Howard Chen

IoT and the implications of the Second Machine Age

The ubiquity of Internet connectivity is inescapable for many people today. Almost everyone has at least a smart phone, loaded with personal information and virtually limitless capability to interact with other devices; families can automate their home environments with climate control systems like Nest, security and safety cameras, smart entertainment systems that learn your watching… Read more IoT and the implications of the Second Machine Age

Should data analytics stay out of the creative arts?

Disclaimer: my blog post this week will have a more personal tone than I would normally use for an assignment. This post uses music as a proxy for other creative fields – I think the general logic here applies to visual arts, fashion, and even food and beverage, among others. Data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine… Read more Should data analytics stay out of the creative arts?

Public perception of artificial intelligence

As is the case with anything new, it can be difficult for the general public to trust new technology, especially when they can’t fully comprehend how it works. Over the past several decades, more and more of the inner workings of technology are becoming hidden “in the box” – in other words, it’s now harder… Read more Public perception of artificial intelligence

Technology for social good

As someone with a primarily engineering background, one of the most interesting subjects I learned about through this week’s lectures is entrepreneurship. While the focus of this week was on the technology behind cloud computing, Montse Medina’s summary of lessons learned in entrepreneurship were especially valuable because they highlighted the importance of skills that cannot… Read more Technology for social good

The changing relationship between software and hardware technologies in modern computing

In the modern technology sector, I often see engineers strictly categorize themselves (and others) based on their title. Are you a software engineer? Or hardware? Does it really even matter? My personal belief is that a good engineer is one that will seek meaningful problems to explore and solve – his or her skill sets… Read more The changing relationship between software and hardware technologies in modern computing