Michael Copeland
San Francisco
As seen in:
CNN,
The Atlantic,
WIRED,
WIRED (UK),
NVIDIA Blog,
Belfast News Letter,
Dentistry Magazine,
ALIVE Magazine (East Bay)
writer, podcaster, beach bum, AWS
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Articles by Michael Copeland
Machine Learning Overview and Examples
Machine Learning Overview and Examples Introduction to Machine Learning Introduction to Supervised Learning Introduction to Unsupervised Learning Machine learning is an interdisciplinary field combining probability theory, statistics, computational theory, optimization methods, and computer science. Its primary focus is on learning from experience and improving the performance of specific algorithms.
Firing up cloud machines like ‘elves on roller skates’
There is a saying among South Africans that boils down to this: A farmer makes a plan. "It's an expression everybody knows and kind of lives by," said James Greenfield, VP of software engineering at Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Cape Town, South Africa. You will have noticed that Greenfield is not, by profession at least, a farmer. But for South Africans like him, it means that whatever it is you are doing, be it planting crops or inventing new ways to access computing, you just figure things out.
a16z Podcast: All About Ransomware
In just the last couple years, ransomware has grown into a multibillion dollar industry. It has evolved from taking systems and servers hostage to stealing data, and it has proven capable of shutting down global organizations.
How to Find Your Angel
How to find your angel investor It takes money to make money. Use these heavenly hints to attract the early-stage funding you need to get your new business off the ground. by Michael V. Copeland February 28, 2006: 10:31 AM EST (Business 2.0) - You've come up with a world-changing idea, or at least an industry-changing idea. You have a business plan. Maybe you've even written some code or built a prototype.
a16z Podcast: How to Decide, Convey vs. Convince, & More
It seems like investors are especially obsessed with the psychology of decision making — high stakes, after all — but all kinds of decisions, whether in life or business — like dating, product management, what to eat or watch on Netflix — are an “investment portfolio” of decisions… even if you sometimes feel like you’re making one big decision at a time (like, say, marriage or what product to develop next or who to hire).
Hearst to launch a wireless e-reader
Hearst exec Kenneth Bronfin says that e-readers "will be a big part of our future." NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Against a backdrop of plummeting ad revenue for newspapers and magazines, and rising costs for paper and delivery, Hearst Corp., is getting set to launch an electronic reader that it hopes can do for periodicals what Amazon's Kindle is doing for books.
A School in the Cloud and the Future of Learning
Sugata Mitra, TED 2013. Photo: James Duncan Davidson Sugata Mitra is the kind of guy every kid wants to be their teacher. Unbelievably energized, always ready with a smile, and always ready to leave you and your classmates to your own devices. Mitra calls his approach to education “self-organized learning.” At its core it’s all about sparking curiosity, about asking smart questions and then sitting back and letting kids get to the answers with the help of their peers.
Prepare early for retirement from the NHS - a summary guide for doctors
Navigating the retirement planning maze isn’t easy. With ever changing regulations and new pension freedoms, it can be a challenge for doctors to work out how best to save. But how can you make the most of your pension planning to give yourself the retirement salary you need? Here are some tips I often share with doctors to help them plan for the future.
Whitman's Hewlett-Packard Remodel Gets Another Hideous Surprise
You have to feel at least a bit of sympathy for Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman. Her turnaround of the tech giant is like remodeling some rambling ramshackle mansion. Every time she opens a door there is yet another disaster lurking inside. On Tuesday, the disaster was Autonomy, the UK-based software company HP bought last year for $11.1 billion.
Beyond Surveillance: Envisioning the Future Drone Workforce
A commercial-grade quadcopter gets the Airware treatment with specialized hardware and software. Jonathan Downey is the kind of guy you want flying you around. The 29-year-old MIT-educated engineer not only has a commercial pilot’s license, but he also helped set the record for longest unmanned helicopter flight (18.7 hours) and pulled off among the highest hovers out of ground-effect (20,000 feet). You also get the feeling he’d knock out a barrel roll if you asked.
1 Hour in Square's World
Each circle represents a different sale using Square over a one-period//Graphic: Square Each circle represents a different sale using Square over a one-period//Graphic: Square What Are Those Circles? The circles represent single transactions going through the Square payments system during a one-hour period on a recent Thursday afternoon–the larger the circle, the bigger the dollar amount of the sale. These transactions happened around 4 p.m. Eastern.
a16z Podcast: On Corporate Venturing & Setting Up ‘Innovation Outposts’ in the Valley
Every big technological shift (per Carlota Perez) brings with a structural shift too — an “institutional adjustment” in how companies innovated and build new products, according to Steve Blank and Evangelos Simoudis. Large organizations used to (and continue to) set up remote R&D labs in places like Silicon Valley.
