Posts

Web Watch #1

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This is the first in a series I've planned to document unusual and quirky sightings on the Weird Wide Web. While most websites have a disclosure in the footer in small font that they place cookies on your device, Ogilvy generously lists out the exact varieties of cookies they use, like chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin 😉 - As a wise movie character in a recent movie pointed out, the environmental changes we're seeing aren't just a case of global warming - they're a global warning ! A funny exchange in "Murder Mubarak" I was intrigued to see weather info and alerts on the Microsoft Edge browser Start page that led me to interesting graphics and visualizations that I've not see before for local weather.  I feel these type of visualizations are a great way to inform the general public about weather conditions rather than plain numbers.

This Week I Learned - Week #10 2024

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This Week I Learned -  *  Anthropic’s Claude 3 models are now available in Google Cloud Vertex AI . The Claude 3 family joins over 130 models already available in Vertex AI Model Garden. Claude models are offered in Vertex AI as managed APIs — meaning customers can concentrate on building groundbreaking applications instead of worrying about backend complexity or the management overhead of underlying infrastructure.   * All Claude 3 models boast improved fluency in non-English languages, as well as vision capabilities that unlock tasks ranging from image metadata generation to insights extraction across PDFs, flow charts, and a diverse range of other formats. * The New Stack Better, Faster, Stronger: How Generative AI Transforms Software Development eBook  (2024, 45 pages) by Janakiram MSV *  Cassie Kozyrkov on current state of AI - " The truth is, no one knows exactly where we're headed. We are building the plane while it's taking off.  Which is why it's worth remin

What is Personal Monopoly?

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David Perell , writer, founder & instructor, Write of Passage explains his idea of Personal Monopoly - The Internet rewards unique people. Find your unique combination of skills, interests, and personality traits.  I call this a Personal Monopoly. Become the only person in the world who does what you do.  Then, tell the world by sharing your knowledge. Visual summary by Carole Alalouf Below are some of his thoughts on this topic, taken from his bite-sized tweets: We are often blind to our own Personal Monopolies. Like fish in water, we don't know how to explain what we do so we depend on others to define our work for us. Listen to others describe your work. Then, double down on the best summaries . As you build your Personal Monopoly, listen for C.U.E.S: 1) Complementary: Greater than the sum of its parts. 2) Unusual: A combination of skills rarely seen. 3) Experiential: Inspired by unique events in your life. 4) Specific: Niche topic where you have lots of knowledge. When you

Popular AI Assistants/Chatbots

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Popular AI Assistants/Chatbots that you can conditionally use for free - ChatGPT - powered by OpenAI's GPT LLMs. Prompt examples & guidance Gemini  chatbot  formerly known as Bard was previously based on PaLM, and initially the LaMDA family of large language models. It was upgraded to the Gemini LLM in December 2023.  A specially tuned version of the mid-tier Gemini Pro was integrated into Bard, while the larger Gemini Ultra was set to power "Bard Advanced" in 2024. Bard and Duet AI were unified under the Gemini brand in February 2024. Google AI  Prompt best practices . Perplexity   - choose from GPT, Claude, and Perplexity Groq - choose from Gemma ,  Llama & Mixtral LLMs  Claude  is powered by the mid-range Claude 3 Sonnet. Claude 3 Opus is available for Claude Pro subscribers. Claude's extended context window (200K tokens for Claude 3 models) enables it to handle complex tasks that require processing large amounts of information. For example, if your p

This Week I Learned - Week #9 2024

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This Week I Learned -  * MERN stack is a popular JavaScript framework used for building web applications. It is an acronym for MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node.js. *  Postman Student Programs are programs designed to promote API literacy amongst students and educators. * While in technical parlance the “Cloud” might refer to the pooling of computing resources over a network, in popular culture, “Cloud” has come to signify and encompass the full gamut of infrastructures that make online activity possible, everything from Instagram to Hulu to Google Drive. The Cloud now has a greater carbon footprint than the airline industry. A single data center can consume the equivalent electricity of 50,000 homes. -  Steven Gonzalez Monserrate , anthropologist and PhD candidate at MIT * Copilot GPTs let you customize the behavior of Microsoft Copilot on a topic that is of particular interest to you.   * Soon, Copilot Pro users will also be able to create their own Copilot GPTs using Copilot GPT