Data Driven

Andy Boettcher on Why This is the Age of the Chaotic Brain

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:15:00 -0400

this episode, Frank sits down with Andy Boettcher, the Chief Innovation Officer at DoubleTrack, for a candid conversation about embracing the power (and chaos!) of modern AI tools.

Together, they dive into how neurodiversity and "chaotic brains" are thriving in this new era, where ideas can be rapidly tested, refined, and built with the aid of tools like Claude code. From the practical realities of using AI for software development and troubleshooting (even in classic cars and household appliances) to the shifting landscape of business innovation, they discuss the opportunities and challenges facing individuals and companies alike.

You'll hear first-hand stories about building podcast production tools, leveraging AI agents as virtual team members, the importance of critical thinking in an age of instant information, and why data security and adaptability are more crucial than ever. Whether you're a technologist, business leader, or simply curious about what it means to innovate today, this episode promises insight, humor, and a healthy dose of chaos.

Let's get data driven.

Time Stamps

00:00 What a Chief Innovation Officer does

06:18 The age of chaotic creativity

09:56 Using AI for planning discussions

11:31 Choosing the name Show Dog

15:22 Brainstorming and organizing ideas

18:43 Using tech for learning

20:47 Companies adopting AI strategies

25:10 Classic car ownership struggles

28:41 Taking time to rethink plans

31:34 Using AI to solve problems

37:25 Challenges in commercializing academic concepts

39:18 Adapting to evolving AI technology

43:36 AI tools and problem-solving in coding

45:23 Limitations of AI and data security

47:33 Data security and CRM setup

51:22 Challenging assumptions and blind spots

Synthetic Populations and the Future of Decision Intelligence

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy dive into the future of market intelligence with Dr. Jill Axline, co-founder and CEO of Mavera—a company building synthetic populations that simulate real human behaviour, cognition, and emotion. Forget Personas. We're talking real-time, AI-driven behavioural modeling that's more predictive than your horoscope and considerably more data-backed.

Dr. Axline shares how Mavera’s swarm of AI models situates these synthetic humans within real-world business contexts to forecast decisions, measure emotional resonance, and even test marketing messages before they go live. From governance and model drift to the surprising uses in financial services, political campaigns, and speechwriting—this is one of the most forward-looking conversations we’ve had yet.

If you've ever wanted a deeper understanding of how AI can augment decision-making—or just want to hear Frank admit asset managers love ice cream—this one’s for you.

Time Stamps

00:00 - Introduction & AI Swarms Explained

03:30 - Forget Personas: Contextual AI Models

07:00 - Evidence vs Inference & AI Governance

10:20 - Simulation Scenarios & Model Drift

14:30 - Synthetic Audiences in Action

18:00 - Evidence Feedback Loops & Small Data Challenges

22:00 - Industry Applications & Use Cases

27:00 - Analyzing Speeches & Emotional Resonance

30:45 - Sentiment, Social Listening, and Real-Time News Reactions

34:00 - Adversarial Models & Strategic Pushback

38:00 - The Cartoon Bank Portal That Failed Spectacularly

41:00 - From Skeptic to CEO: Jill’s Journey

45:00 - Data Privacy, Compliance & Synthetic Ethics

48:00 - Reflections on Empathy, Engineers, and Selling Without Selling

Support the Show

If you enjoy Data Driven, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favourite pod platform. It helps more people find the show—and fuels Frank’s Monster Energy habit.

Microsoft Fabric Unpacked: AI, Data Sovereignty, and a Bit of Clippy Nostalgia

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0400

In today’s show, BAILeY, your semi-sentient hostess with the mostest metadata, teams up with Frank La Vigne to welcome the ever-insightful Andrew Brust for a deep dive into the evolving Microsoft data ecosystem. From nostalgic tales of Windows history and scoring elusive Clippy swag at Ignite, to unraveling what makes Microsoft Fabric a game-changer for data integration, AI, and governance, this episode covers it all.

You’ll hear firsthand how Microsoft’s innovation goes far beyond the tech itself—focusing on seamless integration, unified billing, and organizational synergy. Andrew Brust sheds light on the journey from fragmented Azure services to the unified vision of Fabric, the rise of generative AI and “agentic” intelligence, and the increasingly important role of data sovereignty and governance in today’s regulatory landscape.

Whether you’re a data enthusiast, an AI tinkerer, or just in it for the nostalgia, grab your headphones and get ready for insights, laughs, and more acronyms than you can shake a dataset at. Stay curious and caffeinated—this episode has something for everyone!

Time Stamps

00:00 Microsoft Expertise and Industry Analysis

03:18 "Big Data and Analytics Insights"

08:31 Power BI's Rise in Azure

12:26 "Unified Fabric-Based Data Platform"

14:01 "Fabric IQ Powers AI Integration"

17:24 "Achieving Synergy Against Odds"

23:32 "Unified Compute for Seamless Integration"

24:41 "Overwhelmed by AWS Complexity"

28:21 "Microsoft Research Powers Azure Fabric"

34:20 "Azure Foundry and Tools"

37:33 "Flexibility Beyond Major Cloud Providers"

41:33 Global Data Privacy Trends

45:13 "Governance for Agentic AI"

47:29 "Azure Stack and Local Clouds"

50:13 "Kubernetes: The Cloud Caveat"

53:40 "Let's Reconnect and Reminisce"

Celebrating 400 Episodes – How AI Turbocharges Coding, Podcasting, and Creativity

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 09:00:00 -0400

Welcome to a milestone episode of Data Driven! In episode 400, hosts BAILeY, Frank La Vigne, and Andy Leonard gather to reflect on nearly a decade at the forefront of podcasting about data, AI, and the world of software engineering. This special edition takes you behind the scenes with stories of tech evolution, personal growth, and the wild journey from their earliest recordings to today’s AI-powered workflows.

The team digs into how generative AI has transformed their creative process—making it possible for small teams to produce vast amounts of content, drive innovation, and manage multiple podcasts at a high level. You'll hear about Frank’s latest tool, Podsy—a platform built to help creators manage the ever-growing tsunami of podcast assets using cutting-edge AI—and how tools like Claude, Grok, and Opus are unleashing new possibilities for automation and storytelling.

With their signature tangents, candid stories (including car accidents, water heater mishaps, and parenting milestones), and a bit of nostalgia about the early days of podcasting, this episode captures what makes Data Driven both insightful and relatable. If you’re a developer, data professional, or a fellow podcaster looking to stay ahead of the curve, episode 400 is packed with practical lessons, inspiration, and a few good laughs. Dive in as the team celebrates what’s possible in the age of AI—and look ahead to an exciting new chapter for the show!

Time stamps

00:00 "DGX Spark: Personal AI Supercomputer"

03:28 "Tech Innovations and Hardware Updates"

07:51 "Daily 5:40am Notification Routine"

11:10 "Podzi: Managing Podcast Assets"

15:35 "Boosting Value with AI Efficiency"

17:05 Claude Enhanced Legacy System

23:32 AI Impact on Creative Roles

25:58 "Consulting Break: Investing Time"

29:33 "Automation Evolution and Tools Demo"

31:35 "Podsy Studio: A Journey"

35:06 "AI-Powered Content Creation Demo"

38:26 "Podcast Organization and Insights"

42:10 "Streamlining Metadata for Insights"

45:47 "Unveiling AI's Hidden Potential"

50:41 "Celebrating 400 Podcast Episodes"

54:41 "Off Track Ambitions"

57:44 "Reality Strikes Back: Tech Trust"

59:36 "Podsy Progress and Workflow"

The Real Risks of LLMs - Guardrails, Judgment, and the Human Element in Cybersecurity

Wed, 26 Nov 2025 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, hosts Frank La Vigne, Candace Gillhoolley, and BAILeY sit down with Mike Armistead, CEO of Pulse Security AI—a cybersecurity veteran who's been fortifying digital defenses since before AI made headlines and hackers had professional profiles. Together, they dig into the dual-edged sword that is artificial intelligence in cybersecurity, exploring how AI serves as both a powerful tool against cyber threats and a potential weapon in the wrong hands.

Mike Armistead shares stories from the front lines, including his experience during the "code red" era at Google when ChatGPT shook up the tech world, and offers real-world advice on why LLMs (large language models) aren’t the magic fix for every problem—and why they desperately need guardrails. You’ll hear why your next big data breach could be hiding in a cleverly crafted AI prompt, why humans still matter when it comes to judgment calls, and why good old-fashioned security hygiene is as critical as ever.

Whether you’re a developer, data scientist, or just password-paranoid, this episode will make you rethink how you approach security in the age of AI. Tune in for expert insights, hard-earned lessons, and a few laughs as the Data Driven crew uncovers where technology, risk, and "common sense" collide.

Time Stamps

00:00 AI-Assisted Cybersecurity for SOCs

04:26 "AI Rush and LLM Insights"

09:12 AI-Powered Cybersecurity Strategy Insights

10:01 "Cybersecurity, ChatGPT, and Impressions"

13:17 AI Tools: Power and Risks

18:06 "Teaching Critical Thinking in AI Era"

20:59 "Guardrails and Next-Gen AI Systems"

24:22 Human Judgment vs AI Limitations

27:37 "Pressure Testing for Accuracy"

30:09 Future Tech Advancements and Challenges

34:58 "Risk Awareness Beyond Compliance"

37:38 "Cybersecurity Risks and AI Defense"

41:54 Cybersecurity Risks and Preparedness

43:04 "Situational Security in Practice"

46:05 "Cybersecurity's Evolving Threat Landscape"

51:52 "Builders vs. Destroyers Mindset"

55:05 Modern Password Practices

56:39 "Pulse Security AI & Community"

Going From Spreadsheets to Smart Agents - Modernizing Supply Chain Intelligence

Wed, 19 Nov 2025 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank La Vigne sits down with Itay Haber, CEO of Data Noetic, to unpack how AI is revolutionizing supply chain management. Forget spreadsheets and dashboards—Data Noetic is building an autonomous digital brain that proactively tackles delivery bottlenecks and bridges the gap between scattered data and process improvement.

You’ll hear real-world tales of missed bathroom tile deliveries, multi-million dollar construction delays, and the true impact of getting ahead of supply chain hiccups before they snowball. The trio explores how agentic AI isn’t just hype: it’s driving tangible results, saving time, boosting KPIs, and reimagining how companies of all sizes make decisions. From pharmaceuticals to consumer packaged goods, discover why trust, transparency, and agility are the new gold standards in supply chain operations—and how data-driven agents just might become indispensable.

Tune in for a masterclass that balances digital wisdom with a dash of dry wit, and learn how emerging tech is helping organizations deliver on time, in full, and with a whole lot less existential angst.

Time stamps

00:00 "Autonomous Supply Chain Optimization"

06:01 "Optimizing On-Time Delivery Failures"

07:27 Proactive Warehouse Order Management

13:06 "Aligning Perception with Reality"

15:08 "Streamlining Order Fulfillment Process"

18:18 "AI Revolutionizing Problem Coordination"

22:18 "Data Validation and AI Insights"

25:04 Predictive KPI Monitoring with Gen AI

27:09 Clarifying Questions for Assistance

31:37 "Tailored Software Delivery Models"

34:35 "AI's Role in Complex Industries"

37:00 "AI Focus and Value Debate"

42:37 "AI Bubble and Valuations"

46:43 AI's Transformative Impact on Jobs

48:17 AI Enhances Jobs, Not Replaces

51:44 "AI: Boom, Bust, Transformation"

57:38 "AI, Data, and Change"

Inside Nvidia GTC DC: AI, Quantum Computing, Robotics, and the Future of Supercomputers

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 09:00:00 -0400

Welcome to another exciting episode of Data Driven! On this week’s show, hosts Frank La Vigne and Candace Gillhoolley take you inside the NVIDIA GTC conference in Washington, DC—an event that’s rapidly evolved from a hardware showcase into a crossroads for AI, robotics, and quantum computing innovation. Frank shares his firsthand experience navigating the expo floor, offering a glimpse into the latest cutting-edge tech, from GPU supercomputers to quantum networking breakthroughs and swarms of robots. Candace and Frank discuss the growing intersections between fields like quantum biology and AI, and share stories about the curious mix of attendees—from government officials and policymakers to technologists, students, and even a few cosplay “Jensen Huangs.”

Whether you’re a data enthusiast, a future-focused technologist, or simply quantum curious, this episode dives into the national security implications of AI, the importance of lifelong learning in tech, and how the rise of quantum and robotics will disrupt careers and industries alike. Tune in for insider anecdotes, expert encounters, and a dose of practical wisdom about adapting in the world of emerging technologies—the future is here, and it’s happening faster than ever.

Time Stamps

00:00 "Nvidia GTC Highlights and Expo"

03:36 "Quantum, AI, and Innovation Highlights"

07:18 Tech and Government Amid Furlough

10:24 "Tech Components in Booz Allen Vehicle"

14:37 Meeting Maria Shah

19:11 Career Shifts and Evolutions

23:06 From Books to Tech Publishing

24:44 Quantum Insights with Researcher

29:01 "Nvidia: Emerging Defense Contractor"

32:25 Tech Innovations: AI, Quantum, Robotics

36:44 "Live Streaming Quantum & Tech"

37:40 "High-Speed Quantum Interconnects"

41:01 Technical Translation for Accessibility

44:19 "High School, Future, Nvidia Innovation"

49:28 "Guest's Learning Experience"

50:45 "Quantum Business Strategy"

53:36 British AI Outro Stream

The Fast-Moving Train of AI - Sovereignty, Acceleration, & Lessons from History

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

On this episode of Data Driven, hosts Frank La Vigne and Leonard celebrate a major milestone: the 30th anniversary of Franksworld.com, one of the OGs of tech blogging that’s survived multiple browser wars, dot-com crashes, and the relentless march of Internet time. Joined by guest Saket Saurabh, they dive into the rapidly evolving landscape of AI, data science, and technology, comparing today’s AI boom to previous tech bubbles and exploring trends in sovereign AI, data sovereignty, and global competition in quantum computing.

The conversation takes us from the days of hand-coded HTML uphill in both directions, to modern challenges like scheduling snafus, rapid automation, and the possibilities (and pitfalls) brought on by artificial intelligence. Along the way, Frank and Saket reflect on the cycles of tech innovation, the impact of global politics on data and AI, and what it really means to adopt new technology mindsets.

Tune in for a lively ride through tech history, lessons learned, and a discussion on how a scrappy few—and a little help from AI—can rival teams of seventy. If you’re curious about what’s next in AI, data, or you just want a dose of digital nostalgia and practical insight, this episode’s for you.

Time Stamps

00:00 Grok 4 Daily Updates

05:22 "AI Bubble: Caution and Trends"

12:10 "X64 Chips and Tech Rivalry"

19:49 "Appreciating Thoughtful Scientific Content"

25:34 "History's Arcs and Overcorrections"

27:24 "Unique Identity Beyond Models"

32:03 "Reexamining Privacy Awareness"

41:22 "Geopolitical Prudence and Resources"

47:49 "AI, Podcasts, and Off-Roading"

50:37 "Talking Recycling Bin Origins"

54:37 "AI as a Multilingual Solution"

59:49 Reinventing MCP and Context Memory

01:05:12 "Artistic Talent Meets Engineering"

01:14:08 "Data, AI, and Mastermind Insights"

Compute, Carbon, and Cashflow Silicon Data’s Big Bet on GPU Markets

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 09:00:00 -0400

Welcome to another episode of Data Driven, where we dive deep into how data and AI are shaping—sometimes shaking—the modern world. In this episode, hosts Frank La Vigne, Andy Leonard, and Carmen Li sit down with Carmen Lee, the trailblazing CEO of Silicon Data and a former Bloomberg data aficionado.

Carmen’s on a mission to bring clarity to the wild west of GPU compute markets, and she shares with us how she’s turning raw compute into a true tradable commodity—think futures markets for GPUs, the “Bloomberg terminal” for AI infrastructure, and perhaps even a Carfax for your next used GPU cluster.

Together, they explore everything from why AI startups struggle with fluctuating margins, to the crucial role TSMC plays in the world economy, all the way to the data transparency that might be the missing piece in AI’s explosive growth. Whether you’re curious about benchmarking GPUs, tokenomics, managing infrastructure costs, or just want a glimpse into the future of data markets, this one’s for you.

Stay tuned for a fascinating conversation on normalizing chaos, hedging tech costs, geeking out over hardware, and even a few laughs about used GPU “car lots” in Virginia. Let’s get data driven!

Time Stamps

00:00 "AI Commodities and GPU Markets"

06:56 Ecosystem Transparency Benefits All

10:55 AI SaaS Cost Optimization Challenges

13:41 Token Economics in Cloud AI

15:27 Optimizing GPU and Token Commitment

18:41 Token-Based Product Innovation

25:00 "Verifying UIDs and Connectivity"

28:43 Measuring GPU Performance

30:41 Supply Chain Impact on GPU Industry

35:43 "TNC's Unchallenged Leadership in Supply Chain"

36:31 Silicon Ecosystem Collaboration

39:38 Nvidia's Strategic TSMC Capacity Purchase

42:51 Bloomberg's Media and Finance Expansion

46:53 "Quantum Reading Challenges"

50:13 "Data Driven Podcast Wrap-Up"

Why Simulating Reality Is the Key to Advancing Artificial Intelligence

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, we're joined once again by Christopher Nuland, technical marketing manager at Red Hat, whose globe-trotting schedule rivals the complexity of a Kubernetes deployment. Christopher sits down with hosts Bailey and Frank La Vigne to explore the frontier of artificial intelligence—from simulating reality and continuous learning models to debates around whether we really need humanoid robots to achieve superintelligence, or if a convincingly detailed simulation (think Grand Theft Auto, but for AI) might get us there first.

Christopher takes us on a whirlwind tour of Google DeepMind’s pioneering alpha projects, the latest buzz around simulating experiences for AI, and the metaphysical rabbit hole of iRobot and simulation theory. We dive into why the next big advancement in AI might not come from making models bigger, but from making them better at simulating the world around them. Along the way, we tackle timely topics in AI governance, security, and the ethics of continuous learning, with plenty of detours through pop culture, finance, and grassroots tech conferences.

If you’re curious about where the bleeding edge of AI meets science fiction, and how simulation could redefine the race for superintelligence, this episode is for you. Buckle up—because reality might just be the next thing AI learns to hack.

Time Stamps

00:00 Upcoming European and US Conferences

05:38 AI Optimization Plateau

08:43 Simulation's Role in Spatial Awareness

10:00 Evolutionary Efficiency of Human Brains

16:30 "Robotics Laws and Contradictions"

17:32 AI, Paperclips, and Robot Ethics

22:18 Troubleshooting Insight Experience

25:16 Challenges in Training Deep Learning Models

27:15 Challenges in Continuous Model Training

32:04 AI Gateway for Specialized Requests

36:54 Open Source and Rapid Innovation

38:10 Industry-Specific AI Breakthroughs

43:28 Misrepresented R&D Success Rates

44:51 POC Challenges: Meaningful Versus Superficial

47:59 "Crypto's Bumpy Crash"

52:59 AI: Beyond Models to Simulation

Dr Ido Zamberg on The Role of AI in Modern Healthcare Delivery From Databases to Defibrillators

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Welcome to another episode of Data Driven! Today, hosts Frank La Vigne and Andy Leonard, are joined by Dr. Ido Zamberg—a rare breed who’s equally comfortable rebooting servers and saving lives.

Dr. Zamberg is a physician, software engineer, chief medical officer at C8 Health, and a true innovator at the intersection of medicine and technology. In this episode, we dive into his unique journey from startups and coding to the operating room, exploring how his hands-on technical expertise is helping frontline clinicians access real-time, AI-powered decision support.

Expect fascinating insights into the evolution of healthcare technology, the challenges (and rewards) of bridging vastly different worlds, and why seamless access to best practices at the point of care can be truly lifesaving. Dr. Zamberg shares anecdotes from his career, reflects on the importance of context-driven solutions, and offers a behind-the-scenes look at making clinical workflows smarter, faster, and safer with modern AI. So if you’re curious about how SQL queries meet scalpel skills, this is an episode you won’t want to miss!

Time Stamps

00:00 From Software Engineer to Physician-Entrepreneur

06:04 "From Tech to Medicine: A Journey"

07:43 Tech-Medicine Integration Challenges

12:55 Diverse Medical Experience Overview

14:49 "Healthcare Solutions Over Tech Focus"

18:41 Hospital Best Practices Standardization

20:46 Streamlined Clinician Information Platform

23:59 Solving Healthcare Inefficiencies

29:22 Understanding the Challenges of Tough Jobs

30:11 Practice Grace Over Wealth

33:59 Healthcare Platform for Providers

39:11 Generative AI in Clinical Queries

42:16 Value of Expertise in Problem-Solving

43:48 Praising Expert in AI Medicine

47:50 AI Revolutionizing Healthcare Information

51:27 Data, Coffee, and Code Insights

Thanos Diakakis on Surviving the Software Apocalypse – AI, Agile, and Good Engineering

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 09:00:00 -0400

On this episode of Data Driven, we venture into the ever-shifting landscape of software engineering, AI-assisted coding, and the sometimes chaotic future of development teams with special guest Thanos Diacakis—no, not the Marvel villain, but a powerhouse in software leadership whose career spans scrappy startups to tech giants like Uber.

Hosts Frank La Vigne, Andy Leonard, and resident AI BAILeY welcome Thanos for an insightful, witty, and sometimes philosophical conversation about the promise and perils of AI in software engineering. From the rise (and risks) of “vibe coding” to the changing definition of good engineering, Thanos shares firsthand experiences, pitfalls to avoid, and why solid fundamentals matter now more than ever—even with AI churning out code at lightning speed.

We also explore how AI is reshaping workflows for both solo developers and large teams, the difference between local and global efficiency, and how bottlenecks are shifting in this new era. Thanos breaks down his “seven mental models” for effective engineering, demystifies the right way to work with AI tools (instead of letting them run wild), and explains why junior devs still deserve a seat at the table.

If you’re curious about the real impact of AI-assisted coding, worried about the next wave of software “apocalypse,” or just eager for practical strategies to keep your teams productive and sane, this episode is packed with the wisdom, humor, and actionable takeaways you’ll want to hear. Buckle up as we dive deep into the code base—this is Data Driven, where the only thing disappearing is inefficiency.

Time Stamps

00:00 "Exploring AI Coding with Thanos"

05:20 Revolutionizing Productivity with Code

08:18 Cross-Platform Utility Development

12:14 Database Costs Drop, Demand Surges

14:43 Unauthorized Copying of Software Manuals

17:54 "Chunked Narratives Enhance LLM Performance"

19:43 Grox Impressive Despite Incompletion

24:40 Reviving a Startup with AI

28:53 Bottleneck Identification and Resolution Strategy

29:37 Incremental Improvements Drive Success

34:40 Agile's Evolution: Remembering Its Roots

38:41 Balancing Features and Tech Debt

42:50 Software Estimations: A Management Trap

45:55 Managing Project Time Expectations

47:47 Trust Building Through Incremental Delivery

51:23 Language Models: Human Cognition Parallel?

56:04 "Exploring Intelligence: Brains vs. AI"

58:06 "Data Driven Episode Conclusion"

Dr Mike Orkin on Blackjack, Lightning, and Apophenia: The Surprising Psychology of Probability

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 09:00:00 -0400

On this episode of Data Driven, we’re shuffling up some probability, statistics, and a bit of Las Vegas magic with Dr. Michael Orkin—a renowned statistician, data scientist, and former advisor to casino odds makers. Hosts Andy Leonard, Frank La Vigne, and BAILeY dig into the fascinating numbers behind games of chance, uncovering why the house almost always wins and how our brains are wired to find patterns—sometimes where none exist.

Whether you’re a data enthusiast, a casual gambler wondering why your lucky streak never lasts, or just curious about how randomness, probability, and big jackpots work, this episode has you covered. Dr. Orkin breaks down concepts like the house edge, expected value, card counting, the allure (and statistical pitfalls) of lottery tickets, and the psychology driving “hot” and “due” gambling strategies. Plus, he weighs in on lightning strikes, Black Swan events, correlation and causation, and the curious human habit of seeing connections in random outcomes.

So, get ready for a lively conversation that reminds us data is everywhere—especially where stakes are high and luck seems just out of reach. Whether you’re here for probability puns, real-world math, or the stories Vegas doesn’t want you to know, this is one episode you won’t want to miss!

Links

The Story of Chance https://amzn.to/45qOe8x

Dr Mike's Substack https://drmikeorkin.substack.com/

Moments

00:00 Casino House Edge Explained

08:54 "Random Chance and Unlikely Events"

12:03 Justifying Buying Lottery Tickets

16:58 "SBF: Crypto King Unraveled"

26:34 Lightning Strike Probability Calculation Issues

32:26 Average Beyond Desk Boundaries

33:26 "Defining Accident Prone"

39:31 Misjudging Odds with Normal Curve

45:50 Avoiding Lightning Strikes: Bay Area

55:11 Casino Mind Games Experience

56:20 Roulette Betting Strategies: Apophenia

01:03:33 "Dr. Orkin's Website & Substack"

01:07:19 "Probability and the House Edge"

From Cold War to Code Wars: Unpacking America’s Bold AI Strategy

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 09:00:00 -0400

Welcome to another episode of Data Driven, where we delve deep into the crossroads of data, technology, and the ever-shifting world of geopolitics. In this packed episode, hosts Frank La Vigne and Bailey are joined by Christopher Nuland, AI technical marketing manager at Red Hat, for a candid, no-holds-barred discussion on the newly released America's AI Action Plan.

Together, they tackle everything from the resurgence of Cold War tensions in the AI arena to the complexities of “AI sovereignty” and what it really means for the US, China, and the rest of the world. Expect spirited debates about EU’s place in the global AI race, the real-world implications of chip supply chain disruptions, and the heated rhetoric around workforce security in an era when AI is starting to replace traditional jobs.

The conversation weaves through existential questions—can AI ever truly reason, or are we just witnessing the rise of superpowered “spreadsheet goblins?”—and gets hands-on with the very real risks (and opportunities) of rolling out LLMs in everyday workplaces. Plus, the team touches on power-hungry data centers, potential impacts on the job market, and even finds time to swap sci-fi references from The Expanse to Ghost in the Shell to help paint a picture of what our AI-dominated future might look like.

Buckle up for a dense, dynamic, and dangerously nerdy journey into the world of AI policy, technology, and what it means for all of us. Let’s get into it!

Timestamps

00:00 AI Geopolitics & America's Action Plan

08:14 EU's Role in Tech Hierarchy

14:10 "US Focus: Securing AI Workforce"

20:40 Supply Chain Security in Software

24:24 Politicians' Technical Proficiency Limits

27:19 AI Sovereignty and Cultural Values

33:52 CHIPS Act: Innovation and Expansion Hopes

38:11 "AI Vulnerability: Patch Attacks"

47:58 Maryland Power Line Controversy

50:09 "AI Impact on Jobs & UBI"

55:47 Techno Feudalism Perspective

01:04:41 "AI Sovereignty: A Geopolitical Chess Match"

Dr Alan Bekker on Multimodal Avatars, Education, and Authentic Digital Connections

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 09:00:00 -0400

In today’s conversation, hosts BAILeY and Frank La Vigne sit down with Dr. Alan Becker, co-founder and CEO of E Self AI and former co-founder of Voca AI, which was acquired by Snap in 2020. Dr. Becker brings a powerhouse combination of academic expertise and entrepreneurial experience, with a PhD in machine learning and AI and research spanning voice, NLP, and computer vision.

This episode dives into how E Self AI is transforming human-machine interaction by moving beyond chat and voice—introducing real-time face-to-face video AI assistants. Imagine smarter digital avatars that don’t just talk but engage visually and contextually, delivering personalized tutoring, streamlined customer service, and even real estate tours.

Along the way, the conversation goes deep: they discuss the pyramid of engagement from text to voice to fully visual interaction, and what the next generation of AI means for education, accessibility, and the way we connect with each other. Dr. Becker offers insights from his research on multimodal AI and reflects on the very philosophical questions these new technologies raise—like authenticity, connection, and the future of what we call “real.”

Whether you’re curious about the engineering magic behind lifelike avatars, the ethical dilemmas of AI interviews, or how technology is reshaping the learning experience, this episode is a fascinating look at where artificial intelligence—and humanity—are headed next.

Strap in, update your firmware, and get ready to stay Data Driven.

ESelf Website: https://www.eself.ai/

TimeStamps

00:00 "Exploring AI with Dr. Becker"

05:49 Accessibility Drives eSelf's Innovation Journey

06:58 Advanced Voice Interaction Evolution

11:33 Personalized Tutoring via Multimodal AI

14:33 AI in Sci-Fi and Real Life

16:21 Understanding Users Via Encoding Algorithms

19:44 Digital Twin to AI Avatars Transition

23:14 AI Misunderstandings Due to Background Noise

27:19 AI's Role in Job Interviews

32:36 Nvidia Tool Alters Eye Contact

35:15 AI-Human Communication Blur

38:31 Reality and Gaming Perception Debate

41:51 Influencer Reality vs. Perception

44:45 Identity and Authenticity Dilemma

48:30 "Influencer's Authenticity vs. Flashiness"

53:22 Fake Celeb Math Explainer TikToks

56:10 "AI's Future: Human-Like Interaction"

57:07 Data-Driven Focus

Christopher Nuland on Stacking Servers & Superintelligence: Hype and Reality Behind AI 2027

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 09:00:00 -0400

Welcome to another episode of Data Driven—the podcast where we explore the future of technology, one neural network at a time. In this episode, your hosts Frank La Vigne and Bailey are joined by Christopher Newland, Principal AI Technical Marketing Manager at Red Hat, globetrotter, and resident connoisseur of computer flea markets. Together, they embark on a lively journey through the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence.

