About Dave Limp + A Look at The Future: Ambient Intelligence and It's Happening Fast! [Dieter Bohn writing in The Verge]

Every time Amazon announces a new kind of gadget, there’s an inevitable and often justified backlash of concern that it’s further eroding our privacy. Although the company has done lots of work to secure its devices and provide clear and strong protections, the backlash is unavoidable given the nature of the products.

Amazon’s ambient intelligence platform, it’s no longer a joke. The computer is both in the cloud and on the device, and the actual computing happens here, there, and everywhere — and as a consumer, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to locate. . .it’s a messy melange of inputs, outputs, machine learning, and hunches (literally, Amazon calls its technology for predicting your commands “hunches”). Limp says that as many as one out of four actions taken by Alexa devices today are proactive — they’re done by Alexa based on what it has learned about your desires instead of in response to a specific command.

Amazon’s race to create the disappearing computer

Ambient computing is here; now what?

By Dieter Bohn@backlon 

Sep 28, 2021, 1:05pm EDT

"For his last column in 2017, Walt Mossberg predicted that technology would fade into the background, and so-called “ambient computing” would become ubiquitous. Four years later, we are well on our way — but what exactly that term means for how computers will work and how we’ll live is still very much up in the air.

Many companies are working on some vision of ambient computing, but there’s nobody working harder to try to make the idea of ambient computing happen right now than Amazon’s head of hardware, Dave Limp.

How he’s building that future today is a case study in how Big Tech confounds our preconceived notions of how progress works. We expected AI to look like HAL 9000. Instead, it looks a lot more like a Hammacher Schlemmer catalog.

At Amazon’s yearly lollapalooza of gadget announcements, the company typically announces literally dozens of new Alexa-connected devices. Releasing so many different devices at such a heady clip makes a certain kind of sense: if computers are meant to be all around us, Amazon needs to produce as many different kinds of computers as possible.

Instead of HAL 9000, we’re getting Hammacher Schlemmer

This year, among the flood, Limp presented three devices that are paradigmatic of his vision for what he calls “ambient intelligence.”

Subbing out the word “computer” for “intelligence” is a tell that he’s trying to change consumers’ thinking about how our digital lives will work in the future.

Today, however, these three devices are limited to pushing the boundaries of — and our comfort levels with — what we expect out of smart homes. Critically, all three take part in a new kind of computing platform that is unlike what we’re used to seeing from Big Tech. It’s diffuse, dispersed, and sometimes difficult to comprehend. . ."

READ MORE: https://www.theverge.com/22696187/amazon-alexa-ambient-disappearing-computer-limp-interview 

In This Stream

Amazon’s fall hardware event 2021: rumors, news, and announcements

• Ring’s security drone could be flying in your home soon
• Amazon’s race to create the disappearing computer
• Amazon’s AZ2 CPU knows your face

View all 26 stories

 

$999 Amazon Astro: Don't Be Fooled (It isn't a Robot - It's A Camera-on-Wheels)...Part of a Trend of Surveillance Everywhere

 Home Sweet Home oh sure... and take  a close word-for-word look at this report by James Vincent today - and, of course, take the time to read in-between-the-lines

Don’t be fooled — Amazon’s Astro isn’t a home robot, it’s a camera on wheels

New, 27 comments

Whether you like it or not, let’s be clear about what Amazon is selling

By James Vincent Sep 29, 2021, 9:44am EDT

 

James Vincent: "Yesterday, Amazon announced its “home robot” — a wheeled device named Astro that has a display, an array of sensors, and a camera that periscopes out the top of its body like a mast. In advertisements for Astro, Amazon presents the device as an engineering breakthrough and the realization of a long-held sci-fi dream: to build a robot that can help around the house.

This is rubbish, of course. What Astro is — for better or worse — is a camera on wheels.

 (Oh, and it absolutely cannot get a beer for you — a recurring meme when companies try to hype home robots).

The physical limitations of Astro are obvious.

> It has no arms or manipulators; no way to interact with the world other than bumping into objects at shin height.

> It can’t navigate steps, and, according to employees who worked on the robot and spoke to Vice, it is fragile and prone to self-destruction.

> “Astro is terrible and will almost certainly throw itself down a flight of stairs if presented the opportunity,” one told the publication.

