Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Mar 2, 2015 (II)

choi

(1) Rich Miller, How Productive Is the US?

Quote:

“Productivity is probably the most important measure of economic health that policymakers know the least about.

"Productive workers don't heat up an economy too fast because they use existing equipment and factories efficiently. If employers have only less productive workers at their disposal, they have to hire more of them to get the same amount of work done. That means higher costs for wages, which would trigger inflation and calls for an early rate hike [by the Fed].

"Productivity is driven by innovation and other forces economists can’t readily distinguish, such as changes in work practices. These murky influences, known as total factor productivity, are symptomatic of the profession’s 'ignorance,' according to the late economist Moses Abramovitz. 'It is the fundamental determinant of people's standard of living, yet we know so little about what drives it,' says Barry Bosworth, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former advisor to President Jimmy Carter.

“According to former Fed Vice Chairman Alan Blinder, economists--including those at the Fed--typically don’t have a good idea of how fast productivity will grow in the next few years. The long-term trend is ‘hugely important,’ but ‘it can takes years’ to recognize any changes

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: The little-understood measure is crucial to managing the economy
(b) The BusinessWeek article is much more succinct than the one in Bloomberg:
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... -weighs-higher-rate

choi

(2) Brad Stone, Too Good to Be Legal.
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... cy-easier-than-ever

Quotation in the window of print: “'Some people don’t even seem to know that it’s BitTorrent. We send out copyright infringement notices, and they question why they received them.' —Kyle Reed"

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Clean and simple, Popcorn Time makes piracy easier than ever.
(b) Read only the first 1 ½ paragraphs.

choi

(3) Jack Clark, Software: Elementary, My Dear Watson.
(“Bloomberg BusinessWeek asked computers loaded with some of the world’s smartest AI [artificial intelligence] software to identify the subjects in a series of photos. The results were conclusive: They’re [computers are] still learning”)

Note:
(a) The article--actually, a chart with a one-paragraph legend, whose second half is quoted above--in print is curt and to the point.

……………………..What they saw [photo of]
What they call it .....Mark Zuckerberg …….bacons …………..missile ………laptop ……………...cat
[AI listed below]

MetaMind ………..Cardigan ……………...Churros …………..Missile ……..Computer keyboard..Egyptian cat
Clarifai ……………Portrait ……………….Fat ………………...Airplane ……Technology ………..Cat
Orbeus ……………Mark Zuckerberg ……Roast ……………...Plane ……….Console ……...……..Cat
Watson ……………Person ………………..No idea. Perhaps ….Airplane …..An object ….………..Cat
                                                                  a “color”
BusinessWeek’s arrows:
* Pointing the “Mark Zuckerberg” column: The “human” filter for image-recognition startup Orbeus ID’d the Facebook founder. IBM’s Watson described him as human.
* Pointing the answer “Missile”: Only AI startup MetaMind understood that planes have to have wings.
* Pointing the “laptop” column: The computers had trouble with one of their own. None could tell this was a laptop.
* Pointing the “cat”column: Every system correctly ID’s the cat. No doubt they’ve had plenty of practice.

My comment:
(a) “Egyptian cat” actually means those cats in ancient wall painting, or as ancient statuettes.
(b) If image-recognition software is so primitive, how can they do face recognition experts say they can?

choi

(4) Christina Larson, Intel Buys Its Way Deeper Into China.
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... ns-chasing-qualcomm
(“In December, Intel said it would pay $1.6 billion to upgrade its factory in the central Chinese city of Chengdu, which cost $300 million to build a decade ago. The plant, designed for back-end testing, will absorb some of the work previously done in a shuttered Costa Rican facility. Shah says it’s part of a plan to shift more of Intel’s resources toward China and to make more of its operations there as new and shiny as its $2.5 billion plant in Dalian, a port city in China’s northeast”)

Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: The company is spending billions on factories and state-owned rivals
(b) The quotation is the only scrap of information I can garner about the Dalian facility. I still have no idea what it is doing.
(c) View the chart. Feel sorry for Intel: despite its efforts and money (good after bad), Intel is losing the fight with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.