When it comes to predicting demand or consumer behavior, there is nothing in the historical data that resembles what we see now. Thus, a model based purely on historical data will try to reproduce “what is normal” and is likely to give inaccurate predictions. Let me give you a simple analogy of the problem that data scientists and machine learning professionals are now experiencing. If you want to predict how long it is going to take to drive from A to B in London next Thursday at 18:00, you can ask a model that looks at historical driving times, and possibly at various scales....

The statement, posted to Twitter, says the game is essentially complete, but CDPR is delaying its release to “properly go through everything, balance game mechanics and fix a lot of bugs.” It adds that the size of the game world means “a huge number of things to iron out and we will spend the additional time doing exactly that.” — Cyberpunk 2077 (@CyberpunkGame) June 18, 2020 Now, that sounds good, but I don’t know, y’all....

Paul McCartney did it. So did Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones. From Led Zeppelin to Radiohead to Foo Fighters, right up to today’s hottest artists like Billie Eilish, musicians have often sequestered themselves away from the usual recording studio setting to create their music in a secluded outpost somewhere. But in the age of COVID, DIY music production is no longer the exception to the rule. In 2020, everyone from Taylor Swift to Lizzo to Drake sang lyrics, crafted beats, and dropped albums from inside their own homes....

As expected, the Mavic Mini weights 249 grams (just over half a pound), making it the first of the company’s drone to not require FAA registration. You’ll still have to check local ordinances, but it at least removes one small hassle for operating your drone legally. Being so small and light of course also makes it easier to take more places and means you probably don’t have to worry too much if one happens to fall out of the sky....

At the same time, an Italian man who allegedly attended the same cryptocurrency conference in North Korea has said the charges against Griffith are exaggerated, CoinDesk reports. As previously reported by Hard Fork, Griffith is accused of breaking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after he allegedly explained to North Korea how blockchain could be leveraged to evade US sanctions. “The sanctions were not a topic at all,” Fabio Pietrosanti, who claims to have known Griffith for almost ten years, told CoinDesk....

One technique that can help address some of these challenges is “federated learning.” By distributing the training of models across user devices, federated learning makes it possible to take advantage of machine learning while minimizing the need to collect user data. Cloud-based machine learning The traditional process for developing machine learning applications is to gather a large dataset, train a model on the data, and run the trained model on a cloud server that users can reach through different applications such as web search, translation, text generation, and image processing....

Investors came at CEO Mark Zuckerberg with eight separate proposals aimed at limiting his power or his outright resignation. However, as Bloomberg reported, all it took was Zuckerberg’s majority votes to dismiss each one. Not to be outdone, right-wing activists from the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR) managed to get a proposal on the bill demanding Facebook provide shareholders with a “description of the specific minimum qualifications that the Board’s nominating committee believes must be met by a nominee to be on the board of directors and a chart or other presentation of each nominee’s skills, ideological perspectives and experience....

But that’s exactly what Facebook does every time it rolls out an update. Sure, it mitigates the potential for terror by making the changes in batches and conducting an incredible amount of internal testing. But at the end of the day, you never know precisely how any given change could upset the delicate user balance that keeps Facebook on people’s screens. Lucky for Facebook, the company’s AI team recently came up with a pretty clever way to make sure those software updates and tweaks don’t screw up its platform and cost it any users: they built a fake Facebook-scale social media network full of bots to test things out on....

Yesterday, Facebook employees issued an open letter urging Mark Zuckerberg and other company executives at the tech giant to rethink their strategy for regulating and green-lighting paid political ads on the platform. The open letter, obtained by The New York Times, has been signed by more than 250 employees who believe the platform is being weaponized by politicians and threatens what the company stands for — allowing people to express their voice....

Now, several Facebook employees are articulating their displeasure about this decision on Twitter. Earlier this morning, the company’s director of product management, Jason Toff, said that “he’s not proud of how we’re showing up.” [Note: If you’re a Facebook employee who wants to talk to us about what’s going on at the company, email me at [email protected]] — Jason Toff (@jasontoff) June 1, 2020 Several other employees have also chimed their opinions about Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to keep the tweet up on Facebook....

