Is This the Start to the Fall of Apple?

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Apple Inc shares slumped nearly 7 percent in after-hours trading as its fourth-quarter revenue forecast fell short of estimates and it missed some targets for iPhone sales . . .

Apple Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said in an interview the results in China were “spectacular” during the quarter and noted plans to open 40 stores there over the next 12 months.

Without disclosing specific figures, Maestri said sales of the Apple Watch beat the company’s expectations. He noted that in the nine weeks since its launch in late April, the device has sold better than either iPhones or iPads over a similar period after their launch.

Apple said on Tuesday it sold 47.5 million iPhones in the third quarter, up 35 percent from a year ago. But some analysts had expected around 49 million.

Colin Gillis, an analyst for BGC Partners, said the results highlighted the vulnerability of Apple’s dependence on the iPhone and the Chinese market’s growing importance to the company. (Read more from “Is This the Start to the Fall of Apple?” HERE)

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Try to Visit This Manhattan-Sized Island and You May Not Leave Alive

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Sometimes paradise is better off lost: Off the coast of India in the Bay of Bengal, a Manhattan-size island called North Sentinel Island boasts a deep green canopy of trees, stretches of sandy beaches, coral reef barriers—and a population that’s decidedly hostile to outsiders, who aren’t likely to live long.

As Wackulus explains, the isolated indigenous tribe, one of the last of its kind on Earth, almost always attacks visitors. A little digging uncovered this story: After a night of drinking in 2006, two fishermen drifted too close to the island and were killed by the Sentinelese, who’ve lived there for 60,000 years.

A helicopter sent to recover their bodies was halted by tribesmen’s arrows, the Telegraph reported at the time; the air generated by the copter’s rotors revealed their bodies in shallow graves.

One of the earliest known encounters a century earlier ended when a convict who’d escaped from the neighboring Andaman Islands ended up on the island with his throat slit, the New York Times reported in 2012.

In 1967, the Sentinelese—a Stone Age people but for the metal-tipped arrows carved from wrecked ships—hid from an Indian government expedition, during which a marker was placed on the island, declaring it part of India. (Read more from “Try to Visit This Manhattan-Sized Island and You May Not Leave Alive” HERE)

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Techies Are Hiring This Wiccan Witch to Protect Their Computers From Viruses and Offices From Evil Spirits [+video]

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Many people have had their computer or smartphone possessed by an evil demon — or at least that’s what it can feel like when some mysterious bug keeps causing an app to crash, or your phone keeps shutting off for no reason.

But if you truly think your electronics have been invaded by an evil spirit, there’s someone who will take your call — Reverend Joey Talley — a Wiccan witch from the San Francisco Bay Area who claims to solve supernatural issues for techies.

The Bay Area has always had a freewheeling spirit, which is part of the reason the tech industry found such a firm foothold there. And tech people are often experimental by nature, gravitating toward promises of an improved life through trial-and-error. This has led to some interesting crossover in San Francisco, with certain tech big shots from companies like Salesforce, Facebook, and Apple seeking out mystic help for conventional problems, SF Weekly reports.

Talley is one of those mystics, a Marin County witch boasting three master’s degrees and over 40 years of experience. Though tech problems are not the only ones Talley tackles, she is routinely called upon to debug people’s tech woes with spiritual energy.

“Most people want me to protect their computers from viruses and hacks,” she told SF Weekly. “So I’ll make charms for them. I like to use flora.” And when there are problems in office hardware, Talley turns to “Jet,” a black stone that serves to block energy. In extreme cases, she casts protection spells of her own over the entire company. (Read more from “Techies Are Hiring This Wiccan Witch to Protect Their Computers From Viruses and Offices From Evil Spirits” HERE)

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‘Artificial Intelligence Is as Dangerous as NUCLEAR WEAPONS’: AI Pioneer Warns Smart Computers Could Doom Mankind

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Artificial intelligence has the potential to be as dangerous to mankind as nuclear weapons, a leading pioneer of the technology has claimed.

Professor Stuart Russell, a computer scientist who has led research on artificial intelligence, fears humanity might be ‘driving off a cliff’ with the rapid development of AI.

He fears the technology could too easily be exploited for use by the military in weapons, putting them under the control of AI systems.

