Can Amazon Replace Libraries? July 23, 2018
Posted by Peter Varhol in Education, Technology and Culture.Tags: Aliquippa, Amazon, Forbes, library
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I was born and raised in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. It was a company town. In 1905, the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation bought a tract of several thousand acres along the steep hills of the Ohio River, laid out some streets, built some houses and stores, and constructed a steel mill stretching six miles along the river.
The neighborhoods were called plans, because they were individual neighborhood plans conceived and built by the company. My older sister grew up in the projects of Plan 11. Football Hall of Fame running back Tony Dorsett, two years my elder, grew up just a couple of blocks away. We shopped in the company store, the largest building in town, until I was 13. (Bear with me, please)
B.F. Jones, in the style of the robber barons of an earlier era, built a grand library in his name, right along Franklin Avenue, the main street, all marble and columns, called the B.F. (for Burris Frederick) Jones Memorial Library.
It was a massive marble structure that frightened off most youngsters. The homeless guy slept at a table in one corner. In that library, I read Don Quixote, The Far Pavilions, just about everything from James Michener, Irving Stone, and much more. It was a dismal company town, but I escaped through the library far beyond the boundaries of the drab community.
Today, a yanked Forbes magazine op-ed written by LIU Post economist Panos Mourdoukoutas opined that libraries were obsolete, and that they should be replaced by for-profit brick-and-mortar Amazon stores selling physical books. Libraries are no longer relevant, Mourdoukoutas and Forbes claim, and Amazon can serve the need in a for-profit way that benefits everyone. Libraries are a waste of taxpayer funds.
Funny, today, 40 years later, my adopted town library is the hangout of middle and high school students. Rather than the quiet place of reflection (and possibly stagnation) of the past, it is a vibrant, joyful place where parents are happy to see their children study together and socialize. There are movies, crafts, classes, lectures, and games. In an era where youngsters can escape to their phones, the Internet, video games, drugs, or worse, escaping to the library is a worthy goal.
There is one Starbucks in town, where Mourdoukoutas tells us that anyone can get wifi, and most people use the drive-through. I doubt they would let the throngs of youngsters cavort for the evening like the library does.
Today I travel extensively. I am enthralled by the amazing architectures of European cities, built when society was much poorer. Yet today we cannot afford libraries?
I am sorry, I call bullshit. Long and loud. This type of trash deserves no serious discussion; in fact, no discussion whatsoever. If we cannot afford libraries, we cannot afford imagination, we cannot afford, well, life.
To reinforce the point, please invest a few minutes to listen to Jimmy Buffett, Love in the Library. Thank you.
Here’s Looking At You June 18, 2018
Posted by Peter Varhol in Algorithms, Machine Learning, Software tools, Technology and Culture.Tags: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, facial recognition
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I studied a rudimentary form of image recognition when I was a grad student. While I could (sometimes) identify simple images based on obviously distinguishing characteristics, the limitations of rule-based systems, the computing power of Lisp Machines and early Macs, facial recognition was well beyond the capabilities of the day.
Today, facial recognition has benefitted greatly from better algorithms and faster processing, and is available commercially by several different companies. There is some question as to the reliability, but at this point it’s probably better than any manual approach to comparing photos. And that seems to be a problem for some.
Recently the ACLU and nearly 70 groups sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, alongside the one from 20 shareholder groups, arguing Amazon should not provide surveillance systems such as facial recognition technology to the government. Amazon has a facial recognition system called Rekognition (why would you use a spelling that is more reminiscent of evil times in our history?)
Once again, despite the Hitleresque product name, I don’t get the outrage. We give the likes of Facebook our life history in detail, in pictures and video, and let them sell it on the open market, but the police can’t automate the search of photos? That makes no sense. Facebook continues to get our explicit approval for the crass but grossly profitable commercialization of our most intimate details, while our government cannot use commercial and legal software tools?
Make no mistake; I am troubled by our surveillance state, probably more than most people, but we cannot deny tools to our government that the Bad Guys can buy and use legally. We may not like the result, but we seem happy to go along like sheep when it’s Facebook as the shepherd.