The Trump ban went into effect on January 7, a day after the Capitol riot. Zuckerberg said Trump was banned “indefinitely” from Facebook and Instagram, but the matter was then submitted to the company’s Oversight Board on January 21. The Oversight Board was originally slated to make a decision within 90 days, but the ruling was delayed after receiving over 9,000 comments on the case, which it needed time to review....

Facebook said the ban was a direct response to the federal government’s news media code legislation, which is expected to become law soon and would require digital platforms such as Facebook and Google to pay news media companies whose content they host. Why has Facebook done this? The move is either a last-ditch attempt to gain concessions in the legislation or a simple cut-and-run by Facebook. The social media giant claims news publishers derive more value from news sharing than Facebook does....

The memo, which was published on Medium last week — the same week as Facebook’s annual ‘[email protected]’ conference — includes 12 anonymous anecdotes detailing their experiences as black Facebook employees. “While eating breakfast, two white employees asked me to clean up after their mess. I am a program manager. I told my manager about the incident. She told me I need to dress more professionally,” one person wrote. Another said: “My manager has directly asked at least two colleagues to provide me negative feedback on my performance review in order to influence my performance rating, which would negatively impact my total compensation....

Thankfully, that should soon happen a lot less. Starting today, Facebook is rolling out a feature that will warn users before they share an article over 90 days old. You’ll see the notification if you click the share button on an old article, but it’s not clear if it works with simply copying and pasting a link. Of course, sometimes old news is relevant, so you can still share the piece if you’d like after clicking through the warning....

Unlike regular people who rarely care about philosophy, their carbon footprint, saving the planet, colonizing Mars, and naming their children after spy planes, Teslites and Muskians struggle to co-exist with non-Teslites and non-Muskians. In fact, research (citation non-existent) has shown that Tesla owners are 90% less likely to find love than any other earthlings. It’s a problem that’s plagued these poor souls for years. — Kim Paquette ? (@kimpaquette) August 13, 2020 But it doesn’t have to be this way....

When you make your list of the most groundbreaking business innovations of the 20th century, you might overlook something like the simple spreadsheet. But when you consider how much impact spreadsheets, and more specifically, Microsoft Excel have had on 21st century digital accounting and data analysis, it makes a strikingly strong case. Microsoft Excel knowledge remains a benchmark skill set for any entrepreneur, so understand its full role in enterprise building with the training in The Complete Excel Bundle: MBA & Startup Toolbox....

That may be precisely the wrong lesson to learn. Instead, science is increasingly helping us to appreciate just how vital memory and prior knowledge really are. With memory, we can learn and understand faster, and reason more effectively. Without it, we risk being overwhelmed by information faster than we can comprehend it. So what is memory? Memory is the faculty of the brain by which information is encoded, stored, and retrieved....

The European nation is offering residents €2,500 ($2,975) to trade in their old emission spewing car, and get an electric bicycle. Yes, an electric bicycle. [Read more: The biggest tech trends of 2021, according to 3 founders] It’s not set in stone just yet, though. Earlier this week, lawmakers in France approved the measure in a preliminary vote. The French Federation of Bicycle Users claims that if France does go ahead with the scheme, it would be the first nation in the world to give people money for old cars to put towards new electric bicycles, Reuters reports....

“The result of this loosening is that the side shutter will no longer effectively lock, and photo capture may be triggered unintentionally,” the company wrote in statement. “Another result is that tiny parts could become loose within the camera body and potentially interfere with camera functionality.” The exact number of affected devices remains unclear, but the company reckons the issue persists in “only a very small percentage” of GFX100 units....

That was in mid-April, when Bitcoin traded at around $6,600. Since then, the price of Bitcoin has risen above $9,200, which means those who bought Bitcoin with their “corona cash” are well in the green. [Read: Democrats counter Trump’s fake coronavirus news with AI that fought ISIS propaganda] In fact, Bitcoin fans who immediately used their stimulus money to stack sats would’ve paid $1,200 for around 0.179 BTC. Now, that’s worth in excess of $1,650 — a value increase of more than 25%....