Linked List: March 24, 2016

Thursday, 24 March 2016

Microsoft Disables Teen-Mimicking Chat Bot After It Started Posting Racist Tweets 

Alex Kantrowitz, writing for BuzzFeed:

In a matter of hours this week, Microsoft’s AI-powered chatbot, Tay, went from a jovial teen to a Holocaust-denying menace openly calling for a race war in ALL CAPS.

The bot’s sudden dark turn shocked many people, who rightfully wondered how Tay, imbued with the personality of a 19-year-old girl, could undergo such a transformation so quickly, and why Microsoft would release it into the wild without filters for hate speech.

Sources at Microsoft told BuzzFeed News that Tay was outfitted with some filters for vulgarity and the like. What the bot was not outfitted with were safeguards against those dark forces on the internet that would inevitably do their damnedest to corrupt her. That proved a critical oversight.

Not sure how Microsoft didn’t see this coming.

No Flipping: Remembering Garry Shandling 

Some great video clips in the Times’s obituary for Shandling, including his legendary first appearance on The Tonight Show, and his first guest-hosting stint.

Mac OS X Turns 15 

Stephen Hackett has a nice roundup of links to commemorate Mac OS X turning 15. I tend to think of Mac OS X as being “much” older than iOS, but iOS turns 9 in June. Not that much of a difference at this point — iOS is as mature now as Mac OS X was in 2010.

Apple’s First Foray Into Original TV Is a Series About Apps 

Emily Steel, reporting for the NYT:

Apple announced on Thursday that it was working with the entertainer Will.i.am and two veteran TV executives, Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens, on a new show that will spotlight the app economy.

“One of the things with the app store that was always great about it was the great ideas that people had to build things and create things,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services, said in an interview.

Details about the production are scant, and it was unclear how directly the show would promote or refer to Apple’s own app store. Executives declined to discuss specifics, such as financing, title, timeline, storylines, episode length or how people will watch the show.

If any developers hear from Apple about this, I’d be interested to know (on the Q.T., if necessary, which it probably will be).

Apple Downplaying the Apple Watch Edition in Both Online and Retail Stores 

Ben Lovejoy, writing for 9to5Mac:

Apple has quietly revamped the Apple Watch section of its website, rendering the Edition almost invisible unless you specifically go looking for it. In addition, we’re hearing reports that Apple’s most expensive Watch is also being removed from some retail store displays. […]

The big tell, as noted by Lovejoy later in the article, is that the Edition didn’t see any new watch bands this week. It was always a bit of a lark, a whimsy the company granted to Jony Ive.

Garry Shandling on Jerry Seinfeld’s ‘Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee’ 

Was great when it first aired, heartbreaking now. Even just the episode title — “It’s Great That Garry Shandling Is Still Alive”.

Garry Shandling Dies at 66 

Heartbreaking news:

Garry Shandling, a comedian who deftly walked a tightrope between comedic fiction and show-business reality on two cable sitcoms, died on Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 66.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles police confirmed the death but did not give a cause. TMZ, the gossip website, reported that Mr. Shandling had had a heart attack.

Mr. Shandling, who began his comedy career as a writer and went on to become one of the most successful stand-up comics of the 1980s, was best known for “The Larry Sanders Show,” a dark look at life behind the scenes of a late-night talk show. It ran on HBO from 1992 to 1998.

“You may now flip.”

Adam Lashinsky Profiles Jeff Bezos for Fortune 

Great piece:

One reason Bezos can concentrate narrowly at Amazon is the length of tenure of his top lieutenants. Jeff Wilke, for example, joined Amazon in 1999, and today he runs Amazon’s consumer business, which he calls “Amazon Classic.” He says Amazon’s annual planning process — and the detailed narratives its managers prepare for them — allows Bezos to closely “audit” the company’s efforts. Otherwise, says Wilke, “I would say his style has gone from being more prescriptive to teaching and refining.” Jeff Blackburn, an 18-year Amazon veteran who runs the company’s M&A activities and content businesses, describes Bezos as consistent in his selection process. “He still works 65 hours a week. He’s still connected to the office and doesn’t travel very much. He dives in on the same issues now that he did many years ago.”

Lashinsky is one of the top writers in the racket. He’s really on fire lately.

The Information: ‘Inside Tony Fadell’s Struggle to Build Nest’ 

This story by Reed Albergotti for The Information is absolutely brutal. I’m not sure I’ve ever read an article quite like it, with on-the-record quotes documenting an utterly broken company culture. An extraordinary airing of a ton of dirty laundry. Exhibit A. Exhibit B, regarding the relationship between Tony Fadell and his Nest co-founder Matt Rogers:

Mr. Fadell attended Mr. Rogers’ wedding last year. Afterward, Mr. Fadell ordered Mr. Rogers to cancel his month-long honeymoon in June, Mr. Rogers confirmed. A spokeswoman for Nest said it was a critical time at the company: Nest was announcing a refresh of its entire product line. When Mr. Rogers refused, Mr. Fadell told him that if he went, he wouldn’t have a job when he came back. Mr. Rogers went anyway. Mr. Fadell did not follow up on his threat.

How exactly The Information got Fadell and Rogers to participate with this story boggles my mind. The backstory behind how this story came to be is probably just as interesting as the story itself — some real Machiavellian stuff.

(The Information is a paywall publication, but they now offer “sharing” links — hopefully mine will work for DF’s readership. The Information is well worth the subscription price, in my opinion.)

North Carolina’s Anti-Trans Law Is Downright Dangerous 

Zach Stafford, writing for The Guardian:

I’m not jumping to conclusions here. An analysis of data compiled by the National Transgender Discrimination Survey last month shows that when young people are denied access to a restroom that aligns with their gender identity, their rates of suicide go up.

Translation: not allowing trans youth to use a bathroom only perpetuates feelings of isolation or depression that lead 41% of transgender people to attempt kill themselves at some point in their lives, compared to the 4.6% in the general population.

How the iPad Pro Changed Zoe Olson’s Illustrating Career 

Fascinating look at the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil (and Procreate) from an extraordinarily talented young illustrator.

Update: How does a 15-year old afford an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil? By saving her money from a year of babysitting work.

Macworld Podcast Episode 500 

Macworld:

The Macworld podcast celebrates its 500th episode! Yes, 500 years ago — we mean 11 years ago, this podcast started humbly as an experiment by a Macworld intern turned staffer recorded partly in a conference room with a nerdy guest named…Glenn Fleishman calling in remotely.

In this episode, after a welcome from one-time staffer Cyrus Farivar, Susie and Glenn talk with columnist and former editor Jason Snell about Apple’s introduction of the iPhone SE and Jason’s hands-on time with it. We also discuss the latest in the FBI/Apple case, the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and the iMessage security flaw patched this week.

Glenn takes a literal field trip this episode, too, to check in with a long-time contributor about his ruminations on the paucity of thoughtfulness among pundit: We chew the cud with the Macalope.

500 episodes is a remarkable achievement.

iMore Show Episode 500 

Rene Ritchie:

Rene, Serenity, and Georgia are joined by many friends and voices from the Apple community, Mobile Nations, and iMore, to celebrate the occasion of the 500th episode of our podcast.

500 episodes is a remarkable achievement. (And, yours truly was one of the special guests on this episode.)