Tesla's Wild Ride
A version of this article appears in the July 21, 2008 issue of Fortune. For Martin Eberhard, there were many obstacles on the path to building the ultimate electric sports car. There was the scientific challenge of creating a lithium ion battery pack stable enough to power a 2,650-pound vehicle. There was the belief that Americans would stick with their gas-guzzlers, no matter what the price of oil.
SXSW Liveblog - Day 4
During his keynote talk with Anil Dash, Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley was wearing a Jawbone Up, a Nike Fuel band, and a Basis watch. Dash called him out on it. Three health-tracking devices? “I’m the super-quantified self,” Crowley says. “Just on my arms, I’m generating a lot of data. This is what nerds do right now.” If you follow Dennis on Twitter, you’ll know that he tweets frequently about his workouts, his health achievements and his weight (using a hacked Withings scale).
Mary Meeker Says We're Giving Up Our Possessions for the Internet
Mary Meeker, the technology analyst turned Kleiner Perkins VC, gave her year-end Internet Trends update to a filled auditorium at Stanford last night. You can click through the entire slide show here . As you might expect, mobile continues to be Meeker’s overarching theme, and how from a use case, design and scale perspective it is changing how we do everything.
How Silicon Valley Perfected Ice Cream
There is very good ice cream in New York. Which made it all the more impressive that Joe Brent was standing in line, insulated bag in hand, at a San Francisco ice cream shop called Smitten. He ordered two pints to go - one vanilla, the other salted caramel – for the five-plus hour trip back East. “It’s for my wife,” Brent, who was in town playing mandolin with the San Francisco Symphony (Stravinsky piece) said.
The PC May Be Dying, But Computing Lives Everywhere
The walloping the PC industry received in the first quarter of this year, down 14 percent according to IDC and the biggest decline since the research firm began tracking PC sales in 1994, was no fluke. IDC is now forecasting 2013 to be the second year in a row that overall PC sales will decline, by about 8 percent versus the 4 percent slide posted in 2012. So the PC is doomed, but classic PC companies may not be.
How can doctors make the most of tax allowances at the end of the financial year?
While it can seem a daunting task, successfully managing and making the most of your tax allowances can potentially save you thousands of pounds each year. The trouble is, most people get confused about the different rules in place. Here are some of the quickest and easiest methods of making the most of your allowances before the tax year ends on 5 April.
Samsung Is Spanking Apple in Earnings, Sales
Apple has elicited a lot of hand-wringing by investors and fans alike lately, even as its chief competition Samsung seems to be prompting nothing but applause. Turns out selling a wider variety of phones and tablets is a good strategy after all.
What’s the Difference Between Deep Learning Training and Inference?
This is the second of a multi-part series explaining the fundamentals of deep learning by long-time tech journalist Michael Copeland. School’s in session. That’s how to think about deep neural networks going through the “training” phase. Neural networks get an education for the same reason most people do — to learn to do a job.
Summer Writer’s Block
It’s not a big surprise that my annual summer writer’s block is back. I’ve come to expect it. When summer rolls around, every orifice in my body tightens up when it’s time to extract something creative for this fine magazine. I’ve found it tough coming up with magic when I’m wearing flip-flops and board shorts while sucking on a cold Corona. Truthfully, after 9+ years of at least one article a month, the well might finally be dry. Brilliance is fleeting.
It’s My Birthday
July 29th is my birthday. Please don’t buy me anything… expensive. Truth be told, I don’t expect a big fuss for my birthday anymore. However, I do truly enjoy the “Likes” and “Comments” made on Facebook throughout the day, thank you Mark Zuckerberg. Since my birthday falls on a Friday this year, I’ll likely go to work. It is always appreciated if someone takes me to lunch (hint, hint).
The Difference Between AI, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning?
This is the first of a multi-part series explaining the fundamentals of deep learning by long-time tech journalist Michael Copeland. Artificial intelligence is the future. Artificial intelligence is science fiction. Artificial intelligence is already part of our everyday lives. All those statements are true, it just depends on what flavor of AI you are referring to.
The Difference Between AI, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning?
This is the first of a multi-part series explaining the fundamentals of deep learning by long-time tech journalist Michael Copeland. Artificial intelligence is the future. Artificial intelligence is science fiction. Artificial intelligence is already part of our everyday lives. All those statements are true, it just depends on what flavor of AI you are referring to.
Death by a Billion Clicks
Stephen Gillett bounds into the outdoor-home-theater section of a Best Buy store just a few blocks from the retailer’s headquarters in suburban Minneapolis. He’s wearing a gray Geek Squad polo shirt, jeans, and running shoes. In his beefy hands he clutches a venti latte from Starbucks—the company where, until last March, he served as chief information officer. Life was good back then. He had a plum position at a resurgent company, and he’d recently remodeled his home in a beautiful Seattle suburb.
