Category Archives: Tech
The overlay bias
I’m not very fond of some highly popular pieces of writing (I won’t name them because I’m nervous about backlash from authors and/or their supporters) because a part of their popularity is undeniably rooted in technological ‘solutions’ that asymmetrically promote … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, Tech
Tagged arXiv, bias, echo chamber, NYT, Pocket, publishing, social media, technocracy, The Atlantic, The Baffler, third world
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Injustice ex machina
There are some things I think about but struggle to articulate, especially in the heat of an argument with a friend. Cory Doctorow succinctly captures one such idea here: Empiricism-washing is the top ideological dirty trick of technocrats everywhere: they … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Tech
Tagged anti-intellectualism, artificial intelligence, capitalism, Cory Doctorow, Evgeny Morozov, globalisation, machine learning, middle-class aspirations, nationalism, populism, technological solutionism
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DotA redux – AI loses
What happened An artificially intelligent (AI) gaming system built by a company co-led by Elon Musk took on some of the best human players at a game more complex than chess or Go last week – and lost. AI losing … Continue reading
Posted in Tech
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View from the beanstalk
In early 2015, I developed an unlikely hobby: tinkering around with hosting solutions on the web, specifically providers of infrastructure as a service (IaaS). It’s unlikely because it’s not something I consciously inculcated; it just happened. Three years later, this hobby … Continue reading
Posted in Tech
Tagged Amazon Web Services, Bruce Schneier, Digital Ocean, IaaS, John Gruber, Linode, managed hosting, virtual private network, WordPress
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Things to keep in mind before picking a webhost
In descending order of priority 1. Support This isn’t just about receiving help when you need but also about when you don’t. The hosting providers’ support staff should be easily accessible at all times and you should be able to … Continue reading
Posted in Tech
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On that Poynter debate about stock images and ethical visual journalism
Response to Mark Johnson, Article about free images ‘contradicts everything I hold true about journalism’, Poynter, February 9, 2018. ∞ Let’s get the caveats out of the way: The article to which Johnson is responding did get some of its messaging wrong. … Continue reading
Posted in Life notes, Op-eds, Tech
Tagged CC-BY license, copyright, Creative Commons, digital commons, journalism, Mark Johnson, multimedia, Open Access, podcast, Poynter, Public domain, royalty, video journalism, visual journalism
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