(Oh, and it absolutely cannot get a beer for you — a recurring meme when companies try to hype home robots).

But Amazon is still offering customers quite a bit with Astro, and for those worried about the privacy implications of this technology, the basic usefulness of the device needs to be reckoned with.

> Amazon says Astro will use facial recognition to identify people in your home and recognize intruders. (Again, though, Vice reports that this feature works poorly in the real world.)

> The bot can be set to “patrol” your house at night and can be activated and steered remotely, letting you peek through its periscope camera via your phone.

In Amazon’s ad, a couple use this feature to double check they turned the stove off.

This is silly stuff, but it’s useful, too. These are features many people will want.

> Everyone cares about keeping their home safe and, if you’re already investing in home surveillance but don’t want to put a camera in every room, then Astro may seem like an attractive solution. (Whether people will pay $999 for the pleasure, and whether Astro will actually work as promised, are open questions.)

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READ MORE FROM THE SOURCE:

 

Easier to Cheat or What??? | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Environmental Quality Omnibus Bill Takes Effect Streamlining and Eliminating Unnecessary Regulations

Hmmm something suspicious

Environmental Quality Omnibus Bill Takes Effect Streamlining and Eliminating Unnecessary Regulations House Bill 2580 achieves highest number of deregulatory, clean-up and technical corrections in Department history PHOENIX (Sept. 29, 2021) – Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) officials today thank Governor Doug Ducey for signing House Bill 2580 (HB 2580) into law. Sponsored by Representative Gail Griffin, this legislation reduces unnecessary regulations, while continuing to promote environmentally responsible economic growth in Arizona. In response to Governor Ducey’s Executive Order 2015-01, HB 2580 is part of ADEQ’s continuous evaluation of existing statutes and rules to identify and remove, simplify or correct duplicative, contradictory and ambiguous regulatory hurdles. HB 2580 successfully repeals 15 pieces of statute, amends an additional five statutes, and enables ADEQ to streamline three sections of rule from the Arizona Administrative Code, offering tangible benefits to both Arizona taxpayers and industry. “This is the latest in a series of omnibus bills I have sponsored to make it easier to do business with ADEQ without reducing ADEQ’s ability to protect public health and the environment,” said Representative Gail Griffin. “ADEQ is committed to achieving positive mission outcomes through efficient, effective government at the speed of business,” said ADEQ Director Misael Cabrera. “Streamlined regulations eliminate waste from our processes and increase our capacity to work with our customers to do more mission-critical work for Arizonans and our unique environment." Details: The latest in a series of bills enacted to improve the ADEQ regulatory structure, HB 2580 accomplishes the following: Eliminates statutes: Repeals a duplicative requirement to adopt a process related to Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund (WQARF) boundaries. (A.R.S. §49-289.01(C)) Repeals requirements for state-owned hazardous waste facilities that were adopted in 1980 since there are no such sites, no intention of creating any, and to eliminate conflict with a mandate that state statute not be more stringent than federal law. (A.R.S. §49-902 – §49-905) Repeals a one-time requirement to conduct a hazardous air pollutants study and issue a report, which was satisfied in 1995. (A.R.S. §49-426.08) Repeals the diesel roadside testing pilot program and its corresponding civil penalties, which were determined as unfeasible in 2002 . (A.R.S. §49-542.06 and §49-542.07) Repeals the requirement for the Department to write rules related to changing air quality attainment area designations, since the federal Clean Air Act already mandates the process. (A.R.S. §49-405(B)(2)) Repeals the annual requirement for consumers of newsprint to certify the amount of recycled newsprint purchased the previous year, since it no longer provides environmental benefit. When this statute was enacted in 1990, landfilled newsprint made up a significant portion of the nation’s waste stream. Since then, newsprint in the waste stream has decreased by 85 percent. (A.R.S. §49-834) Modifies statutes: Aligns air quality public hearing notice timeframes with federal and state regulations. (A.R.S. §49-425) Makes the development of criteria governing disbursement of solid waste planning and assistance funds to county, city or town management agencies discretionary instead of mandatory, since funds have never been appropriated for this purpose. (A.R.S. §49-724) Removes a requirement to include a summary of Pollution Prevention Report reviews in an annual report that, due to a statutory change in 2003, the agency is no longer required to produce. (A.R.S. §49-964(C)) Removes a requirement for the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) to review Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program Contracts, since the requirement for JLBC to review the initial contract was repealed in 2011 and JLBC has not unfavorably reviewed any contract amendment for over a decade. (A.R.S. §49-545(G)) Removes the requirement for ADEQ to develop a response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Power Plan (CPP), including coordination with and reporting to a defunct legislative committee, since EPA did not adopt the CPP. (A.R.S. §49-459) Allows ADEQ to convene WQARF Community Advisory Board meetings at any time in response to a public or municipal request or site condition changes, instead of on a mandated quarterly basis. (A.R.S. §49-289.03(F)(2)) View ADEQ’s 2021 Legislative Summary >    QUESTIONS? Contact Us

