Ethics in Computer Vision

Joeseph Redmon, who invented the YOLO Algorithm, quit his research over ethical concerns. These are some dark shadows this is throwing ahead.

New GCP Region in Seoul

Our new GCP region in Seoul is officially open for business.

Source: New GCP Region in Seoul | Google Cloud Blog

Apollo 11 Guidance Computer vs. USB-C

Apollo 11 Guidance Computer vs. USB-C: It could be that USB-C Cables nowadays have more compute capacity than Apollo 11 had on it’s way to the moon. Forrest Heller(?) made an effort to compare the technical specs and put them into perspective.

Tech’s strangest jobs of the future, recruited for today

Tech’s strangest job listings: Straight from the “daily workplace automation destruction” protocol.com reports the future of job descriptions, as indicated by job postings today.

Glimpsing the future in eye-opening tech job listings.

The article found quite a few interesting job profiles that companies apparently look for today already:

Source: Tech’s strangest job listings: Future Edition – Protocol

SoundCloud raises $75 million

SoundCloud Logo

SoundCloud raises $75 million: Berlin founded Soundcloud raises another financing round. The company has a press release on the investment. TechCrunch has more:

SiriusXM invests $75 million in SoundCloud to beef up product development and enhance services.

Source: SoundCloud Gets $75M Investment From SiriusXM To Bring Its Funding To Over $500M

‘We’ve created a privacy industry’

‘We’ve created a privacy industry’ was a statement you could often hear when Europe introduced General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the German implementation DatenSchutz GrundVerOrdnung (DSGVO). Already back in 2016 first predictions arrived, that GDPR will boost European software industry and give them a unique selling point. After the regulation became effective in Europe May 25th 2018(!), after a 2 years transition period, perceived only complaints happened. Affected data controllers and processors cited the difficulties implementing these regulations. A BitKom funded survey even indicates the regulation is hurting the European market.

'We've created a privacy industry'
Panel on Internet Security and Privacy

Now, around 1.5years later, the industry seems to have settled on the regulation and business continues as usual. Subjectively perceived, privacy is indeed still an obstacle to decision makers in the market. Even politicians keep on imploring data to be the new oil, demanding a data driven economy and to weakend the underlying ideas of european data protection acts. Meanwhile, the opportunity has moved along. Californian Start-Ups discovered this niche and turn privacy it into value:

Privacy-focused technology companies are offering a variety of services, from personal data scrubbing to business-focused software meant to help companies comply with the law.

Source: ‘We’ve created a privacy industry’: California law fuels wave of startups

Product Management Predictions

Product Management Predictions: With January already over, it’s a bit late for annual forecasts. But then again, looking into the future is a secret superpower every Product Manager should look to develop. Therefore, it’s never too late to have an understanding of what comes up next. Mason Adair of Digital Product People did so for the profession itself.

Product Management Predictions for 2020

Ten Wild Predictions, One True Story and some Solid Career Advice

From the article

Just like the industry is changing. And the article makes an effort to put into relation the different aspects Product Management has. Mason starts his thoughts by looking into public available metrics that indicate the importance and projected relevance related to management of products. In this analysis, related topics range from Agile, Minimum Viable Product, Design Thinking, Lean Startup, Product Market Fit, Rice Prioritisation and Net Promoter Score all the way to Jira, Trello and Asana. With an analysis of how relevance for these topics changed over time, the article goes into setting the scenes for professional trends that influenced the past years. These include economic environment, the introduction of new technology, a demographic shift, increasing societal fragmentation and climatic change.

Product Management Predictions shape the conclusion in his article: 10 wild predictions I believe are not that wild. The top most prediction, Product arriving at the C-Level, is almost no prediction anymore. Digital companies already have recognised the importance to actively influence direction towards customers.

Read more: The Future of Product Management in the 2020s – Mason Adair – Medium