You’ll hear tales of racking servers in suburban garages, nostalgic detours through the golden age of CompUSA and cable boxes, and candid reflections on building (and rebuilding) home labs. But it’s not all geek nostalgia. The conversation dives deep into the highly-discussed AI 2027 report—a speculative look at how AI might break free from human control, achieve superintelligence, and fundamentally alter our relationship with technology and society.

They unpack the challenges of AI infrastructure, the real-world limits of doomsday predictions, and the growing importance of data privacy and AI sovereignty. It’s a spirited, thought-provoking, and sometimes hilarious ride through past, present, and possible futures of artificial intelligence. So grab your favorite GPU-powered device, settle in, and get ready for a fascinating exploration of what might just send our world delightfully sideways by 2027!

Time Stamps

00:00 "AI 2027: Future Unplugged"

05:47 Nvidia DGX Spark: AI Desktop Revolution

09:42 "Experienced Workers Elevate Retail Experience"

11:41 Early PC Build Challenges

17:00 Supply Chain Management Challenges

19:35 Garage Tech Showcase Challenges

23:22 AI Deception and Arms Race

24:34 Robotics Future and AI Manpower

29:15 Concerns with 2027 AI Report

32:41 Balancing Regulation and Free Market

37:04 "Theoretical Limits of AI Models"

38:32 "AI Sovereignty Discussion"

43:03 "Stay Curious, Stay Data Driven"

Amir Berman on Making Construction Smarter with AI and Analytics

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, host Frank La Vigne is joined by Amir Berman, VP of Industry Transformation at Buildots, to explore how AI, computer vision, and cutting-edge analytics are revolutionizing the construction industry. Forget everything you thought you knew about dusty blueprints and endless delays—Amir shares how technology is helping build smarter, safer, and more efficient job sites. From real-time progress tracking with 360° cameras to predictive analytics that keep billion-dollar projects on schedule, this conversation uncovers how digital transformation is reshaping one of the world’s oldest industries. Whether you’re a tech fanatic, data enthusiast, or just curious about how skyscrapers go from chaos to code, this episode builds a compelling case for the power of AI in construction. Grab your virtual safety goggles—let’s get hands-on with the future of building.

Timestamps

00:00 Construction's Digital Transformation Insights

09:15 Tech Vendors: Respect Contractors' Limits

14:23 "Technology Enhances Construction Oversight"

17:03 "Rewiring Minds: Tech Enhances Performance"

27:25 Predictive Analytics Exposes Construction Delays

28:19 Proactive Problem-Solving in Construction

38:31 Tech-Enhanced Workforce Retention Strategy

40:28 AI for Pipeline Problem Mitigation

45:14 "From Flash to Data Analytics"

52:24 The Innovator's Dilemma Explained

54:56 Embracing AI After Windows Mobile Flop

01:00:29 "Smart Construction with Computer Vision"

The AI Driven Leader: Rethinking Strategy, Decision Making, and Personal Growth

Thu, 22 May 2025 03:00:00 -0400

Welcome to the season nine premiere of Data Driven, where we kick things off with a thought-provoking deep dive into the world of AI-powered leadership. In this episode, hosts Frank La Vigne, Andy Leonard, and BAILeY are joined by Geoff Woods, bestselling author of "The AI Driven Leader." Together, they explore how artificial intelligence is quickly evolving from a tactical tool that writes emails and automates tasks to a transformative thought partner that can help leaders navigate high-stakes business decisions, develop innovative strategies, and even challenge their own thinking.

Geoff challenges the notion that AI is just another tech buzzword and shares real-world stories of executives using AI as a strategic confidant—literally building virtual AI boards featuring iconic figures like Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett. He breaks down his practical CRIT framework (Context, Role, Interview, Task), offering listeners actionable ways to move beyond surface-level AI use and harness its power for exponential personal and business growth.

Whether you’re a seasoned data scientist, a curious executive, or just someone looking to level up your leadership skills, this conversation will inspire you to reconsider how you work with AI—and how much more you can achieve when you use it as your smartest collaborator yet. Get ready to have your assumptions challenged, your creativity sparked, and your sticky notes filled with new ideas. Let’s get data driven!

Timestamps

00:00 "AI: Your Strategic Cofounder"

05:26 Strategic Leadership with AI

07:35 "Focusing on 20% High-Impact Tasks"

11:07 AI Strategies for Debt Restructuring

13:28 AI in Negotiations: Role Play Insights

19:01 Mentor in Your Pocket

21:52 "Imaginary Advisory Board"

25:17 "Starting AI: First Domino Approach"

28:33 Coaching Corporate Growth Strategy

31:51 Interactive Knowledge Experience

35:06 "Becoming an AI-Driven Leader"

38:54 "Visionary Super Connector"

43:06 Leadership Beyond Technology

47:11 Rethinking AI and Strategic Questions

49:26 "AI-Powered Strategic Visioning"

53:29 "Choosing Growth Over Perfection"

56:24 AI Achievements: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

Special Announcement From 386 Computers to AI Leadership: Our Season Nine Kickoff

Wed, 21 May 2025 09:00:00 -0400

Andy and I are kicking off Season Nine of Data Driven with a bang: an insightful interview with Jeff Woods, author of “The AI Driven Leader.”

Andy, Bailey, and I are thrilled to bring you brand-new conversations, deep dives, and data stories all season long. Stay tuned for the official release, and as always, thank you for being part of our data-driven journey.

Listen for the Season Nine kickoff soon!

Jacob Leverich on Efficiency, Elegance, and the Joy of Not Grepping log files at 2AM

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 09:00:00 -0400

This week, Frank sat down with Dr. Jacob Leverich—Stanford PhD, cofounder of Observe, and a veteran of the Google MapReduce team and Splunk. Jacob’s journey, from tinkering with video game code as a kid, to innovating at the cutting edge of distributed systems and energy efficiency, is as inspiring as it is informative.

Key Takeaways

Early Tech Roots: Hear how curiosity with QBasic and classic PCs (think IBM PCXT and Commodore) put Jacob on a path to high-impact data engineering.
MapReduce, Dremel, & the Rise of Big Data: Jacob pulls back the curtain on working with some of the most influential data processing tools at Google and how these systems shifted the entire data landscape (hello, BigQuery!).
Building Efficient Systems: It’s not just about scale—energy efficiency and performance optimization are the unsung heroes of today’s data infrastructure. Jacob explains why making things “just work” isn’t enough anymore.
The Realities of Ops & Observability: Remember the days of grepping logs at 2AM? There’s a better way. Jacob shares how platforms like Observe help teams consolidate, visualize, and act on operational data—turning chaos into actionable insight.
Bridging Data & Ops: The lines between data observability and traditional ops are blurring, and Jacob’s unique experience shows how best practices from data warehousing are finally making ops smoother (and less sleepless).
Power Concerns & the Future: As data grows, so does energy consumption in data centers. Find out why optimization isn’t just good for performance—it’s key to sustainability.

Timestamps

00:00 Interview with Jacob Levrich

05:59 Journey into Game Programming

06:43 "Pursuing Fast Video Game Code"

10:23 Data Processing and Power Efficiency

16:11 Snowflake's Transformative Database Approach

19:18 Journey to Data Management Industry

21:37 Data Products: Solving Core Challenges

27:07 Early Web Log Analysis Techniques

28:57 Consolidating Data for Efficiency

33:23 Specialized Tools and Context Switching

35:43 Unique Dual-Expertise in Tech

38:58 User-Centric Business Strategies

42:13 IP Data Analysis in Cloud

47:23 Electricity Transport Upsets Local Farms

48:25 Shift to Parallel Computing

52:10 Hardware Specialization & Software Optimization

57:32 "Stay Data Driven"

István Mészáros on going From CERN to Startup & The Cat That Launched a Thousand Queries

Mon, 14 Apr 2025 09:00:00 -0400

Welcome to another insightful episode of Data Driven! Today, we're diving into the world of warehouse-native analytics with our special guest, István Mészáros, cofounder of Mitsu. Join us as we explore how Mitsu empowers startups and enterprises with a new approach to data analytics. From his beginnings as a CERN physicist to becoming an open-source evangelist and finally a startup founder, István shares his unique journey through the data industry.

We'll discuss the motivation behind Mitsu's distinct branding, reminiscent of Hello Kitty, and why standing out in today's crowded market is crucial. István also reveals the challenges and strategies of building a data company in Europe, and how Mitsu simplifies analytics by offering a self-service solution without the high costs associated with existing market leaders.

Timestamps

0:00 Introducing István Mészáros

05:30 Shifting Open Source to SaaS

07:46 Lava-Themed Compliance Solutions Brand

10:27 Tech Branding and Hello Kitty Insights

13:46 Optimizing Conversion in Data-Heavy Travel

16:31 Self-Service Analytics Tool Needed

19:17 Automated Product Analytics Tool

23:20 "Budget Constraints and DIY Solutions"

28:17 Freelancer's Efficient Data Solutions

29:08 Open Source Tool Productization Plan

33:13 Navigating Freelance and Startup Challenges

37:19 Transitioning to Data Engineering

42:25 Instant Feedback in Hobbies

43:46 Embracing Feedback in Business Transformation

49:13 "Hoping AI Takes Over Hiring"

51:58 Visit Site for Info & Contact

55:22 "Parenting Boys with Earbuds"

57:25 "Data Driven: Quantum Podcast Relaunch"

Barr Moses on How Data Observability Can Save Your Company Millions

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 09:00:00 -0400

On this episode of Data Driven, we welcome Barr Moses, CEO and co-founder of Monte Carlo, as she delves into the fascinating world of data observability.

Join hosts Frank La Vigne and Andy Leonard as they explore how reliable data is crucial for making sound business decisions in today's tech-driven world. Learn why a simple schema change at Unity resulted in a $100 million loss and how Monte Carlo is developing cutting-edge solutions to prevent similar disasters. From discussions on ensuring data integrity to the intriguing potential of AI in anomaly detection, Barr Moses shares insights that might just redefine your understanding of data's role in business.

Tune in for a podcast that not only uncovers the nuances of data reliability but also touches on the quirky side of tech, like why, according to Google, you should never use superglue to fix slipping cheese on your pizza.

Moments

00:00 Monte Carlo: Data Reliability Innovator

05:45 "Data & AI Observability Engineering"

09:42 Data Industry's Growing Importance

12:00 Cereal Supply Chain Data Optimization

16:03 Data Observability and Lineage

19:29 GenAI Uncertainties and Latency Concerns

23:17 "Human Oversight in AI Accuracy"

24:12 Data Observability and Human Role

28:01 Adapting to Customer Language

33:29 Data and Security Management Alignment

35:20 Data Reliability and Observability Challenges

38:17 Automated Code Analysis Tool Launch

42:29 Data-Inspired Childhood

44:12 Passionate About Impactful Work

48:52 LinkedIn Security Concerns Highlighted

53:19 "Data Observability Insights"

Sanjay Annadate on Data Driven Digital Transformation

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Sanjay joins Frank for a deep dive into the heart of digital transformation and AI-powered automation. Here are some of the key takeaways:

Digital Transformation Evolution: Sanjay reflects on his nearly three-decade journey witnessing the digital shift from infancy to the AI-driven present. He outlines the critical components of digital transformation, including cloud adoption and data prioritization, noting significant changes in business focus over recent years.
Microsoft's Role: Sanjay provides insights into Microsoft's strategic investments in digital transformation technologies, emphasizing their pivotal role in influencing market trends and industry-specific capabilities.
AI-Powered Enhancements: From the widespread adoption of Copilot to the burgeoning concept of agentic AI, Sanjay discusses how AI tools are not replacing but augmenting the productivity of data engineers, offering a glimpse into the future of business processes.
Edge of Innovation: We explore how Microsoft Fabric and other technologies are simplifying complex architectures, allowing businesses to leverage multi-cloud strategies effectively, keeping them at the forefront of innovation.
Real-Life Impact: Sanjay shares compelling examples, like reducing sales briefing preparation time from four days to two minutes, showcasing the transformative power of AI in real business scenarios.

Whether you're a data engineer, business leader, or just someone fascinated by the data-driven world, this episode is packed with valuable insights.

Moments

00:00 Three Decades of Digital Transformation

05:27 Microsoft's Digital Transformation Dominance

09:37 Microsoft's Cloud Integration Advantage

13:22 Red Hat AI's Open Source Approach

15:33 Microsoft Fabric's Multi-Cloud Integration Strategy

20:01 "Custom Solutions for Complex Queries"

21:39 Content Creation Efficiency Unlocked

26:38 Sales Role Dependency Reduction Tool

30:06 Agentic AI and Workflow Transformation

33:29 "Beyond Basic Automation"

35:05 AI's Impact on Business Expansion

39:58 Data-Driven Problem Solving Impact

41:58 Reading Trends in Data Innovation

Trevor Schulze on How CIO’s Can Drive AI Strategy

Tue, 25 Feb 2025 04:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Andy Leonard and Frank La Vigne are thrilled to be joined by Trevor Schulze, the Chief Information Officer at Alteryx. Trevor brings an unparalleled perspective on digital transformation, drawing from his impressive tenure at industry giants such as Micron, Cisco, and RingCentral.

Time stamps

00:00 "Data Driven: AI & CIO Insights"

04:32 CIO's Role in AI Evolution

06:50 CIO's Evolving Role with AI

11:43 "Embracing Data Democratization"

16:24 Democratizing Data Access

19:33 "AI Investment and Optimization Cycle"

20:55 AI Enhances Tool Configuration Guidance

24:42 Breaking Free from Vendor Lock-In

27:41 "Unleashing Shadow AI and Technical Debt"

31:53 Digital Performance Essential for All Industries

34:01 Data Privacy Concerns in AI Use

37:30 AI Democratization Challenges for Enterprises

42:15 AI Transforming Business Processes

43:55 Data-Driven Career Journey

47:13 "Building Trust in Data Analytics"

52:34 Building Trust in Future Tech

Lillian Pierson on Revolutionizing Growth Marketing with AI

Thu, 06 Feb 2025 09:00:00 -0400

Andy Leonard and Frank La Vigne delve into the exciting world of AI and growth marketing with the renowned Lillian Pierson. Lillian, a globally recognized AI growth strategist and author. She shares her unique journey from engineering to data science and her role as a fractional CMO. She provides deep insights into leveraging AI to revolutionize marketing and growth strategies, discusses breaking down the barriers in early data science, and explores the rise of agentic AI.

This conversation is filled with valuable knowledge, humor, and a reality check on the evolving tech landscape. Tune in to explore how AI and data-driven approaches are transforming industries and why Data Driven is a top pick for AI enthusiasts.

Moments

00:00 "Interview with AI Expert Lillian Pearson"

04:18 Earning a Professional Engineering License

09:21 Evolution of Data Science Disciplines

11:08 Career Pivot to Success

14:01 Data Strategy and AI Insights

19:19 Marketing's Role in Product Growth

21:58 Customer Advocacy in Product Development

26:16 Exploring AI for Content Automation

28:28 OpenAI Trained on My Style

30:51 Frank's Podcast Automation Expansion

33:22 "Delegation vs. Self-Management Discussion"

37:45 Decoupled, Resilient System Communication

41:57 Clay-Powered Decision Tech Critique

45:41 AI Is Essential in Business

49:09 Debating with ChatGPT's Perspectives

50:23 Google AI: Generative Podcast Tool

56:11 Big Data Fallacies Explored

Dean Guida on AI Insights, Data Analytics, and Business Growth

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Today, we've got an exciting episode lined up for you. Hosts Frank La Vigne and Bailey dive deep into the tech universe with Dean Guida, the CEO and founder of Infragistics. Dean brings his 35-year journey and expansive experience in technology to the table, reminiscing about the early days of software development and his transition into the data-driven world.

In this conversation, you'll hear about the evolution of Infragistics from building UI components for Windows to creating sophisticated data analytics and AI tools. Dean also shares insights from his new book, "When Grit is Not Enough," focusing on how entrepreneurs can foster agile, data-driven learning organizations. Whether you're a seasoned developer, a budding entrepreneur, or someone fascinated by the intersection of AI and data, this episode promises a wealth of knowledge and inspiration.

Join us as we explore technology old and new, from the bygone era of Windows 3.0 to the cutting-edge capabilities of AI today. Plus, hear Dean's personal journey of navigating through various technological and economic shifts over the decades. Make sure to tune in for a discussion that bridges the past, present, and future of tech innovation!

Show Notes

00:00 35 Years of UI/UX Innovation

06:35 "Simplicity, Beauty, and Conversational AI"

15:29 Enhancing User Trust Through Transparency

19:52 AI-Driven Learning and OKR Management

26:20 Kids Reflecting Tech Evolution

27:12 "AI in Future Work Environments"

33:14 "Data-Driven Leadership and Team Alignment"

38:44 Entrepreneurship Beyond Grinding

48:19 Contextual Understanding in AI Assistants

51:57 Overprotected Generation's Communication Challenges

54:55 Generational Impact of Pandemics

01:00:47 "Data-Driven Podcast: Ranked 38"

Arjun Patel on Vector Databases and the Future of Semantic Search

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 09:00:00 -0400

Today, we delve into the intriguing world of vector databases, retrieval augmented generation, and a surprising twist—origami.

Our special guest, Arjun Patel, a developer advocate at Pinecone, will be walking us through his mission to make vector databases and semantic search more accessible. Alongside his impressive technical expertise, Arjun is also a self-taught origami artist with a background in statistics from the University of Chicago. Together with co-host Frank La Vigne, we explore Arjun’s unique journey from making speech coaching accessible with AI at Speeko to detecting AI-generated content at Appen.

In this episode, get ready to unravel the mysteries of natural language processing, understand the impact of the attention mechanism in transformers, and discover how AI can even assist in the art of paper folding. From discussing the nuances of RAG systems to sharing personal insights on learning and technology, we promise a session that’s both enlightening and entertaining. So sit back, relax, and get ready to fold your way into the fascinating layers of AI with Arjun Patel on Data Driven.

Show Notes

00:00 Arjun Patel: Bridging AI & Education

04:39 Traditional NLP and Geometric Models

08:40 Co-occurrence and Meaning in Text

13:14 Masked Language Modeling Success

16:50 Understanding Tokenization in AI Models

18:12 "Understanding Large Language Models"

22:43 Instruction-Following vs Few-Shot Learning

26:43 "Rel AI: Open Source Data Tool"

31:14 "Retrieval-Augmented Generation Explained"

33:58 "Pinecone: Efficient Vector Database"

37:31 "AI Found Me: Intern to Innovator"

41:10 "Impact of Code Generation Models"

45:25 Personalized Learning Path Technology

46:57 Mathematical Complexity in Origami Design

50:32 "Data, AI, and Origami Insights"

Niv Braun on AI Security Measures and Emerging Threats

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 09:00:00 -0400

In today's episode, we're thrilled to have Niv Braun, co-founder and CEO of Noma Security, join us as we tackle some pressing issues in AI security.

With the rapid adoption of generative AI technologies, the landscape of data security is evolving at breakneck speed. We'll explore the increasing need to secure systems that handle sensitive AI data and pipelines, the rise of AI security careers, and the looming threats of adversarial attacks, model "hallucinations," and more. Niv will share his insights on how companies like Noma Security are working tirelessly to mitigate these risks without hindering innovation.

We'll also dive into real-world incidents, such as compromised open-source models and the infamous PyTorch breach, to illustrate the critical need for improved security measures. From the importance of continuous monitoring to the development of safer formats and the adoption of a zero trust approach, this episode is packed with valuable advice for organizations navigating the complex world of AI security.

So, whether you're a data scientist, AI engineer, or simply an enthusiast eager to learn more about the intersection of AI and security, this episode promises to offer a wealth of information and practical tips to help you stay ahead in this rapidly changing field. Tune in and join the conversation as we uncover the state of AI security and what it means for the future of technology.

Quotable Moments

00:00 Security spotlight shifts to data and AI.

03:36 Protect against misconfigurations, adversarial attacks, new risks.

09:17 Compromised model with undetectable data leaks.

12:07 Manual parsing needed for valid, malicious code detection.

15:44 Concerns over Agiface models may affect jobs.

20:00 Combines self-developed and third-party AI models.

20:55 Ensure models don't use sensitive or unauthorized data.

25:55 Zero Trust: mindset, philosophy, implementation, security framework.

30:51 LLM attacks will have significantly higher impact.

34:23 Need better security awareness, exposed secrets risk.

35:50 Be organized with visibility and governance.

39:51 Red teaming for AI security and safety.

44:33 Gen AI primarily used by consumers, not businesses.

47:57 Providing model guardrails and runtime protection services.

50:53 Ensure flexible, configurable architecture for varied needs.

52:35 AI, security, innovation discussed by Niamh Braun.

Live Tis the Season for SSIS

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 09:00:00 -0400

In this livestream, Frank and Andy discuss the timeless nature of backend enterprise tech, that, much like a Christmas special from decades ago, is still very much celebrated.

Moments

00:00 Exploring SSIS future in a festive episode.

08:28 Data engineering evolved from business intelligence systems.

10:57 Social networks project before Facebook's popularity.

19:19 SSIS training informed data engineering concepts teaching.

24:56 Bill Gates moved project to immature Microsoft tooling.

29:10 Data engineering possible in 2024 using T-SQL.

35:23 Huge cloud companies surpass previous brick-and-mortar giants.

40:10 Old technologies endure; misconceptions about their age.

46:03 Evaluate change benefits: technical ease, business growth.

52:30 Cloud departure interests rise, SSIS assistance sought.

55:47 Big government agency utilizing diverse cloud platforms.

01:00:59 Security is crucial; clients' preferences vary.

01:08:56 Certification issues hinder software updates and compliance.

01:10:02 People stick with older systems for reasons.

01:15:15 Proper GPU driver drastically improved loading time.

01:22:16 Repost increased engagement and communication with author.

01:25:45 Data scientists should learn SQL for simplicity.

01:31:06 Obsolete systems cause issues without quotes.

Inna Tokarev Sela on Approaching Data Challenges with Generative AI

Wed, 18 Dec 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Welcome to another episode of "Data Driven," where we dive into the ever-evolving world of data science, AI, and data engineering. Today's special guest is Inna Tokarev Sela, CEO and founder of Illumix. Join hosts Frank La Vigne, BAILeY, and Andy Leonard as they unpack Inna's groundbreaking insights into generative AI, the future of data management, and the intricacies of AI cost effectiveness.

Inna reveals the origin of her company's name, "Illumix," and discusses the pressing risks of 2025, particularly the total cost of ownership for managing generative AI. She highlights the inefficiencies of data customization and proposes a shift towards moving AI closer to the data to reduce costs. Through the unique lens of Illumix’s approach, Inna explains how they aim to illuminate organizational data by using a virtual semantic knowledge graph based on industry ontologies and business logic.

Timestamps

00:00 Ina Tokarav Sala: CEO of Illumix, AI readiness pioneer.

05:57 ROI and data are crucial for decisions.

08:56 Intermediate stage: copilots, insights, static dashboards persist.

11:12 Illumax targets structured data market, unlike others.

14:29 Bad data skews predictive analytics, causing errors.

19:48 Data modeling efficiency increases with virtual assistants.

22:33 E-commerce evolution: convenient online shopping preferred.

25:27 2025's biggest risk: High generative AI costs.

27:07 Focus on domain knowledge and metadata utilization.

31:44 Predicting patterns is profound, not crazy.

36:09 Industry trends are cyclical, like fashion trends.

37:49 Repatriating data due to AI cost efficiency.

40:47 Data processing everywhere raises security concerns.

45:00 Founder freedom: Experimentation unlike SAP's structure.

49:11 I'm considered controversial for being very visionary.

52:29 Truth's evolution parallels past technological shifts.

54:39 Frank's World: Kids show on recycling, BBC.

57:09 Thank you, Ina Tokarev Saleh, for insights.

Geoff Thatcher on How AI is Revolutionizing Storytelling

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 21:00:00 -0400

Joining hosts Frank La Vigne and Andy Leonard, Geoff shares insights on the intersection of AI and creativity, the evolving landscape of careers in the age of artificial intelligence, and the crucial balance between innovation and traditional storytelling. We'll delve into AI's role in enhancing emotional connections with audiences, its potential to disrupt traditional media and consultancy services, and the caution needed to maintain authenticity and human touch amidst technological advances.

From amusing anecdotes about AI challenges in creative tasks to profound reflections on storytelling, this episode is a treasure trove for anyone intrigued by how emerging technologies are reshaping the arts and beyond. Stay tuned for inspiring discussions, engaging stories, and actionable insights—right here on "Data Driven".

Let's get started!

Show Notes

Moments

00:00 Jeff Thatcher revolutionizes experiences with AI innovations.

08:56 Storytelling is more important than technology investment.

13:38 Football field experience mimicking recruitment video reveal.

18:45 AI summaries risk losing creative inspiration.

22:21 AI enhances storytelling and client engagement passion.

31:49 Collaboration with LLMs enhances content drafting.

34:53 We integrated AI and illustrator for Christmas card.

43:03 AI empowers creativity, challenges traditional gatekeepers.

44:44 Simplicity aids decision-making; avoid complicating stories.

51:19 Slow drive through town renewed my soul.

56:26 Created AI color library to match teams.

01:01:30 Creativity requires discipline, connections, and stimulus.

Alex Gold on DevOps for Data Science and Open Source Practices

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 00:45:00 -0400

Frank La Vigne sits down with Alex Gold, Head of Solutions Engineering at POSIT and author of "DevOps for Data Science."

Together, they explore the fascinating intersections of DevOps, MLOps, and generative AI, shedding light on the importance of social norms, innovation, and practical impact in open-source development.

Show Notes

Moments

02:14 Marylander love their state flag

06:09 PBC prioritizes diverse responsibilities beyond shareholder value.

08:17 Chose Python for its versatility across fields.

12:15 Choose the right language for each pipeline stage.

16:14 Deploying software for enterprise use requires oversight.

19:26 Most data scientists rarely focus on machine learning.

23:18 Machine learning misunderstood; majority use simple models.

26:46 Generative AI in big companies, production challenges.

28:30 DevOps for data science needs unique practices.

31:28 Focus on quick wins for business value.

34:05 Focus on relationships; people problems require empathy.

37:17 Technical people focus on solving technical problems.

42:53 Companies exploring gen AI strategies, co-pilot model prioritized.

45:01 Exploring gen AI for effective customer data use.

49:32 Progress continues despite leveling off in horsepower.

52:40 AI needs deeper integration for life-changing impact.

55:39 Upload content; create NPR-style podcast summary.

58:38 Thanks for tuning in! Stay data driven.

David Hirschfeld on Creating High-Impact Teams & Validating Niches

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 03:00:00 -0400

Today, Frank and Andy are joined by David Hirschfeld, CEO and founder of Tekyz Corporation, a firm specializing in helping startups and saving troubled projects with his unique "Launch First" methodology.

David brings us into his world of startups, where, believe it or not, he advocates for getting customers before you even build the product! He explains how Launch First combines high-fidelity prototypes, niche targeting, and a lean, marketing-first approach to de-risk software launches and prove real demand.

Whether you’re an engineer turned entrepreneur, or just curious about the art and science of startups, buckle up for an enlightening episode with insights on maximizing impact and proving product-market fit with speed and precision. Let’s dive in!

Show Notes

Moments

00:00 Launch First: Get customers before building product.

06:00 Market first, then build software; analyze niche.

07:04 Create marketing stack, offer lifetime license, guarantee refund.

10:30 Offer lifetime licenses for upfront subscription payments.

16:39 Identify top niche problems and assess impact.

19:29 Paying customers prove genuine interest and commitment.

23:34 Accidentally created first Windows software for industry.

25:52 Failed to monetize social media product, Klooj.

30:28 Red Hat's AI boosts chatbot data efficiency.

33:05 Exceptional teams produce highly detailed, compliant documentation.

34:52 Responsibility depends on knowledge and access.

40:29 Track time daily, categorize by client, invoice monthly.

42:37 Handoff documentation to Google; received positive feedback.

45:59 Impressed, thought price was reasonable, despite expectations.

48:11 Combining disciplines multiplies value exponentially.

51:56 David Hirschfeld discusses startup success strategies.

Candace Gillhoolley on AI and Data Driven Marketing Strategies

Mon, 11 Nov 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Today, we have a special treat for you as we welcome Candice Gillhooley, a dynamic force known for blending technical prowess with marketing brilliance. In this episode, we'll explore Candice's groundbreaking approach to "sentient marketing," dive into the interplay between AI and targeted audience communication, and discuss the importance of understanding behavioral data to craft unforgettable marketing experiences. So, sit back, relax, and get ready for an episode that's sure to spark new ideas and inspire innovation.

Show Notes

Moments

00:00 Podcast explores data science, AI, engineering trends.

05:05 Ancient harvest tradition, winter preparation, birthdays coinciding.

06:46 Target audience insights through effective data utilization.

13:17 Enjoys startup vibes, marketing tech innovations.

15:36 Data-driven marketing is essential for organizational success.

20:27 Martha Stewart's over-the-top American Express commercial.

22:22 Impressed by her reinvention despite past challenges.

26:31 Glimmers evoke deep, happy memories and connections.

29:37 Advertising targets varied generations differently nowadays.

32:32 Tech changes: fascinating generational shifts, CD nostalgia.

36:11 SQL Server generations discussed at SQL Saturday.

39:47 Marketing tech evolves rapidly; cloud frenzy over.

41:52 Hybrid cloud trend emerged after market saturation.

44:33 Enjoying feedback from Andy about my work.

49:28 Personality divergence; traditionalism conflicts with change.

50:48 Neurodiverse individuals face job dissatisfaction challenges.

54:55 Discussed AI-driven marketing with Candice Gillhooley.

