I found this wonderful blog about photography and it currently only has 11 subscribers. I’m not a photographer but I think I can recognize great content when I see it.
Tag: blog
Daily dose of AI – the human powered API
The Guardian has a nice article on the curious case of Amazon’s AI-powered shops. Customers would go to the Amazon shops, pick whatever they wanted, and leave, and Amazon would charge them using AI. According to the article, the AI was in the form of human data labelers in India.
The whole thing is funny and a bit sad. Primarily funny.
Imagine the first truly self-driving car that turns out to be driven not by AI but by humans through an API. You get this gigantic self-driving center with state-of-the-art gamer sets where young folks will ride your luxury self-driving car for you. Tesla couldn’t solve this problem for 10 years using the brightest engineers. Here we are, solved for you, Tesla, using some Amazon Mechanical Turk magic. Then this driving center can be optimized, for the moments when the drivers have no cars to ride, they’d vacuum with robots or mow grass with the 100% AI lawn mowers.
Celestial Hit List by Charles Ingrid book review
The elite battlesuit carrier and a walking tank Jack Storm goes to a new planet. He’ll face prophecies, miracles, magic, and a human nemesis. Or at least the nemesis he thinks he has. I’m sure there will be no shortage of future nemeses to Jack and his sentient suit. One of the major opponents is a civilization of cruel and clever cockroaches that’s unlikely to go away.
The series is still interesting to me. I’m captivated by books with complex worlds and simple plots. The enemies are clear, and the solution to the problems they create is also clear. There will be battles with lasers, jets, and spaceships. What is not clear is who will endure all the challenges and who will be sacrificed by the writer.
I think the score for this one is 4/5.
St. Nevski
Had no idea that the church windows could open.
Lasertown Blues by Charles Ingrid book review
Jack Storm is kidnapped to a forced labor colony and his friends will try to save him. Needless to say, if the suit and the owner are connected, things will not be looking good for the kidnappers. Until then, Jack needs to be creative.
The story doesn’t matter much. I liked the spirit of the 1950s sci-fi with spaceships, alien life forms, and the simplicity of everything, with plot holes here and there. I keep drawing parallels with Asimov. For part 2, I’d say it looks more and more like Lucky Starr than Foundation, despite the mild fantasy elements. The military setup can’t be compared with Starship Troopers or any similar story because the author doesn’t try to reproduce anything an actual military would do. Who could imagine that weapons and barracks are actually guarded in the army?
The relationship between Jack and Amber is unrealistic. What’s wrong with two young people who live together becoming a couple? Stephanie Plum, Thraxas, and now this. The problems these two should have, given that they’re late teens/early 20s would normally be in the area of “Why are your socks on the floor” and “Something is rotting in the sink” rather than “May I kiss him”. The relationship is described as if the characters are not badass soldier/medium young adults but 12-year-olds.
4/5. Big plot holes but engaging and easy to read.
Veselin.blog 