Q&A Presents: Maui Online!

We’re finally going to tackle the very thorny A.I. subject this week.

A.I. – Part 1

A.I. has become a buzzy catchall term for applications that perform complex tasks that once required human input. From communicating to end users, to playing chess, to making movies, A.I. has been a tech that’s been with us longer than most people know.

A.I. media headlines are dominated by news about A.I. art, but there’s also unprecedented progress in many widely disparate fields. Everything from videos to biology, programming, writing, translation, and more is seeing A.I. progress at the same incredible pace. The breakthroughs are all underpinned by a new class of A.I. models that are more flexible and powerful than anything that has come before. Because they were first used for language tasks like answering questions and writing essays, they’re often known as Large Language Models, or LLMs.

There’s a holy trinity in machine learning: models, data, and compute. Models are algorithms that take inputs and produce outputs. Data refers to the examples the algorithms are trained on. To learn something, there must be enough data with enough richness that the algorithms can produce useful output. Models must be flexible enough to capture the complexity in the data. And finally, there has to be enough computing power to run the algorithms.

Well, Graphic Card power brought computing power up to speed. Data, well, there’s plenty of that when you look at the Internet as a whole. The last part, Modelling, advanced due to a surprising source: attempting to translate between human languages. And from that set of translating models came ChatGPT, and a whole host of other LLM and A.I. programs.

Does that mean the computers are ‘thinking?’ Is it merely the number of connections that separates thinking from non-thinking? Is the I in A.I. really I? Certainly not yet. But Moore’s Law and further rapid advances certainly suggest such a thing may happen sooner that we think — or IT thinks. We’ll try touching on all this during our two hour show Saturday at Noon. You can also tune into the rebroadcast on Weds. on 1110AM, 96.7FM, KAOI. Podcasts are always available at 

We continue our AI show!

A.I. – Part 2

We talk about ethics, concerns, impact, and more!

Want more reading? Well then, here we go!

* https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/02/dont-worry-about-ai-breaking-out-of-its-box-worry-about-us-breaking-in/

* https://www.neowin.net/editorials/microsoft-just-cant-seem-to-get-ai-chatbots-right/

* https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-reveals-more-about-prometheus-and-how-it-powers-the-new-bing/

* https://theweek.com/feature/briefing/1020909/how-ai-brought-back-the-internet-search-wars

* https://www.karencommins.com/2023/02/revoked-findaways-license-to-apple-for-machine-learning.html

* https://www.laurahorowitz.com/post/stop-spotify-from-stealing-your-intellectual-property

* https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/01/07/why-computer-assisted-humans-are-the-best-chess-players-and-what-that-means-for-technology-operations/?sh=67bda7d514e0

* https://www.tomshardware.com/news/ai-chip-layout-tool-has-helped-design-over-100-chips

* https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-announced-new-bing-search-and-edge-browser-with-openai-tech/

* https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/01/the-generative-ai-revolution-has-begun-how-did-we-get-here/

* https://www.coursera.org/articles/types-of-aihttps://www.oracle.com/artificial-intelligence/what-is-ai/

* https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/sci-fi-becomes-real-as-renowned-magazine-closes-submissions-due-to-ai-writers/

Meteors and asteroids and meteorites, oh my! We’re joined by Dr. Armstrong from the UH Institute for Astronomy as well Tracey, our favorite librarian!

Rocks From Space!

For further reading?

* https://www.kplctv.com/2023/02/17/nasa-fireball-seen-south-texas-meteorites-hit-ground/

* https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/residents-asked-to-be-on-lookout-for-fallen-meteor-that-landed-in-ontario-1.6163932

* https://www.pbs.org/seeinginthedark/for-families/

Science!

Local Kids Make Good Science!

It’s not just for old people in lab coats and plans of world domination. Our local keiki are getting involved and doing well! Dr. Armstrong talks about the projects seen at the science & engineering fair! Let’s celebrate their work!

* https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2023/02/kamehameha-maui-baldwin-students-advance-to-international-science-fair/

* https://dailyastronomy.vercel.app/blog/two-supermassive-black-holes-are-expected-to-collide-within-next-3-years-and-we-will-watch-it-in-real-time

Email was one of the killer apps for the internet.