A STUDY SESSION: Mesa City Council Thu 09.30.2021

NEW RULES ON WHAT THEY CALL "DECORUM". Please scroll down and Follow the Instructions

Here it is all at your finger-tips --- Send in those comments cards!! Thursday, September 30, 2021 7:30 AM Lower Council Chambers  Roll Call (City Council members participate in person, telephonically, or electronically.)  1 Review and discuss items on the agenda for the October 4, 2021 regular Council meeting LINK: 24 Items Meeting Name: City Council Agenda status: Tentative Meeting date/time: 10/4/2021 5:45 PM Minutes status: Draft   Meeting location: Council Chambers Published agenda:  Agenda Published minutes: Not available   Meeting video: Not available    Attachments: Meeting Items (24 CITY OF MESA NOTICE OF MEETING & AGENDA - TENTATIVE  CITY COUNCIL Monday, October 4, 2021 Mesa Council Chambers 5:45 PM 57 E. First Street, Mesa, Arizona  PARTICIPATING AND ATTENDING MEETINGS: The public is welcome and encouraged to speak at City Council regular meetings on an agenda item or on an issue that is not specifically on the agenda during “Items from Citizens Present.” The public may attend and participate in person, electronically, and telephonically. Speakers will generally be given three minutes.  IN PERSON COMMENT: Submit a blue speaker/comment card to the City Clerk prior to the meeting. You have the choice to have your comments read aloud or to speak. If you choose to speak, your name will be called, and you will be asked to address Council at the lectern.  TELEPHONE COMMENT: Submit an online comment card at least one hour prior to the meeting by going to Mesaaz.gov/bluecard. At the start of the meeting, call 888-788-0099 or 877-853-5247 (toll free) using meeting ID 5301232921 and follow the prompts. You will be prompted to unmute your line when it is time for you to speak.  ELECTRONIC COMMENT: Submit an online comment card at least one hour prior to the start of the meeting by going to Mesaaz.gov/bluecard. The comment will be read during the live meeting which can be watched on local cable Mesa Channel 11 or online at www.Mesa11.com/live or https://www.facebook.com/CityofMesa. For help with the online comment card or for any technical difficulties, please call (480) 644-2099. CONSENT AGENDA: All items listed with an asterisk (*) are on the consent agenda which means they will be considered by the City Council as a group, without any separate discussion of these items, unless a Councilmember or citizen requests the item be removed from the consent agenda to be considered separately. Please submit a blue speaker/comment card to the City Clerk before the meeting to move an item off the consent agenda. ACCESSIBILITY: The City of Mesa is committed to making its public meetings accessible to persons with disabilities. For special accommodations, please contact the City Manager’s Office at (480) 644-3333 or AZRelay 7-1-1 at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting. Si necesita asistencia o traducción en español, favor de llamar al menos 48 horas antes de la reunión al 480-644-2767.  DECORUM: All persons attending the Council meeting are asked to observe the rules of politeness, propriety, decorum, and good conduct. Any person interfering with the meeting will be asked to leave or removed from the meeting and will not be allowed to return. To give everyone an opportunity to speak, comments are generally limited to three minutes unless otherwise determined by the Mayor.  Comments must be relevant to the item being discussed, except during Items from Citizens Present.  Councilmembers are generally not permitted to discuss or take legal action on any matters raised by the public that are not specifically on the agenda.  If you are with a group, please designate a spokesperson.  When it is your turn, please step up to the lectern, speak clearly into the microphone, and begin by stating your name and address for the record.  If you have materials to hand out, please give them to the City Clerk for distribution to the Council and staff.  Eleven copies of each document are needed to insure there are enough handouts.  Political campaigning is prohibited by state law.  Pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.02, notice is hereby given that the City Council will hold a meeting open to the public at the date and time above.  If indicated in the agenda, pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03, the City Council may vote to go into executive session which will not be open to the public.  Members of the City Council may appear at the meeting in person, telephonically, or electronically.  