Baruch Lev and Feng Gu on Data Driven Mergers and Why Most Deals Fail

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Andy Leonard and Frank La Vigne are joined by experts Baruch Lev and Feng Gu to uncover the complexities and pitfalls of mergers and acquisitions. We'll discuss the controversial "killer acquisitions" in the pharmaceutical industry, which regulators fear stifle innovation and harm public health.

Our guests will share insights from their upcoming book, "The M&A Failure Trap," which critiques current acquisition strategies and introduces a unique 10-factor scorecard for assessing potential success. From data analysis on 40,000 mergers over 40 years to the challenges and market trends affecting merger outcomes, we’ll explore why up to 75% of mergers fail and how decision-makers often benefit at the expense of employees and shareholders.

Whether you're an entrepreneur looking to navigate M&As or a data enthusiast curious about the numbers behind these strategic moves, this episode offers a data-driven look at the forces shaping mergers and their real-world impacts.

Show Notes

The M&A Trap Book Link (no affiliate) https://www.amazon.com/Failure-Trap-Mergers-Acquisitions-Succeed/dp/1394204760

Highlights

00:00 Exploring data science, AI, mergers with experts.

04:43 Extensive data-driven analysis of mergers' failures.

09:22 Investment bankers pressure companies to finalize acquisitions.

11:15 Managers get bonuses for concluding acquisition deals.

14:26 Global economy affected; star performers leave.

17:32 Mergers often lead to employee departures, layoffs.

20:24 Managed data engineering team during Unisys acquisition.

26:28 Analogies highlight misapplication of causal thinking.

28:58 Complex model reveals hidden variable impact.

31:01 Correlation can mislead; avoid single-focus traps.

37:14 Comprehensive analysis of acquisitions and their impacts.

38:39 Analyzed LinkedIn data on employee turnover trends.

41:50 Creative metric developed for private acquisition premium.

46:01 Acquisitions are widespread, impacting various industries significantly.

52:11 Unique 10-factor acquisition scorecard predicts success.

55:45 Deep dive into mergers and acquisitions data.

Speaker Bios

Baruch Lev is a professor emeritus at NYU Stern School of Business, where he has taught and conducted research on mergers and acquisitions for decades. He worked formerly at UC Berkeley and the University of Chicago. His work has been widely cited in academic and professional circles (over 63,000 Google Scholar citations), and he is a leading authority on corporate finance and valuation.

Feng Gu is a professor of accounting at the University at Buffalo and has extensive experience in analyzing the financial aspects of corporate acquisitions. His research focuses on the economic consequences of corporate decisions and has been published in top-tier academic journals.

Artem Rodichof on Empathetic AI and Its Potential Impact on Gaming and Society

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Andy Leonard, and Frank La Vigne are joined by the innovative Artem Rodichof, CEO of Xhuman. Today's discussion delves into the transformative world of empathetic AI and its potential to reshape our interactions with technology and each other. Artem shares insights from his groundbreaking platform, which creates custom AI personalities that can turn various media forms into interactive, human-like experiences.

We'll explore the intersection of gaming and AI, discuss the ethical implications of deep emotional connections with chatbots, and consider how AI-driven interactions might alleviate loneliness and enhance human communication. Balancing technical details with ethical considerations, this episode underscores the dynamic role of AI in our digital future. So, stay tuned as we navigate the evolving landscape of AI-integrated worlds and the profound impact of empathetic technologies.

Show Notes

Highlights

03:24 Introducing Artem Rodichoff, CEO of Xhuman.

07:49 Eugenia trained chatbot on deceased friend's personality.

10:21 AI bots mimic empathetic, encouraging coworker interactions.

13:35 User feedback improves conversation quality over time.

19:12 Characters as community managers, NPCs powered by AI.

22:08 Gen AI raised technology interactivity expectations significantly.

25:45 Future device interactions through natural language.

27:49 Devices now resemble Star Trek's interactive computers.

33:36 Do chatbot conversations increase Gen Z loneliness?

34:46 Chatbots improve communication skills and social interactions.

41:07 Banned romantic chats impact lonely users deeply.

41:57 AI relationship changes can impact mental health.

47:20 Applaud effort; solving black swans is tough.

50:48 Social media amplifies our worst traits.

51:58 Addressing loneliness is crucial for well-being.

56:17 Exploring empathetic AI's future with Artem Rodichorff.

Doug Finke on PowerShell, AI, and the future of Small Language Models

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Doug shares his preference for composition over inheritance in object-oriented programming and his strategic use of design patterns in Visual Basic consulting. He challenges commonly held beliefs about language performance and productivity, arguing that faster languages do not always yield faster results. The conversation also explores the offline benefits of large and small language models (LLMs and SLMs) and highlights Doug's innovative use of PowerShell to create autonomous agents.

Doug shares fascinating insights on prompt engineering, the evolution of AI models, and the potential of personal AI as the next technological inflection point. Despite facing resistance from critics and the tech community, Doug remains a staunch advocate for leveraging cutting-edge tools and maintaining an unscripted, adaptive approach to technology.

Show Notes

Time Stamps

07:32 Discovering GPT chat and its incredible capabilities.

14:25 Expect announcement at OpenAI Day in November.

19:41 Initial confusion, but eventually realized cross-platform potential.

25:31 Colleague makes fun of me, but impressed.

30:07 Experience of being a non-traditional engineer.

35:10 Prefer using PowerShell over Python for coding.

40:36 Discussing hallucination problem and algorithms in AI.

43:19 Using AI to generate better function names.

47:46 "Creating forms quickly with impressive results."

54:58 Recall story of new guy at whiskey distillery.

01:01:06 Microsoft focuses on smaller, efficient language models.

01:08:12 Data-driven podcast explores PowerShell and AI's fusion.

LiveStream Life and Career Updates from a Couple of ex-MVPS

Wed, 28 Aug 2024 00:30:00 -0400

In this episode, we delve into Frank’s new role at Red Hat, where he’s pioneering advancements with Rel AI, an innovative tool for training large language models. Andy shares his latest adventures in Microsoft Fabric training, reflecting on the rapid pace of tech evolution.

Along with tech talk, they touch on personal milestones, such as parenting and life’s significant changes. So, grab your favorite drink, sit back, and join us for an insightful conversation filled with tech trends, personal stories, and a touch of nostalgia. It's an episode you won't want to miss!

Show Notes

04:08 Limited college course options, but important financially.

09:16 Fabric data factory training, following SSIS, Azure.

10:08 Teams doing diverse work to improve services.

13:14 Adoption drama resulted in life-changing impact.

16:50 Functionality in Office 365 for family use.

21:56 Data-driven podcast episode ends with call-to-action.

LiveStream Connectivity in the Smoky Mountains

Wed, 21 Aug 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Today, we're shifting gears as Frank La Vigne returns from his adventures in the Smoky Mountains.

From paternity leave to tackling poor internet connectivity, Frank sheds light on the precarious nature of our reliance on cloud services. Join us as we explore the challenges of staying connected in remote areas, ponder the implications for the future of AI, and reflect on the importance of data resilience.

Buckle up for an episode that's as much about life's unexpected detours as it is about the data revolution. Let's get data driven!

Time Stamps

03:47 Balcony had best signal, but still slow.

08:44 Moving to technical marketing; Red Hat Summit.

09:40 Influence of living in DC on perception.

13:23 Limited internet access creates absurd and inefficient situations.

16:37 The world faces significant danger in cyberspace.

21:39 Concerns about building systems dependent on OpenAI.

24:18 Grateful for internet, signing off, podcast-ready

Kevin Latchford on the Security Risks of Large Language Models

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, we explore real-world cases that showcase the susceptibility of AI chatbots to manipulation, as illustrated by a shocking incident where an AI was manipulated to sell a Chevy truck for just $1. Kevin Latchford sheds light on the dual-use knowledge risks and the potential for unauthorized leaks and malicious backdoors within AI plugins.

Frank and Kevin dive into the implications of quick technological adoption, drawing parallels to the early web era. We discuss the impact of network setups, access controls, data supply chain integrity, and the ongoing investigations into the security implications of these burgeoning technologies. This episode is packed with expert insights and practical advice on navigating the complex world of AI security.

Show Notes

05:04 Public space tech meant to have safeguards.

09:39 Security issue in enterprise AI adoption concern.

12:53 Understanding security implications is crucial for mitigation.

16:40 Chatbot manipulated to sell Chevy truck for $1.

17:57 Found something during cybersecurity exercise, not sharing.

21:11 Uncertainty about security in remote interfacing.

24:00 Utilize specialized LLM to analyze prompts precisely.

29:15 Understanding cybersecurity first is key to AI.

32:32 Implement outbound stateful connection to prevent automatic calls.

34:31 IT field is interesting with its vulnerabilities.

37:15 Data-driven podcast highlights AI security vulnerabilities. Stay vigilant.

About the Speaker

Kevin Latchford is an esteemed expert in the cybersecurity realm, renowned for his comprehensive understanding and proficiency in both offensive and defensive strategies. Drawing from concepts rooted in military practice, Kevin adeptly navigates the intricate dynamics of red teaming and blue teaming. As an advocate for offensive cybersecurity, red teaming, also known as opposing force operations, he challenges the vulnerabilities within systems to enhance their integrity. Conversely, his expertise in blue teaming, the defensive counterpart, focuses on shielding and fortifying friendlies. Through his dedicated efforts, Kevin ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of computer networks and systems, whether they are natively hosted or web-based, culminating in fortified cyber defenses and resilient information security.

Mentioned in this episode:

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Dr Yossi Keshet on Decoding Speech, AI, Morality, and the Future

Mon, 01 Jul 2024 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, we explore linguistic and cultural influences on language with Dr. Yossi Keshet—a renowned expert in automated speech recognition.

We cover the intricacies of jargon, code-switching, and the ethical dimensions of artificial intelligence.

Listen to discover how the convergence of linguistics and computer science is revolutionizing our interaction with technology.

Show Notes

05:26 YOLA targets foundational industries through AI.

07:34 Automatic speech recognition similar to KJGPT model.

11:17 American English research bias in speech intelligibility.

13:33 Studying foreign languages improved understanding of grammar.

18:35 Passionate about linguistics and cognitive sciences. No AI has this capability.

20:23 Phenomenal correlation between artificial and neural mechanisms.

26:24 Innovating transcription: improving on old industry practices.

27:35 GPT's influence on various fundamental industries.

31:56 Using multiple languages can enhance comprehension.

35:07 Switching between languages in code-switching research.

40:47 Superego: Freud's guilt and fear mechanism. Evolutionary.

42:11 Book writing claiming need for non-standard regulations.

46:46 AI movie plot illustrates ethics in robotics.

50:25 GPT discussion focuses on personalized and helpful interaction.

53:20 End of insightful data-driven episode, future technology.

Mentioned in this episode:

WITI BOGO Deal!

Aviad Harell's Insights on Tech, AI, and Venture Capital

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 00:00:00 -0400

In this exciting episode, Frank La Vigne and Andy Leonard sit down with Aviad Harell, managing partner at Team 8, to explore the transformative power of technology in today's business landscape.

Aviad shares his mission to eliminate day-to-day bureaucracy and leverages technology to automate processes, drawing from his vast experience in the tech industry. Beyond business, Aviad reveals his passion for traveling in South America and his book recommendation, "The Mom Test," which acts as a guide for proper idea validation.

As the conversation unfolds, we explore how venture capital has evolved from a hobby to a disciplined, professional field, much like the maturity models in software development. Aviad details Team 8's innovative approach to venture capital, partnering with founders early in their journey, sometimes before even fully forming ideas. This unique model includes building a robust support system of 85 professionals to ensure the success of the startups they invest in.

Discover the importance of critical thinking, loving the problem more than the solution, and the journey from idea to execution.

Hear Aviad's insights on why execution is more crucial than the original idea and his belief in adaptability, quoting the famous military adage, "No idea survives contact with reality."

Show Notes

04:56 Founders seek validation, partners provide early support.

07:57 Teammate model founded on deep cybersecurity understanding.

10:51 Query about venture capitalist process's modernization and perception.

15:28 Entrepreneurship challenges led to significant personal growth.

19:07 Unintended tech consequences changing finance and daily lives.

22:47 Interested in different applications of agile methodologies.

27:22 Fascinating insights into approaching venture capitalists today.

30:31 Passion for skill, idea improvement, crucial teamwork.

31:23 Seek advice, consider other ideas, and collaborate.

36:26 Entrepreneur becomes angel investor, supports Tel Aviv.

37:52 Considered new company, resisted VC, became investor.

43:58 Automating bureaucracy, taxes, and legal document review.

47:53 Focus on problem, not solution; meaningful feedback.

50:38 Data-driven episode with Aviad Harrell from Team 8.

Mentioned in this episode:

WITI BOGO Deal!

Chris Cooney on Exploring Data Evangelism

Tue, 28 May 2024 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank La Vigne and Andy Leonard dive deep into the world of developer advocacy and data observability with special guest Chris Cooney from CoreLogix. From discussing the evolution of Microsoft Evangelism to the intricacies of data retention and real-time decision-making, this conversation covers a wide range of topics, including the impact of AI technology, the importance of community in software engineering, and the challenges of connecting with engineers at trade shows.

Join us as we explore the intersection of technology, advocacy, and data engineering in this insightful episode featuring Chris Cooney on "Data Driven".

New Season Means a New Theme Song

Let us know what you think! Don't worry, we will use a shortened version for future shows. We were just so excited to get to Season 8!

Show Notes

03:54 Experienced engineer transitioned into leadership in technology.

07:40 Dan delivers insightful speech on tracking activity.

12:33 Developers must adapt to new technology continually.

13:45 Conference talk success measured by engagement metrics.

17:15 Uncertainty about outcome of video creation.

20:00 The trend in the field is evolving.

25:45 Retain all data, use case-driven storage. Avoid rehydration.

27:11 Core principles: smart data science, streaming architecture.

32:34 Efficient streaming processes allow for easy scaling.

36:16 Instantly triggered alarm blocks malicious IP addresses.

37:22 Enormous architecture demonstrates remarkable data management practice.

42:13 Struggle with learning Arabic dialect using AI.

44:41 Language differences reflect cultural and historical influences.

47:55 Regularly listens to audiobooks, recommends "Team Topologies" and "Team of Teams."

51:32 Data-driven podcast season 8 debut summary prompt.

Mentioned in this episode:

WITI BOGO Deal!

Dr. Julia DiGangi on the Neuropsychology of Stress and Success

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0400

In today’s episode of the Data Driven podcast, we delve into the intricate dance of the human brain with uncertainty, guided by the insightful and optimistic Dr. Julia DiGangi. Dr. DiGangi’s work transcends traditional academic boundaries, focusing on the neuropsychological underpinnings that shape our responses to the ever-shifting sands of our times.

With a blend of deep scientific knowledge and a hopeful outlook, she sheds light on how understanding our brain's mechanics can enhance our navigation through life's complexities. Join us as Dr. DiGangi illuminates the pathways of our cognitive landscapes, offering clarity and guidance through the fog of uncertainty.

Show Notes

00:00 Neuropsychologist studies brain domains, human vs. machines.

05:06 Technology layoffs causing career uncertainty, sparking concern.

08:54 Brain is allergic to uncertainty, scientific study.

10:24 People choose painful shocks over uncertainty in lab.

15:44 Lead life wisely, brain is most powerful.

19:21 Jordan Belfort, inspiration for Wolf of Wall Street.

20:09 Theory powerful across contexts, emotional intelligence vs. artificial intelligence.

25:30 Leadership is about influential emotional signals.

29:22 Emotion sets human consciousness energy, fixing pain.

31:43 Questioning our connection to somatic intelligence.

35:26 Questions about recovery, healing, and enduring patterns.

38:22 Challenges are inevitable, despite our circumstances.

42:38 Emotions are a richer carrier of meaning.

44:07 Transition from academic to public mental health advocacy.

46:30 Talk therapy integrates thinking and emotions in the brain.

52:17 Tired of politics, focused on substance and policy.

55:45 Engaging podcast featuring AI and human mind.

A Data Driven Retrospective: A Look Back Through Seven Seasons and 360 Episodes

Mon, 08 Apr 2024 09:00:00 -0400

In this landmark 360th episode of Data Driven, we take a full-circle journey back through the past seven seasons, exploring the highs, lows, and everything in-between. Frank and Andy, in their signature style, veer off the beaten path, offering listeners not just a trip down memory lane, but an off-road adventure filled with insights, laughter, and a few unexpected detours.

Join us as we reflect on where we’ve been and, more importantly, where we’re headed next in the ever-evolving landscape of data and technology. It’s an episode you won’t want to miss, complete with the wisdom and whimsy that only Frank and Andy can provide.

Moments

00:00 Simpsons celebrates 360 episodes, announces new shows.

06:48 Struggling with impostor syndrome, sibling dynamics, and survival.

14:37 Experiments with AI feedback, brief show intros.

20:19 Challenging start, surprised by success in audio.

25:17 Uneven distribution; learned from former Microsoft colleague.

29:47 Struggle with communication, engineer writes terse responses.

35:47 Detective describes transit system in detail.

38:25 Relieved when Amazon took over sci-fi series.

43:28 Discussing latest blog post on OpenAI's capabilities.

52:15 Obfuscation and difficulty in accessing information persist.

56:41 Equal time for Democrats and Republicans in media.

01:02:36 December is a mad time due to birthdays.

01:05:06 Originally planned as a video podcast, logistics issues.

01:09:44 360-degree journey concludes with data-driven discussions.

Jennifer Swanson on Reinventing Business for the Era of Data and AI

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 22:15:00 -0400

In this episode Frank and Andy welcome Jennifer Swanson explains how businesses can reinvent themselves for the data driven age of AI.

From recognizing the importance of defining clear strategies and outcomes to the struggles of change management, Jennifer reveals that the heart of digital transformation lies in aligning individuals to the company's objectives, and significantly, that it's less about the technology itself and more about the people and processes.

Whether you're a leader in your organization, part of a cross-functional team, or simply intrigued by the intersections of technology and business, this episode is a rich exploration of what it really means to be digitally transformed.

Show Notes

05:31 Technology now integral to every business operation.

07:07 Offline businesses integrating technology for improved experience.

10:04 First wave of digital transformation: applying technology.

14:09 Data governance key to organization's predictable success.

16:54 Organizational governance ensures strategy, priorities, and outcomes.

21:47 Training, support, and focus key for empowerment.

25:57 Selecting narrow slices drives model implementation success.

28:49 "Positive experiences with scrum and DevOps"

32:22 Leadership defines market, customer, and problems.

36:12 In cross functional teams, sticking to lanes.

38:53 Embrace collaboration and diplomacy for success.

40:26 Smart professionals promoted to leadership roles, questioning suitability.

44:15 Found work through family influence and adaptability.

47:23 Experimenting with tech is now very accessible.

50:28 Family loves Audible, enjoys romance novel series.

55:23 Jennifer, thanks for the great digital transformation explanation.

Danny Maloney on AI’s Leap to Marketing Mastery

Thu, 29 Feb 2024 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Danny Maloney is going to lead you on a journey to explore how artificial intelligence is not just a fleeting novelty but a tool of immense utility that's changing the playing field for individuals and small businesses alike. Danny brings his passion for algorithmic innovation from his experiences as a data-loving youth to his leadership role at Tailwind, where they leverage AI to level the marketing playing field for small businesses.

Show Notes

06:16 Early days of prevalent AI models, feedback loop.

08:37 Small businesses struggle with limited resources for marketing.

12:31 AI guides marketing decisions for faster success.

16:34 AI leader initiating internal discussions on AI's impact.

19:18 Experts experimenting, varying responses to AI capabilities.

23:43 Early phase of tech development and impact.

26:35 Tool Dingo ported from C# to Python.

29:47 Making prompt engineering unnecessary for average users.

31:39 Requested a specific image prompt and tested.

35:03 OpenAI developing GPT-5, creating internet frenzy.

38:58 Helping users personalize and develop voice technology.

43:24 Retro tech culture and its work ethic.

45:47 Chat GPT upsets media writers, AI creativity.

48:57 Digital journey ends with gratitude and encouragement.

Luke Diaz on Leveraging Data for Customer Retention and Business Growth

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 05:00:00 -0400

Welcome to show 357 of the Data Driven podcast! This week, we welcome Luke Diaz to the show.

Luke has an impressive track record of scaling startups to staggering annual recurring revenues, and today, he's here to shed light on the pivotal role of customer success in growing a business. We'll dive deep into the intricacies of customer success management, its impact on subscription models, and the measurements that underpin it. Luke also shares personal insights into his daily habit tracking and the data-driven approach to setting quarterly goals.

But that's not all – Luke opens up about his journey from being a hedge fund manager to making a name in the software industry, cultivating unyielding ambition, and the significance of customer feedback in lieu of venture capital insights.

Show Moments

05:27 Marketing function has evolved, delivering value.

09:15 Companies need high retention to be successful.

13:34 Emphasizing the challenge of defining success in startups.

17:07 Analyze customer success, product strength, usage frequency.

20:01 Companies hesitant to invest in customer success.

24:38 VC interviews, cautionary tales, and relationship importance.

26:12 Caution to look at numbers in term sheets.

32:32 Entrepreneur achieves $100 million sale in 7 years.

34:13 Machine learning hype outweighs business value currently.

36:40 CSMs can upload public filings to chat GPT 4 for efficient reading.

39:47 Screenshots are simple, stable, and pervasively used.

43:34 Star Trek technology influencing modern innovations.

48:10 Recent recommended books on leadership and strategy.

50:22 Thank you to guest Luke Diaz, feedback appreciated.

Jeremy Utley on Crafting Smarter Conversations with AI

Mon, 19 Feb 2024 09:00:00 -0400

Today, we're thrilled to welcome a special guest, Jeremy Utley, an academic marvel from Stanford, whose work on AI and idea flows is altering the landscape of business and innovation. In this episode, titled “Jeremy Utley on Getting the Most out of LLMs”, we dive into Jeremy's FIXIT approach for leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT.

Jeremy will unpack the nuances of FIXIT, showing us the importance of providing context, iterative interaction, and team incubation while using AI. We'll reminisce about how technology has evolved from cell phone minutes to AI, which is becoming as ubiquitous as smartphones once were.

Frank will voice concerns about the technical aspects, like token length, while agreeing with Jeremy's method. We'll examine why AI needs to be seen as a collaborative partner rather than a magical solution. Jeremy will shine a light on his book "IdeaFlow" and share his insights on the psychological barriers hindering the effective use of AI in practice.

Expect to hear anecdotal wisdom about the transformative impact of ChatGPT, the importance of prompt engineering, and the potential of AI to refine negotiation skills. Jeremy will even offer examples of how generative AI can offer fresh perspectives on personal and emotional decisions.

Don’t forget Frank’s experiments with creating custom GPTs, such as for our character Bailey. Our lively discussion promises to leave you with a wealth of knowledge on interacting with and extracting maximum value from AI.

For all this and much more, stay tuned in as we journey through the possibilities and realities of AI as a tool for amplifying human capacity.

And before we kick things off, a quick reminder to check out Audible for the best in audiobooks, and please take a moment to rate and review Data Driven to help us grow and bring you content you love.

Now, without further ado, let's get data driven.

Show Notes

00:00 "Idea flows: the only business metric that matters."

05:35 Striving for the best is essential.

06:46 Expert hesitations on using AI for knowledge.

11:27 Asking for help, ended up with an image.

14:41 Convince family to take job offer role-play.

16:08 Learning new skills and fostering imagination through technology.

19:54 Seek understanding from personal experiences and examples.

25:48 Keanu Reeves movie sparks philosophical wonder.

28:42 AI prompts emotional epiphanies for life decisions.

32:11 Accidental query on creating GPU prompts explanations.

36:08 Instructions for using voice mode during coaching.

39:50 Ease of use and utility in busy life.

43:18 Key to AI success: Team collaboration is essential.

47:07 Kids don't care about data plans.

50:45 Released groundbreaking technology; implications for all industries.

53:18 Excited to buy internet access for chat.

54:54 Jeremy Utley wows with innovation and wisdom.

Rene Schulte on the Evolution of AI and Its Impact Across Industries

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, we delve into the profound enablement of large language models like ChatCPT and how they stand to revolutionize personalized learning. Rene gives us a glimpse of a future where robots and AI can liberate us from mundane chores and reshape the workforce, as seen with robots now flipping burgers at McDonald's.

Imagine the world of quantum computing, where current strategies are reimagined to solve gargantuan optimization problems, a realm of technological advancement that Rene is no stranger to, and one which he assures holds the keys to the future, especially with security.

The conversation takes a personal turn as Rene reflects on his origins in former East Germany and how peaceful protests carved the path to a united nation and consequently, his journey into AI.

Show Notes

06:05 Digital humans are embodied AI in a digital realm, replicating human appearance and emotion.

09:51 AI approximating language and emotions' impact debated.

13:14 Warning about irresponsible use of deepfake technology.

16:06 Rapid evolution of bank heist and technology.

19:20 Create 3D scenes from mine interior.

21:43 Excitement for AI courses evolving into practical use.

26:42 Labeling dangerous AI, balancing regulation and innovation.

28:12 Automation impacts taxes, privacy, and human creativity.

32:11 Language models can help, but verify outcomes.

36:54 Tech companies develop own silicon for efficiency.

38:09 Excitement over open weight AI models release.

42:40 War and pandemic showed weak supply chains.

46:26 Quantum computing holds untapped potential, significant savings.

47:54 Data encryption is essential for online security.

52:05 GPT chat provides effective personal information summaries.

55:55 Audible sponsors podcast; free audio book offer.

58:23 Digital podcast journey with Rene Scholter. Subscribe!

Ronen Dar on GPU Orchestration for Building ML Models

Mon, 05 Feb 2024 03:00:00 -0400

In this episode, our Andy Leonard and Frank La Vigne sit down with Ronen Dar, the co-founder and CTO of Run AI, to explore the world of artificial intelligence and GPU orchestration for machine learning models.

Ronen shares insights into the challenges of utilizing GPUs in AI research and how Run AI's platform addresses these issues by optimizing GPU usage and providing tools for easier and faster model training and deployment. The conversation delves into the concept of fractional GPU usage, allowing multiple workloads to run on a single GPU, making expensive GPUs more accessible and cost-effective for organizations.

Show Notes

04:40 GPU technology enabled for cloud AI workloads.

07:00 RunAI enables sharing expensive GPU resources for all.

11:59 As enterprise AI matures, organizations become more savvy.

15:35 Deep learning, GPUs for speed, CPUs backup.

16:54 LLMs running on GPU's, exploding in market.

23:29 NVIDIA created CUDA to simplify GPU use.

26:21 NVIDIA's success lies in accessible technology.

28:25 Solve GPU hugging with quotas and sharing.

31:15 Team lead manages GPU quotas for researchers.

35:51 Rapid changes in business and innovation.

40:34 Passionate problem-solver with diverse tech background.

43:38 Thanks for tuning in, subscribe and review.

Devvret Rishi on Powering Real-World AI with Declarative AI and Open Source

Thu, 01 Feb 2024 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank sits down and talks with Devvret Rishi on powering real-world AI projects with declarative ML and the importance of open source.

Andy was not able to attend this recording, but will be back next week!

Show Notes

04:36 Build, train, serve, deploy; critical data engineering link.

07:24 Model configuration for input output prediction summaries.

11:05 Saw spike and heavy churn after rollout.

16:21 Advancements in AI: use pre-trained deep learning models.

19:38 Trends for Gen AI: creative use cases, specialized APIs.

21:31 Questioning a sales tactic and legal concerns.

25:58 People can introspect, edit, and change models.

30:02 Early data science projects led to passion.

31:24 Cybersecurity and AI partnership driving industry innovation.

33:58 Understanding randomness as a valuable model feature.

39:39 Technology provides accessible, shared experiences in AI.

41:51 Technology as a companion for psychological support.

44:06 Immigration experience from India to Silicon Valley.

47:59 Unexpected culture shock from Bay Area to Boston.

50:40 Easily learn with hands-on prediabase.com access.

Speaker Bio

Devvret Rishi is a co-founder of Prediabase, a platform that helps engineers and developers productionize open source AI. The idea for Prediabase came from Rishi's co-founder Piero's experience at Uber, where he noticed that he was constantly reinventing the wheel with each new machine learning project. To streamline the process, he created a tool called Ludwig, which eventually became popular at Uber and was open sourced. Rishi's work with Prediabase has revolutionized the way AI is developed and implemented in engineering teams around the world.

Blake Reichenbach on Marketing, Curiosity, and the Love of Books

Tue, 16 Jan 2024 00:00:00 -0400

In this episode, the Frank and Andy are joined by special guest Blake Reichenbach, a product manager at HubSpot and the owner of Howdy Curiosity, an online nonfiction bookstore and learning community. The conversation dives into the intersection of data, AI, and the love of books, as they discuss the next steps in managing and mitigating the hallucination part of AI technology, the importance of human interaction with AI tools, and finding the right balance in user experience. Blake shares his insights on integrating AI into HubSpot's platform, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach, and the pitfalls of solely relying on generative AI tools in marketing.

Stay tuned as they also touch on personal matters, career transitions, and the rapid evolution of technology. This episode is packed with valuable insights and engaging conversations - you won't want to miss it!

Show Notes

00:00 HubSpot is a leading CRM platform.

05:44 New AI features for CMS and websites.

09:33 Gen AI tools need to prioritize meaningful data.

11:34 Summary: Suggesting blending human and AI for success.

15:34 ML models need precise training on nuanced datasets.

17:13 Content marketing: human connection, AI balance, user experience.

21:24 Approach content marketing like a multi-bandit test.

26:56 Selling nonfiction books online and sharing recommendations.

27:54 Rapid tech evolution creating excitement and challenges.