I tried for the life of me to curse our government for its intrusion in our lives, but we don’t seem to mind it when it’s Facebook, so I just can’t get excited about the whole thing. I cannot imagine Zuckerberg running for President. Why should he give up the most powerful position in the world to face the checks and balances of our government?
I am far more concerned about individuals using commercial facial recognition technology to identify and harass total strangers. Imagine an attractive young lady (I am a heterosexual male, but it’s also applicable to other combinations) walking down the street. I take her photo with my phone, and within seconds have her name, address, and life history (quite possibly from her Facebook account). Were I that type of person (I hope I’m not), I could use that information to make her life difficult. While I don’t think I would, there are people who would think nothing of doing so.
So my take is that if you don’t want the government to use commercial facial recognition software, demonstrate your honesty and integrity by getting the heck off of Facebook first.
Update: Apple will automatically share your location when you call 911. I think I’m okay with this, too. When you call 911 for an emergency, presumably you want to be found.
Too Many Cameras June 15, 2018
Posted by Peter Varhol in Software platforms, Strategy, Technology and Culture.Tags: Amazon, Secrets
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The title above is a play off of the “Too Many Secrets” revelation in the 1992 movie Sneakers, in which Robert Redford’s character, who has a secret or two himself, finds himself in possession of the ultimate decryption device, and everyone wants it.
Today we have too many cameras around us. This was brought home to me rather starkly when I received an email that said:
I’ve been recording you with your computer camera and caught you <censored>. Shame on you. If you don’t want me to send that video to your family and employer, pay me $1000.
I pause. Did I really do <censored> in front of my computer camera? I didn’t think so, but I do spend a lot of time in front of the screen. In any case, <censored> didn’t quite rise to the level of blackmail concern, in my opinion, so I ignored it.
But is this scenario so completely far-fetched? This article lists all of the cameras that Amazon can conceivably put in your home today, and in the near future, that list will certainly grow. Other services, such as your PC vendor and security system provider, will add even more movie-ready devices.
In some ways, the explosion of cameras looking at our actions is good. Cameras can nudge us to drive more safely, and to identify and find thieves and other bad guys. They can help find lost or kidnapped children.
But even outside our home, they are a little creepy. You don’t want to stop in the middle of the sidewalk and think, I’m being watched right now. The vast majority of people simply don’t have any reason to be observed, and thinking about it can be disconcerting.
Inside, I simply don’t think we want them, phone and PC included. I do believe that people realize it is happening, but in the short term, think the coolness of the Amazon products and the lack of friction in ordering from Amazon supersedes any thoughts about privacy. They would rather have computers at their beck and call than think about the implications.
We need to do better than that if we want to live in an automated world.
Alexa, Phone Joe May 28, 2018
Posted by Peter Varhol in Algorithms, Software platforms, Technology and Culture.Tags: Alexa, Amazon, natural language
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By now, the story of how Amazon Alexa recorded a private conversation and sent the recording off to a colleague is well-known. Amazon has said that the event was a highly unlikely series of circumstances that will only happen very rarely. Further, it promised to try to adjust the algorithms so that it didn’t happen again, but no guarantees, of course.
Forgive me if that doesn’t make me feel better. Now, I’m not blaming Amazon, or Alexa, or the couple involved in the conversation. What this scenario should be doing is radically readjusting what our expectations of a private conversation are. About three decades ago, there was a short-lived (I believe) reality TV show called “Children Say the Funniest Things.” It turned out that most of the funniest things concerned what they repeated from their parents.
Well, it’s not only our children that are in the room. It’s also Internet-connected “smart” devices that can reliably digitally record our conversations and share them around the world. Are we surprised? We shouldn’t be. Did we really think that putting a device that we could talk to in the room wouldn’t drastically change what privacy meant?
Well, here we are. Alexa is not only a frictionless method of ordering products. It is an unimpeachable witness listening to “some” conversations in the room. Which ones? Well, that’s not quite clear. There are keywords, but depending on location, volume, and accent, Alexa may hear keywords where none are intended.
And it will decide who to share those conversations with, perhaps based on pre-programmed keywords. Or perhaps based on an AI-type natural language interpretation of a statement. Or, most concerning, based on a hack of the system.