Children are welcome at City Council meetings. Please remember meetings are video recorded; by allowing your child to attend, you consent to your child being recorded. A.R.S. § 1-602(A)(9) 2 Presentations/Action Items:  2-a 21-1008 Hear a presentation and discuss the state of the Court update Highlights   Recruiting for new magistrate after retirement of Judge Valerye Boyer-Wells   Employee satisfaction survey in August showed 78% of court employees believe morale has significantly improved in the last six months   Completed 19 jury trials to verdict since April 2021   Veterans Court and Rule 11 (competency) Court are going strong   Obtained grant funding to tint the windows – addresses security concern and doing our part for the City’s Climate Action Plan  Domestic Violence Court   9/14/21 – Helped coordinate and attended a training put on by Tucson Domestic Violence Court team   10/12/21 –Kickoff meeting to begin implementation of a Domestic Violence Court in Mesa File #: 21-1008    Type: Presentation Status: Agenda Ready In control: City Council Study Session On agenda: 9/30/2021 Title: Hear a presentation and discuss the state of the Court update. Attachments: 1. Presentation 3 Acknowledge receipt of minutes of various boards and committees.  3-a 21-0971 Economic Development Advisory Board meeting held on August 3, 2021 File #: 21-0971    Type: Minutes Status: Agenda Ready In control: City Council Study Session On agenda: 9/30/2021 Title: Economic Development Advisory Board meeting held on August 3, 2021. Attachments: 1. 2021-08-03 City of Mesa EDAB Approved Meeting Minutes ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ DIRECTOR'S REPORT 6. Director’s Report Jaye O’Donnell introduced the two newest members of our team. 1 Elyce Gobat, Economic Development Project Specialist, comes to us from SE New Mexico where she was the Director of Research. She did a lot of business development, totaling $8B in investment attraction. Currently, she is handling e-Tracks and assisting me with the annual report. She is a University of Arizona graduate with a degree in French and speaks some Mandarin. 2  Celine Kilic, Economic Development Project Manager, comes to us from Boston where she worked for the United Kingdom Department for International Trade. She graduated from ASU with a degree in Political Science and speaks Turkish and German. Celine will lead the business retention and expansion effort. Lori Collins was recently named the new President of the Executive Board for the Arizona Association of Economic Development (AAED). Lori has held all the positions within the Board and will do a fantastic job! Our office submitted six award applications to the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) and were notified of four awards: Gold for HUUB;  Silver for Economic Development Organization of the Year;  Young Economic Development Professional of the Year – JD Beatty,  Sr. Project Manager; and Citizen Leadership of the Year – Rich Adams. Congratulations Rich!  I had reviewed past winners and thought about Rich’s long career of servant leadership in various capacities in Mesa. He was gracious enough to work with me on the application that included letters of support from the Mayor and Mesa Chamber of Commerce. The awards will be presented officially in October in Nashville. Economic Development Advisory Board Meeting Minutes August 3, 2021 Page 4 of 4 Rich Adams thanked everyone for their congratulations and stated that the City of Mesa affords its citizens many opportunities to make a difference an get involved. It’s been a pleasure to work with Mesa’s Office of Economic Development. Jaye stated that we continue to work on numerous projects. Take a moment to follow our office on LinkedIn for updates. Bill has given various media interviews and we’ve received national and international press for the Exro and ElectraMeccanica announcements. Matt Likens offered congratulations on the awards and Chair Kasselman congratulated Rich for the honor. Chair Kasselman expressed gratitude on behalf of Dexcom to the City, Mayor, and City Manager for the support from Mesa Fire and Police while running the recent vaccination pod at their location in SE Mesa. Mesa Fire and Police were superior, top-notch professionals and a pleasure to work with! 3-b 21-1018 Transportation Advisory Board meeting held on May 18, 2021 File #: 21-1018    Type: Minutes Status: Agenda Ready In control: City Council Study Session On agenda: 9/30/2021 Title: Transportation Advisory Board meeting held on May 18, 2021. Attachments: 1. TAB Meeting Minutes 05182021 3-c 21-1021 Audit, Finance and Enterprise Committee meeting held on September 9, 2021 File #: 21-1021    Type: Minutes Status: Agenda Ready In control: City Council Study Session On agenda: 9/30/2021 Title: Audit, Finance and Enterprise Committee meeting held on September 9, 2021. Attachments: 1. September 9, 2021 Audit, Finance & Enterprise.pdf 4 Current events summary including meetings and conferences attended.  5 Scheduling of meetings