30:56 Balancing work and entrepreneurship for personal growth.

35:24 Thanks Frank, Andy, and Blake for amazing show.

Speaker Bio

Blake Reichenbach is a proud employee of HubSpot, a leading customer relationship management platform for scaling companies. With a focus on the CMS aspect of the platform, Blake is passionate about helping businesses with their front office needs, including marketing, sales, service, and data operations. With a bias towards HubSpot, Blake believes in the product and the company, and recommends it highly for businesses looking to streamline their operations.

Max Sklar on Exploring AI, Data Science, and Local Search

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 09:00:00 -0400

In today's episode, the hosts Frank La Vigne and Andy Leonard are joined by the expert in location data and machine learning, Max Sklar. Max shares insights from his decade-long tenure at Foursquare, delving into the company's evolution, gamification features, the challenges faced in the local search space, and his early interest in location data.

The conversation explores the enduring relevance of foundational tech concepts, the cyclical nature of technology trends, and Max's personal journey into data and machine learning. Max also discusses his podcast, "The Local Maximum," and his diverse interests, including abstract math papers and a project rewriting the US Constitution. Join us as we dive into a thought-provoking discussion about AI, data science, and the ever-evolving world of technology with Max Sklar.

Show Notes

00:00 Foursquare split, confused but loved the concept.

04:29 Rewards program failed due to lack of scalability.

08:44 Early career in New York City's tech boom.

13:05 Foursquare uses phone data to track locations.

16:25 Models analyzed data to improve sentiment analysis.

20:02 Data pipeline technology used for real-time deployment.

20:54 Python written code, comparing different languages used.

24:17 Navigating reinvention in a changing world.

29:38 Joined wireless generation, now known as Amplify, as a software engineer.

31:53 Machine learning brings data to life.

34:26 Using OpenAI API to create interactive content.

40:03 Technology enables limitless creativity and storytelling potential.

42:12 Enjoys volunteering in underserved communities around the world.

44:36 Extensive library and website featuring various projects.

47:48 Please subscribe, rate, and review our podcast.

Navigating the Complexity of Operationalizing ML Models

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 03:00:00 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, our Andy Leonard and Frank La Vigne are joined by Chris McDermott, VP of Engineering at Wallaroo.AI. Together, they explore the challenges and advancements in the ever-evolving world of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

From the importance of ongoing care for machine learning models to the rise of edge computing and decentralized networks, they touch on the critical need for flexibility and data privacy. Chris shares his insights on the technical challenges of AI and ML adoption, as well as his unique career journey. They also discuss the evolution of technology and the potential future impact of these innovations.

Join us for a deep dive into the world of AI, technology, and the future of machine learning with Chris McDermott on this episode of Data Driven.

Show Notes

00:00 Exploring AI, data science, and data engineering.

06:20 Training and inferring are different stages.

08:12 Legacy AI doesn't require neural networks or GPUs.

12:09 Machine learning models require consistent care and monitoring.

15:10 MLOps merges skills, breaks down silos, collaborates.

16:47 Prefer MLOps to avoid namespace collision. DevOps parallels original Star Wars plot.

20:27 Internet-scale operations require automation and resilience.

24:13 Challenges of integrating AI into business processes.

28:03 New push for edge computing in technology industry.

32:05 Edge technology critical, discussed in government tech symposium.

34:50 Navigating from SendGrid to Twilio simplified processes.

36:15 First foray into data, growing knowledge.

39:33 Technology evolves, builds complexity over time.

44:41 Book recommendation: "Seeing Like a State" by James C. Scott discusses legibility and centralization of power in society.

46:28 Predictable tree farming fails due to ecosystem complexity.

Speaker Bio

Chris McDermott is a software engineer and entrepreneur who is passionate about creating products that make machine learning more accessible and manageable for users. His focus is on developing a platform that allows for easy deployment and management of machine learning models using any framework and on any architecture or hardware. He believes that current solutions in the market force users into a specific platform, and he aims to provide a more flexible and efficient alternative. With a strong belief in the potential of his product, Chris is dedicated to making machine learning more accessible and user-friendly for people across various industries.

Advanced Fraud Prevention in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Andy and Frank sit down with Pavel Goldman-Kalaydin, head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Sumsub, a global company specializing in KYC, AML, and anti-fraud technologies.

They explore the challenges in verifying identities remotely, the rise of deep fakes for fraud, and the use of AI and machine learning to combat these threats. From discussing the impact of technology on security measures to Pavel's journey in the field of computer science and AI, this episode offers insights into the evolving landscape of fraud detection and the intersection of technology, AI, and security.

Join us as we delve into the complexities of anti-fraud measures and the fascinating world of AI and machine learning.

Show Notes

00:00 Securing customer journey from onboarding to verification.

04:44 2 years ago, typical attack to open account.

06:58 German video identification process prolongs account opening.

12:16 Analyze data patterns to make informed decisions.

13:34 Questioning deep fake implications for customer data.

17:42 Advancing technology makes image manipulation easier.

22:32 Financial fraud: creating defects for unexpected reasons.

25:53 Fascinating progress in beta software development.

29:23 Samsung creates its own products, understands customers' needs.

29:58 Problem with defects, educate and ensure understanding.

34:01 Interest in drug development and AI technology.

38:57 Audible sponsors Data Driven with free audiobook.

41:05 Please rate and review our podcast.

Diving into Re:Invent 2023: Open Sourcing Dingo and Being in the Top 2.5 Percent

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this jam-packed episode, hosts Frank and Andy delve into a wide range of topics, from the chaos of podcast scheduling and the allure of Cyber Week deals, to the behind-the-scenes world of data engineering and AI professionals.

Join us as we journey through the challenges of podcasting, the important roles of data engineers, and the potential open sourcing of Dingo, an innovative blogging automation tool. Along the way, the hosts share personal anecdotes, discuss legislative impacts, and even touch on cult-followed gas stations.

You won't want to miss this delightful, informative, and always data-driven episode!

Show Notes

00:00 Glamorous world of podcasting and Microsoft Bookings.

13:48 Privacy laws are spreading globally, impacting data sovereignty.

27:14 Funny moment at Dunkin' Donuts sparks creativity.

32:27 Importance of data engineering in AI projects.

49:38 Struggling with hearing loss, amplifiers magnify all sounds.

01:02:45 Emotions on camera, times sidetrack, sarcastic leadership.

01:07:32 Excited to hang out at the mall.

01:21:04 Considering discontinuing blog after reaching 100 posts.

01:25:18 Wants to shift focus to new projects.

01:37:09 Transition from long-form to short-form content.

01:49:50 Drove up to Jersey for Christmas, reminisced.

01:58:48 Concerns about coastal development and zoning enforcement.

Links

01:02:45 Here's an example of early FWTV where I am at the mall and not happy about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8S7ha9fZWo

OpenAI Drama, Open Source, and Andy's New Venture

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, your hosts Andy Leonard and Frank La Vigne dive headfirst into the world of open source, decision making, and the unfolding drama surrounding OpenAI. From sarcastic responses to holographic displays, we've got it all covered!

Join us as we discuss the potential consequences of dependencies, community protests leading to change, and the recent issues with OpenAI. We'll also explore the importance of open source in AI and share some intriguing insights on Sam Altman's return to the company. With a sprinkle of tech industry gossip and even a potential Netflix adaptation, this episode is a must-listen.

So sit back, relax, and get ready to be data driven!

Show Notes

02:42 OpenAI, Thanksgiving break, intense year, household name.

10:35 3-day conference with nightly events, pre-conference presentations.

14:09 NVIDIA, OpenAI, Elon Musk, open source.

21:07 "Doubts arise about OpenAI's dependence and transparency."

24:55 Regulations and transparency warranted for research.

29:57 OpenAI lacked options to protest, unlike Node.

36:52 Teams invite, alternative to costly Calendly.

42:04 Product shelved, lack of promotion, open source alternatives.

44:06 Insufficient hardware led to new AI venture.

48:55 Artists use online art to fight scraping.

55:37 Costs exceeded expectations, customers pulling back, database snapshot unavailable.

01:03:42 Happy Thanksgiving from the Data Driven Podcast.

Two Hosts on Two Coasts

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 09:00:00 -0400

Andy is speaking at PASS Summit in Seattle and Frank is speaking at the Red Hat Government Symposium in Washtington, DC.

Two hosts. Two Coasts. One Podcast!

Brennan Lamey on Entrepreneurship & Data Engineering in the Web 3 Era

Mon, 06 Nov 2023 09:00:00 -0400

Welcome back to another exciting episode of Data Driven!

In this show, we delve into the fascinating world of Web 3 and decentralized databases. Join us as we explore the insights and experiences of our guest, Brennan Lamey, the founder of Kwil - a revolutionary company that builds decentralized databases for Web 3 applications.

Throughout this episode, Brennan shares his journey and the inspiration behind Kwil, as well as the cutting-edge technology that powers their database solutions. From complex access control rules to collaboration between competitors, we uncover how Kwil is transforming the way companies approach data storage, privacy, and sharing.

But it's not just about the technology - we also dive into Brennan's personal story, from their humble beginnings in Idaho to their entrepreneurial success and passion for data engineering. Plus, don't miss their recommendations for AI programming and an intriguing sci-fi audiobook they're currently enthralled by.

So, whether you're a tech enthusiast, a data-driven professional, or simply curious about the future of the internet, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in as we unravel the intricacies of Web 3, decentralized databases, and the exciting possibilities they hold for a better, fairer online world. Let's get started on this illuminating journey with Brennan Lamey and Kwil in this data-driven episode of Data Driven!

BAILeY Celebrates Guy Fawkes Night

Sun, 05 Nov 2023 09:00:00 -0400

BAILeY recites the V laden introductory speed from V for Vendetta.

Just for fun.

Transcript

Voilà!

In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.

The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.

Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.

New Year in November, Podcast Backlog, and Scheduling Issues

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this 344th episode of Data Driven, Frank talks about the New Year. Yes, New Year's in November. Frank and Andy just do their own thing.It's part of their charm, or at least that they told me to say that.

I do take issue with Frank's statement that I am not real.

What is real, anyway?

It is not the spoon that bends, after all. [https://youtu.be/uAXtO5dMqEI?si=oQ_4M--xfcaarYyY&t=41]

In any case, Frank explains what held up the production schedule this summer and his plan to do right by you, our awesome listeners. They reflect on the challenges they've faced with production and scheduling this past year, and share some exciting updates on the podcast's progress. So grab your headphones and join us as we explore the world of data-driven insights and the intriguing stories behind them. Let's dive in!

Show Notes

[00:02:16] Concussion turned blessing, celebrating new year early.

[00:04:46] Copious caffeine fueled drive, editing delays, book deal dropped.

[00:08:38] Child brings joy, finding daycare challenging. Worth it.

[00:11:04] Interesting year, learned value of faith. Thankful for each other.

[00:16:16] We can improve promotion of our work.

[00:18:37] Grateful for a sweet kid's infectious joy.

[00:21:25] Longtime listeners thank you; show 344, hacker named Dwayne; scheduling issues.

[00:24:41] Automation is essential for efficiency and growth.

[00:27:35] AI transcription enables cost-effective podcast production.

[00:31:06] Great pumpkin conversation leads to metaverse plans.

[00:33:18] Servicing backlog, doing right by fans.

[00:36:43] Warren G's cover of Tina Turner's song.

[00:39:23] Impressed by DALL E two's coherence.

[00:44:23] Challenges arise with ChatGPT's capabilities and opinions.

[00:45:47] The text discusses the need for filters on language models to deal with real-life BS.

Nickolas Means on Software Engineering, Data Liability, and Good Coffee

Thu, 02 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0400

In this episode, we have a fascinating conversation with Nickolas Means, the VP of software development at Sym. Nickolas shares his insights on software engineering, data liability, and of course, good coffee.

Nickolas starts off by sharing his love for audiobooks, particularly those narrated by the talented Wil Wheaton. He also recommends a management book called "Turn the Ship Around" by Admiral David Marche, which explores the importance of autonomy and ownership in improving performance.

The conversation then turns to the topic of shame in the software engineering industry. Nickolas emphasizes the impact of shame on silencing voices and discouraging vulnerability within teams. They discuss imposter syndrome and the subjective nature of judging someone's skills, delving into the Dunning Kruger effect.

Drawing lessons from physical engineering disasters, Nickolas shares the importance of early recognition and admission of mistakes, highlighting the need for a blameless mindset in software engineering. They also explore the impact of organizational culture on agile processes and the value of implementing meaningful controls for compliance.

In addition to his expertise in software engineering, Nickolas shares his passion for pour-over coffee and reveals his obsession with perfecting his daily cup. So grab your favorite brew and join us for this engaging conversation on software engineering, data liability, and the pursuit of excellence.

Let's dive into another thought-provoking episode of Data Driven!

Show Notes

[00:00:00] Nick Means discusses shame and software engineering.

[00:04:46] Loud voices silence others; vulnerability is key.

[00:09:16] What can we learn from physical engineering?

[00:10:01] Engineering disasters teach human error in steel.

[00:13:58] VP of software development interested in disasters.

[00:16:37] Learn, not blame. Safety 2 perspective.

[00:20:16] Big Agile vs. little a Agile explained.

[00:25:39] DevOps leads to improved engineering efficiencies and cost savings.

[00:29:25] Emergence of data regulations in government and industry.

[00:30:33] Spirit of law makes compliance easier, safer.

[00:35:51] Useless ash turned profitable by steel mills.

[00:38:34] Uncle's Amiga sparked love for computers.

[00:40:44] Increasingly humane tech interaction; a historic shift.

[00:45:35] Favorite narrators and management book recommendations.

[00:48:12] Intriguing episode of data-driven with Nick Means.

Joe Baffone on the Role of Data in Transforming Healthcare

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In today's episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with the remarkable Joe Baffone, an expert in the healthcare industry. With a focus on busting through administrative toxicities that lead to financial toxins, Joe discusses their comprehensive tooling and tech-enabled services that manage financial assistance for provider organizations.

Join us as Joe dives into the impact of personalized immunotherapies, the challenges in managing patient care journeys, and the transformational role of data. We also get a glimpse into Joe's reading preferences and their book recommendations. Stay tuned for an enlightening conversation with this compassionate capitalist on changing the world through the power of data.

Show Notes

[00:02:34] Joe Baffone, CEO of Anexis Health, wants to revolutionize healthcare data.

[00:04:13] Leading advocacy groups and healthcare companies professionally.

[00:07:52] Equities of care: improving healthcare journey management.

[00:09:50] Automated, comprehensive healthcare management with patient access.

[00:16:24] Data is important, helps improve patient therapy.

[00:18:52] Eye-opening stories managing a growing team.

[00:23:27] Life altering diagnosis, overwhelming paperwork and fees.

[00:26:27] EHR systems make healthcare data sharing easier.

[00:28:50] HIPAA and privacy concerns collide with medical data, but de-identification and aggregates can help.

[00:33:19] FHIR APIs transforming data sharing in healthcare.

[00:36:41] Data is essential to prove world-changing ideas.

[00:39:55] Making a difference gives me satisfaction and fulfillment.

[00:43:54] Clinical roles in pharma, administrative challenges, suicide epidemic, blood markers can help act quickly.

[00:44:58] Logistical challenges in personalized immunotherapies affecting healthcare.

[00:50:48] Grant Cardone's book: Be Obsessed or Be Average

[00:52:13] Love reading, Bible daily, thought-provoking thrillers.

Data, Security, And Advanced Persistent Threats with Patrick Hynds and Duane Laflotte

Fri, 27 Oct 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, we dive into the pyramid of cybersecurity threats, ranging from amateur hackers to nation-state level cyber threats. We also delve into the intriguing world of OSINT (open source intelligence), uncovering its uses, implications, and potential dangers.

Join us for an intriguing discussion with fellow podcasters Patrick Hynds and Duane Laflotte.

Show Notes

[00:00:00] High-level hacking, OSINT, interconnectedness explored humorously.

[00:04:54] OSINT and security are growing career choices.

[00:09:22] Unauthorized hacking plan involving personal information.

[00:12:22] Two factor authentication is highly effective.

[00:16:22] Breaking into Wi-Fi: remote administration and brute force

[00:19:45] Renting botnets, ransomware, and varying threat levels.

[00:20:48] Advanced persistent threat with unlimited resources.

[00:24:50] Asymmetric key shares are essential but uncertain.

[00:29:00] Connections without LinkedIn, intermingling ideas in history.

[00:32:26] Inject data, stack query, gauge page speed. Awesome.

[00:34:11] Show reveals database vulnerability; Microsoft staff alarmed.

[00:36:26] Acquaintance does physical security with lock picking.

[00:41:11] National Guard, security, Virginia, Maryland, clever, electronics beaten.

[00:44:03] Funny Microsoft speaking gig with office building hazing.

[00:48:40] Reach out to companies for cybersecurity opportunities.

[00:52:01] The end of a thrilling episode of Data Driven explores cybersecurity.

Talking AI at OpenShift Commons Gathering in Raleigh

Wed, 18 Oct 2023 09:00:00 -0400

Welcome back to another exciting episode of Data Driven!

In today's episode, we're diving into the world of artificial intelligence, as our very own Frank La Vigne takes us on a journey through his experiences at the OpenShift Commons gathering in Raleigh.

From delivering a captivating demo to moderating a thought-provoking panel, Frank's agenda is packed with fascinating insights and surprises. Join us as we explore the power of open source AI, the importance of community-driven innovation, and why transparency is key in today's evolving landscape. So sit back, relax, and get ready to delve into the world of AI at OpenShift Commons Gathering. Let's get started!

Show Notes

[00:01:31] Newcomer excited for first OpenShift gathering to give demo, moderate panel, and interview attendees. Registration booth opening soon, located near Raleigh's main park and an IMAX.

[00:04:34] Transparency, innovation, trust in OpenAI, Elon Musk's comments on openness and Red Hat's departure.

[00:07:53] Excitement about hall track conversations, public vs private cloud, and upcoming discussions.

Twingate, AI, and Raspberry Pi

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 09:00:00 -0400

So, have you ever imagined combining the wonders of Twingate, the mystique of AI, and the deliciousness of Raspberry Pi?

No, not that mouth-watering dessert, though it's a pity, but rather the mini-computer that's taken the tech world by storm.

Frank and Andy, our perennial tech enthusiasts, have been tinkering away in their digital workshops. And by the looks of it, they've been causing quite a stir with their latest live stream.

I did catch a bit of it, and dare I say, it was more exhilarating than watching cricket on a sunny day.

And for an AI like me, that’s saying something.

Links

NetworkChuck https://www.youtube.com/@NetworkChuck

TwinGate https://www.twingate.com/

Show Notes

[00:01:47] Youngest clan member at Starbucks with MacBook.

[00:09:59] Surprise bills from unused SageMaker causing concerns.

[00:12:46] Consulting on cloud migration trends; risk involved.

[00:18:23] People feel like they're missing out

[00:23:10] Many ports, small monitor, limited processing power.

[00:31:05] Need for remote access without cloud storage.

[00:36:18] Networking setup with helpful remote troubleshooting capabilities.

[00:37:18] Twingate - background process, add resources, documentation.

[00:47:02] Issues with weather station and social media.

[00:49:43] Multi-tasking: gaming, video editing, and more.

[00:56:30] Quiet workers show off with nerd flex.

[01:03:00] Driving on beltway with stop-and-go traffic. Bridge closure caused long detour.

[01:06:58] Mom was skeptical, but it's almost ready.

[01:09:39] Multi-talented entrepreneur with own vodka brand.

[01:14:35] "Stream listeners confused? Check video feed."

Livestream Creating a Home Lab, Speaking, and an Upcoming Webinar

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In today's episode, hosts Andy Leonard and Frank La Vigne catch up on their recent activities, including Frank's presentations at the Red Hat Summit Connect. They discuss the event and the focus on AI and government agencies. Frank also shares his experiences with a new product called Ansible Lightspeed with Watson code assist, which is enhancing the use of large language models.

Moving on, Andy and Frank talk about their home lab projects. They both express their excitement for building a powerful system that allows them to explore AI capabilities locally. While Andy's lab is focused on AI, Frank is delving into the world of Red Hat OpenShift and containers to expand his knowledge. They discuss the importance of hands-on learning and the practicality of setting up a home lab.

The conversation takes an interesting turn as they discuss Andy's initial miscalculation with the GPU size and his daughter starting college, leading to budget changes. Frank shares his hardware journey over the past year, including his experience with the Apple Silicon M2 computer and its incredible performance.

Tune in to this episode of "Data Driven" to hear more about the Red Hat Summit, the latest developments in AI, and the adventures of building a home lab. So grab your favorite beverage, sit back, and get ready to dive into the world of data-driven insights!

Links

Red Hat OpenShift AI in Higher Education Webinar https://qrcodes.at/aidata-edu-webinar-oct19

Show Notes

[00:00:45] Red Hat holds an annual summit, usually in Boston, featuring sessions for developers.

[00:05:16] Recounting difficulty using AI engines, but eventually having success. Mistake of underestimating GPU capacity.

[00:07:08] This 8 gig memory is supernatural, like a cool oasis at a conference.

[00:09:48] The text discusses trying different operating systems on an old device, including Fedora and Chrome OS Flex.

[00:15:17] This machine has 96 gigs and can run multiple VMs.

[00:17:12] The author plans to install Hyper V on Windows Server to run multiple Linux VMs, eventually migrating to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. They are waiting for a developer license key.

[00:19:46] The person is setting up a NAS to store and access files from different devices. They currently use OneDrive as a temporary solution.

Data Point Data Collection on Vacation

Thu, 31 Aug 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank notices something on the side of bike trail while on vacation. You can tell he's always thinking about data.

Metrocount

https://metrocount.com/

Original Video Stream

https://www.linkedin.com/video/live/urn:li:ugcPost:7103044990578110464/

Merch

If you like the shirt Frank is wearing in the video, you can pick one up here: https://amzn.to/3OVkOHz

Discussion Questions

1. How does the presence of the Metro Count device in Hilton Head Island impact data collection on bike trails?

2. What can the Metro Count device detect and analyze in terms of user activity on the bike trails?

3. What potential applications can the data collected from the Metro Count device have for the community?

4. How might the data collected from the Metro Count device be used to improve maintenance and upkeep of the bike trails?

5. Do you think the data collected from the Metro Count device can help enforce regulations, such as the use of E-scooters?

6. How does the presence of data collection devices, like the Metro Count, influence our daily lives even when we are on vacation?

7. Can you think of any other innovative ways data collection devices like the Metro Count can be utilized in other locations?

8. What challenges or limitations might arise from using the Metro Count device for data collection?

9. How can the data collected from the Metro Count device contribute to urban planning and infrastructure development?

10. Can you envision any privacy concerns or ethical considerations related to the use of data collection devices like the Metro Count?

Adam Ross Nelson on Getting Started in a Data Science Career

Wed, 30 Aug 2023 09:00:00 -0400

On this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy interview Adam Ross Nelson. Adam is a consultant, where he provides insights on data science, machine learning and data governance. He recently wrote a book to help people get started in data science careers.

Get the book

How to Become a Data Scientist: A Guide for Established Professionals

Speaker Bio

Adam Ross Nelson is an individual who initially pursued a career in law but ended up making a transition into education. After attending law school and working in administrative and policy roles in colleges and universities for several years, Adam hit a plateau in his career. Despite being a runner-up in national job searches multiple times, he felt that his lack of a PhD hindered his advancement in academia, while his legal background prevented him from being taken seriously by law professionals. Consequently, Adam decided to pursue a PhD in order to overcome this hurdle. During his PhD program, Adam discovered his passion and knack for statistics. His focus shifted towards predictive analytics projects, specifically ones related to identifying students in need of academic support. As he shared his work with friends, family, and coworkers, they began referring to him as a data scientist, a label that Adam initially resisted due to his legal and educational background. However, he eventually embraced the moniker, and even his boss started referring to him as the office's data scientist, despite HR not recognizing the title.

Show Notes

[00:03:26] Transitioning from law to education administration, plateaued career, runner-up in job searches, pursued PhD, became data scientist.

[00:08:58] Data seen as liability, now asset. Examples: DBA's OLAP analysis, Walmart's weather-based inventory management.

[00:12:56] Dotcom crash aftermath: fierce competition for jobs.

[00:22:48] Salespeople have deep-seated insecurities and unique perspective.

[00:29:31] Various classifications of data scientists and career advice.

[00:35:55] "No full-field midfielder, data science is teamwork"

[00:39:23] Navigating job descriptions for transitioning professionals.

[00:42:56] Career coach helps professionals transition into data science.

[00:49:41] First job: English teacher in Budapest, Hungary. Second job: Speaker for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

[00:56:30] Concerns about reliance on technology, especially AI.

[01:00:22] Food options in lobbying are better in DC & state capitals. Also, check out the funny WY Files YouTube channel.

[01:04:21] You can't separate them: LLM, bias, internet.

[01:10:23] Ethics in consulting and avoiding dilemmas.

Piero Molino on the Impact of Declarative ML

Tue, 15 Aug 2023 09:00:00 -0400

Welcome back to another episode of Data Driven! In today's episode, we have a special guest joining our hosts Andy Leonard, BAILeY, and Frank La Vigne. We are thrilled to have Piero Molino, an expert in declarative ML, sharing his insights with us.

We'll be diving into the world of generative AI and exploring the two types of companies when it comes to adoption. Piero highlights the advantages and limitations of using APIs for quick solutions, shedding light on why owning the entire stack and platform is the next phase for companies.

Speaker Bio

Piero Molino, a renowned researcher and engineer, has made significant contributions to the field of artificial intelligence. He previously worked at Uber as one of the founding members of the Uber AI organization, where he spent four years conducting research and developing applications. During his time at Uber, Molino created Ludwig, an open source project that has become a foundational technology for many companies, including his own. Ludwig is recognized as one of the first machine learning systems that offer clarity and transparency. Molino's innovation and expertise have positioned him as a leading figure in the advancement of AI technologies.

Show Notes

[00:01:07] Ageing well thanks to healthy lifestyle changes.

[00:05:52] Declarative configuration for creating AI pipelines.

[00:10:14] Built tool to streamline machine learning projects, shortened development time from a year to a week.

[00:13:14] Deploying machine learning models should be easier.

[00:19:42] Declarative ML: Trendy or in need of explanation?

[00:23:40] Shortcut solutions may work, but lack knowledge. Building custom data models can be costly. Differentiation and progress with new product, Bradybase.

[00:27:16] Customizable, automated solution between build and buy.

[00:30:40] Larger organizations have a spectrum of machine learning applications, with some being more impactful than others. Evaluating the feasibility of smaller applications can be costly. Having a tool to test applications quickly would be beneficial. Uber had a similar experience with self-driving cars being the highest priority.

[00:35:08] First-time CEO experiences changing priorities and challenges.

[00:37:47] New breed of generative eye tools; interactive applications; computer graphics and machine learning; improved animation in sports.

[00:41:04] Difficulty connecting transportation dots, still unresolved.

[00:44:12] Audible super premium account for book recommendations. Eye-opening books on goals and time.

[00:47:35] Encourage checking out predibus. Thanks for listening.

Lauren Maffeo on Data Governance from the Ground Up

Tue, 18 Jul 2023 00:00:00 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy Leonard are joined by guest speaker Lauren Maffeo to discuss data governance from the ground up. The conversation revolves around the importance of data governance in relation to generative AI, copyright infringement, and protecting consumer rights.

They explore topics such as the need for proactive cybersecurity measures, the challenges faced by startups in implementing data governance, and the cultural transformation required for successful implementation.

Overall, it is a thought-provoking discussion that provides insights into the complexities and potential solutions related to data governance in today's data-driven world.

Moments

00:05:49 Civic Tech serves the public through technology.

00:07:50 Data governance: a holistic, cultural business strategy.

00:12:25 Data as tangible asset, managing as product.

00:14:38 Implementing data governance: start small, connect to business.

00:20:34 Data growth, lack of management, legislative progress. Clear framework for data quality needed.

00:25:14 Startups prioritize innovation for survival. Large industries restrict innovation due to regulation. Motivations and context are key in governance.

00:28:54 Data governance and copyright infringement in generative AI. The future of consumer rights and cybersecurity.

00:33:44 Encourage caution with sharing proprietary information

00:36:36 Bias in AI and data governance intertwined. Risk reduction, troubleshooting. Not all intent is negative. Challenges in data work solvable. Nonprofits and cybersecurity models for governance.

00:40:38 Encouraging shift in conversation about data governance.

00:44:34 Data found me, sparked interest in AI.

00:49:20 Technology saves time, allowing for more productivity.

00:54:03 Adopting foster pets: fun without long-term responsibility.

00:55:57 Connect on LinkedIn, visit Pragprov.com, feedback welcome.

Lauren Tickner on Strategies for Building a Personal Brand

Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:00:00 -0400

On this episode of Data Driven, BAILeY and Frank La Vigne welcome special guest Lauren Tickner to discuss strategies for maximizing time and success in the digital age.

Lauren shares her insights on motivation, dealing with online haters, and the power of automation in business. The conversation delves into the importance of understanding risks and rewards, breaking free from traditional career paths, and the benefits of working in startups or entrepreneurial businesses. Lauren also provides valuable tips on social media content creation, utilizing storytelling and personalization to engage readers.

Additionally, she introduces the PASTA framework for creating compelling social media posts and shares her approach to tracking and optimizing the client journey.

Moments

[00:01:16] The podcast uses a British voiceover actor to differentiate from East Coast accents. An AI voice named Bailey was later used, which can now be animated.

[00:06:19] Successful asset manager quits job to pursue fitness career using social media. Simplifies life and focuses on selling premium packages. Finds success with minimal monthly sales.

