
V for Vendetta – A Typographic Tribute
Sheer alliterative ingenuity!
Remember, Remember, The 5th of November
Hacktivist group Anonymous has claimed that on November 5th, 2011, Facebook will be “destroyed”!
An Anonymous Twitter account, @OP_Facebook (signifying “Operation Facebook”), has been set up with a tweet linking to this YouTube video. The transcript is available here. (Note: November 5th is a somewhat significant date for revolution)
Anonymous has recently claimed involvement in a number of notable hacking attacks this year, including breaking into numerous law enforcement websites and taking down the Syrian Ministry of Defense website. According to them, Anonymous has taken this recent interest in Facebook due to privacy concerns and its plans to create its own social network, called AnonPlus.
Squiggle Inception
A video that takes you on a mind-bending trip, replete with harmonic algorithms and references to Mathematician David Hilbert and Hilbert Spaces.
Apple vs. Exxon: Race to Become the World’s Largest Public Company
Apple (AAPL) temporarily overtook Exxon (XOM) to become the world’s largest publicly listed company, in terms of their market capitalization. This is a remarkable turnaround for a company that was on the brink of bankruptcy in 1997, a mere 14 years back, and a remarkable achievement for a company that was valued at US$50 billion less than Exxon a few weeks back!
TechCrunch has a beautiful timeline of the race as both firms take turns at wearing the market cap crown.
In the days to come Apple is sure to become the largest public company, specially when iCloud goes mainstream and iPhone5 (iPhone 4G?) hits the streets.