We all know that computers are pretty good at crunching numbers. But when it comes to analyzing reams of data and looking for important patterns, humans still come in handy: We’re pretty good at figuring out what variables in the data can help us answer particular questions. Now researchers at MIT claim to have designed an algorithm that can beat most humans at that task. [AI can now muddle ... »
The flight of refugees from troubled areas of the world has often been one of the most devastating consequences of warfare. Mass migration involving thousands of people travelling with no infrastructure in place to support their journey often leads to humanitarian catastrophe. Additionally, resources are often stretched both in the countries they pass through and the destinations where they hope f... »
Your fantasy football team just went high tech. Like many businesses, the National Football League is experimenting with big data to help players, fans, and teams alike. The NFL recently announced a deal with tech firm Zebra to install RFID data sensors in players’ shoulder pads and in all of the NFL’s arenas. The chips collect detailed location data on each player, and from that data, things like... »
Data science continues to grow in significance in industry, particularly in industries like software, IT consulting and finance. Last year I shared results from O’Reilly Media’s annual salary survey in this field in Revealing Data Science’s Job Potential. They have just recently released results for their third annual Data Science Salary survey and here are some of their findings. Over 600 people ... »
College professors and instructors can learn a lot from the chapters of a digital textbook that they assign students to read. Reynol Junco, an associate professor in Iowa State University’s School of Education, says digital books provide real-time analytics to help faculty assess how students are doing in the class. Junco and colleague Candrianna Clem collected data from 236 students using e... »
It is no longer enough to apply for a data-driven job armed with an engineering degree and the ability to program. Over the past few years, big data has expanded outside of IT and business analytics and into departments as diverse as marketing, manufacturing, product development and sales. As demand for data expertise grows across industries, the bar for what makes an acceptable, or better yet exc... »
Modern public transit systems are elaborate networks with dozens of stations and scores of trains serving thousands of passengers daily. Anyone who has ever stood on a platform waiting for the next train understands the frustration of delays. But for commuters in Stockholm, Sweden, things may be looking up. Developed by Mathematician Wilhelm Landerholm of Queue AB and Stockholm commuter train ope... »
If you’re still saying, “Big data isn’t relevant to my company,” you’re missing the boat. I firmly believe that big data and its implications will affect every single business — from Fortune 500 enterprises to mom and pop companies— and change how we do business, inside and out. It doesn’t matter what field you operate in or the size of your business; as data collection, analysis, and interpretati... »
Back in the olden days of 2014, “big” used to be enough for big data. Just a year later, however, data also has to be fast. Really, really fast. “Big data,” of course, has never truly been a matter of data volumes. At least, not exclusively. It has also fixated on data velocity (and variety), as Gartner’s 3 V’s popularized. But knowing that data needs rea... »
Image captionLightning struck the power grid near Google’s data centre four times in a row Google says data has been wiped from discs at one of its data centres in Belgium – after the local power grid was struck by lightning four times. Some people have permanently lost access to the files on the affected disks as a result. A number of disks damaged following the lightning strikes did,... »