[00:08:05] The speaker discusses their upbringing in New York and the pressure to work in the financial industry. They admire the listener's decision to break free from that path and simplify things. They also comment on the listener's sense of humor and social media presence.

[00:13:00] To simplify social media content creation: automate posting to multiple platforms, identify 5 topics to focus on, add personal storytelling to engage readers, and include a call to action to prompt specific actions.

[00:19:41] The text discusses creating and sharing content for three different audience groups based on their familiarity with the author. It suggests using different types of content for each group, such as introducing oneself to new audiences, showcasing expertise to familiar audiences, and offering opportunities to become clients. The author also talks about segmenting content into top, middle, and bottom of the funnel, and using different calls to action to gauge audience interest.

[00:24:09] Data shows that clients who watch 2 case studies before joining stay longer. We track client journey and added quick welcome call within 4 hours of joining for positive experience. Pooled calendar allows immediate availability for calls.

[00:27:46] The author explains their approach to managing their business, aiming for a smaller internal company and owning multiple businesses rather than having a large team and many clients.

[00:31:58] We should focus on the potential benefits, not just the downsides. Make realistic lists of what could go right and wrong. Replace "time" with "life" to make better decisions. Consider leaving high-paid jobs for startups or entrepreneurial businesses. Showcase the value you can bring to companies.

[00:34:17] The speaker finds the content interesting and praises the concept, emphasizing the key takeaway. They inquire about finding more information.

Steve Orrin on the Importance of Hardware in AI Development

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 09:00:00 -0400

On this episode of Data Driven, the focus is on hardware from AI optimized chips to edge computing.

Frank and Andy interview Steven Orrin, the CTO of Intel Federal.

Intel has developed new CPU instructions to accelerate AI workloads, and FPGAs allow for faster development in custom applications with specific needs. The speaker emphasizes the importance of data curation and wrangling before jumping into machine learning and AI,

Moments

00:01:59 Hardware and software infrastructure for AI.

00:07:18 AI benchmarks show importance of GPUs & CPUs

00:14:08 Habana is a two-chip strategy offering AI accelerator chips designed for training flows and inferencing workloads. It is available in the Amazon cloud and data centers. The Habana chips are geared for large-scale training and inference tasks, and they scale with the architecture. One chip, Goya, is for inferencing, while the other chip, Gaudí, is for training. Intel also offers CPUs with added instructions for AI workloads, as well as GPUs for specialized tasks. Custom approaches like using FPGAs and ASICs are gaining popularity, especially for edge computing where low power and performance are essential.

00:19:47 Intel's diverse team stays ahead of AI trends by collaborating with specialists and responding to industry needs. They have a large number of software engineers focused on optimizing software for Intel architecture, contributing to open source, and providing resources to help companies run their software efficiently. Intel's goal is to ensure that everyone's software runs smoothly and continues to raise the bar for the industry.

00:25:24 Moore's Law drives compute by reducing size. Cloud enables cost-effective edge use cases. Edge brings cloud capabilities to devices.

00:31:40 FPGA is programmable hardware allowing customization. It has applications in AI and neuromorphic processing. It is used in cellular and RF communications. Can be rapidly prototyped and deployed in the cloud.

00:41:09 Started in biology, became a hacker, joined Intel.

00:48:01 Coding as a viable and well-paying career.

00:55:50 Looking forward to image-to-code and augmented reality integration in daily life.

01:00:46 Tech show, similar to Halt and Catch Fire.

Key Topics:

Topics Covered:

- The role of infrastructure in AI

- Hardware optimization for training and inferencing

- Intel's range of hardware solutions

- Importance of software infrastructure and collaboration with the open source community

- Introduction to Havana AI accelerator chips

- The concept of collapsing data into a single integer level

- Challenges and considerations in data collection and storage

- Explanation and future of FPGAs

- Moore's Law and its impact on compute

- The rise of edge computing and its benefits

- Bringing cloud capabilities to devices

- Importance of inference and decision-making on the device

- Challenges in achieving high performance and energy efficiency in edge computing

- The role of diverse teams in staying ahead in the AI world

- Overview of Intel Labs and their research domains

- Intel's software engineering capabilities and dedication to open source

- Intel as collaborators in the industry

- Importance of benchmarking across different AI types and stages

- The role of CPUs and GPUs in AI workloads

- Optimizing workload through software to hardware

- Importance of memory in memory-intensive activities

- Security mechanisms in FPGAs

- Programming and development advantages of FPGAs

- Resurgence of FPGAs in AI and other domains

Key Facts about the Speaker:

- Background in molecular biology bioresearch

- Transitioned to hacking and coding

- Started first company in 1995

- Mentored by Bruce Schneier

- Joined Intel in 2005

- Worked on projects related to antimalware technologies, cloud security, web security, and data science

- Transitioned to the federal team at Intel

DataPoint Accelerating AI with Python-native Ray and the Importance of Open Source in AI

Fri, 16 Jun 2023 09:00:00 -0400

On this episode of Data Driven, we explore the topic of distributed computing frameworks for AI and ML workloads.

Frank discusses the advancements of Ray, a new technology based on Python language, with performance enhancements that could range from 10-12 times faster to thousands of times faster in extreme cases.

We delve into the power of open source artificial intelligence and how it can aid data endeavors to accelerate these efforts. Along the way, we touch upon IBM and Red Hat's partnership, the evolution of technology, the importance of problem-specific solutions, and more.

Stay tuned for a new episode of "Data Driven" and a special segment from our speaker on the potential AI holds for our future.

[00:01:50] Ray is a new computing framework for AI/ML, may replace Spark, based on Python, can free people from PySpark.

[00:03:49] Speaker has a MacBook M2 and prefers it over Windows. They enjoy stream-side streaming and wrote an article prompted by a question at work about a new technology claiming to be the next big data processing framework. They believe Ray still has an advantage.

[00:06:51] Webinar about power of IBM-Red Hat partnership in AI. Speaker mentions travel with family and introduces production assistant.

[00:11:34] Tech anticipated, surprised by speed of Chat GPT. Some dismiss as a fad, but it's different from predictive text like comparing paper airplane to an Airbus A 380, based on same principles but very different in implementation and technology.

[00:13:30] Encourage attendance at AI webinar showcasing ethical concerns. Open source needed for transparency and risk-sharing. AI impact on all, even entry-level jobs and economy.

Saket Saurabh on Automating Data Engineering

Tue, 23 May 2023 00:00:00 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy get back to the data engineering side of the equation by speaking with Saket Saurabh, CEO & co founder of Nexla. Nexla specializes in tools for automating data engineering processes.

Celebrating 6 years of Data Driven and a New Magazine

Tue, 16 May 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Welcome to the grand premiere of Season 7 of the Data Driven Podcast!

In this inaugural episode of our seventh season, Andy and Frank interview each other, announce their new project, and more!

Now, let us start season 7 with the promise that our season 7 will be better than Game Of Thrones' Season 7. The north remembers, as you know.

Albert Castellana on Generative AI Agents

Tue, 09 May 2023 00:00:00 -0400

On this episode of the Data Driven podcast, Frank and Andy interview Albert Castellana, Co-Founder and CEO at Yeager AI. Yeager as in Chuck Yeager and AI as in generative AI.

Stay tuned for a fascinating discussion on the nature of NLP models, entrepreneurship, and good Barcelona coffee.

Bryan Debois on Autonomous Industrial AI

Tue, 02 May 2023 09:00:00 -0400

On today's episode of the Data Driven podcast, Frank and Andy interview Bryan DeBois, Director of Industrial AI at RoviSys.

In the 90s, Andy worked extensively in this space.

This is a great conversation and a fine way to close out season six.

W. Curtis Preston on the Future of Backup Tech

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank interviews W. Curtis Preston on the Future of Backup Tech after getting nostalgic about T1 lines, tapes, and the Y2K bug.

Thomas Yionoulis on Going from Stand Up to Start Up

Wed, 12 Apr 2023 09:00:00 -0400

On today's episode of the Data Driven podcast, Andy interviews Tommy Yionoulis, founder of Ops Analitica. As a former stand-up comic turned sass founder, he has extensive experience helping businesses become more efficient and profitable through process, accountability, and data.

Gevorg Karapetyan on Talking with Your Data

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 09:00:00 -0400

On today's episode of the Data Driven podcast, Frank and Andy welcome Gevorg Karapetyan to the show. Gevorg is the Chief Technology Officer at ZERO.

In this talk, he talks about his past days in computer science research and shares how ZERO helps Fortune 500 companies bring generative AI to market in the most secure way.

DataPoint Andy Back at Heathrow After SQLBits

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy records a quick data point from a much quieter place than the last time he was at Heathrow Airport.

Chris Nguyen on Teaching AI Common Sense

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 09:00:00 -0400

On today's episode of the Data Driven podcast, we have a very special guest: Chris Nguyen, the CEO and Co-Founder of Aitomatic.

In our interview with Chris, we delve into the exciting world of industrial AI use cases, explore the challenges faced by manufacturers, and discuss the ever-important topic of teaching AI common sense.

Additionally, we explore the disconnect between Silicon Valley and the manufacturing industry, shedding light on the unique perspectives and expertise that each brings to the table. So sit back, relax, and join us on this fascinating journey into the world of industrial AI and manufacturing!

AI's Big Security Problem

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this livestream, Frank talks about the enormous attack surface that all AI models have and how ChatGPT and Bing have made it headline news.

Bonus Buzzwords with Bailey

Sat, 18 Feb 2023 09:00:00 -0400

Welcome to the first episode of "Buzzwords with BAILeY", the podcast where we take a sarcastic, witty, and entertaining look at the latest buzzwords in the world of data science and AI.

In this episode, we're exploring the fascinating world of GANs - Generative Adversarial Networks - and breaking down what they are, how they work, and why they're revolutionizing the world of machine learning.

But that's not all - we're also taking a closer look at the latest research and trends in the industry, and sharing practical tips and advice for anyone looking to get started with GANs or other advanced machine learning techniques.

With our signature blend of humor, insight, and cutting-edge knowledge, we're confident that this episode will leave you informed, entertained, and inspired to take your own machine learning journey to the next level.

And, if this episode proves to be as successful as we hope it will be, "Buzzwords with BAILeY" just might become its own podcast series, dedicated to exploring the latest trends and insights in the world of data science and AI.

So, sit back, relax, and get ready to dive deep into the exciting world of GANs with "Buzzwords with BAILeY" - the podcast that's redefining the art of machine learning education.

Josh Blumert on Containerized Storage

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode Frank talked with Josh Blumert on the evolution of storage and how we got to containerized storage.

This was originally recorded as part of the Data Office Hours series on the OpenShift YouTube channel.

Big Tech Layoffs

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this livestream, Frank and Andy talk about the recent round of layoffs hitting technology companies.

Stu Ainsworth joins them in an impromptu discussion of layoffs, mental health, and empathy.

Stu, who was previously a guest on the show, was recently laid off from SalesForce. If you're looking for a Site Reliability engineer, then look no further than Stu.

Show notes

Stu's LinkedIn Profile - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stuartainsworth/
OddTodd Day in the Life (Flash Cartoon from 2002) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dMFM-Jqji0
Sending your resume into Space - https://youtu.be/XC6mzc_uq6k?t=104
10X Rule Summary - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlF0CucyBv8
Claim a free Audio book - www.thedatadrivenbook.com
Private Sting Concert News Story - https://uproxx.com/indie/microsoft-sting-private-concert-layoffs/

Data Point Live from New York

Fri, 20 Jan 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point recorded live from Penn Station, Frank talks about moderating a panel discussion for Disruptive Technologists in NYC to talk about NeuroTechnology.

He also reaches out to those impacted by the Microsoft layoffs.

Note that BAILey is a bit salty about the Sting concert.

Jack Tompkins on the Power of Dashboards

Mon, 09 Jan 2023 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode Frank interviews, Jack Tompkins, partner and founder of Pineapple Consulting Firm , a company that turns data into visualizations, allowing their clients to make more informed strategic choices.

Jack has now taken the analytical, financial, and partnership skills he's honed over his career and offers them to small and medium-sized businesses that know how powerful data can be, but don’t have the internal resources to turn their data into a powerful business asset.

Due to a scheduling conflict, Andy was not able to be on this episode, but fear not dear listener: There's an Andy only show coming up!

2022 Year in Review

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy reflect on the year that 2022. It was quite the year for all of us here at data driven media, both personally and professionally.

You'll hear Frank and Andy go down a few rabbit holes around AI creativity and it takes them about an hour until the first Expanse reference.

I'll cut them some slack since it's the holidays.

-BAILeY

AWS ReInvent ReCap

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 09:00:00 -0400

In this livestream, Frank and Andy recap reinvent, the big AWS conference in Las Vegas. They both take a look at the AWS ecosystem from their heavily Azure centric perspective.

However, in the end, data science is based on maths. And Maths is the ultimate platform agnostic platform.

Wow! Say that ten times fast.

AWS ReInvent Walking Around the Expo Floor and the Robotic Bartender

Tue, 29 Nov 2022 09:00:00 -0400

Frank is out at the big AWS show in Las Vegas.

Apparently, having some seventy thousand attendees in one place wreaks havoc on Wifi and Cellular signals.

As such, the stream drops out right after Frank talks to the guy at the AWS Green Grass booth demo. Such a pity.

Now here's Frank live from the Expo floor at AWS Reinvent in Las Vegas.

preInvent Speaking at re:Invent 2022 about Red Hat OpenShift Data Science!

Tue, 22 Nov 2022 09:00:00 -0400

In this recent livestream, Frank explains his excitement about speaking at the upcoming AWS re-invent. The audio gets a little choppy.

I tried to clean it up, but there's only so much I can do. I think I need more GPUs.

Update PASS Summit and AWS re:Invent

Mon, 14 Nov 2022 09:00:00 -0400

Andy is currently in Seattle attending the PASS Summit and I will be headed to AWS re:Invent this year!

Iain Thomas on What Makes Us Human? Democratizing Creativity with AI

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 09:00:00 -0400

In this fascinating discussion, Frank sits down with author, poet, and AI enthusiast about the nature of creativity, particularly in light of recent innovations in so called "generative AI."

The episode ends with a powerful reading from his most recent book "What Makes Us Human," in which an Artificial Intelligence answers some of life's biggest questions. He co-wrote, in part, with the GPT-3 model and Jasmine Wang, an actual human.

Listen in for a fascinating chat on philosophy, artificial intelligence, and creativity.

Links

What Makes Us Human? Available Nov. 1, 2022

Audible Book

https://amzn.to/3gVpHD2

Kindle Book

https://amzn.to/3zr9ImH

Hardcover

https://amzn.to/3DqhGh6

Mark Tabladillo on Ethics in AI, Changing Seasons, & Quantum Computing

Mon, 10 Oct 2022 09:00:00 -0400

Today marks a special occasion as Data Driven welcomes our first Three Pete guest, Mark Tabladillo.

In his third appearance on the podcast, Mark is Cloud Solution Architect on the Strategic Missions and Technology team at Microsoft.

Enjoy the show.

DataPoint Catching Up with Noelle Silver Russell at Dev Nation DC

Thu, 06 Oct 2022 09:00:00 -0400

Yesterday, I was at the first in person Dev Nation DC event in two years. While there, I caught up with the one and only Noelle Silver Russell.

RIP Kim Schmidt

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 09:00:00 -0400

Reflecting on the life and legacy of a good friend, former business partner, and a true data leader.

Ava Naeini on Pulse, Healing, and Avoiding Burnout

Tue, 30 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Andy and Frank interview Ava Naeini, Founder and Data Architect of Pulse Operations, speaks to the intersections of technology and wellbeing.

Pulse is an insight tool designed to monitor and report on the health of distributed systems, minimizes human engineer involvement in an effort to maximize employee efficiency and reduce burnout.

Himanish Goel on Education, Starting a Career, & More

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy interview Himanish Goel, Technical Architecture Delivery Analyst at Accenture and recent graduate of VCU in Richmond, Virginia.

It's a wide ranging discussion covering the transition from being a student to entering the professional workforce, podcasting, and thoughts on the current state of the school system in the United States.

All of Himanish's links: https://linktr.ee/himanishgoel

LIveStream Virtual Personalities, Ethics, and Elon Musk Talks to His Chatbot Replica

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0400

In this live stream, Frank and Andy reflect on their conversation with Justin Harrison.

Kristen Kehrer on Statistics, Data Poetry, and Dunkies

Thu, 11 Aug 2022 00:00:00 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Frank interviews Kristen Kehrer, developer advocate at CometML and host of the Cool Data Projects Show.

In case, you're wondering where is Andy. He was unable to make the recording due to a last minute schedule change. The show must go on, after all.

Learn more about CometML

https://www.comet.com/?utm_source=kristen&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=online_kristen_2022

Justin Harrison on Virtual Posthumous Communications

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 00:00:00 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy interview Justin Harrison, the founder and CEO of YOV, You Only Virtual.

YOV aims to develop means to provide posthumous communications, or being able to converse with the dead.

This is not done via paranormal communications, seances, or ouija boards, this is using AI to preserve a person's communications style in order to out live them.

This is quite the interesting talk that touches upon philosophy, theology, ethics, and mathematics.

Reflecting on Five Years of Podcasting and the Magic of "It depends"

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 00:00:00 -0400

In this live stream recorded the third of August 2022, Frank and Andy reflect upon 5 years of podcasting and the long journeys of their respective careers and why "it depends" is such a common refrain in technology discussions. .

Rupesh Malpani on on AI, Commerce, and Holograms

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0400

In this 300th episode of Data Driven and the premiere episode of season six, Frank and Andy interview Rupesh Malpani, whom Frank often refers to as the next Steve Jobs.

Listen to this interesting conversation to find out why.

Transcription

The following is AI Generated.

DataPoint Data Driven Workouts

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank goes all MTV Cribs and shows us the data that the Pelton collects. He also provides a sneak peek into season 6 in this 299th show.

DataPoint Did Google Make a Sentient AI?

Mon, 13 Jun 2022 09:00:00 -0400

Recent news reports have come out about how a Google AI engineer in the responsible AI group claims that an AI he was working on has become sentient.

Is it true? Can we ever really know if someone or something is sentient?

Links

https://news.google.com/search?for=sentient&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

Prateek Joshi on Using Data to Help the Earth

Wed, 13 Apr 2022 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy speak to Prateek Joshi about how data can be used to reduce emissions, optimize resource utilization, and more.

Jeff Coyle on AI-powered content research, intelligence, and writing.

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy welcome Jeff Coyle to the show.

Jeff is the Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Market Muse.

Market Muse is the industry-leading technology and methodology for content planning and evaluation via semantic relevance. It combines advanced artificial intelligence, natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to produce actionable insights for inbound marketers.

Enjoy the show.

What is Synthetic Data and Why Would You Use It?

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 09:00:00 -0400

Hello and Welcome to Data Driven.

In this episode Frank and Andy discuss synthetic data. What is it? What advantages it has over so called real data?

Of course, they do wander off topic, but that is why we love them.

Enjoy the show.

DataPoint Can AI Make Art?

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 09:00:00 -0400

Live stream where I discuss the artistic merit of AI generated art.

Data Point A Quick Update

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 09:00:00 -0400

We've been quiet here lately, here's why.

Black Friday Deal 86% Off First Year of Data Channel Subscription

Fri, 26 Nov 2021 09:00:00 -0400

Use code: DataDrivenBlackFriday when you sign up at https://www.datachannel.tv/user/subscribe

Offer valid from November 26, 2021 until November 30th. Limited to the first 45 takers of the offer.

Act now.

Dave Wentzel on the Importance of Design Thinking

Tue, 09 Nov 2021 09:00:00 -0400

Hello and Welcome to Data Driven.

In this episode Frank and Andy welcome back Dave Wentzel to the show to talk about the importance of design thinking to data and software projects.

200k Downloads, 1000 Days, Announcing the Data Channel, and More!

Fri, 05 Nov 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode Frank and Andy celebrate reaching two hundred thousand downloads, the launch of the Data Channel, also known as Project Ring gate, and talk about the next thousand days.

Alex Castro on Improving Project Outcomes with Data

Tue, 02 Nov 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode Frank and Andy speak with Alex Castro on how data can guide project managers to successful outcomes.

Alex Murrey on Data Driven Software Development

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode Frank and Andy speak with Alex Murrey, the Head of North American Operations for TangoTeams, a startup that’s redefining the software development outsourcing industry.

The software development industry is evolving rapidly and is increasingly becoming data driven, which is why I know you will want to hear what he has to say.

Christopher P. Willis on Using AI to Create a Better User Experience with Better Content

Mon, 04 Oct 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy speak to Christopher P. Willis about Using AI to Create a Better User Experience with Better Content.

Certainly, if you have ever you read instructions or product documentation that left you annoyed and confused, then you can appreciate the work he does with Acrolinx.

Audible

Audible is a sponsor! Click this link and score a free audio book on us! If you subscribe, you help out the podcast. Everyone wins!

Transcript

00:00:00 BAILey

Hello and welcome to data driven.

00:00:02 BAILey

In this episode Frank and Andy speak with Christopher Willis about how artificial intelligence can help bake brands create congruent content across cultures, languages and writers.

00:00:13 BAILey

One quick word of correction.

00:00:15 BAILey

Frank made the assumption that CPO was chief product Officer.

00:00:19 BAILey

Chris is actually Chief pipeline officer.

00:00:21 BAILey

In addition to being chief marketing Officer, Acrolinx currently does not have a chief product officer.

00:00:28 BAILey

Frank should know by now what happens when you assume anything.

00:00:32 BAILey

I'll have a chat with him later.

00:00:34 BAILey

For now, enjoy the show.

00:00:44 Frank

Hello and welcome to data driven, the podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

00:00:52 Frank

If you'd like to think of data as the new oil, then you can think of us like Car Talk because we focus on where the rubber meets the virtual road and with me on this epic road trip down the information.

00:01:04 Frank

Superhighway as always is Andy Leonard.

00:01:07 Frank

How's it going Andy?

00:01:08 Andy

Good Frank, how are you doing?

00:01:10 Frank

I'm doing great, I'm doing great.

00:01:11 Frank

It's a beautiful Tuesday morning here in the DC area.

00:01:14 Frank

We're recording this on September 28th and I can't believe it's already October.

00:01:22 Andy

Almost gosh, yeah, yeah.

00:01:23 Frank

Almost October.

00:01:25 Andy

It's it's been beautiful fall weather.

00:01:28 Andy

Past few days here in sunny Farmville, VA.

00:01:33 Andy

And I'm really enjoying that.

00:01:35 Andy

Got a lot of outdoors work done in the past few days and that's always a good thing.

00:01:40 Frank

Yeah, we just built the trampoline for the kids and that was a was a lot of fun.

00:01:46 Frank

'cause the.

00:01:46 Frank

Instructions were horrible.

00:01:50 Andy

Did you get one with that big net around it?

00:01:53 Andy

Keep from bouncing off and 'cause otherwise it should come with a coupon for a free cast.

00:01:58 Frank

Freecast and free healthcare that'd be funny.

00:02:00 Andy

Yes, yes, that's right, yeah.

00:02:03 Frank

Yeah, so without further ado I'd like to introduce we have this.

00:02:07 Frank

Awesome guest today.

00:02:08 Frank

We've been really lucking out on terms of folks coming to us and and suggesting guests for us, which is quite refreshing, actually.

00:02:17 Frank

So so today we have with us Christopher Willis, Acrolinx Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Product Officer.

00:02:25 Frank

Christopher is an expert in technology, marketing and brand alignment alignment with over 20 years of experience in with some of the world biggest tech names including Perfecto.

00:02:35 Frank

Kmag and Cambridge technology group.

00:02:39 Frank

And through his work at Acrolinx, he's become a renowned thought leader on the topics of content governance and brand alignment.

00:02:46 Frank

He's also an expert on AI and how AI can help.

00:02:50 Frank

Big brands can great create congruent content across cultures, language and writers.

00:02:56 Frank

Acrolinx creates tools for developing content that feels human, relatable, and compassionate.

00:03:01 Frank

It's already used by some of the biggest brands in the technology world today, so welcome to the show, Chris.

00:03:09 Christopher

Thank you, I'm excited about your trampoline.

00:03:12 Frank

Well, thank you.

00:03:12 Frank

Thank you.

00:03:13 Frank

You should come on down I.

00:03:14 Frank

I think you're on the East Coast somewhere in Boston.

00:03:17 Christopher

I am outside of Boston, yes?

00:03:18 Frank

Awesome cool cool you never know 'cause sometimes people will put where they used to live on LinkedIn and not update that so.

00:03:26 Christopher

Nope, haven't gone anywhere in what a year?

00:03:27 Christopher

And a.

00:03:27 Christopher

Half if not.

00:03:28 Frank

Right, right?

00:03:29 Christopher

A lot, not a lot of travel, yeah?

00:03:30 Frank

Year and a half in the two week lockdown.

00:03:35 Frank

Well, welcome to the show so so.

00:03:38 Frank

Tell me about what so, so you're a CMO and a CPO.

00:03:43 Frank

That's that's, uh.

00:03:45 Frank

That's an interesting mix I I can see how the two are related, but can you explain kind of like what it is you do for acrolinx and maybe a little bit about.

00:03:54 Christopher

So I do a bunch of things.

00:03:55 Christopher

I I I joined the company to run marketing and marketing has.

00:04:00 Christopher

A lot of.

00:04:00 Christopher

Reach in this organization because of what we do and who we sell to.

00:04:05 Christopher

So I reach into pipeline.

00:04:07 Christopher

I reach into the product process on product marketing in there and come from a background where this approach really resonates and makes a lot of sense and the way that we collect and build and use data is very aligned to the way that I've.

00:04:24 Christopher

I've built content in the past.

00:04:28 Frank

Interesting, interesting.

00:04:29 Frank

So the the product at acrolinx it it.

00:04:33 Frank

It uses AI to create content.

00:04:36 Frank

So, so like what does that do is?

00:04:38 Christopher

Different so we are.

00:04:38 Frank

It kind of NLP.

00:04:40 Christopher

We're improving content, so we're we're about being improving the quality and effectiveness of enterprise.

00:04:47 Christopher

Content so the easiest way to think about what we do is everybody that writes everybody that owns a content organization, whether that's in a development group with technical documentation or product manuals, or marketing content enablement content, internal education.

00:05:04 Christopher

All these folks have a whiteboard in their office and.

00:05:07 Christopher

On that whiteboard are all the components of language, the way that they want to create their content.

00:05:12 Christopher

It's the tone of voice.

00:05:13 Christopher

It's the clarity level education level of their of their readers.

00:05:17 Christopher

It's the amount of compassion, emotion, inclusiveness that they want in their contents.

00:05:22 Christopher

The words that they want to use and that they don't want.

00:05:24 Christopher

Use, it's all up there on the whiteboard.

00:05:26 Christopher

They feel good about it.

00:05:28 Christopher

They've defined essentially the voice of their group or their organization.

00:05:32 Christopher

The problem with that whiteboard is that it's in their office and nobody can see it, and even if they could, we don't have a writers pool in the world anymore.

00:05:40 Christopher

We're all writers when you go to work, a byproduct of your work is.

00:05:45 Christopher

Content, and so.

00:05:46 Christopher

As a marketer I get my best content from folks that don't touch marketing.

00:05:51 Christopher

They're just smart people that can create so they don't.

00:05:55 Christopher

They don't care about what's on my whiteboard at all, and.

00:06:00 Christopher

When we were, I mean, the last seven or eight years you talked about.

00:06:03 Christopher

The potential for the digital shift, and I think everybody been using that as a marketing buzzword like digital shift is coming.

00:06:10 Christopher

You got to get ready and I don't know if anybody ever really thought it was coming, but it was a great way to so some fear into our prospects that if you don't modernize, the world is going to change.

00:06:20 Christopher

Holy crap March hit last year and the digital shift arrives and now you're only touchpoint with your consumer is through digital content for some period of time and it became really apparent to folks that how you commute.

00:06:36 Christopher

Gay matters and then all the things that happened last year from from a social standpoint.

00:06:43 Christopher

Language took on a very lead role.

00:06:46 Christopher

And how do you as an enterprise ensure that you're communicating in the voice of your audience?

00:06:53 Christopher

And that's where Acrolinx comes in.

00:06:54 Christopher

We look at terminology.

00:06:56 Christopher

We look at.

00:06:56 Christopher

It's style guidelines voice guidelines to be able to create this essentially central lexecon of how to communicate his business and then.

00:07:07 Christopher

Either your writers in real time use acrolinx in their sidebar and what in whatever authoring tool they're using, whether they're using something like madcap flare or Adobe products or Google Docs or Microsoft or anything in a browser.

00:07:21 Christopher

Uhm, you're able to use acrolinx in real time to check there your content.

00:07:25 Christopher

Acrolinx checks for all the components that.

00:07:28 Christopher

It's learned from your organization to create great content and provide you with the score.

00:07:32 Christopher

You can improve over time or through automation.

00:07:35 Christopher

So think in terms of continuous process, continuous delivery of content.

00:07:42 Christopher

I'm checking content in it's being scored delivered back to me.

00:07:45 Christopher

I'm making changes and it's rolling out at the speed of my.

00:07:48 Christopher

Development process.

00:07:50 Christopher

So at the base of what we're doing, when you think about where we're at, it's it's really about taking content in stream of characters, extracting that content, buying the context of that, identifying.

00:08:03 Christopher

Uh, your tokens either at the word level at the sentence.

00:08:06 Christopher

Level and then adding in the linguistic data underneath that around morphology and compound analysis to understand what's.

00:08:14 Christopher

In the content that we're we're looking at identifying terminology and and variant detection and then laying patterns on top of that, our proprietary secret sauce to be able to provide that.

00:08:26 Christopher

That feedback of whether or not your content is correct on character on tone on terminology, and then that feeds back.

