Techmeme: Study: Analysis of 10M tweets from 2M+ accounts predicted Hurricane Sandy damage location and severity better than FEMA models (John Bohannon/Science)

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March 14, 2016, 3:20 AM

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Sam Byford / The Verge:

As remainder of five-game match plays out, Lee Se-dol finally beats Google's AlphaGo in game four — Go champion Lee Se-dol strikes back to beat Google's DeepMind AI for first time — AlphaGo wrapped up victory for Google in the DeepMind Challenge Match by winning its third straight game …

More: Go Game Guru, Re/code, Wired, diginomica, Gizmodo, GeekWire, Motherboard, 9to5Google, Associated Press, Business Insider, SlashGear, TechCrunch, City A.M., Mashable and Slashdot

Tweets: @demishassabis, @demishassabis, @noradio, @mmasnick, @stevndmills, @matthewclifford and @karpathy

Cade Metz / Wired:

Google's AlphaGo wins historic match against Go grandmaster after three consecutive wins in five-game series — Google's AI Takes Historic Match Against Go Champ With Third Straight Win — SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — Google's artificially intelligent Go-playing computer system has claimed victory …

Sam Byford / The Verge:

DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis on how AI will shape the future — DeepMind's stunning victories over Go legend Lee Se-dol have stoked excitement over artificial intelligence's potential more than any event in recent memory. But the Google subsidiary's AlphaGo program is far from its only project — it's not even the main one.

More: The Overspill, Associated Press, Open Gardens, International Business Times, Fortune, Tech Insider and Business Insider

Tweets: @erickschonfeld and @atmostbeautiful

Fred Wilson / AVC:

The challenges and opportunities of a second mobile revolution in which smartphones deliver essential services in the developing world — The Second Smartphone Revolution — Benedict Evans tweeted out this chart yesterday: … The first 2.5bn smartphones brought us Instagram, Snapchat …

More: Howard Lindzon. Tweets: @emmanuelamber, @docolumide, @fredwilson and @aunkurarya

Matt Apuzzo / New York Times:

Sources: Justice Department debating how to resolve standoff with WhatsApp over encryption in non-terrorism investigation — WhatsApp Encryption Said to Stymie Wiretap Order — WASHINGTON — While the Justice Department wages a public fight with Apple over access to a locked iPhone …

More: Electronic Frontier Foundation, The Next Web, Ars Technica, Motherboard, Ubergizmo, Fortune, Patently Apple, SiliconANGLE, Gizmodo and Ars Technica UK

Tweets: @csoghoian, @dhh, @digiphile, @dhh, @csoghoian, @csoghoian, @ellenbarrynyt, @csoghoian, @headhntr, @gaberivera, @puiwingtam and @csoghoian

Steven Levy / Backchannel:

US government reigniting the crypto wars of the 90s as tech companies implement strong encryption by default post-Snowden — Why Are We Fighting the Crypto Wars Again? — The iPhone Crisis reignited a conflict that should have been settled in the 90s. The loser is our national security.

More: Insanely Great Mac. Tweets: @christophera and @eff

Justin Sink / Bloomberg Business:

At SXSW, President Obama advises tech industry to compromise on encryption now instead of waiting for Congress to act — Government Can't Let Smartphones Be ‘Black Boxes,’ Obama Says — Obama advises tech industry to compromise before Congress acts — President appears at South by Southwest as FBI sues Apple Inc.

Bogdan Popa / Softpedia News:

Microsoft Store no longer accepting Bitcoin, will let users spend remaining balance but won't offer refunds — Microsoft's Windows 10 Store No Longer Accepting Bitcoin — Microsoft has silently removed support for Bitcoin in the Windows 10 Store, despite the fact that the company adopted …

More: Microsoft, The Register, Engadget, WinBeta, Bitcoinist.net, SiliconANGLE, PCWorld, NEWSBTC, Windows Central and Neowin

Tweets: @joelandren, @gamoid and @wadhwa

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:

Amazon Echo, initially ridiculed, could be the next must-have gadget — The Echo From Amazon Brims With Groundbreaking Promise — Many of the world's largest technology companies have spent the last five years searching in vain for the holy grail, a machine to succeed the smartphone as the next must-have gadget.

More: CNBC, Fortune, Forbes, Tech Times, BGR, Silicon Valley Business …, Yahoo! Finance, Business Insider, Neowin, NBC News, The Verge, International Business Times, VentureBeat, CNET, TWICE and MediaShift

John Bohannon / Science:

Study: Analysis of 10M tweets from 2M+ accounts predicted Hurricane Sandy damage location and severity better than FEMA models — Twitter can predict hurricane damage as well as emergency agencies — In October 2012, meteorologists noticed a massive low-pressure system forming over the waters south of Cuba.

More: Digital Trends, ResearchBuzz, Wall Street Journal, The Verge, Grist and Motherboard

Tweets: @marklittlenews and @tiffanylohwater

Matt Leone / Polygon:

Inside the five-year development of Sony's PlayStation VR headset expected to ship later this year — The making of PlayStation VR — When Richard Marks was in 10th grade, his father opened a video game store that was ahead of its time. It was the early '80s; used game sales weren't common …

More: Forbes, Engadget and VRFocus

Ben Popper / The Verge:

DJI Phantom 4 review: great autonomous features, reliable and powerful flight, but expensive at $1399 — DJI Phantom 4 Review: The first drone for everyone — The drone takes off, hovering a few feet off the ground. I guide it up to about 12 feet with the throttle on the remote control.

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