Andrea Bocelli, Laura Pausini - Dare To Live (HD) ft. Laura Pausini

5-Star Review: The long-awaited 25th outing for Ian Fleming’s superspy is a weird and self-aware epic with audacious surprises up its sleeve

No Time To Die is startling, exotically self-aware, funny and confident, and perhaps most of all it is big: big action, big laughs, big stunts and however digitally it may have been contrived, and however wildly far-fetched, No Time To Die looks like it is taking place in the real world, a huge wide open space that we’re all longing for..

No Time to Die is released on 30 September in the UK, 8 October in the US and 11 November in Australia

@PeterBradshaw1

Tue 28 Sep 2021 19.01 EDT

Last modified on Wed 29 Sep 2021 11.07 EDT

'This gigantic piece of ridiculously watchable entertainment which feels like half its actual running time’ … Daniel Craig in No Time to Die.

And Craig’s final film as the diva of British intelligence is an epic barnstormer, with the script from Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge delivering pathos, action, drama, camp comedy (Bond will call M “darling” in moments of tetchiness), heartbreak, macabre horror, and outrageously silly old-fashioned action in a movie which calls to mind the world of Dr No on his island.

Director Cary Fukunaga delivers it with terrific panache, and the film also shows us a romantic Bond, an uxorious Bond, a Bond who is unafraid of showing his feelings, like the old softie he’s turned out to be.

A queasy and dreamlike prelude hints at a terrible formative trauma in the childhood of Dr Madeleine Swann (a gorgeously reserved Léa Seydoux), that enigmatic figure we saw in the last movie who is now enjoying a romantic getaway with James. But a shocking act of violence destroys their idyll, as we knew it must, and Bond has some spectacular stunts as he hurls himself from a bridge.

It all has a lot to do with a sinister biowarfare plan called “Heracles” being developed by M (Ralph Fiennes) using a renegade scientist Obruchev (David Dencik) – but both creepy boffin and weapon are stolen in a sequence of preposterous action comedy, incidentally involving a sullen, bickering functionary played in cameo by Hugh Dennis. Photograph: Landmark Media/Alamy Stock Photo

No Time To Die

No Time to Die review – Daniel Craig dispatches James Bond with panache, rage – and cuddles

The review: "he standard bearer of British soft power is back, in a film yanked from cinemas back in the time of the toilet roll shortage, based on a literary character conceived when sugar and meat rationing was still in force, and now emerging in cinemas as Britons are fighting for petrol in the forecourts.

Bond, like Norma Desmond, is once again ready for his closeup – and Daniel Craig once again shows us his handsome-Shrek face and the lovable bat ears, flecked with the scars of yesterday’s punch-up, the lips as ever pursed in determination or disgust. . .

01:51

James Bond: royal premiere for Daniel Craig's final film in the franchise No Time To Die – video

It is of course a festival of absurdity and complication, a headspinning world of giant plot mechanisms moving like a Ptolemaic universe of menace. Perhaps nothing in it measures up to the drama of Bond’s rage-filled hurt feelings at the very beginning. But it is very enjoyable and gleefully spectacular – Craig and Seydoux and Malek sell it very hard and you can see the pleasure everyone takes in this gigantic piece of ridiculously watchable entertainment which feels like half its actual running time.

We’ve been expecting you, Mr Bond … No Time to Die premieres in London – in pictures

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And the big finish shows that the 007 franchise-template is still capable of springing a surprise on the fanbase – and it could be that the world of Bond has taken something from the Marvel and DC universes, with their own sense of cartoonish grandeur and mystery

Bond adds a 21st century sensibility to the guns, girls and gadgets form...