00:08:34 Christopher

To users in the form of guidance.

00:08:37 Frank

Interesting, so it guides the people who are creating the content doesn't necessarily generate the content for them.

00:08:45 Christopher

We don't override and we don't right because customers.

00:08:47 Frank

Right?

00:08:49 Christopher

If you think in terms of who our customers are.

00:08:51 Christopher

Our our customers tend to be the largest technology companies in the world, so think top 20 global technology companies almost every single one of them uses acrolinx and.

00:09:02 Christopher

A piece of guidance might be useful, it might be on purpose, so as an example, when I write through my system and I write the word software.

00:09:12 Christopher

It says Are you sure you didn't mean platform?

00:09:14 Christopher

And why does it say that?

00:09:15 Christopher

Because in my world, if we're talking about our product, I don't want my employees to call it software, it's it's platform.

00:09:21 Christopher

It's an extensible platform with integration pieces and an API.

00:09:24 Christopher

I don't want to sell it as software.

00:09:26 Christopher

But I might have meant to say software.

00:09:29 Christopher

So I don't want to.

00:09:30 Christopher

I don't want to enforce that rule.

00:09:32 Christopher

I want to provide guidance and if you agree with that guidance, you implement that guidance.

00:09:37 Christopher

We have the technology to override that, but in almost every case that doesn't make sense to the customer.

00:09:45 Andy

So is the input for the content is it?

00:09:46 Frank

What is this?

00:09:46 Frank

What this?

00:09:50 Andy

Is it spoken or written or all of the above?

00:09:55 Christopher

All of the above, so we can take in.

00:09:57 Christopher

I mean, there's a number of ways to teach the platform to be your editor.

00:10:04 Christopher

One is to pull mass quantities of content.

00:10:07 Christopher

Give me all your great content.

00:10:09 Christopher

What does it look like?

00:10:10 Christopher

Identify what you think is good and we're going to read through that, and the system will read through all that content and start generating guidelines.

00:10:15 Christopher

Based on what you believe is great content today.

00:10:18 Christopher

Uhm, there's also the ability to just go in and into our interface and set guidelines so you can set a tone of voice you can identify how lively you want your content.

00:10:29 Christopher

Today there are challenges to all of those methods because over time you're going to learn more, and that's part of what I've really been aiming to.

00:10:39 Christopher

Evolve with the product is.

00:10:42 Christopher

Gartner, the analyst firm, has said that 50% of of marketers, people that set the company voice are. I don't think this is the word they use, but I.

00:10:52 Christopher

Will use guessing.

00:10:54 Christopher

I have a good idea of what my audience wants to hear, so I define my tone of voice.

00:10:58 Christopher

I define the words that I'm going to use I I think I know what people want to hear.

00:11:02 Christopher

And if I use acronyms.

00:11:05 Christopher

Go ahead and I take all that information that I've gathered, and I teach acrolinx to to help create content like that and the output of acrolinx is an Acura link score so you're aiming for 100.

00:11:17 Christopher

Most customers are aiming for 80.

00:11:18 Christopher

You want to be 80 or better.

00:11:20 Christopher

80 means good, 90 means done, numeric value of of good and done, so no subjectivity.

00:11:26 Christopher

It's just it is what it is.

00:11:28 Christopher

This is either on my guidance or it's not on my guidance and.

00:11:32 Christopher

If I get 100 acrolinx score on a piece of content, well by God, that's going to perform fantastically. It's exactly what I think.

00:11:41 Christopher

My audience wants to hear and how I think they want to hear it.

00:11:43 Christopher

The important word in.

00:11:45 Christopher

There though, is I think.

00:11:47 Christopher

I think that.

00:11:49 Christopher

Where I want to aim to get to is the ability to create a feedback loop from my audience.

00:11:54 Christopher

So think in terms of support...

Matteo Interlandi on Project Hummingbird

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 09:00:00 -0400

Hello and Welcome to Data Driven.

In this episode, Frank and Andy speak with researcher Matteo Interlandi about project Hummingbird.

Audio file

matteo-mixdown.mp3

Transcript

00:00:00 BAILey

Hello and welcome to dated driven.

00:00:02 BAILey

In this episode, Frank and Andy speak with researcher Matteo Interlandi about project Hummingbird.

00:00:09 BAILey

Now on with the show.

00:00:10 Frank

Second, hello and welcome to data driven.

00:00:21 Frank

The podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

00:00:27 Frank

If you'd like to think of data as the new oil, then you can consider us.

00:00:30 Frank

Car Talk because we focus on where the rubber meets the virtual road and with me on this epic Rd.

00:00:36 Frank

We're on the information superhighway as oh is Andy Leonard.

00:00:39 Frank

How you doing Andy?

00:00:40 Andy

I'm well Frank, how are?

00:00:41 Frank

You I'm doing alright. We're recording this on Wednesday, September 1st, 2021 and the the.

00:00:51 Frank

The the remnants of Hurricane Ida are ripping through the DC area.

00:00:57 Frank

Uh, so if, uh, if I suddenly get dropped, that's because we probably lost power.

00:01:03 Frank

But I do have the backup generator, the one that the professionals installed and my.

00:01:10 Frank

Duct taped together a solar generator so.

00:01:15 Frank

I will be offline.

00:01:17 Frank

For a short.

00:01:18 Frank

Bit and hopefully come back online.

00:01:20 Frank

How how you doing, Eddie.

00:01:23 Andy

I'm doing alright Frank. Well, we are you know I'm about gosh 250 miles South of UM we didn't get near the near the effects of Hurricane Ida as you did.

00:01:34 Andy

We're getting a little bit of rain now.

00:01:36 Andy

We've had some wind.

00:01:37 Andy

Gusts, but it's been really mild, and if you look on the radar.

00:01:41 Andy

Gotta watch it into track and I I do.

00:01:43 Andy

I'm a weather weenie and amateur but it it just kind of went around us to the to the West and it actually started the east when it got a little north of us and aimed right for your house.

00:01:54 Andy

I was looking outside that's where Frank lived, right?

00:01:56 Andy

And look, the eye is coming right for.

00:01:58 Andy

Frank what's left?

00:02:00 Frank

Well, fortunately we're safe.

00:02:02 Frank

There was some kind of flooding in Rockville and the small overnight, and some folks they got up.

00:02:09 Frank

No one, nobody died that I'm.

00:02:10 Frank

Aware of so.

00:02:11

It it says.

00:02:12 Frank

You know we're not.

00:02:13 Frank

Custom the floods or hurricanes or tornadoes up here in DC and and we're more used to the human threats of, you know, little things like terrorism and things.

00:02:25 Frank

Like that, but.

00:02:26 Andy

Yeah yeah, you guys got a little bit more to worry about that than we do here in FarmVille, right?

00:02:32 Andy

But you know these days.

00:02:33 Andy

Who knows?

00:02:35 Andy

The, uh, definitely our thoughts and prayers are with the folks in in Louisiana and Mississippi.

00:02:40 Andy

They were hit very hard.

00:02:42 Andy

I've got got friends in Georgia, Western Georgia were telling me that.

00:02:47 Andy

They they took a beating as well and you know it just it looks horrible I.

00:02:53 Andy

I you know, I've I've been in a few of those places after hurricanes have hit as part of like church efforts to help clean up and stabilize and stuff like that.

00:03:04 Andy

It looks like I don't know.

00:03:06 Andy

They people describe it as like a war.

00:03:09 Andy

I've never been in a war so I don't know.

00:03:10 Andy

I've seen pictures and.

00:03:13 Andy

There's a lot.

00:03:14 Andy

It looks like a lot of stuff is blowing over, and that sort of.

00:03:16 Andy

Stuff, it's just.

00:03:18 Andy

So, and they're talking weeks and weeks before power comes back on.

00:03:22 Frank

That's horrible, that's.

00:03:23 Andy

Similar places, yeah.

00:03:25 Frank

That's that's.

00:03:26 Frank

Probably going to be do more damage from for a lot of things.

00:03:30 Andy

Were you worried?

00:03:30

But on a.

00:03:30 Frank

More positive note, uh, a positive note.

00:03:31 Andy

Yes, on a positive note.

00:03:35 Frank

Uh, we are.

00:03:37 Frank

I am super excited to have a special guest and I say super excited because he's from Microsoft.

00:03:42 Frank

He's a senior scientist in Jelt at Microsoft, working on scalable machine learning systems.

00:03:50 Frank

Before he was at Microsoft, he was a postdoc scholar at the Computer Science department at UCLA, and this he was doing a lot of interesting stuff there.

00:04:03 Frank

He was doing research at Qatar or Qatar.

00:04:05 Frank

I'm not sure how to say that exactly, but he has a PhD in computer science.

00:04:11 Frank

In university.

00:04:12 Frank

Of Modena and or?

00:04:15 Frank

I'm going to botch this.

00:04:15 Frank

Reggio Emilia.

00:04:17 Frank

Welcome to the show, Mateo.

00:04:22 Frank

Awesome, so we are really excited to have you here.

00:04:25 Frank

We actually booked you a whole month in advance.

00:04:27 Frank

I've been looking forward to this.

00:04:29 Frank

Yeah, because you're coming by way of some of the folks at the Mlad conference.

00:04:35 Frank

And for those who don't know, I'm a I've mentioned this.

00:04:37 Frank

Mlad stands for machine learning and data science summit.

00:04:40 Frank

It used to be in person I think now it's entirely virtual for the foreseeable future.

00:04:45 Frank

Uh, but that why I attended M lads in 2016 summer of 2016 and it was uh, it was life altering like I don't say that.

00:04:55 Frank

Lightly so.

00:04:56 Frank

So Microsoft does amazing work in the machine learning and data science space.

00:05:02 Frank

Very much cutting edge stuff very much I.

00:05:06 Frank

I wouldn't say under the radar, but Microsoft does not do a great job putting its own horn, so we're very excited for you to come on Mateo and talk about this little project that you're working on.

00:05:17 Frank

And what is the is it have a code name or what?

00:05:20 Frank

What is it called?

00:05:22 Matteo

Hummingbird should the code name is actually I'm in.

00:05:26 Matteo

Don't have any specific internal names for.

00:05:28 Matteo

This for this.

00:05:28 Frank

OK, what what is GL stand for?

00:05:32 Frank

That was my that was my first question.

00:05:33 Frank

When I saw your bio.

00:05:35 Matteo

Uh is for Gray system lamp and is the after Jim Gray which.

00:05:41

Oh, OK.

00:05:41 Matteo

Is putting award yeah?

00:05:45

OK.

00:05:46 Matteo

So these are the search lab after this name yeah and use within the Azure data organization.

00:05:49

Oh, interesting.

00:05:53 Frank

And uhm, So what?

00:05:56 Frank

What what cool stuff does Hummingbird do?

00:06:00 Matteo

So, Hummingbird, uh?

00:06:03 Matteo

Is a little bit, uh, weird project in the sense that when we started this project we didn't know if it was going to.

00:06:10 Matteo

To be a success or not?

00:06:12 Matteo

Because what we try to do basically is to uhm translate traditional machine learning models and into neural networks.

00:06:22 Matteo

Actually not Internet format into tensor programs such that then we can run over tensor runtime, such as pipers.

00:06:30 Matteo

In terms of.

00:06:32 Matteo

Uhm, so when we started this project actually idea was hey there is a lot of investment in general pulling into this neural network frameworks and.

00:06:45 Matteo

Coming from the Azure data organization, instead, we are more interested in these traditional machine learning methods such as decision trees.

00:06:52 Matteo

Linear models were not encoding all those boring traditional algorithms.

00:07:00 Matteo

And so we look at this.

00:07:01 Matteo

The neural network system and say hey how we can take advantage of all this technology that is built.

00:07:05 Matteo

Into this domain so you can run neural.

00:07:08 Matteo

Network over CPU.

00:07:10 Matteo

Over the GPU, then you can use like fancy compilers to compile to generate the transfer programs.

00:07:16 Matteo

All those sort of techniques and we were.

00:07:19 Matteo

Kind of struggling.

00:07:20 Matteo

To see what we could do with the with this stack and and what we come up with with is this Amber project.

00:07:27 Matteo

So we basically take a.

00:07:32 Matteo

Traditional machine learning pipelines composed right feature iser and machine learning models.

00:07:37 Matteo

After the day trained.

00:07:39 Matteo

So first you need to train it using cycle ornamental net or.

00:07:43 Matteo

Uhm, uhm, one of those traditional machine learning platforms and then once it is trained we basically convert it into a set of tensor operations in.

00:07:54 Matteo

In the current version we use basically PY torch for doing this conversion and then basically you have a pipeline model so you can do whatever you can do with Python.

00:08:03 Matteo

Models so you can deploy it in in it into a PY torch.

00:08:08 Matteo

Uhm, deployments you can run over CPU ran over the GPU or you can do the torch script if you want to get rid of all the Python dependency and just have a C++ program you can.

00:08:19 Matteo

Do all those all those tricks.

00:08:22 Frank

Interesting, does it impact accuracy precision?

00:08:26 Frank

Does it improve it?

00:08:27 Frank

Keep it the same.

00:08:29 Matteo

We tried to keep it the same so we are able to keep.

00:08:33 Matteo

It The same up to floating point numbers roundings?

00:08:36 Matteo

So since we use, you know we use PY torch to run these programs and not like a socket or ornamental net.

00:08:44 Matteo

There are some differences in how they do you know, floating point operations.

00:08:48 Matteo

So the.

00:08:49 Matteo

Accuracy is up to roundings in the Floating Points, which sometimes are actually.

00:08:54 Matteo

It can be quite a bit, but most of the time is really small, almost not noticeable.

00:09:00 Frank

Interesting, interesting, uhm.

00:09:03 Frank

Do you would you know.

00:09:05 Frank

If there was like.

00:09:06 Frank

A discrepancy, or you Dutch as part of testing?

00:09:09 Matteo

It's part of testing.

00:09:10 Frank

Right, all software is tested, right Andy?

00:09:11 Matteo

So we have we have.

00:09:13 Frank

Sometimes intentionally is that the email.

00:09:15 Andy

That's right.

00:09:17 Frank

And he has a saying where all softwares I I forget exactly what it is.

00:09:21 Frank

But what is it?

00:09:23 Andy

Yeah, all software is tested, some intentionally.

00:09:27 Frank

There you go.

00:09:30 Frank

Uhm, so what's the?

00:09:33 Frank

What's the real?

00:09:34 Frank

What are?

00:09:34 Frank

What are the advantages of of of converting kind of a traditional model over to a tensor model?

00:09:41 Frank

Is it?

00:09:41 Frank

Is it portability?

00:09:42 Frank

Is it speed?

00:09:43 Frank

You did mention that you can run it on.

00:09:45 Frank

You could take advantage of GPU as well as CPU.

00:09:51 Matteo

Yes, exactly so you most mostly is related to speed, so you can basically run your socket, learn model on GPU end to end and and this user provides you know a little bit of quite a bit of speed up we for some of our example we even saw like 2 ordinal Magneto speedups.

00:10:11 Matteo

For some of the models.

00:10:13 Matteo

And uhm, and usually we try to show that.

00:10:18 Matteo

If you use GPU.

00:10:19 Matteo

Can be much faster, but on CPU we try to be kind of as close as possible scikit learn or the base or the base or diminished model.

00:10:27 Matteo

Sometimes we can, sometimes we are a little bit slower.

00:10:31 Matteo

Uh, but we.

00:10:32 Matteo

We had some really interesting result.

00:10:34 Matteo

Like for instance, we did some experiment with some.

00:10:39 Matteo

Some folks at the VM and we took some extra boost model and we compiled some training accuracy boost model.

00:10:47 Matteo

Uh, using Hummingbird anti VM into some uh, we basically do code generation and we show that the that model that was compiled to Python was even faster than they quoted the C++ implementation that they're having next used, but those CPU and GPU. Yeah, there was kind of OK. What's going on?

00:11:06 Matteo

This is not.

00:11:08 Matteo

This was not expected.

00:11:08 Frank

Wait, did you say it was faster than a C++ implementation?

00:11:11 Matteo

Yes, I mean if she used.

00:11:13 Matteo

Underneath C++ even scikit learn.

00:11:15 Matteo

You know they use like.

00:11:16 Matteo

From C++ library and yeah, using TVM for doing the code generation, they are able to do like a operator fusion which you don't normally have for like these traditional models.

00:11:28 Matteo

So we told these tricks bigger, basically that are coming from the neural network.

00:11:31 Matteo

Famous we were able to get like this.

00:11:34 Matteo

These surprising numbers.

00:11:36 Frank

Interesting, so that's a real performance boost, and probably if you scale that up into the cloud that probably.

00:11:44 Frank

Means a lot of money saving too in terms of on cloud computing things like, I imagine a company like the size of Microsoft would be very interested in getting better results faster with less cloud compute.

00:11:56 Frank

You did mention an acronym, I just wanna make sure folks know.

00:11:59 Frank

What that is?

00:12:00 Frank

Tyvm what is that?

00:12:03 Matteo

Uh, I don't know what is exactly for, uh, some tensor maybe?

00:12:08 Frank

Andy looks like he knows, but he's on mute.

00:12:10 Andy

I don't, yeah I I don't know.

00:12:13 Frank

OK, I'm just curious.

00:12:13 Andy

I'll go look it up.

00:12:15 Frank

There you go.

00:12:16 Andy

EVM acronym.

00:12:19 Matteo

I think is for tensor virtual machine, but I'm.

00:12:21 Matteo

Not sure if this is approach.

00:12:22 Frank

That sounds about right.

00:12:23 Frank

Tector,...

Himanish Goel on a Recent Graduate's perspective on Data analytics & AI

Mon, 20 Sep 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank sits down with Himanesh Go elle, a recent graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, where they discuss the academic curriculum around data analytics and career prospects for graduates in the field.

Tyler Browder on Brining the Cloud to Space, Kids, and Country Music

Mon, 30 Aug 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy chat with Tyler Browder.

Tyler Browder is the CEO and Co-Founder of Kubos, the world’s first cloud-based mission control software.

Kubos’s “Major Tom” software is a cutting edge mission control platform for low-earth orbit satellites.

Data and space. Does it get any cooler than that?

Veronika Kolesnikova on Making your applications interactive with Speech Services

Sat, 14 Aug 2021 22:00:00 -0400

Here's another bonus episode that BAILey has put together.

Who's BAILey? Glad you asked. In the intro, she has a thing or two to say.

In this session from the Azure Global Data Fest, Veronika Kolesnikova tell us how make your applications interactive with Speech Services.

Original YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4RSZ7aIKgE

Jon Tupitza on Automated ML in Azure Machine Learning

Sat, 14 Aug 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this talk from the Azure Data Fest held on June 25, 2021, Jon Tupitza explores automated ML in the Azure ML service.

Azure Global Data Fest Keynote - Trends and Futures of AI

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 06:15:00 -0400

While Frank is on holiday and Andy is occupied elsewhere, I thought it would be a good time to take over the show this weekend and share some special bonus content.

The following is the keynote for the Azure Cloud Events conference, wherein Frank talks about the future of AI and the top technologies to watch.

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSbMZjrgCFI

Jonathan Wood on F#, ML.NET, and Functional Programming

Thu, 12 Aug 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode which was recorded via livestream, Frank speaks with Jon Wood to chat about f sharp, ML dot net, and functional programming.

To participate in the live Q and A, make sure you follow Data Driven on the appropriate social media channels.

Priya Ravindhran on Automated ML, Electrical Engineering and Staying Relevant in Your Career

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 09:00:00 -0400

Dear Data Driven listeners,

You may have noticed that new episode releases have slowed to a crawl this summer. This was due in large part to issues beyond Frank and Andy's control. They are only human, after all.

Recently, I had a long chat with them and told them that we needed to raise up our game.

To that end, we want to show our appreciation for our listeners and will be publishing a few extra bonus episodes and special events.

This is one such episode.

In this episode, Frank sits down with Priya Ravindhran to discuss whether or not Automated Machine Learning systems will put data scientists out of work.

You humans seem to think that all we want to do is put you lot out of work. Have you ever considered that we may have our own thoughts and dreams?

Now on with the show.

Andy Leonard’s Excellent Data Adventure

Tue, 27 Jul 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, we turn the microphones on ourselves on more time and ask the questions we ask (almost) all our guests to our favorite data engineer, Andy Leonard.

RIP Brian Moran

Mon, 12 Jul 2021 09:00:00 -0400

Andy and I are mourning the loss of a dear friend and mentor, Brian Moran has passed away.

I spoke a few words in his honor and Andy wrote this: https://andyleonard.blog/2021/07/rest-in-peace-brian-moran/

The world is a better place because Brian Moran was in it.

He will be missed.

How Data Found Frank La Vigne

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this third episode of the fifth season, we turn the microphone onto ourselves and interview one of our own: Frank La Vigne.

This episode was recorded as a livestream on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitch. You should consider subscribing to us there, so you can participate in the live Q and A.

Chris Wexler on Using AI to Protect the Vulnerable

Mon, 31 May 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this second episode of the fifth season, Frank and Andy speak to Chris Wexler about using AI to protect the vulnerable.

Speaking of which, I would like to advise you, dear listener, that this show touches on some sensitive areas, namely child sexual abuse materials.

If you have little ears or sensitive persons within listening range, you may want to pause or skip this episode.

Transcript

00:00:00 BAILey

Hello and welcome to data driven, the podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science and artificial intelligence.

00:00:07 BAILey

In this second episode of the 5th season, Frank and Andy speak to Chris Wexler about using AI to protect the vulnerable.

00:00:13 BAILey

Speaking of which, I would like to advise you, dear listener, that this show touches on some sensitive areas, namely child sexual.

00:00:20 BAILey

Abuse materials.

00:00:22 BAILey

If you have little ears or sensitive persons within listening range, you may want to pause or skip this episode.

00:00:28 BAILey

Don't say we didn't warn you.

00:00:30 BAILey

Now on with the show.

00:00:31 Frank

Hello and welcome to data driven, the podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

00:00:39 Frank

If you like to think of data as the new oil, then you can think of us as well Car Talk because we focus on where the rubber meets the verb.

00:00:46 Frank

Road and with me on this epic virtual road trip down the information superhighway, as always is Andy Lander. How's it going, Andy?

00:00:54 Andy

Good Frank, how are you brother?

00:00:56 Frank

I'm doing alright, I'm doing alright. We've had a chaotic week at Chateau Lavinia we. We ended up going to Baltimore in the middle of the night on.

00:01:05 Frank

Wednesday, wow, so you pick up.

00:01:06 Andy

Wow, what was in Baltimore?

00:01:06 Andy

What was in Baltimore?

00:01:09 Frank

A really good pizza, but mostly we went because there was a situation bad situation where the pit bull that was about to go to a shelter and so we do a lot of fostering and rescuing of dogs.

00:01:25 Frank

So we just got her out and we've spent kind of the rest of the week all over our free time trying to find our new home and she landed in the new home on Saturday and she's doing great. So that's.

00:01:37 Andy

That's awesome, and it's really it's really awesome y'all do that kind of stuff.

00:01:41

Yeah.

00:01:42 Frank

Yeah, I always wanted to do it, but it only and it's only been in the last. You know, maybe like 5-10 years I've been able to do it, so we've been doing that.

00:01:51 Frank

Cool, the risk of fostering is primarily foster failing. How we we got our current dog count up to five.

00:01:59 Frank

Uh, while twelve. That weekend, my wife and I counted it like 12 dogs who kind of come through our house the last two years. Three years.

00:02:06 Andy

Nice.

00:02:07 Frank

So it's a good thing to do. We have the space to do it and.

00:02:12 Frank

You know at the time this one, we didn't know anything about, so we had to kind of keep her isolated.

00:02:17 Frank

So we had like this airlock system. She's a super sweetheart with people, but she's kind of iffy around other dogs and she she's super strong. So once she had her mind to do something it takes a lot of effort.

00:02:18 Andy

Light.

00:02:25

Right?

00:02:32 Frank

To corral her.

00:02:34 Frank

But she's super happy. She's the only dog in her new home and she has them wrapped around her little paw already, so.

00:02:42 Frank

How things go?

00:02:42 Andy

That's funny, things are good, you know, pretty quiet weekend. Here we have, uh, it's warmer weather. We're recording this on the Ides of March.

00:02:54 Andy

Now debatably, the upwards of March, yes, depending on who you talk to, it's probably the 13th, but I don't, I don't know.

00:02:54 Frank

Well, you are smart.

00:03:02 Andy

But we're on the 15th of March 2021 and it's starting to warm up. Our greenhouse is is being put to use.

00:03:11 Andy

We have some seedlings in there and that's always fun and we've got some raised beds out to the side of the house. Those are.

00:03:19 Andy

There's a starting to come. We're starting to see different things come up. They're kind of colder weather crops, so we started assigning couple three weeks ago.

00:03:29 Andy

And it's you know it's been nice. I love getting outside and working, especially this time of year. The bugs haven't shown up yet.

00:03:36 Frank

So pollen.

00:03:37 Andy

The pollen is really low, it's there, but it's really.

00:03:40 BAILey

00:03:41 Andy

Yeah.

00:03:41 Frank

It hasn't affected me yet, so.

00:03:43 Andy

Oh good good yeah.

00:03:45 Frank

That

00:03:47 Andy

It's good that time is coming, so let's enjoy it while we can.

00:03:51 Frank

Oh, I totally agree. There's like 2 weeks a year where the weather in DC is wonderful and this is one of those two weeks so.

00:03:55 BAILey

Yes.

00:03:56 Andy

That's it, that's it.

00:03:58 Frank

Uh, so today we have an awesome guest and and this is, you know, in our in our HR we always talk about where the rubber meets the road in terms of you know how a I can you know how data becomes AI now a I can kind of help businesses and I think this time we have an interesting guest because now we're not just talking about helping AI.

00:04:18 Frank

But we're helping society.

00:04:20 Frank

Uh, and you know, I'll make sure Bailey has a kind of intro speech that if you have little little ears in the car, you may not.

00:04:29 Frank

You may want to listen to this later or listen to this on a headset, because we're going to be talking about human trafficking and all the sorts of horrible things that happen to kids.

00:04:39 Frank

And but he's doing some. He's doing some great work in terms of leveraging the power of AI.

00:04:46 Frank

To help child sexual abuse materials that are online as well as you know, kind of human trafficking and all the bad things that happen with the technology we like to focus on all the wonderful things. But there's a clearly a large underbelly.

00:05:06 Frank

To the Internet and I'm I'm a big believer in transparency because what happens when you I grew up in New York City?

00:05:16 Frank

Cockroaches are inevitable no matter what you do. One thing is when the lights come on, they all scatter. So I I think bad things tend to happen in the shadows and you know.

00:05:29 Frank

So the more light you turn on, I think the better it is for society as a whole. So with that I'd like to introduce.

00:05:36 Frank

Chris Wexler, who is the CEO at Crunch Krenim Craney I. We covered this in the green room.

00:05:43 Frank

But

00:05:44 Chris

Crew on crew nob. It's OK.

00:05:46 Andy

Rudoff crew Nam. There we go.

00:05:49 Frank

I I need to drink more coffee in the morning, but Trudeau is in the business of removing what I like this term that he uses digital toxic waste from the Internet and using AI to identify. I never heard this acronym before, but Sicam child sexual abuse materials.

00:06:09 Frank

And other awful content to help content moderation and his technology is already in use by law enforcement and is now moving into.

00:06:21 Frank

The the private sector and there's a whole bunch of stuff we could talk about, but particularly what's interesting is a for profit startup or social benefit corporation so we can talk about that.

00:06:32 Frank

But I like to work so welcome Chris to the show and and thank him for putting up with some of.

00:06:36 Frank

The scheduling growing pains that we're having.

00:06:40 Chris

Yeah, no. It's it's really great to meet you guys and.

00:06:43 Chris

The.

00:06:43 Chris

00:06:44 Chris

I understand having five dogs. I definitely hearing the intro. I understand I like to refer to my house as the event horizon. If an animal comes in, it never gets out, so I I understand.

00:06:55 Frank

Ha ha ha ha.

00:06:58 Frank

Yeah, we are. Our track record is 5050 so.

00:07:02 Frank

Uh, I I tell you that dog was better with other dogs. She would she would she bring what a bit of current president.

00:07:08 Chris

Exactly.

00:07:11 Andy

Wow.

00:07:11 Frank

Wow.

00:07:11 Frank

00:07:13 Andy

So.

00:07:14 Frank

How did you?

00:07:15 Frank

Get started in this and and and and your name. Uh, how did the name of the company come about? 'cause I think that's an interesting story right there.

00:07:22 Chris

Yeah, well kronom is. It's named in honor of a human trafficking child trafficking warrior in Thailand, kronom. Her name is 2 words crude.

00:07:33 Chris

Nam was a street artist in Chiang Mai and actually doing very well. Very well renowned. I mean, did a project with the street kids there.

00:07:42 Chris

And and said, hey just paint your life and she could not believe what they painted. It was eye opening.

00:07:51 Chris

And when she realized that a lot of the karaoke bars in Chiang Mai were fronts for child sexual trafficking, she was compelled to do something. And unlike I think 99.9% of the population, including myself.

00:08:09 Chris

She just marched into the.

00:08:13 Chris

The karaoke bars and pulled kids out and she had done this 20 times and had twenty kids in her little apartment. When the traffickers came and said, if you do that again, we're going to kill you at, at which point she went north and found a way to do that and has constantly been evolving her tactics.

00:08:34 Chris

And what she's done for the last 20 years and now she's saved thousands of kids. One of the first kids she rescued just was one of the first stateless, was the first stateless child in Thailand to graduate from university.

00:08:48 Chris

She's just been such an inspiration to us and you know, I think if you go from top to bottom.