He points towards the rapid development in AI capabilities by companies such as Boston Dynamics, which was recently acquired by Google, to develop autonomous robots for use by the military.

Professor Russell, who is a researcher at the University of California in Berkeley and the Centre for the study of Existential Risk at Cambridge University, compared the development of AI to the work that was done to develop nuclear weapons. (Read more from “‘Artificial Intelligence Is as Dangerous as NUCLEAR WEAPONS’: AI Pioneer Warns Smart Computers Could Doom Mankind” HERE)

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You May Not Want to Use Hand Sanitizer If You Are a Man, Here’s Why

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Hand sanitizer causes the skin to absorb 100 times more of the hormone-disrupting chemical bisphenol A (BPA), according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of Missouri and published in the journal PLOS ONE.

BPA exposure [also] came from handling receipts printed on thermal paper, the kind typically issued by cash registers.

“Our research found that large amounts of BPA can be transferred to your hands and then to the food you hold and eat as well as be absorbed through your skin,” lead author Frederick vom Saal said.

Research had previously shown that hand sanitizers cause the skin to absorb higher levels of chemicals, but this had not previously been demonstrated with BPA . . .

“BPA exhibits hormone-like properties and has been proven to cause reproductive defects in fetuses, infants, children and adults as well as cancer, metabolic and immune problems in rodents,” vom Saal said. “BPA from thermal papers will be absorbed into your blood rapidly; at those levels, many diseases such as diabetes and disorders such as obesity increase as well.” (Read more from “You May Not Want to Use Hand Sanitizer If You Are a Man, Here’s Why” HERE)

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Robots Denounce Child-Bearing as ‘Immoral’

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As the world’s robotic development becomes more mature, there have been no shortage of experts who have predicted seismic cultural, economic and social changes on the horizon for our planet.

But one of the little-discussed aspects of robotics is the development of AI – artificial intelligence – even though it is one of the most rapidly advancing computer science disciplines.

Much of AI relies on development of a scientific process known as conversational modeling, which – up to this point – has been rudimentary. But all of that is changing; devices – computers, robots, any device utilizing AI – are becoming much more mature.

Case in point: A new Google AI bot that lectured a human researcher during trials recently who was attempting to get a definition of morality.

“The project studied conversational modeling, the prediction on what should come next within dialogues, which is a key to understanding natural language and artificial intelligence,” Tech Times reported. . .

As documented further in the research study, during one Q & A with the AI robot, the researcher asked, “What is immoral?”

The machine answered, “The fact that you have a child.”

(Read more from “Robots Denounce Child-Bearing as ‘Immoral'” HERE)

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Billionaires’ Strange, Secret Life Revealed

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In February 2011, Paramount Pictures asked me if I could fill in for a week as a driver for Sumner Redstone, the executive chairman of Viacom and CBS Corp. I’d had experience driving Hollywood talent and had a good reputation, and I accepted the position from the Paramount transportation planner.

Prior to starting the job, I met with Redstone’s regular driver to learn the routine. My initial instructions were pretty basic: a tour of the restaurants that Redstone frequented and ordered out from, the locations of his physicians’ offices, the Westwood theater location where Redstone was to make a red-carpet appearance at a movie premiere . . .

My week of employment began on a Monday morning after picking up from Paramount a custom Lincoln Town Car that contained a satellite television, along with interior video monitors. When I arrived at the gated Beverly Park Terrace residence, I was informed by a staff member at the house that I would be taking both Redstone and Sydney Holland (picture above right, with Redstone and his companion, Manuela Herzer) to his dentist appointment. However, the staff member first gave me a check with “Beverly Park LLC” in the top corner made out for several thousand dollars that was to be cashed at a Bank of America branch in Beverly Hills and the money brought back to the house. I proceeded to the bank and returned to the house with the cash envelope.

Upon my return, while parking in the front driveway, I noticed an old, red subcompact car that had the driver-side mirror duct-taped in place. The 40ish woman getting out of the vehicle was attractive but also looked a bit weary in her appearance. I figured she was hired help for the house, so I wondered why she would be parking in the main driveway rather than on the side, where I knew the house staff was told to park.