CAIR Nazis trying to get a Texas school official fired for voicing her displeasure at the election of Muslim city council member
Unfortunately, she already apologized but as usual, terror-linked CAIR wants blood.
This Material Will Power the Future - If Somebody Can Profit From It
Simple sounding, but the two Russian-born physicists had just done something that many had tried — and failed — to do in the past and which could very well alter the future. The single-atom-thin flake of graphite, once isolated, was found to possess a revolutionary array of properties: electrical conductivity 100 times faster than silicon; strength 200 times greater than steel; astounding optical and thermal characteristics.
Shipping is a Feature: Some Guiding Principles for People That Build Things
In the back of my head I always have that product manager view of accountability and so rather than “advise” I much prefer to have a dialog in context and make sure accountability stays with the person asking. It is difficult enough to be a manager and avoid the constant pull of “telling people what to do” and certainly on big topics one really has to be careful. At the same time, spouting cliche’s like “what do you think” or “it depends” can frustrate folks. This in itself is a valuable PM lesson.
How to Engineer a Best Picture (Theoretical Spoiler Alert)
“Fast & Furious 6” is not in the race for Best Picture in Sunday night’s Academy Awards ceremony. All five of the preceding movies in the franchise were similarly snubbed. If you are a fan of muscle cars or Vin Diesel (sometimes hard to distinguish between the two), this ongoing insult may seem unfair.
When journalists trade newsrooms for content marketing
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Where Humans Will Always Beat the Robots
But just as humans are better than computers at some things, Miller concedes that algorithms have surpassed human capability in several fields. Take a look at libraries, which now have advanced digital databases, eliminating the need for most human reference librarians. There's also flight search, where algorithms are much better than people at finding the cheapest fare. That said, more complicated tasks even in those fields can get tricky for a computer.
How Silicon Valley Perfected Ice Cream
There is very good ice cream in New York. Which made it all the more impressive that Joe Brent was standing in line, insulated bag in hand, at a San Francisco ice cream shop called Smitten. He ordered two pints to go – one vanilla, the other salted caramel – for the five-plus hour trip back East. “It’s for my wife,” Brent, who was in town playing mandolin with the San Francisco Symphony (Stravinsky piece) said.
The New Instant Companies
CHEAP DESIGN TOOLS. OFFSHORE FACTORIES. FREE BUZZ MARKETING. HOW TODAY'S STARTUPS ARE GOING FROM IDEA TO $30 MILLION HIT--OVERNIGHT. (Business 2.0) – The creation of a shoe is a far more complex endeavor than its appearance might suggest. Footwear companies can spend up to 10 months designing new styles, which retailers expect to see long before stocking them.
The Man Who Escaped Microsoft and Took a Whole Company With Him
When Rich Barton was at Microsoft, he pulled off something that, despite government and investor pressure over the years, never happens. He spun out a company. That company, Expedia, which Barton founded in 1996, later went public with Barton as CEO. In 2003 Barry Diller's USA Interactive acquired it for $3.6 billion.
Business Grads to Wall Street: Drop Dead
It used to be that bulge bracket investment banks and big-money hedge funds had the pick of the quantitative and data-minded crop coming out of top business schools. That was especially true of those students based in the finance world’s backyard, New York City. Not anymore, says Anindya Ghose, a professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business who focuses on business analytics and digital marketing. “For the longest time all those sort of quant-type people went to Wall Street,” Ghose says.
The PC May Be Dying, But Computing Lives Everywhere
The walloping the PC industry received in the first quarter of this year, down 14 percent according to IDC and the biggest decline since the research firm began tracking PC sales in 1994, was no fluke. IDC is now forecasting 2013 to be the second year in a row that overall PC sales will decline, by about 8 percent versus the 4 percent slide posted in 2012. So the PC is doomed, but classic PC companies may not be.
Bullish on Wearable Tech: Mary Meeker's Annual State of the Internet Presentation
Every year (sometimes twice), longtime tech analyst turned venture capitalist Mary Meeker drops her state of the internet presentation. It’s that time of year again, and here it is. Some of the themes Meeker highlights include sharing of all kinds of media from photos within Facebook and Snapchat to video using Vine and YouTube. The United States lags the global average of people, 24 percent, who share “everything” or “most” of their digital lives.
With Tumblr Gone, the Last Great Prize Is Pinterest
So there goes Tumblr, sucked into the maw of Yahoo. But would someone please buy Pinterest already? You can bet plenty of companies have already tried. A few months back there were a spate of rumors that Google was hot on the trail of the jQuery Masonry-mad photo-pinning site that has inspired the redesign of everything from question-and-answer site Quora to the latest efforts at Google+. Nothing came of it.