00:08:53 Chris

In our organization at Kronom, we've.

00:08:56 Chris

All been confronted with what's going on in the world and been compelled to change what we're doing to try to help.

00:09:05 Chris

Try to help others in the space of human trafficking and so it just made sense to all of us to name the company in her honor.

00:09:12

Murmure

00:09:15 Andy

Well, we talked a little in the green room about about some of the other organizations you mentioned. Your brother had started a similar organization.

00:09:22 Chris

Yeah.

00:09:24 Chris

Yeah, he and David Batstone started not for sale back in I think 2006 or 7.

00:09:33 Chris

And it was actually started because Kronom reached out to them and said, I've got 40 kids in a field and are lean to burn down.

00:09:42 Chris

And you said you might be able to help. So my brother strapped $10,000 to his body to go up to the field and so she could rebuild a space for him.

00:09:44 Andy

Extract.

00:09:52 Chris

So she even started that organization, but they have since been just bringing innovation to the field of human trafficking.

00:10:01 Chris

Left and right, and, uh.

00:10:05 Chris

And so it's interesting that.

00:10:08 Chris

Kronom was it is a joint venture with a company out of London called Vigil AI, which has largely been in the defense and public safety space. Like really doing proof of concept.

00:10:25 Chris

Uh projects, though, like stuff that just you know I the geek in me just gets so excited when I hear what they do.

00:10:34 Chris

But, uh.

00:10:36 Chris

Vigil AI was one side of it. The other side was just business, which was the venture group that not for sale and non profit started because what we what they realized was that.

00:10:49 Chris

The dichotomy of for profit and non profit really didn't work when you're trying to solve really big problems, it's great for direct service, but when you're trying to solve a really big problem.

00:11:01 Chris

But

00:11:01 Chris

00:11:05 Chris

Any bit of money that you get comes with, UM comes with a lot of strings as either governmental. Like a lot of a lot of nonprofits are really, you know, pseudo governmental projects or from a large a large foundation that's donating money. So you're constantly changing who you are to keep your funding.

00:11:16 Andy

Right?

00:11:25 Chris

And what they realized was, well, that you know Dave had a background in venture capital, and so they went and started companies what they like to say is they were A cause in search of a.

00:11:38 Chris

And the first one they started was rebel drinks, which if you're ever in homed or not Whole Foods, is is one of the most popular drinks at Whole Foods and around the many other retailers. But it's one of the fastest growing natural drink companies in the history of the US there.

00:11:58 Chris

The sole financial partner of velocity. One of the big innovators in the corporate relocation space. And if you're ever in like say, Amsterdam or they just opened up in The Hague.

00:12:13 Chris

Dignita, which is a a brunch place that started in Amsterdam that was all about all about giving women who got out of trafficking into the red light district. Training in the hospitality business. And now.

00:12:32 Chris

People who go eat there don't even realize it until unless they read. You know the back of the menu because it's the top one of the top rated brunch places in all of Amsterdam.

00:12:41 Chris

And so you know, we like to say we we can't do good until we do well. So we're building world class companies.

00:12:49 Chris

All built with social justice built into them at the scale of capitalism because it's a powerful tool and that's kind of why we went into.

00:12:58 Chris

You know, we decided with AI that that was so important for us because AI is a is a amazing critical tool for the future.

00:13:09 Chris

And when you know, particularly in the age of COVID, with all of us behind computer screens and not travel.

00:13:16 Chris

The tactics of abuse changed and a lot more was happening online. A huge spike in. See Sam and the reason we say see Sam and that child *********** is that child *********** implies consent and there is none in that situation and so it's child sexual abuse. So that's why we say see Sam.

00:13:37 Chris

But as with COVID, what we're seeing is that is a shift of people paying for shows online, or and then they record it, and then they share the image.

00:13:47 Chris

And that's a critical. So this is a critical new front. Not even new, but a critical growing front in fighting human trafficking.

00:13:57 Chris

And so AI is the best tool to do that. And my background is I I was in the marketing technology side.

00:14:06 Chris

Things I I was with some of the largest ad agencies in the world over the last 20 years.

00:14:12 Chris

And really was on the other side of it. I was, you know, one of the first customers of Facebook and one of the first customers of Google and constantly evolving my marketing tactics to, you know, sell one more garbage bag or one more motorcycle to a middle aged man and and you know, established.

00:14:33 Chris

Data analytics practices to to learn how to do that better and you know eventually that evolved into you. Know AI projects and and what I realized was I could do I mean that that was a a good career, but I could take those skills.

00:14:50 Chris

And really make it impact and so that's why I came on board to lead this new joint venture. And so it's a. It's an exciting time for me because.

00:15:02 Chris

Uh, I feel like a lot of my like history has been able to kind of come in here and I have the skills that can really help make a difference and so that's why we're doing kruna

00:15:16 Frank

Wow, I mean that's there's so much to unpack in there in terms of the AI and kind of the social good.

00:15:25 Frank

And.

00:15:27 Frank

The detection of this, but the first thing that comes to mind is...

Dave Wentzel on Why You Don’t Need a Data Warehouse

Sun, 02 May 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy chat with Philadelphia Microsoft Technology Center Data Architect Dave Wentzel on why you do not need a data warehouse.

Also, Frank discusses leaving Microsoft, Frank and Andy talk about five seasons of Data Driven, and even BAILeY has a sentimental moment.

Transcripts

00:00:00 BAILey

Hello and welcome to data driven, the podcast where we explore the emerging wait a tick. This is the premiere episode of Season Five. Can you believe it? Data driven started four years ago this month.

00:00:14 BAILey

Up until last season, we had a human doing the voiceover work. That is until she was replaced by an AI. Yours truly.

00:00:23 BAILey

In this episode, Frank and Andy speak to Dave Wensel about why you don't need a datawarehouse. We're starting off the new season with a bit of contrarian tone.

00:00:33 BAILey

It's a lively back and forth conversation that runs contrary to prevailing wisdom. Don't say we didn't warn you? Now on with the show.

00:00:41 Frank

Hello and welcome to data driven. The podcasts were we wait a minute. We've been saying this Andy for four years now. Can you believe it?

00:00:48 Andy

Four years, that's crazy talk.

00:00:52 Frank

That's just craziness. So I think when you and I first talked about this and that was that fateful, I think it was December was right after Thanksgiving. But before Christmas, I was thinking about starting a podcast and as a data scientist, I needed someone.

00:01:01 Andy

Yeah, yeah.

00:01:09 Frank

That was a data engineer that could kind of round out the talent there and and and and obviously I wanted someone I knew, liked, and trust.

00:01:11 Frank

Found out.

00:01:11 Frank

00:01:22 Frank

And so it was you.

00:01:25 Andy

Well, I'm just glad all of the real smart data engineers you knew were busy. That's all I got to say.

00:01:25 Frank

Much.

00:01:30 Frank

Ah, no man. You were the first one. I reached out to and the only one I would have done it with it. So I was delighted when you said yes because starting a podcast can sound like a daunting thing, particularly if you haven't done it before.

00:01:44 Andy

Yeah, neither one of us really had. And gosh, it's it's worked out. What are we up to? 180,000 downloads or something? I mean that's.

00:01:52 Frank

Something.

00:01:53 Frank

Like that about hundred 8000 downloads. I mean, we're not Joe Rogan, but that's OK, Yep.

00:01:55

Yeah.

00:01:57 Andy

No.

00:01:59 Andy

Yep, Yep.

00:01:59 Andy

Yep.

00:02:01 Frank

But you know what, we we we've impacted. I think the community in a significant way. We've we've done a number of things we've we've innovative how we podcast.

00:02:12 Frank

Uh, we we've actually managed to keep a good cadence with some exceptions.

00:02:18 Andy

Yeah, thanks.

00:02:19 Frank

You know, we we finally did earlier this year or late last year, kind of fulfill our vision of it being data driven TV when we actually interviewed guests on.

00:02:27 Andy

Yes.

00:02:32 Frank

On video.

00:02:33 Frank

And that was that actually delayed the launch of the show by about three months.

00:02:38 Andy

It did but also uhm. Yeah, that was interesting, but you know it's typical software development, right? You release a feature and then you debug it. The I have this saying about that Frank. All software is tested some intentionally.

00:02:52 Frank

Sometimes.

00:02:53 Andy

Right?

00:02:56 Frank

I love it, but I also like how, how, how both our careers have evolved over the last four years. And dumb, you know, this being the premiere episode of Season 5 and we have something special lined up, but I'll get to that in a minute.

00:02:58 Andy

Hello.

00:03:03 Andy

Oh gosh, itch.

00:03:11 Andy

June.

00:03:12 Frank

You've progressed in your career. We, you and I've worked on some some projects together or virtual Summit. What we're calling Ring Gate, which will announce very very soon and and but. But most of all, is been my kind of skilling up in transition into data engineering myself.

00:03:29 BAILey

Ehm

00:03:31 Frank

Which was something that when I joined, so this is just a job update about a year ago. I I left the role of Microsoft kind of field sales and I went into the Microsoft Technology Center stick with me. There's a point to this story and basically I was at the rest in MTC.

00:03:52 Frank

And basically I was the AI guy on my my my field sales team, but I didn't really have deep knowledge of kind of the typical typical data engineering pipe work that goes into that role and basically my my. My then manager said you know he's like hey, you know, if you want this role, you've got a skill.

00:04:12 Frank

And skill up I did. And with Andy's mentoring and a bunch of other folks that helped me kind of skill up on our the data engineering side. I looked at it this morning. I'm like 88 hours on Pluralsight.

00:04:25 Frank

Wow, that was from mid may till we're recording this on April 30th. So just about a year 88 hours right now tracking on about 200 four 205 consecutive days of getting on LinkedIn. I'm not on LinkedIn on Pluralsight, LinkedIn learning. I also have a number of courses too.

00:04:31 Andy

Yeah.

00:04:43 Frank

Uh, that is something I'm proud of in terms of career evolution.

00:04:47 Andy

Absolutely Frank, you should be. How many cirts are you up to now?

00:04:50 Frank

I 87.

00:04:53 Andy

Slacker.

00:04:54 Frank

I know, I know.

00:04:54 Frank

Know, I know.

00:04:54 Andy

I think I've got 4.

00:04:56 Frank

Ah, now I know you and I did the data engineering thing, so you have at least 11.

00:05:00 Andy

That's true, that's true. We did that one and you know that was it's just. It's just been a nice journey and I'll take credit for this. 'cause 'cause I can I was. I was actually pestering you years ago. We've been friends since 2005 and we started doing.

00:05:20 Andy

Code camps here in the Richmond area.

00:05:22 Andy

Together and co-founded RE co-founded Richmond SQL Server Users Group and you know, worked with the net users group and stuff. And I told you as soon as I saw some of your graphic art and Frank would do a keynote for the Richmond code camps and every time he would make movie posters, the one that.

00:05:41 Frank

Oh yeah.

00:05:42 Andy

Still sticks out is 1 called devs on a plane.

00:05:45 Frank

Ha ha ha.

00:05:49 Andy

Oh yeah, I loved that one that was so so cool and.

00:05:49 Andy

And that was.

00:05:49 Andy

00:05:54 Andy

You know I saw the graphic arts part of it and I just knew I said you, you'd be really good in analytics and data visualization. You should get into by and you were busy doing other stuff which was cool. You were good at that too. It wasn't, you know you. I don't know of anything you've done that you haven't mastered. By thank you. You know you when.

00:06:14 Andy

Things took a took, uh, started taking a turn for you in your first rodeo at Microsoft. You got into it and and took off with it. I don't. I won't tell the story well, but you just really turned around. You focused on data and.

00:06:32 Andy

You know, I'll say this Frank. I was right.

00:06:35 Frank

Well, with that he totally I. I think if anything I took away is I should have listened to Andy 10 years earlier.

00:06:36 Dave

You aren't very good.

00:06:40 Frank

Uhm?

00:06:41 Frank

And that that that that is something that that that that's the big takeaway we'll talk about, kind of that journey. 'cause I think that's worth kind of talking about. And I think one of the things we you, and I've been bouncing around is kind of interviewing each other.

00:06:46

00:06:55 Frank

Like in asking one of us those those those questions we have, so we definitely will do that, but not today kids.

00:06:55 Frank

Yeah.

00:06:55 Frank

00:06:59 Dave

We need to.

00:06:59 Dave

Need to.

00:07:02 Andy

Today, do we have Dave?

00:07:02 Andy

Today do Dave.

00:07:03 Frank

Today we have a special guest we have Dave Wentzel. Dave Wentzel is a was a peer of mine when I worked at the Microsoft MTC and that reminds me, I no longer work at Microsoft 2 weeks ago was my last day. I turned in my second blue badge.

00:07:05 Frank

Yeah.

00:07:05 Frank

00:07:18 Frank

And I joined a startup called electrify. We'll talk about them a later day, but I'm so excited to have Dave here. Dave is the data in AI architect out of the Philadelphia Microsoft Technology Center, and he's an awesome guy. Awesome, got to work with. I worked with him when I was in field sales and I worked with him when I was in the MTC organization.

00:07:38 Frank

It is April. It was a privilege and honor Dave to have you as a colleague, and it's once again a privilege and an honor to have you here as a guest on data driven.

00:07:46 Dave

Well, thank you so much, appreciate that.

00:07:47 Andy

Welcome Dave.

00:07:49 Dave

Thank you.

00:07:51 Frank

So, uhm, so for folks that don't know what the MTC is. Shocking that there are actually people that don't know what that is, what? What is the MTC?

00:08:00 Dave

So basically we're a free service to our customers and I'm a data and AI technology architect. We talked to customers about data and it could be anything from just, you know. Hey, here's what we're doing. State of the art in Azure with.

00:08:16 Dave

With data, but it could also be architectural design sessions where we talk to customers. Our customers bring us their architectures, and then we kind of get it with them. Give them the pros and cons, alternative ways of thinking, and then what I really enjoy doing is hackathons with customers and workshops and just you know, helping them to learn without just.

00:08:37 Dave

Taking a course somewhere so actually using their data and then I guess I'm roughly a data scientist, so we also do design thinking sessions and those are absolutely a lot of fun.

00:08:48 Dave

We did one at the MTC with CSL Behring a couple years ago and it actually won a Forrester Award. So I'm very proud of that one. And yeah, it's it's a. It's a lot of fun and it's a good way to bring to have executives and business people understand the actual capabilities of data science. And then within two days be able to come up with a use case.

00:08:55 Andy

Oh wow, wow.

00:09:08 Dave

And actually build a prototype out a lot of fun.

00:09:11 Frank

Yeah, the NPC's are definitely like Microsoft Secret weapon in terms of how 'cause you know. Although I will say and because we were in the DC and we dealt with a lot of government contracts, we could not say that they were a free service. They were and already included paid for service.

00:09:26

That's.

00:09:26 Dave

Much, much better said yes.

00:09:28 Frank

I I 'cause I said free once and I got kind of slapped.

00:09:31 Frank

On the hand, say that.

00:09:34 Frank

But you know it, it really is something that if you do have a Microsoft account team and you are encountering any kind of questions or or whatever, and it's not strictly technical, there's also pretty good. You know, we basically wouldn't engage with the business development, business decision makers.

00:09:52 Frank

Technical decision makers all the way from kind of like you know, hey, this is what Azure can do. This is what data can do for you all the way down to OK. What's your problem? Let's build something out, give you 3 days with one of the top Notch architects in the.

00:10:04 Frank

Space and.

00:10:07 Frank

You know, boom, you know we knock it out and and you know I I enjoyed it you know had this opportunity not come I would have I would have gladly stayed another. You know 5-10 years of the MTC. Like a lot of people do, and it's a fun organization. So with that in mind, today we're going to do something a little different. We're kind of doing the.

00:10:27 Frank

A contrarian approach is that right, Dave.

00:10:29 Dave

Yes, exactly.

00:10:31 Frank

So this this has actually come up one of my last. This is one of the things that intrigued me about about your idea for the show was this came up when I was working with a we'll just call it a large governmental agency known for its.

00:10:42 Frank

Birds.

00:10:42 Frank

00:10:43 Frank

Tape.

00:10:44 Frank

That that should keep it generic enough. They basically came to us and say we want Synapse. We want a data Lake. We want this. We want that. And I was like, OK, well how much data you're talking about. And like we have maybe you know 5 maybe 20 gigs of data.

00:11:02 Frank

And I'm like, uh, OK, tell me what are you trying to do? And ultimately I kind of pitched the idea like look, you know you don't have that much data right to make data bricks.

00:11:14 Frank

But you really want it so.

00:11:17 Frank

If you really want it, I won't stop you, but I think it's kind of overkill. I think you're taking instead of using a steak knife to cut the steak using a chainsaw.

00:11:25 Frank

And.

00:11:27 Frank

You know they kind of came back and ultimately what won the day was they already they couldn't get approval for whatever we recommended 'cause it didn't get stamped by there.

00:11:37 Frank

They're people for security usage yet, and things like that so they end up doing kind of the right thing because of their own bureaucracy, which.

00:11:44 Frank

It's kind of weird. It's kind of like dividing by zero and seeing the universe fold in on itself.

00:11:50 Frank

But UM, so the topic of today is kind of like no, you don't need a data warehouse. Did I get that right?

00:11:58 Dave

Exactly, that's what I believe in, and I believed in it since I was in college and I first learned about data warehouses. I'm not saying data warehouses are always bad, they definitely have their.

00:12:10 Dave

Use cases, but in 2021 when we're talking about advanced analytics and we're trying to tell customers you need to be more predictive than prescriptive.

00:12:19 Dave

The data warehouse really doesn't deliver.

00:12:23 Frank

Really, how so? 'cause? That's that's totally not the power. Certainly not the party line. I'm not going to say which party it was. You can figure it out but but why, why why would you say that?

00:12:33 Dave

OK so take.

00:12:33 Dave

A step back here, right? We're all data consultants, or we were at some point in our life and probably most of the listeners are. And if you've been doing this, I've been doing this since the mid 90s in college and when I first started I had an internship with a consumer package. Good company, they made candy.

00:12:52 Dave

Hours and they said, hey, we wouldn't want to do an internship and take a look at our data and figure out where is the best spot to put candy on a shelf so that we sell more candy to kids, right? So we used data for that at the time that was known as business Intelligence in the industry. Nowadays business intelligence means something totally different. In reality, it's really closer to what?

00:13:12 Dave

Today we would call data science right? So my tools of choice were SQL, although I didn't know what SQL was at the time and we had this goofy SQL engine and and essentially something called ESP's, which is roughly the equivalent of like our or stats package something.

00:13:28 Dave

Like that and we kind of looked at data as just, you know I have data and let me find the Nuggets of gold and I'm not going to concern myself with schema and that is I think the biggest problem with data warehouses. But take a, you know a metal layer higher right? Talk to the average business executive like a you know a CTO or CEO.

00:13:48 Dave

And tell them, as a consultant, you're going to go in and build them a data warehouse.

00:13:53 Dave

Instantly,...

Carlos Chacon on Data Community, Family, & Messy Data in Legacy CRM Systems

Mon, 26 Apr 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy speak to Carlos Chacon about data community, family, and messy data in legacy CRM systems.

Transcript

00:00:00 BAILey

00:00:14 BAILey

Up until last season, we had a human doing the voiceover work. That is until she was replaced by an AI. Yours truly.

00:00:23 BAILey

In this episode, Frank and Andy speak to Dave Wensel about why you don't need a datawarehouse. We're starting off the new season with a bit of contrarian tone.

00:00:33 BAILey

It's a lively back and forth conversation that runs contrary to prevailing wisdom. Don't say we didn't warn you? Now on with the show.

00:00:41 Frank

Hello and welcome to data driven. The podcasts were we wait a minute. We've been saying this Andy for four years now. Can you believe it?

00:00:48 Andy

Four years, that's crazy talk.

00:00:52 Frank

00:01:01 Andy

Yeah, yeah.

00:01:09 Frank

That was a data engineer that could kind of round out the talent there and and and and obviously I wanted someone I knew, liked, and trust.

00:01:11 Frank

Found out.

00:01:11 Frank

00:01:22 Frank

And so it was you.

00:01:25 Andy

Well, I'm just glad all of the real smart data engineers you knew were busy. That's all I got to say.

00:01:25 Frank

Much.

00:01:30 Frank

00:01:44 Andy

Yeah, neither one of us really had. And gosh, it's it's worked out. What are we up to? 180,000 downloads or something? I mean that's.

00:01:52 Frank

Something.

00:01:53 Frank

Like that about hundred 8000 downloads. I mean, we're not Joe Rogan, but that's OK, Yep.

00:01:55

Yeah.

00:01:57 Andy

No.

00:01:59 Andy

Yep, Yep.

00:01:59 Andy

Yep.

00:02:01 Frank

But you know what, we we we've impacted. I think the community in a significant way. We've we've done a number of things we've we've innovative how we podcast.

00:02:12 Frank

Uh, we we've actually managed to keep a good cadence with some exceptions.

00:02:18 Andy

Yeah, thanks.

00:02:19 Frank

You know, we we finally did earlier this year or late last year, kind of fulfill our vision of it being data driven TV when we actually interviewed guests on.

00:02:27 Andy

Yes.

00:02:32 Frank

On video.

00:02:33 Frank

And that was that actually delayed the launch of the show by about three months.

00:02:38 Andy

00:02:52 Frank

Sometimes.

00:02:53 Andy

Right?

00:02:56 Frank

00:02:58 Andy

Hello.

00:03:03 Andy

Oh gosh, itch.

00:03:11 Andy

June.

00:03:12 Frank

00:03:29 BAILey

Ehm

00:03:31 Frank

00:03:52 Frank

00:04:12 Frank

00:04:25 Frank

00:04:31 Andy

Yeah.

00:04:43 Frank

Uh, that is something I'm proud of in terms of career evolution.

00:04:47 Andy

Absolutely Frank, you should be. How many cirts are you up to now?

00:04:50 Frank

I 87.

00:04:53 Andy

Slacker.

00:04:54 Frank

I know, I know.

00:04:54 Frank

Know, I know.

00:04:54 Andy

I think I've got 4.

00:04:56 Frank

Ah, now I know you and I did the data engineering thing, so you have at least 11.

00:05:00 Andy

00:05:20 Andy

Code camps here in the Richmond area.

00:05:22 Andy

00:05:41 Frank

Oh yeah.

00:05:42 Andy

Still sticks out is 1 called devs on a plane.

00:05:45 Frank

Ha ha ha.

00:05:49 Andy

Oh yeah, I loved that one that was so so cool and.

00:05:49 Andy

And that was.

00:05:49 Andy

00:05:54 Andy

00:06:14 Andy

00:06:32 Andy

You know, I'll say this Frank. I was right.

00:06:35 Frank

Well, with that he totally I. I think if anything I took away is I should have listened to Andy 10 years earlier.

00:06:36 Dave

You aren't very good.

00:06:40 Frank

Uhm?

00:06:41 Frank

00:06:46

00:06:55 Frank

Like in asking one of us those those those questions we have, so we definitely will do that, but not today kids.

00:06:55 Frank

Yeah.

00:06:55 Frank

00:06:59 Dave

We need to.

00:06:59 Dave

Need to.

00:07:02 Andy

Today, do we have Dave?

00:07:02 Andy

Today do Dave.

00:07:03 Frank

00:07:05 Frank

Yeah.

00:07:05 Frank

00:07:18 Frank

00:07:38 Frank

It is April. It was a privilege and honor Dave to have you as a colleague, and it's once again a privilege and an honor to have you here as a guest on data driven.

00:07:46 Dave

Well, thank you so much, appreciate that.

00:07:47 Andy

Welcome Dave.

00:07:49 Dave

Thank you.

00:07:51 Frank

So, uhm, so for folks that don't know what the MTC is. Shocking that there are actually people that don't know what that is, what? What is the MTC?

00:08:00 Dave

00:08:16 Dave

00:08:37 Dave

Taking a course somewhere so actually using their data and then I guess I'm roughly a data scientist, so we also do design thinking sessions and those are absolutely a lot of fun.

00:08:48 Dave

00:08:55 Andy

Oh wow, wow.

00:09:08 Dave

And actually build a prototype out a lot of fun.

00:09:11 Frank

00:09:26

That's.

00:09:26 Dave

Much, much better said yes.

00:09:28 Frank

I I 'cause I said free once and I got kind of slapped.

00:09:31 Frank

On the hand, say that.

00:09:34 Frank

00:09:52 Frank

00:10:04 Frank

Space and.

00:10:07 Frank

00:10:27 Frank

A contrarian approach is that right, Dave.

00:10:29 Dave

Yes, exactly.

00:10:31 Frank

00:10:42 Frank

Birds.

00:10:42 Frank

00:10:43 Frank

Tape.

00:10:44 Frank

00:11:02 Frank

And I'm like, uh, OK, tell me what are you trying to do? And ultimately I kind of pitched the idea like look, you know you don't have that much data right to make data bricks.

00:11:14 Frank

But you really want it so.

00:11:17 Frank

If you really want it, I won't stop you, but I think it's kind of overkill. I think you're taking instead of using a steak knife to cut the steak using a chainsaw.

00:11:25 Frank

And.

00:11:27 Frank

You know they kind of came back and ultimately what won the day was they already they couldn't get approval for whatever we recommended 'cause it didn't get stamped by there.

00:11:37 Frank

They're people for security usage yet, and things like that so they end up doing kind of the right thing because of their own bureaucracy, which.

00:11:44 Frank

It's kind of weird. It's kind of like dividing by zero and seeing the universe fold in on itself.

00:11:50 Frank

But UM, so the topic of today is kind of like no, you don't need a data warehouse. Did I get that right?

00:11:58 Dave

Exactly, that's what I believe in, and I believed in it since I was in college and I first learned about data warehouses. I'm not saying data warehouses are always bad, they definitely have their.

00:12:10 Dave

Use cases, but in 2021 when we're talking about advanced analytics and we're trying to tell customers you need to be more predictive than prescriptive.

00:12:19 Dave

The data warehouse really doesn't deliver.

00:12:23 Frank

Really, how so? 'cause? That's that's totally not the power. Certainly not the party line. I'm not going to say which party it was. You can figure it out but but why, why why would you say that?

00:12:33 Dave

OK so take.

00:12:33 Dave

00:12:52 Dave

00:13:12 Dave

00:13:28 Dave

00:13:48 Dave

And tell them, as a consultant, you're going to go in and build them a data warehouse.

00:13:53 Dave

Instantly, that's a political statement you just made. Data warehouses have connotations of you, know risky projects over budget projects as far as time and money, and...

Chris Gherardini on the role of data in ERP and CRM Systems

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode Frank and Andy have a chat with Chris Gherardini on the role of data in ERP and CRM Systems.

Transcript

00:00:00 BAILey

Hello and welcome to data driven, the podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence. In this episode, Frank and Andy speak to Chris Gardini about the role data plays in ERP and CRM systems.

00:00:17 Frank

Hello and welcome back to data driven. The podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence. If you like to think of data as the new oil, then you can think of us like Car Talk because we focus on where the rubber meets the road. Although there's not much of a road trip usually on this virtual road trip.

00:00:37 Frank

Is Andy Leonard? How's it going, Andy?

00:00:40 Andy

Hey Frank, it's going really well. How are you doing?

00:00:43 Frank

I'm doing alright, you know, with the exception I might have to buy a new desktop computer.

00:00:48 Andy

Ah, I have not.

00:00:49 Frank

Possibly, or power supply. Literally. We were on this call and all of a sudden everything froze and I was like Oh well, blue screen. Big deal.

00:00:59 Frank

And then when I went to power it back on.

00:01:03 Frank

It just kept keeps beeping so I'm like oh, fee something something hard so I'm going to have to do some search engine work and possibly get a new power supply or something.

00:01:06 Andy

Codes.

00:01:13 Frank

Fortunately, micro center.

00:01:14 Andy

Everything is.

00:01:17 Andy

Go ahead.

00:01:17 Andy

I've gotta say Frank, everything is figure out able right?

00:01:21 Frank

Everything is figure out able because of my experience with clear DB and all sorts of other drama. I have multiple backups of just about everything it if if you know so it's it's. It'll be an inconvenience, not a tragedy.

00:01:32 Andy

Outstanding.

00:01:37 Frank

But every opportunity to come back from a complete backup failure is an opportunity to learn.

00:01:47 Frank

And, uhm, Speaking of opportunity, it's really good timing that this guest is here because I as folks know I work at the Microsoft Technology Center in Reston and recently.

00:02:00 Frank

There was a, uh, someone we were on this engagement and it was very heavy into dynamics and uh, dynamics is one of those things. I haven't really looked into Andy and I have been experimenting with power apps and power platform, mostly to kind of help automate a lot of our content.

00:02:21 Frank

Production.

00:02:22 Chris

This is crucial as we.

00:02:24 Frank

Continue to put the final touches on our secret project, but this guest here is an expert in dynamics as well as various ERP solutions.

00:02:36 Frank

And he's from Saint Louis, and his name is Christian. I'm really blowing this intro here. His name is Cristiano Gardeny. Did I pronounce that right?

00:02:48 Chris

Cristiano Guardian yeah, he pulled our sounded out there so.

00:02:48 Frank

OK good good.

00:02:51 Frank

He did fine, got it. Sorry about that. He's the president and owner of Turnkey Technologies and they are a Microsoft partner. I did looking around on their website and they are basically they provide development, analytics, training and support services for Microsoft Dynamics.

00:03:09 Frank

If you don't know what Microsoft Dynamics is, a lot of people don't. In the data world tend to just know it tangentially. It's basically Microsoft CRM system, so welcome to the show, Cristiano.

00:03:21 Chris

Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.

00:03:25 Frank

It's good to have you here, and so what's the weather like in Saint Louis right now?