[Her name was Sydney Holland.] It had become pretty clear during my first few weeks back that Holland had aligned herself with Redstone and was reaping significant financial benefits. I had heard various rumors about Holland from people on staff and learned that she had been known as Sydney Stanger and was the co-founder of “The Inner Circle,” a VIP social club that advertised matchmaking services. (Read more from “Billionaires’ Strange, Secret Life Revealed” HERE)

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Duck Dynasty Stars Sadie and Korie Robertson Make Hilarious Debut on ‘Celebrity Family Feud’

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Members of the Robertson family, who star in the A&E hit series “Duck Dynasty,” will appear on “Celebrity Family Feud” this Sunday in a bid to raise money for charity.

Willie Robertson appears on the game show alongside his wife of more than 20 years, Korie, his newlywed son, John Luke, and daughters, Sadie and Rebecca. In a preview clip Sadie, a former “Dancing With the Stars” contestant, is seen drawing laughter and audience applause while answering an unusual question.

“Feud” host Steve Harvey asks: “Hey Sadie, C’mon now, if they made a sexy perfume for female dogs what might it smell like?”

After pondering in thought for a few seconds, she replies: “a fire hydrant?”

Her response instantly draws fits of laughter from everyone, including herself. (Read more from “Duck Dynasty Stars Sadie and Korie Robertson Make Hilarious Debut on ‘Celebrity Family Feud'” HERE)

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Ancient Peru Mystery: Archaeologists Unveil New Geoglyphs on Peru’s Nazca Plateau

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Japanese archaeologists have discovered 24 new geoglyphs on the Nazca Plateau in Peru that they say are similar to the animal shapes for which the region is famous – but were created two centuries earlier.

Archaeologists from the University of Yamagata in Japan made the discovery a mile north of the city of Nazca, in central Peru. The shapes are mostly geometrical, including a figure resembling a flame and other less recognizable representations.

According to a report submitted to the Peruvian government by the Japanese team, the newfound figures are smaller and less distinct than the older ones (a spider, a hummingbird, a condor and a monkey) but it would seem that some of the new ones depict llamas.

“Because they have been degraded, it is difficult to determine the exact shape of the picture on the ground of all the animals,” the researchers said told the Telegraph.

The head of the team, Dr. Masato Sakai, told the paper they used a three-dimensional scanner and photos to highlight the degraded lines and identify the images. (Read more from “Ancient Peru Mystery: Archaeologists Unveil New Geoglyphs on Peru’s Nazca Plateau” HERE)

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Cheer up, the Post-Human Era Is Dawning

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Unlike many who believe that artificial intelligence will eventually threaten humankind, this author has a far more optimistic view:

The far future will bear traces of humanity, just as our own age retains influences of ancient civilisations. Humans and all they have thought might be a transient precursor to the deeper cogitations of another culture — one dominated by machines, extending deep into the future and spreading far beyond earth.

Not everyone considers this an uplifting scenario. There are those who fear that artificial intelligence will supplant us, taking our jobs and living beyond the writ of human laws. Others regard such scenarios as too futuristic to be worth fretting over. But the disagreements are about the rate of travel, not the direction. Few doubt that machines will one day surpass more of our distinctively human capabilities. It may take centuries but, compared to the aeons of evolution that led to humanity’s emergence, even that is a mere bat of the eye. This is not a fatalistic projection. It is cause for optimism. The civilisation that supplants us could accomplish unimaginable advances — feats, perhaps, that we cannot even understand.

Human brains, which have changed little since our ancestors roamed the African savannah, have allowed us to penetrate the secrets of the quantum and the cosmos. But there is no reason to think that our comprehension is matched to an understanding of all the important features of reality. Some day we may hit the buffers. There are chemical and metabolic limits to the size and power of “wet” organic brains.

Today’s computers do not learn like we do. Their internal network is far simpler than a human brain, but they partly make up for this disadvantage because their “nerves” transmit messages at the speed of light, millions of times faster than the chemical transmission in human brains. They can learn to identify dogs, cats and human faces by crunching through millions of images. They learn to translate from foreign languages by reading multilingual versions of millions of pages of EU rules, among other documents (and, crucially, they never get bored).

(Read more from “Cheer up, the Post-Human Era Is Dawning” HERE)

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