Fitting a parabola to an ellipse and vice versa
The previous post discussed fitting an ellipse and a parabola to the same data. Both fit well, but the ellipse fit a little better. This will often be the case because an ellipse has one more degree of freedom than a parabola. There is one way to fit a parabola
Read moreSam Altman biographer Keach Hagey explains why the OpenAI CEO was ‘born for this moment’
In “The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future,” Wall Street Journal reporter Keach Hagey examines our AI-obsessed moment through one of its key figures — Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI. Hagey begins with Altman’s Midwest childhood, then takes readers through his career at
Read moreDay 4 of TechCrunch Sessions: AI Trivia Countdown — Flex your brain, score big on tickets
TechCrunch Sessions: AI hits UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall on June 5 — and today’s your shot at AI trivia glory and two tickets for the price of one. Answer a few brain-busting questions on artificial intelligence, and if you ace it, you might just find a special promo code waiting
Read moreVideo game union announces first contract with Microsoft
Unionized quality assurance testers at video game holding company ZeniMax announced Friday that they have reached a tentative contract agreement with Microsoft, which acquired ZeniMax in 2021. This represents Microsoft’s first union contract in the United States. It’s been a little over two years since approximately 300 QA testers announced
Read more4 days to go: TechCrunch Sessions: AI is almost in session
Artificial intelligence has no shortage of visionaries—but the ones who matter are executing. In 4 days, TechCrunch Sessions: AI brings those builders, researchers, funders, and enthusiasts under one roof at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. This isn’t a parade of AI hype or a string of over-edited keynotes. It’s a single
Read moreTrump pulls Musk ally’s NASA Administrator nomination
Just one day after Elon Musk’s public departure from his role as a White House employee, the Trump Administration pulled its nomination of Musk ally Jared Isaacman to become the new NASA Administrator. First reported earlier on Saturday by Semafor, citing anonymous sources, the move has been confirmed by White
Read moreLeft-leaning influencers embrace Bluesky without abandoning X, Pew says
It’s no surprise that many big, left-leaning social media accounts have recently joined Bluesky — but a new analysis from the Pew Research Center attempts to quantify that shift. This comes as an update to Pew’s news influencer report released in November 2024, which did not include Bluesky in its
Read moreNAACP calls on Memphis officials to halt operations at xAI’s ‘dirty data center’
The NAACP is calling on local officials to halt operations at Colossus, the “supercomputer” facility operated by Elon Musk’s xAI in South Memphis. As reported in NBC News, leaders from the civil rights group sent a letter Thursday to the Shelby County Health Department and Memphis Light Gas and Water
Read moreMeta plans to automate many of its product risk assessments
An AI-powered system could soon take responsibility for evaluating the potential harms and privacy risks of up to 90% of updates made to Meta apps like Instagram and WhatsApp, according to internal documents reportedly viewed by NPR. NPR says a 2012 agreement between Facebook (now Meta) and the Federal Trade
Read moreThe ellipse hidden inside Pascal’s triangle
The nth row of Pascal’s triangle contains the binomial coefficients C(n, r) for r ranging from 0 to n. If you print out the values of a row for moderately large n the numbers appear to make an arc. Here’s are the numbers in the row for n = 100. You may be read the numbers if
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