Data-driven Decision Making

Can data science meaningfully change your life? Asked differently, can you use easily available sensors and apps along with common data and analytics tools to collect enough data about your daily life to craft a sustainable action plan? The answer is yes. Here’s how. Continue Reading →

It was just after 9:30 Friday night when a vociferous klaxon and a yellow tire emoji alerted us that our right front tire had experienced a sudden loss of pressure. My Q7 was handling fine, so instead of pulling over, we decided to check the tire pressure at the next gas station (approximately 40 miles away). As I started to fill the tire, an unmistakable hiss sent shivers down my spine. Continue Reading →

Apple is the most valuable tech company in the world. So when its CEO lambasts other tech companies for "weaponizing [user data] against us with military efficiency," people are going to take him seriously. After all, Tim Cook is the de facto leader of the tech world. While he didn't name names, his vilification was clearly aimed at his corporate peers (which ordinarily would be good clean fun), except as presented, his accusations sounded like self-serving corporate posturing. Of course, there is another possibility ... Tim may have just been speaking metaphorically. Continue Reading →

For about 200,000 years, modern humans have relied on our eyes and ears to separate truth from lies and fact from fiction. Even if we ignore the rise of fake news (and how difficult it is to do anything about it), technology (like deep learning) is on the verge of making it impossible to know if what you are seeing and hearing is real or fake. Continue Reading →

Adapt or die! For smartphone makers, this immutable law of nature incentivizes innovation and forces continuous improvement as they seek new ways to make their great devices even greater. What's next? Here are five awesome new smartphone features we're likely to see in the near future. Continue Reading →

I hit rock bottom in April 2013. My weight had ballooned to 252 lbs., and eating had become a compulsion. I hated the way I looked and the difficulty I had moving around, and I especially hated the way I felt. I had tried everything (or so I thought) and had a 100 percent failure rate. But, luckily for me, 2013 was the height of the quantified-self hype-cycle, and there was no end to the number of fitness trackers and health and wellness apps coming to market. I started a journey. Continue Reading →

Apple says the new Apple Watch Series 4 has been "fundamentally redesigned and re-engineered to help you stay even more active, healthy, and connected." I've spent about a week with my Apple Watch Series 4 and my new iPhone XS Max. Here's what I've learned. Continue Reading →

Gamers have been pitting their wits and skill against computers since the earliest days of video games. The levels of difficulty were pre-programmed, and at a certain point in the game, the computer was simply unbeatable by all but the most gifted gamers. That was then ... Continue Reading →

Nike’s tenet “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.” is inspirational. While some are applauding Nike for standing up for what it believes, others (who disagree with Nike on this issue) find themselves torn between their love of the brand and their own beliefs. Continue Reading →

During the recent congressional hearings, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the Senate intelligence committee's vice chairman, said, "The era of the wild west in social media is coming to an end." Congress, he said, will have to take action. "Where we go from here is an open question." More hearings are clearly in the offing, and some kind of regulation is likely to follow. That's the probable future, but what would happen if the government lost its ability to control the tech industry? What if tech fought back? What if our democracy transformed into a technocracy? Continue Reading →