Beyond Surveillance: Envisioning the Future Drone Workforce
Jonathan Downey is the kind of guy you want flying you around. The 29-year-old MIT-educated engineer not only has a commercial pilot’s license, but he also helped set the record for longest unmanned helicopter flight (18.7 hours) and pulled off among the highest hovers out of ground-effect (20,000 feet). You also get the feeling he’d knock out a barrel roll if you asked. Downey has taken his pilot and pilotless chops and turned them toward his own commercial drone company, Airware.
With I/O Speech, Larry Page Reminds Us Why Google Rules Tech
By Michael V. Copeland and Marcus Wohlsen 05.16.13 6:30 AM Not even Googlers were certain that Larry Page would make an appearance at the kickoff to the tech giant's annual developer conference in San Francisco Wednesday. But there he was on stage, in a red t-shirt, with a matching microphone and his quiet, froggy voice filling the room.
Bitcoin startups get £230,000 real money investment
Bitcoin took another step toward the mainstream on 14 May with the announcement of at least $350,000 (£230,000) available for Bitcoin-focussed startups participating in the next class of Silicon Valley-based accelerator Boost VC.
RIP, Hotmail, and Thanks for All the Spam
I met you first at a Kinko’s in 1996. All those copies – seems a bit wasteful now. We’d gather ‘round in our blue aprons to watch those crazy-expensive color prints come spitting out, then we’d check our Hotmail. I know your buddy Kinko’s would have some stories to tell. I still can’t believe Microsoft finally pulled your plug today. Even though I had a perfectly fine Telnet account, the copy boss made us all sign up for Hotmail.
Why Fantastically Wealthy Apple Is Borrowing Money
Wall Street is buzzing about Apple issuing around $17 billion in bonds. What this means in simple terms is that Apple is borrowing billions of dollars, and paying out a small yield to the people and institutions that purchase the bonds Apple is offering. This, of course, is the same tech company that is sitting on almost $150 billion in cash. So why would Apple borrow the money, when it already has so much of it sloshing around?
Samsung is spanking Apple in earnings, sales
Samsung is spanking Apple in earnings, sales By Michael V. Copeland, Wired updated 10:10 AM EDT, Mon April 29, 2013 | Filed under: Mobile Samsung's Galaxy S smartphone line is its flagship, but sales have been bolstered by devices like the huge Galaxy Note II.
From Darling to Dog: What Wall Street Wants From Apple Now
If there was ever a time for Apple CEO Tim Cook to throw investors a bone it’s now. Ahead of Apple’s quarterly earnings tomorrow, shares of the word’s most fawned over company have slid from an all-time high of $705 last September to about $391 as of Friday’s close. Apple stock is the lowest it’s been since the death of Steve Jobs in 2011.
Resiliency, Risk, and a Good Compass: Tools for the Coming Chaos
Diver, entrepreneur, investor, author, occasional DJ, and head of MIT’s Media Lab, Joi Ito is a man in constant motion around the world, spreading his ideas about the internet and technology — and absorbing just as much in the process. Ito told Wired what it’s going to take to maneuver through the next phase of disruption brought by technology. Wired: Your role at MIT, and as a globetrotting entrepreneurial tech guy, puts you in the center of change on a daily basis.
Marc Andreessen and Rockmelt Are Betting the Desktop Has a Future
Marc Andreessen has a thought exercise for you. Let’s say we all grew up in tech world where we only used tablets and smartphones. Then one day, someone comes up to you with a 27-inch display hooked up to a notebook. You could have everything you have on your tablets and smartphones, and then some. Except you don’t have to download anything or update it. Everything is the latest and greatest, and just one click away.
Microsoft and BlackBerry Duel for a Bronze
It’s the race for third place. No matter how either Microsoft or BlackBerry spins their latest mobile efforts, for now at least, there is no catching Apple at the high end or the many flavors of Android racking up sales up and down the mobile phone price curve. Still, a bronze means you get on the podium. So which company will it be that gets to hold its head high, a revamped BlackBerry riding its Z10 and new BB10 operating system? Or Microsoft and Windows Phone 8?
Why 3-D Printing Won't Turn Your Home Into a Factory
You’ve probably heard that 3-D printing is going to save U.S. manufacturing. All those “makers” say it, even President Obama has chimed in of late. So it wasn’t too surprising at the recent SXSW gathering to see 3-D printers busy cranking out doodads under the big tops of television networks and tech companies. You stood in line for a taco, you watched a link of plastic parts slowly emerge from a nearby machine.
Business Conference
If there is one high-profile Silicon Valley company rethinking everything about its business and place in the world it’s Yahoo under the leadership of CEO Marissa Mayer. Even while the drag from the Great Recession seems to be receding, big companies like Yahoo and individuals alike are facing a reordered business landscape.
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