Psiphon Inc's freely available internet censorship circumvention tool has helped nearly 1.4 million Cubans this week gain access to websites, the company said on Friday, after Cuba's government curbed access to popular social media and messaging platforms...

The censorship-circumvention tool — which combines VPN, SSH, and HTTP Proxy tools — has also been used in Iran, China, Belarus, Myanmar, according to recent news reports. Bloomberg notes that the Toronto-based nonprofit Psiphon "has received funding from the Open Technology Fund, a U.S. government nonprofit that aims to support global internet freedom technologies.

A ferramenta de evasão de censura da Psiphon Inc, disponível gratuitamente na Internet, ajudou quase 1,4 milhão de cubanos a reganhar o acesso a sites, afirmou a empresa na última sexta-feira. Esse anúncio se dá no momento em que o governo cubano impede o acesso a redes sociais e aplicativos de mensagem.

A ferramenta de evasão da censura — que reúne ferramentas de VPD, SSH e HTTP Proxy — também já foi utilizada em países como Irã, China, Belarus e Myanmar, de acordo com as notícias mais recentes. A agência Bloomberg destaca que a Psiphon, organização sem fins lucrativos sediada em Toronto, "recebeu recursos do 'Open Technology Fund', uma instituição sem fins lucrativos do governo estadunidense que tem por objetivo apoiar tecnologias que garantam a liberdade no acesso à Internet ao redor do mundo". The censorship-circumvention tool — which combines VPN, SSH, and HTTP Proxy tools — has also been used in Iran, China, Belarus, Myanmar, according to recent news reports. Bloomberg notes that the Toronto-based nonprofit Psiphon "has received funding from the Open Technology Fund, a U.S. government nonprofit that aims to support global internet freedom technologies.

After Watson triumphed on the gameshow Jeopardy in 2011, its star scientist had to convince IBM that it wasn't a magic answer box, and "explained that Watson was engineered to identify word patterns and predict correct answers for the trivia game." The New York Times looks at what's happened in the decade since.

Watson has not remade any industries. And it hasn't lifted IBM's fortunes. The company trails rivals that emerged as the leaders in cloud computing and A.I. — Amazon, Microsoft and Google. While the shares of those three have multiplied in value many times, IBM's stock price is down more than 10 percent since Watson's "Jeopardy!" triumph in 2011. The company's missteps with Watson began with its early emphasis on big and difficult initiatives intended to generate both acclaim and sizable revenue for the company, according to many of the more than a dozen current and former IBM managers and scientists interviewed for this article.

Cellphones "can be transformed into surveillance devices," writes the Guardian, reporting startling new details about which innocent people are still being surveilled.

The investigators say that potential targets included nearly 200 journalists around the world evidence was found that the Pegasus software had been installed on the phone of the fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. NSO denies this to the Washington Post. But they also insist that they're simply licensing their software to clients, and their company "has no insight" into those clients' specific intelligence activities.

Cellphones "can be transformed into surveillance devices," writes the Guardian, reporting startling new details about which innocent people are still being surveilled.

The investigators say that potential targets included nearly 200 journalists around the world evidence was found that the Pegasus software had been installed on the phone of the fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. NSO denies this to the Washington Post. But they also insist that they're simply licensing their software to clients, and their company "has no insight" into those clients' specific intelligence activities.

Os telefones celulares "podem ser transformados em aparelhos de monitoramento," escreve o The Guardian, noticiando sobre alarmantes novos detalhes que evidenciam que a vigilância de pessoas inocentes continua a ser praticada.

Os investigadores afirmam que os alvos em potencial incluem cerca de 200 jornalistas ao redor do mundo. Também foram econtradas evidências de que o software Pegasus havia sido instalado no celular da noiva de Jamal Khashoggi, jornalista saudita assassinado. A NSO nega esses fatos para o jornal Washington Post. Mas ela também insiste que está simplesmente licenciando seu software aos clientes, e que a empresa "não tem conhecimento" das atividades específicas de vigilância que esses clientes empreendem. The investigators say that potential targets included nearly 200 journalists around the world evidence was found that the Pegasus software had been installed on the phone of the fiancée of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. NSO denies this to the Washington Post. But they also insist that they're simply licensing their software to clients, and their company "has no insight" into those clients' specific intelligence activities.

Depois do sucesso de Watson no programa de televisão "Jeopardy" em 2011, o principal cientista da IBM teve de explicar à empresa que o supercomputador não era uma máquina mágica de acertar perguntas e "explicou que o Watson havia sido projetado para identificar os padrões de palavras e prever respostas corretas para o jogo de perguntas e respostas [na televisão]". O New York Times investigou o que aconteceu na década que se seguiu ao ocorrido.

O Watson não provocou grandes transformações em nenhuma indústria. E nem aumentou a fortuna da IBM. A empresa ficou para trás de rivais que emergiram como líderes no ramo de cloud computing e IA - Amazon, Microsoft e Google. Enquanto as ações dessas três empresas multiplicaram seu valor em muitas vezes, as ações da IBM desvalorizaram em mais de 10% desde o sucesso de Watson no programa "Jeopardy" há dez anos. Os deslizes da empresa com o Watson começaram com sua ênfase inicial em iniciativas grandes e complicadas que tinham como intenção generar tanto aclamação quanto um lucro significativo para a empresa, de acordo com mais de uma dúzia de gerentes e cientistas que trabalharam e trabalham na IBM e foram entrevistados para esse artigo.> Watson has not remade any industries. And it hasn't lifted IBM's fortunes. The company trails rivals that emerged as the leaders in cloud computing and A.I. — Amazon, Microsoft and Google. While the shares of those three have multiplied in value many times, IBM's stock price is down more than 10 percent since Watson's "Jeopardy!" triumph in 2011. The company's missteps with Watson began with its early emphasis on big and difficult initiatives intended to generate both acclaim and sizable revenue for the company, according to many of the more than a dozen current and former IBM managers and scientists interviewed for this article.

Interesting report on data stewardship, tells me that stewardship concepts should be part of a (not just technology-focused) data literacy approach.

Relatório interessante sobre administração de dados. Os conceitos dessa administração deveriam fazer parte de uma abordagem de alfabetização de dados (não apenas focada em tecnologia).

Tim Harford discute um notório incidente com o Excel no ano passado, quando o Reino Unido perdeu o controle sobre 16.000 casos de COVID-19 devido ao limite de colunas em arquivo .xls. O autor apresenta uma história das planilhas, datando desde 1396, quando Francesco di Marco Datini inventou o duplo registro de livros. Um texto muito agradável.

In discussing the notorious Excel incident last year when the UK lost track of 16,000 Covid cases due to a .xls row limit, Tim Harford presents a history of the spreadsheet, dating all the way back to Francesco di Marco Datini and double-entry bookkeeping in 1396. A delightful piece of writing.