Email 101

Today, it’s still widely used for shopping, social media, checking in on the kids’ progress at school, registering for services, and even sending letters to friends or family. We go over some of the basics of this day-to-day tool!

* https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/

* https://www.techradar.com/news/best-email-provider

* https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/02/mozilla-plans-ground-up-ui-redesign-for-thunderbird-email-client-this-july/

Internet Explorer is officially done and over with. However, its bones are still lingering in Windows.

IE11 Removal and Unintended Consequences

Microsoft is removing some of the remnants from the OS with patch coming on February 14th to take out a chunk. Programs that rely on those parts of Internet Explorer within Windows will start running into problems when they suddenly can’t find what they’re looking for.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_debt

* https://qz.com/2011408/some-companies-will-still-use-internet-explorer-after-its-retired

* https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/windows-it-pro-blog/internet-explorer-11-desktop-app-retirement-faq/ba-p/2366549

* https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/security-risk/use-built-browser-quickbooks-desktop/

* https://www.diversifiedcomputer.net/blog/critical-alert-pop-up-quickbooks-end-support-for-quickbooks-browser/

* https://magazine.promomarketing.com/post/quickbooks-built-in-browser-replaces-internet-explorer/

And a quick story on the Chinese laser lightshow we got…

* https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvm9y5/green-lasers-sky-hawaii-chinese-satellite

Be careful what you look for.

Search TRAPS

The bad guys know you want games, productivity software and other apps for your computer or phone. Well, guess what? They’ll put them online but make them into traps for you! But now? The way they’ll do it is by placing fake ads! On-no!

We talk about that and how to stay safe!

* https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/until-further-notice-think-twice-before-using-google-to-download-software/

Got a new cable modem for home or work? Got it hooked up? Got it set up? Is it working yet? No? Did you get activated? Yes? What’s going on?

Connectivity 101

Sam found out the hard way. He did everything he was supposed to by the instructions (he even read them!), but to no avail. One quick call to Q&A he got directed in the right direction. So, what did he have to do? Well, we’ll talk about it!

Microsoft 2013 will be coming to end-of-support. It’s about 10 years old!

Office 2013’s expiration, what it may portend…

No more patches or updates. That’s a big deal! Are you going to update 2016 or Office 365? Or maybe move to something else? What’s right for you?

Have a debate!

* https://www.pcmag.com/news/microsofts-silent-update-checks-your-windows-pc-for-old-versions-of-office

* https://www.windowscentral.com/why-use-libre-office-over-microsoft-office

* https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/microsoft-word-versus-google-docs/

* https://www.neowin.net/editorials/microsoft-365-is-my-favorite-microsoft-product/

Looking for alternatives to buying full-lead Office? We have lists and alternatives!

* https://www.techradar.com/news/best-microsoft-office-alternative

* https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/dont-pay-word-5-reasons-use-office-online/

* https://alternativeto.net/software/microsoft-office-suite/

* https://www.makeuseof.com/reasons-apple-pages-better-word/

* https://www.libreoffice.org/

* https://www.openoffice.org/

* https://www.google.com/docs/about/

* https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365

Batteries. It’s hard to imagine modern life without them. Our phones, cars, flashlights, and more rely on them. But what do you do when they give up the ghost and die?

Battery Disposal on Maui

Is throwing them away really the best option? We talk about that! And remember that Maui County and the state of Hawai’i has a lot of new officials you should contact!

* https://www.epa.gov/recycle

* https://www.mauicounty.gov/2529/Metals-Appliances-Tires-Batteries-Etc-Re

* https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-properly-dispose-of-batteries-4767171

* https://www.homedepot.com/c/ab/how-to-dispose-of-batteries/9ba683603be9fa5395fab90124a115f1

* https://www.call2recycle.org/safety/faqs-resources/

Want better recycling options? Contact your reps!

* https://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/legislature/legislators.aspx?chamber=H

* http://mauicounty.us/councilmembers/