Daily Archives: January 22, 2017

dataviz.tools – a curated guide to the best tools, resources and technologies for data visualization

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This site features a curated selection of data visualization tools meant to bridge the gap between programmers/statisticians and the general public by only highlighting free/freemium, responsive and relatively simple-to-learn technologies for displaying both basic and complex, multivariate datasets. It leans heavily toward open-source software and plugins, rather than enterprise, expensive B.I. solutions.
Why?

Well, information visualization, or InfoVis, has for the past three decades been mostly regarded as a specialty skill relegated to the ranks of researchers and scientists. But in recent years, the proliferation of Big Data combined with a surge of new, open-source tools for data display have given rise to the democratization of “data visualization” and “data journalism.” It’s something anyone can do. As such, all resources that may require basic programming knowledge are labeled as such.

As Simon Rogers of The Guardian so artfully stated in 2008, “Anyone can do it. Data journalism is the new punk.”

Source: dataviz.tools

Researchers Uncover Twitter Bot Army That’s 350,000 Strong

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Two researchers from University College London claim to have discovered an army of 350,000 such bots hiding in plain sight, distinguished by their affinity for tweeting quotes from Star Wars novels. And, like Aragorn bursting into the throne room at Helm’s Deep to deliver the news of an encroaching orc army, they have come to warn us.

Source: Researchers Uncover Twitter Bot Army That’s 350,000 Strong – D-brief

Galileo satellites experiencing multiple clock failures

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The onboard atomic clocks that drive the satellite-navigation signals on Europe’s Galileo network have been failing at an alarming rate.

Across the 18 satellites now in orbit, nine clocks have stopped operating.

Three are traditional rubidium devices; six are the more precise hydrogen maser instruments that were designed to give Galileo superior performance to the American GPS network.

Galileo was declared up and running in December.

However, it is still short of the number of satellites considered to represent a fully functioning constellation, and a decision must now be made about whether to suspend the launch of further spacecraft while the issue is investigated.

Source: Galileo satellites experiencing multiple clock failures – BBC News

CMU AI Is Tough Poker Player

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As the “Brains vs. Artificial Intelligence: Upping the Ante” poker competition nears its halfway point, Carnegie Mellon University’s AI program, Libratus, is opening a lead over its human opponents — four of the world’s best professional poker players.One of the pros, Jimmy Chou, said he and his colleagues initially underestimated Libratus, but have come to regard it as one tough player.”The bot gets better and better every day,” Chou said. “It’s like a tougher version of us.”
[…]
In the first Brains vs. AI contest in 2015, four leading pros amassed more chips than the AI, called Claudico. But in the latest contest, Libratus had amassed a lead of $459,154 in chips in the 49,240 hands played by the end of Day Nine.

“I’m feeling good,” Sandholm said of Libratus’ chances as the competition proceeds. “The algorithms are performing great. They’re better at solving strategy ahead of time, better at driving strategy during play and better at improving strategy on the fly.”

Source: CMU AI Is Tough Poker Player | Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science