One has to ask if in the very near future Alexa may well be subject to a warrant in a criminal case? Guess what, it has already happened. And unintended consequences will continue to occur, and many of those consequences will continue to be more and more public.
We may well accept that tradeoff – more and different unintended consequences in return for greater convenience in ordering things. I’m aware that Alexa can do more than that, and that its range of capability will only continue to expand. But so will the range of unintended consequences.
I May Need a Kindle February 15, 2013
Posted by Peter Varhol in Publishing, Software platforms.Tags: Amazon, Kiindle, Nook
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I don’t have anything against a Kindle. Amazon is the world’s largest bookstore, the Kindles generally get decent reviews, and the company has released its ebook format so that others can adopt it.
The latter, of course, was my biggest concern about Kindle and Amazon, and it’s been over a year, and I’m seeing an increasing number of sites (I mean you, Gutenberg Project) making out-of-copyright books available in the format for free download.
I have a Barnes and Noble superstore down the street, and while I don’t browse that much anymore, there is a certain comfort in knowing that I still can.
But more and more interesting books are coming out in electronic, rather than paper form. And more and more are coming out on the Kindle first, and ePub later, if at all. I have already bought one book that is only available on a Kindle, and am considering two others.
I suppose I can get a tablet, and use the Kindle reader. For the Kindle books I have bought so far, that’s what I do, on my laptop. But I’m unready to commit to a tablet, wanting to see a little more maturity in the market before I make a selection (it probably won’t be an iPad; I just can’t see buying into the Apple ecosystem).
But I fear that this trend portends larger issues for Nook, and Barnes and Noble in general. Authors are increasingly going to ebook formats only. That’s a good thing, because it’s increasingly difficult to get a paper book published without going the self-publishing route. There is nothing inherently wrong with self-publishing, but it does mean that authors are also their own marketers and publicists, which most would prefer not to do.
For those who are seeking an inexpensive way of getting interesting work out to a small audience, the ebook is a natural. But there is a cost and time commitment to place an ebook in multiple formats on multiple reading platforms. Some authors prefer supporting a single platform only. Given that Amazon and Kindle have the majority of sales and readers (65 percent? I’ve heard various figures that give about two-thirds to Amazon, slightly less than 30 percent to Nook, and a smattering elsewhere.), authors want their works to reach that majority.
As more individual authors make the decision to support the most popular platform, more readers will move to that platform. There will always likely be a place for an alternative, but the best and most interesting work will appear on Kindle, and readers will follow them.
The Kindle App is Terrible December 31, 2012
Posted by Peter Varhol in Technology and Culture.Tags: Amazon, Kindle, usability
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I broke down and bought a Kindle ebook today. The book was “Why Plans Fail: Cognitive Bias and Decision-Making.” This book was highly recommended by Adam Yuret, and looks like a great supplement to my presentation Moneyball and the Science of Building Great Testing Teams.”
But the book is only available in the Kindle format. I understand why people do that. If you are publishing a short story, or a short book, and are self-publishing, you are likely to choose one format for simplicity purposes, and the Kindle format makes sense for many.
I don’t own a Kindle. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which being that the Kindle format was proprietary until relatively recently, I am invested in ePub books on the Barnes and Noble Nook.
So I downloaded and installed the Kindle app for Windows 7, and purchased the book.
And the app sucks. I know it’s a free application, and Amazon would very much prefer to have me actually purchase a Kindle, but the app doesn’t at all make me inclined to do so. Pretty much the opposite, in fact.
My big beef is scrolling. Basically, you can’t. There is no scroll bar. You can arrow down, or you can use the wheel on the mouse if you have one. Either way, it scrolls a complete page. I prefer scrolling more or less continuously, a few lines at a time, so that I don’t have to stop and scroll a page, and I can refer a few lines above without scrolling back. The Kindle app is anti-scroll. You go to the next page, and if you want to look at the line above, you scroll back. But you lose the line you were reading. That’s simply stupid.
I realize that I’ve invested a grand total of $3.99, and that with that level of commitment I don’t have a lot of right to complain. But this is a real usability problem, and that’s the kiss of death for online reading.
The book is basically unreadable the way that I prefer to read, and it’s entirely the fault of the app. Amazon, either do better, or admit that you don’t want me to buy your books without also buying a Kindle.
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