PARTINGSHOTS
130 NOVEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 381
Zygote
He’s losthisshirtplayingpokerandthe restof hisclotheson asaucyEstonianapp,
butatleastZygotestillhasafullheadofhair,thanksto3D printing technology
able to win the highest-level
poker match of all, known as
No-Limit Hold’em.
Pluribus taught itself in just
over aweek by playing multiple
copies of eleven trillion games
against itself,and upping its skill
level each time using atechnique
known as ͗counterfactual regret
minimisation’. When it was
released intothe wild to play
against the World Series Poker
Tournament human champions,
Pluribus beat them hands down
by knowing exactly when to
bluff, when to call, when to
raise and when to fold.
In which case,itcan now be
tasked with renegotiating Brexit.
HAIR RAISING
Dr Angela Christiano has found a
brand new application forher 3D
printer.Working with agroup of
researchers at the Irving Medical
Center in Columbia University,
New York, she cooked up asoup
of neonatal skin cells, growth
stimulants and follicles donated
by volunteers, and she started
printing living hair.This could
greatly help people who want a
hair transplant, but can’t grow
enough material forharvesting
from the back of their heads to
be moved to the top.
Christiano’s innovation means
future patients can have access
to unlimited supplies of their own
cloned hair,even if theyare bald
as abilliard ball. Which is great
news forwannabe werewolves.
HIGH FIBRE DIET
Boris »ohnson is such ajoker.
Ƃygotehas been studying his
weekly column in theDaily
Telegraph,for which he will
pocket Δ275,000 this year.To
quote»ohnson, ͓It is adisgrace
that this country should suffer
from adeep digital divide.It
cannot go on like this.͕
He then compares the
full-fibre status of the UK, which
currently stands at 7%, to Spain,
which is 75%. Then he trumpets,
͓Let’s saygoodbye to the UK’s
mañanaapproach, and unleash
full fibre forall by 2025ɂ To unite
our country and our society,we
must commit now to deliver full
fibre to every home in the land in
five years at the outside.͕
OlȠ,Boris, olȠɂ The problem
with this sort of policy by
soundbiteisthat it is practically,
economically and physically
illiterate. The likes of BT are
already investing billions of
pounds training personnel to roll
out full fibre,there is no more
moneyinthe pot and fibre
stocks are in limited supply.
Even at the maximum rate, it
will take until 2033 to make fibre
commercially available to more
than half the premises in the
land, presupposing we don’t run
out of supplies and have the
personnel to install it in the first
place.According to BT,͓This
would require ahuge influx of
immigrant labour.Why would
such labour come to the UK given
our currency,political climate,
and the fact the rest of the world
wants such people too?͕
Ƃygotehas amore selfish
questiontoask,whichishowwe’d
cope with the traffic disruption
caused by digging up every road
in the land to install full fibre,
even if we could. Which we can’t.
FAKE NUDES
Deepnude is acommercial app
from Estonia. It digitally removes
clothing from images of
otherwise respectable ladies and
gentlemen, and it costs Δ40.
Unsurprisingly,Deepnude has
sometimes been used forthe
vindictive purpose known as
revenge porn, and it has come to
the attention of the anti-porn
pressure group Badass.
When Badass founder Katelyn
Bowden contacted the makers,
theyadmitted the risk and
declared on Twitter,͓OK, we don’t
want to make moneythis way͕.
Theythen withdrew the app from
the market and offered refunds.
In view of this helpful attitude,
Ƃygotehas now contacted the
manufacturers and asked them
to produce an app that digitally
puts clothes back on all
participants inLoveIsland.
BELGIANWAFFLES
Investigativejournalists fromthe
Belgianradio station ŚRThave
finally proved that Google
Assistant devices are not only
eavesdropping on private
conversations, but recording
them, storing them and playing
them back forthe amusement
of Google staff.
The radio journalists obtained
copies of the recordings, and one
Flemish-speaking staff member
declared, ͓This is undeniably my
own voice͕. He added that he can
͓clearly hear addresses and other
sensitive information. This makes
iteasytofindthepeopleinvolved.͕
Importantly,the trigger audio
command ͗OK Google’was
definitely not given, and equally
importantly Google employees
have been instructed to
double-check spellings of
names and addresses of the
users they’re snooping on.
CLEVERFOKKER
The High Tech Crime Unit gave
security boffin »ohn Fokker the
task of finding out who has been
selling malware disguised as
MicrosoɗOffice.Fokker helped
the police track down the crook
by examining ascreenshot forthe
scam soɗware,which had been
posted on abulletin board.
It was compiled using the
Dutch version of MS Word,
which is extremely uncommon in
the criminal world, and the
metadata in the files and screen
names were then traced back to a
20-year-old Dutchman living in
Utrecht. The culprit was arrested
and charged with supplying
three-dozen clients, who were
paying him amonthly
subscription of Δ450 each.
The logins forthousands of
websites were also discovered in
his possession, and Fokker is now
helping in the hunt forthe
network of subscribers.
NO REGRETS
Pluribus is an artificial intelligence
(AI) program designed to play
poker,and is the first AI player