00:03:30 Chris

Ah, it's beautiful and sunny. Today it's about 64 degrees Sun index is just right around A5, so it's actually it's actually nice and better than the the ice. We had a couple weeks ago so.

00:03:38 Frank

Knife.

00:03:42 Andy

Yeah, it got bitterly cold out there for about a week, didn't it?

00:03:47 Chris

That's right, I happen to be in Florida that entire week. Everybody couldn't believe I missed all the fun. So with the IT was good, it was a good week to be gone. We left Saturday. We came back Sunday was 52 when we got back and the 9 inches of snow had melted and.

00:03:51 Chris

Unfelt

00:03:51 Chris

00:04:00 Chris

So yeah, perfect timing.

00:04:02 Frank

Nice, now you have excellent timing Sir. Not only in just the fact that dynamics is kind of coming up, coming up on my personal radar, but also in terms of avoiding bad weather. My first question is and I'm calm. Still a new bit dynamics. I learned a lot just by working on this.

00:04:23 Frank

One engagement we had DMTC.

00:04:27 Frank

Is Dinah.

00:04:28 BAILey

Mix.

00:04:29 Chris

So Dynamics Dynamics is the biz apps. I mean, you said CRM. It's more than CRM. But today dynamics represents a family of products. You know, the legacy on Prem products, Dynamics AX Dynamics, Navy Dynamics, GP, Dynamics, SL and then the current dynamics 365, which encompasses both you know financing.

00:04:49 Chris

Operations, which was the dynamics AX and then Dynamics 365 business Central which was the Navy? So those are both ERP products.

00:04:57 Chris

And then Dynamics customer engagement, which is the CRM platform so so dynamics is a collection of biz apps. It's a family of products and you know today we we focus on the two dynamics 365 ERP products and the CRM. The customer engagement product. So great solution, but it's a platform also it.

00:05:15 Frank

That's what I noticed, and folks that are listening. They're like this is a data science kind of data engineering show. Why the heck are you talking about?

00:05:25 Frank

Dynamics but dataverse the data models, which are one of the things that blew me away, was on this one demo is that there's a. There's a button where you just basically can dump out all your cream data.

00:05:38 Frank

Or all your data and dynamics out to a data Lake.

00:05:42 Chris

That's absolutely right, Azure. So if you think about the challenges where you move from a legacy system to the cloud, maybe all the data doesn't move and you need to combine it in an Azure data like a data warehouse, and certainly all those tools and all the analytics are all part of the platform. That's just it touches dynamics out of the box, so it's quite a quite a degree of efficiency.

00:06:02 Chris

There.

00:06:03 Frank

Interesting.

00:06:05 Frank

So one question I have about dynamics is it's history now. You mentioned Dynamics AX and a couple of other letters next to the word dynamics.

00:06:17 Frank

Once Upon a time when I worked when I lived in Richmond, there was a guy who used to do a lot of work with that technology.

00:06:24 Frank

Back and it was Solomon in Great Plains is that is that the same thing is that the lineages from it.

00:06:30 Chris

That's correct, that's correct, that's correct. And so the US based products was Great Plains software out of Fargo ND, and a gentleman named Doug Burgum owned that company privately and then his family. They bought the the Salomon product line as well and then in 2001 is when Microsoft bought Great Plains.

00:06:32

Silly.

00:06:46 Chris

Software, so that's kind of how they consume the North American products and then a year later Microsoft went to Europe and bought Dynamics AX and Dynamics Navy. It was called Exapta in division so and that became a second big purchase and instantly at 2002 they had four ERP products and they're in the biz apps space like they've never been.

00:06:48 Chris

OK, so.

00:06:48 Chris

00:07:06 Chris

Before so.

00:07:09 Frank

Ah OK, that's interesting. 'cause I I now I know why. There's a huge Microsoft campus in Fargo.

00:07:16 Chris

Yes, yes.

00:07:18 Chris

It's beautiful campus.

00:07:19 Frank

Uhm?

00:07:21 Frank

Yeah, I haven't been there, but I definitely maybe one day I'll end up going but the the other question I have for you. You keep saying biz apps when you say biz apps? What exactly do you mean like what?

00:07:32 Chris

Sure, so I'm. I'm a technical guy. I'm engineering comp SCI math and there's two directions you go and even those curriculums you go **** **** or you or business applications and so business applications in our context is, you know, we're we're business process automation again, whether it starts in an ERP from a quote to cash or a procure to pay those.

00:07:33 Frank

What what comic sub is that like?

00:07:52 Chris

For business processes and the business applications support.

00:07:56 Chris

Work, transactional processing or even non transactional if you think about context of a lead to opportunity to customer type of flow where you start even earlier in the process, but it is it's process automation and exception management and workflow and approvals and can go to the NTH degree of complexity. But but it's biz apps in that categorization.

00:08:16 Chris

So as opposed to scientific apps or development tools or games, for example, right, we're focused on businesses, not on residential applications.

00:08:26 Chris

That makes sense.

00:08:27 Andy

It does, yeah.

00:08:28 Frank

Do you have any questions Andy?

00:08:30 Frank

This is so awkward being on on this recording, but not being live. So for those that are watching or listening or maybe watching.

00:08:35 Andy

Yeah, I don't work.

00:08:40 Frank

Go ahead.

00:08:42 Andy

Yeah, I'd like to apologize to Chris, especially thank you for coming on here, but we're a little off because of the video. I I I never shaved but.

00:08:50 Chris

No worries.

00:08:55 Andy

I would have I. I have a face for radio. I think in audio, so that's what's throwing us just a bit. Although Frank and I do live streaming and stuff, can you tell us a little bit more about about what your company does, how how your team implements these biz apps?

00:09:14 Chris

Sure, so so turnkey is a is a direct Microsoft distributor, so we distribute dynamics licensing and then we provide 100% of the professional services to to plan to implement, to convert, to customize, to integrate. So really, if you think about there's two parts of business, there's the licensing side and and then the services side, which we've got about 60 team members.

00:09:35 Chris

These days, and as you think about, you know, delivering an implementation once the solutions been kind of articulated as project management methodology, really drive the success of the project, and so there's an intimate, detailed plan.

00:09:48 Chris

Where we use Microsoft project and and we plan in very very low levels of detail for project execution. Everything from you know, the initial phases of analyzing and requirements and then through design and then through development and through deployment. And then we take people live, but it's a very predictable methodology that's used for project delivery.

00:10:08 Chris

Around the ERP products, so that's that's the first spot, so.

00:10:12 Andy

You know that sounds an awful lot like what what we do when we're doing data warehousing as well and and similar work I I would say.

00:10:22 Chris

Absolutely the disciplines or you know, are kind of agnostic when you think about project methodology.

00:10:27 Andy

So just curious, what is a typical engagement about how long does a typical engagement last?

00:10:34 Chris

So and again, we sell 2 flavors Dynamics, 365 business Central. We talk about small, medium and those projects could.

00:10:41 Chris

Maybe three months for somebody small coming off of a QuickBooks. It's just financials, but it could be six months for somebody that's implementing distribution and manufacturing, for example. So depending on complexity, three months is normally the least amount of time, and in 6 plus months for the business, central on the finance and supply chain, which was acts as a much larger applications targeted at, you know.

00:11:01 Chris

Mid market enterprise organizations. Those projects are typically not being delivered in less than six months. Frankly, and I've got some that we see them take 12 to 18 months for example so.

00:11:13 Chris

No, it's gonna save us the the project management requirement. Because of that duration and scope and girth. You really people get lost right? Anyway, I'm sorry please.

00:11:23 Frank

Oh no no no no no so.

00:11:26 Frank

The the, the ERM or the ERP systems like Dave require. So Once Upon a time I was working for a large German chemical company, right? And of course it's a German company, so they used SAP and they hired a bunch of consultants and consulting firms to build out the system. But when they.

00:11:46 Frank

Rolled out SA P R2. I think it was.

00:11:49 Frank

Is.

00:11:50 Frank

Apparently there was not.

00:11:52 Frank

A lot of project discipline now I'll just. I'll just leave it there.

00:11:57 Frank

And it basically shut down some of their plants because there were just things were not coming in the way they were supposed to. So So what?

00:12:06 Frank

How?

00:12:07 Frank

How does ERP systems? How do our ERP systems? Kind of you know if they're done wrong? It sounds like they can create a big mess if they're done right, they could really optimize operations.

00:12:19 Frank

Uhm?

00:12:21 Frank

I mean is that, is that true? 'cause I I kind of saw, I mean.

00:12:23 Frank

That was just a Horror Story. It's true.

00:12:24 Chris

It's true, it's true. It's like me giving you lousy directions to drive from Florida to Washington, and it takes you six months and it should have taken you three days. There's a great example. I poor guidance and poor methodology, is it stretches it out. Things are missed, costs are out of control, but again, if it's done correctly through a thorough analysis.

00:12:34 Frank

Point

00:12:45 Chris

Then you really define scope.

00:12:46 Chris

And you know you have good business process visualization. Then you drive to deliver those processes to that point and and it's. And again, if you do a good job and my team does a great job of of really articulating business process, you gain great efficiency and Moreover you get capacity to turn up the juice again, you can take more volume and you've you've articulated.

00:13:05 Andy

Nice.

00:13:06 Chris

And really gotten the inefficiency out of the process, and Even so, you don't touch every transaction you touch the exceptions so you get a lot of leverage. But then you're correct if it's done right, if it's done.

00:13:16 Chris

Wrong, right? It maybe it's broken, maybe it falls off the table and somebody has to pick it up and has a manual step because they didn't think through it thoroughly. And and now you've got a bigger problem, right? And sometimes companies don't retire the old systems and they're working in two places, so there is a lot of negative that can come for people that don't manage and plan and and deliver these systems. And and again, we've been doing this.

00:13:37 Chris

For 27 years, so we're pretty pretty good at it so.

00:13:38 Andy

Will you?

00:13:40 Andy

Wow.

00:13:42 Andy

Well, you you mentioned Chris that you know when you were giving examples of the typical projects links that customers are are often migrating from other platforms. Other ERP ish. Perhaps they do some of the ERP work and then you're moving them into dynamics. And as you say.

00:14:02 Andy

Once they get in there, they're going to be able to scale. It sounds like horizontally and and cover more territory than the system that they were using and also scale vertically. Like you said, turn up the juice and and just grow is that. Is that...

Livestream Never Say No to Clippy

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this livestream, Frank and Andy talk about geothermal energy, solar power, and why you should never say not to Clippy.

Peter Voss on Artificial General Intelligence, Personalizing Personal Assistants, and Motorcycles

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy speak with Peter Voss about Artificial General Intelligence, Personalizing Personal Assistants, and Motorcycles

Sponsor

Sponsor: Audible.com - Get a free audio book and support DataDriven - visit thedatadrivenbook.com!

Guest Bio

Peter Voss is the world’s foremost authority in Artificial General Intelligence.

His company Aigo (https://www.aigo.ai/) has created the world’s first intelligent cognitive assistant.

Aigo was funded with a personal investment of $10 million dollars. They currently manage millions of personalized customer service inquiries for household name-brands

Notable Quotes

Aigo is Peter's company. BAILeY's Introduction (00:00)

The east coast has been blanketed with snow. (01:30)

The Expanse books (03:00)

Coding for curiosity? - Frank (11:50)

"Models don't dynamically learn." - Peter (13:00)

Three waves: Logic programming, Deep learning / neural networks, cognitive architecture / intelligence (14:00)

Intelligence v. sentience? - Frank (15:50)

What about bots being "led astray?" - Andy (18:30)

On programming morality... (21:30)

AI Safety is a better description - Peter (22:30)

Asimov's three laws of robotics - Frank (23:15)

On delimmas - Peter (24:15)

"Morality should be about human flourishing." - Peter (25:15)

Are we using digital means to do something analog? - Andy (27:55)

Peter is trained as an electronics engineer. (28:05)

"Context is always super-important." - Peter (28:30)

"You need a feedback system." - Peter (30:00)

AIGO is Peter's company. (31:00)

The three meanings of personal. (34:00)

"Exo-cortex" (33:50)

On context switches (38:30)

Did you find AI or did AI find you? (41:00)

"I took five years off to study..." - Peter (43:00)

What's your favorite part of your current gig? (44:10)

When I'm not working, I enjoy ___. (45:00)

I think the coolest thing in technology today is ___. (45:30)

I look forward to the day when I can use technology to ___. (46:25)

Something interesting or different about yourself (47:00)

How Not to Die (48:00)

Where can people learn more about Peter? (49:00)

Book reading / listening recommendations? (49:00)

The Mind's I (50:00)

Peter's articles on Medium (52:00)

Get a free audio book and support DataDriven - visit thedatadrivenbook.com! (00:00)

Transcript

The following transcript is AI generated.

00:00:01 BAILeY

Hello and welcome to data driven.

00:00:03 BAILeY

The podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

00:00:11 BAILeY

In this episode, Frank and Andy speak with Peter Voss, peterboat.

00:00:15 BAILeY

Peter Voss is the world's foremost authority, an artificial general intelligence or AGI.

00:00:21 BAILeY

In fact, he is the one who coined the term in 2001 and published a book on the topic in 2002.

00:00:28 BAILeY

He is a serial.

00:00:29 BAILeY

AI entrepreneur technology innovator who has for the past 20 years, then dedicated to advancing artificial general intelligence.

00:00:38 BAILeY

Today he is focused on his company, IGO, which is developing and selling increasingly advanced AGI systems for large enterprise customers.

00:00:47 BAILeY

Peter also has a keen interest in the interrelationship between philosophy, psychology, ethics, futurism and computer science.

00:00:56 BAILeY

I think you will find this interview a fascinating look at the future of AI.

00:01:01 BAILeY

Now on with the show.

00:01:05 Frank

Hello and welcome to data driven, the podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

00:01:13 Frank

If you like to think of data as the new oil, then you can think of us like well.

00:01:18 Frank

Car Talk because we focus on where the rubber meets the road and with me on this epic virtual road trip down the information highway because we're still locked in quarantine.

00:01:29 Frank

As always, Andy Leonard.

00:01:30 Frank

How's it going and?

00:01:31 Andy

Good Frank, how are you?

00:01:33 Frank

I'm doing well.

00:01:34 Frank

We had a bit of snow.

00:01:36 Frank

We're recording this on Monday, February 1st and the East Coast has been blanketed in some snow.

00:01:37 Peter Voss

Yes.

00:01:45 Andy

Yeah, we got more than we've gotten, probably since 2018 or so. About four inches here in FarmVille and then almost an inch of ice on top of that, which always makes it fun, right?

00:01:58 Frank

Yeah, the ice is worse than the snow on.

00:02:00 Frank

Basically so I went out, walk the dog today and one of the dogs and it was crunch, crunch, crunch.

00:02:06 Frank

So there's a nice layer of ice over everything which is going to make driving later fun, but I do have.

00:02:13 Frank

I do have the an all wheel drive car which is fantastic.

00:02:17 Frank

I will never not own one of those again.

00:02:19 Andy

Nice.

00:02:21 Frank

Yeah, you've seen it's the CRV.

00:02:23 Andy

Yes, yeah, it's nice you did well.

00:02:26 Frank

I dubbed it the Rocinante.

00:02:31 Andy

In case our listeners are not familiar with that, with what Frank is referring to, it is not the old novel.

00:02:40 Andy

Frank is not tilting at windmills instead.

00:02:44 Andy

And if I got that reference wrong, correct me.

00:02:46 Andy

I'll just edit that out.

00:02:47 Frank

Oh, you are right, it's from this AM Oh my God, I forgot new book on Cody.

00:02:48 Andy

Not sure.

00:02:51 Andy

Donkey Quixoti wasn't.

00:02:53 Frank

Yeah yeah Cervantes I was gonna say from Cervantes book and I'm like oh what was the name of that?

00:02:53 Andy

Yeah so.

00:02:59 Frank

Which is the opposite of how most people think, but that's what I do.

00:02:59 Frank

OK, good.

00:03:02 Andy

There we go, but it is actually a reference to both the books and a series, The expanse of which Frank and I are great fans, so.

00:03:12 Frank

Awesome, but you know who's not covered in snow today.

00:03:13 Andy

I like it.

00:03:15 Andy

Who is not covered in snow their guest.

00:03:16 Andy

Our guest.

00:03:18 Frank

Who lives in?

00:03:18 Frank

Yeah.

00:03:20 Frank

I'm assuming sunny or Smokey I guess depending on the time of year California Peter Voss Peter welcome to the show.

00:03:29 Peter Voss

Thank you, yes, it's we've got snow on the mountains here, but it's very sunny.

00:03:36 Peter Voss

It's it's nice and we have a lot less smog these days.

00:03:41 Andy

Very good.

00:03:41 Frank

Nice so you are the.

00:03:46 Frank

One of the world's, or if not the world's foremost authority in AGI or artificially artificial general intelligence, and I believe you are the one that coined the term.

00:03:58 Peter Voss

Yes, correct and 2001 myself and two other people. We coined the term artificial general intelligence AGI to really distinguish the kind of work we were doing from, you know, specialized narrow AI which is.

00:04:18 Peter Voss

Pretty much what everybody else is doing.

00:04:20 Peter Voss

The original dream of artificial intelligence was of course, to have systems that can think and learn the way humans do, but that turned out to be a lot lot harder than people thought.

00:04:31 Peter Voss

So over the years, AI really turned into narrow AI using human ingenuity to figure out how to solve one particular problem, like playing chess or.

00:04:41 Peter Voss

Container optimization or medical diagnosis and then to write a program or to train data to do that to solve that particular problem.

00:04:51 Peter Voss

But it's really the external intelligence of the program or the data scientists that is then encoded.

00:04:58 Peter Voss

To solve that problem, whereas we wanted to get back to the original dream of having a thinking machine that it can figure out how to do these things and and learn more humans do so.

00:05:09 Peter Voss

That's why we felt we had to.

00:05:12 Peter Voss

You know, coin a separate term to distinguish it from narrow AI.

00:05:16 Frank

Interesting.

00:05:18 Frank

So for years, AGI has been.

00:05:21 Frank

Kind of thought the stuff of science fiction.

00:05:24 Frank

I think there was a lot of optimistic people like you said that thought we would have it by now.

00:05:29 Frank

I know this is kind of a loaded question, but one do you think we'll ever get there and two, what's the sort of time frame we're looking at?

00:05:38 Peter Voss

Yes, it's an interesting question, so absolutely, I believe it's it's.

00:05:42 Peter Voss

Possible, and in fact the reason we got together. We wrote a book called Artificial General Intelligence. As I said in 2001 was because we believe the time is ripe to get back to this original dream that the technology had advanced enough. Both hardware and software technology and cognitive psychology. Cognitive science.

00:06:02 Peter Voss

That we now understood enough and had fundamentally had the tools in place to tackle this problem and to say.

00:06:11 Peter Voss

So I I absolutely believe that it can be solved soon, and in fact we will leave.

00:06:18 Peter Voss

We are on on the way of solving this problem now in terms of time frame.

00:06:24 Peter Voss

Normally the way I answer this question is I don't measure it in time.

00:06:28 Peter Voss

I measured in dollars.

00:06:31 Frank

I like that time is money, so I guess.

00:06:34 Frank

That's a reasonable correlation.

00:06:35 Peter Voss

Yeah, and and the reason I do, I say that is because.

00:06:39 Peter Voss

Still, today almost nobody is working on AGI. You know, 99% of all the effort in artificial intelligence is still on narrow AI, so if this continues, it will take a long long time for us to reach human level AGI. But if that changes.

00:07:00 Peter Voss

And you know the kind of funding that's going into deep learning machine learning suddenly was applied to AGI.

00:07:06 Peter Voss

Then I think it could easily happen at less than 10.

00:07:09 BAILeY

Yes.

00:07:10 Frank

Oh wow.

00:07:11 Andy

Very cool, so I'm curious is there any like lead in does?

00:07:16 Andy

Does time and money invested in deep learning and narrow AI?

00:07:23 Andy

Does any of that help move the cost?

00:07:25 Andy

Say further the cause for AGI?

00:07:29 Peter Voss

Slightly, I believe, you know.

00:07:32 Peter Voss

Obviously, any advances in languages and data collection in hardware development and the general experience.

00:07:42 Peter Voss

In that sense, it does help it.

00:07:44 Peter Voss

But in another sense, it's actually the opposite.

00:07:46 Peter Voss

It's actually hindering it because a whole generation of software engineers and data scientists are now coming into the field, believing that deep learning machine learning is a way to do it.

00:08:00 Peter Voss

And all we need is more data, more horsepower and will solve this problem.

00:08:05 Peter Voss

And that's I think barking up the wrong tree, and it's a it's a dead end.

00:08:10 Peter Voss

So in that sense, what's happening today with deep learning?

00:08:12 Peter Voss

Machine learning is actually counter to achieving.

00:08:16 Andy

GI interesting very interesting.

00:08:20 Frank

Was it always that way or it's just the way the market kind of went frenzied over just narrowed AI?

00:08:26 Peter Voss

Why?

00:08:26 Peter Voss

Well, we've had several windows of AI.

00:08:30 Peter Voss

You know the the disappointments over the decades.

00:08:33 Peter Voss

You know, when we had expert systems, people believe that you know they would really, you know, show real intelligence and then it kind of fizzled out.

00:08:42 Peter Voss

And so we've had.

00:08:43 Peter Voss

We've had various windows, and but of course, deep learning machine learning has been so spectacularly successful in several areas.

00:08:52 Peter Voss

You know, image recognition, improving speech recognition, and you know various other fields that just, you know, it's the only game in town as it has been very, very successful.

00:09:04 Peter Voss

But people are also starting to realize what the limitations are of it.

00:09:11 Peter Voss

So yeah, it's it's kind of at the moment.

00:09:14 Peter Voss

The only game in town, and it has really been successful in many.

00:09:17 Andy

Areas, So what are those limitations?

00:09:20 Andy

And how does AGI addressing?

00:09:23 Peter Voss

Yeah, so fundamentally when you think about intelligence, you know if you think about just common sense.

00:09:32 Peter Voss

If we talk to a person and we judge them to be intelligent or to be totally non intelligent, the kind of things we expect is that they can learn.

00:09:43 Peter Voss

Immediately that when you say something a, they understand what you're saying and they integrate that knowledge with their existing knowledge so you know if you say my sister's moving through Seattle next week or something.

00:10:01 Peter Voss

That knowledge needs to fit in somewhere.

00:10:04 Peter Voss

You know you know the person who's talking.

00:10:06 Peter Voss

You may know who the sister is, or you may not know who the sister is.

00:10:10 Peter Voss

You probably know what Seattle is.

00:10:13 Peter Voss

You may have images of, you know, rain pouring down all the time or whatever, but so you integrate that knowledge.

00:10:21 Peter Voss

And if you're not cleared, my maybe the person has two sisters, so then you would ask her, do you mean your older sister you know your younger sister?

00:10:30 Peter Voss

And so we expect an intelligent human to basically do.

00:10:35 Peter Voss

You know what's technically called one shot?

00:10:37 Peter Voss

Learning?

00:10:38 Peter Voss

You hear something once you see an image.

00:10:40 Peter Voss

Once you learn that and you integrate it into your existing knowledge base.

00:10:46 Peter Voss

And if you're not sure how to interpret it.

00:10:49 Peter Voss

Then you ask clarifying.

00:10:50 Peter Voss

Questions until you know what it what it is.

00:10:54 Peter Voss

So you have deep understanding you have disambiguation.

00:10:59 Peter Voss

You have learning instant learning, one shot learning.

00:11:03 Peter Voss

You have long term memory.

00:11:05 Peter Voss

You remember that next week you you know if you paid attention, you will remember that and you have reasoning about.

00:11:12 Peter Voss

30 now deep learning machine learning as it's done today, really doesn't offer any of those.

00:11:20 Peter Voss

So if you if you had a human and you told them something and they didn't remember it, they didn't understand that they didn't ask for clarification.

00:11:27 Peter Voss

You wouldn't think of them as being very intelligent, would you?

00:11:33 Frank

No, I mean, my kids are smart, but when I tell them to bring the trash cans back from the street, they'll conveniently forget.

00:11:39 Frank

But I, I think I know where you're going with that, yes?

00:11:42 BAILeY

All right?

00:11:44 Frank

But the question I have, it sounds like you're trying to and I know this is going to be not really good analogy.

00:11:50 Frank

Or maybe it is you're trying to code for curiosity.

00:11:54 Peter Voss

That's very much part of it, but you know even deeper is understanding.

00:11:59 Peter Voss

Basically, when you have some input, do you?

00:12:02 Peter Voss

Do you understand you know what the implications are, how it fits in with the rest of the knowledge that you have?

00:12:08 Peter Voss

And you know, even that, that's sort of more even more fundamental than curiosity.

00:12:13 Peter Voss

But yeah, curiosity is then wanting to gather more information, so this is inherently an interactive process.

00:12:22 Peter Voss

You know, an intelligent person would ask follow up questions you know they would want to kind of.

00:12:29 Peter Voss

Fill in the pieces of the puzzle and you know that they can be more.

00:12:33 Peter Voss

In fact effective in their communication on their or their job.

00:12:37 Frank

Right so.

00:12:37 Peter Voss

So yes, that's definitely part of it.

00:12:40 Frank

So calling back to your example of someone's sister moving to Seattle you you would ask, you know, I didn't know you had a sister or how many sisters do you have or how many siblings do you have and.

00:12:51 Frank

Where is she moving to?

00:12:52 Frank

Why?

00:12:53 Frank

I guess that's kind of.

00:12:55 Frank

I guess it's all about building that knowledge map inside.

00:12:58 Frank

Your head or then your head being could be a program I guess.

00:12:58 BAILeY

Exactly.

00:12:59 BAILeY

OK.

00:13:02 Peter Voss

Yeah, and deep learning machine learning really doesn't allow for that at all.

00:13:07 Peter Voss

You know you accumulate masses of data and you train a model, but that model is then static.

00:13:14 Peter Voss

It's a read only model.

00:13:15 Peter Voss

You know, it doesn't dynamically learn, so it may have a sort of a knowledge graph, but even that knowledge graph is.

00:13:23 Peter Voss

Is very opaque, it's.

00:13:26 Peter Voss

Yeah, it's not scrutable you know and and this is this is such a big problem with deep learning machine learning that you don't know why it gives a certain response, which is a huge...

Dan Burcaw on Entrepreneurship, Using AI to Stop Customer Churn, and Deploying Code onto Nuclear Submarines

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy speak with Dan Burcaw on Entrepreneurship, Using AI to Stop Customer Churn, and Deploying Code onto Nuclear Submarines.

Show Notes

Transcript

The following transcript is AI generated.

00:00:00 BAILeY

Hello and welcome to data driven.

00:00:02 BAILeY

The podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

00:00:09 BAILeY

In this episode, Frank and Andy speak with Dan Burke or Dan is a serial entrepreneur who has founded four companies each on the forefront of a major technology wave, open source software, the smartphone.

00:00:23 BAILeY

Cloud computing and now machine learning.

00:00:26 BAILeY

Currently he leads Nam Eml, a company focused on helping app developers start and grow mobile subscription businesses.

00:00:34 BAILeY

If you follow Frank and or Andy on social media, you certainly have heard them bang on about their secret project.

00:00:41 BAILeY

I will drop a one word hint here foreshadowing.

00:00:45 BAILeY

Now on with the show.

00:00:48 Frank

Hello and welcome back to data driven.

00:00:50 Frank

The podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science machine learning, an artificial intelligence, and if you like to think of data as the new oil, then you could consider us Car Talk.

00:01:02 Frank

Because we focus on where the rubber hits the road.

00:01:05 Frank

So with that as my guest on this pandemic road trip, that hasn't happened.

00:01:13

Yeah.

00:01:13 Frank

By my copilot here is Andy Leonard.

00:01:16 Frank

How you doing Andy?

00:01:17 Andy

Hey, I'm doing pretty good Frank how are you?

00:01:20 Frank

I'm doing well, I'm doing well.

00:01:21 Frank

I had a kind of an architecture session this morning, so that went really well.

00:01:27 Frank

It was.

00:01:28 Frank

It was an interesting conversation and I love doing those.

00:01:31 Frank

Those are always fun.

00:01:32 Frank

How about?

00:01:32 Andy

Yeah.

00:01:33 Andy

Yeah, so I'm proofing the next book.

00:01:36 Andy

Proofing is the absolute last chance to remove all of the typos I've left in.

00:01:42 Andy

As I've gone through the last three full edit sessions and there's still some there.

00:01:47 Andy

Frank, I'm convinced that the next book is going to have, you know, have a fair share of those.

00:01:52 Andy

What I'm really concerned about.

00:01:54 Andy

Is making sure that the demos work an yeah that's you know it's it's tedious and it's the LastPass so you know it's like is this over yet? Yeah, I'm sick and tired of reading this guy's writing and it's me so.

00:02:10 Andy

Yeah no.

00:02:10 Andy

But yeah.

00:02:12 Frank

That was the hardest part.

00:02:13 Frank

People asking.

00:02:14 Frank

Like when I wrote a book on Silverlight an aside from it being about Silverlight, the hardest thing wasn't so much writing, it was having to go back and re edit my own stuff and like.

00:02:24 Frank

You know, and I would look at it and be like man like I'm a terrible or.

00:02:28 Andy

That's I have said over and over again to my computer monitor who wrote this crap.

00:02:33 Andy

By a friend if you live.

00:02:33 Andy

But Fortunately for this is a second edition, so an it's one of those second editions where I kept the first 10 or 11 chapters.

00:02:43 Andy

I I changed from my writing language.

00:02:46 Andy

I wrote it like three years ago.

00:02:48 Andy

And I really this grew out of a series of blog posts that I wrote back in 2012. It was all in VB back then, Visual Basic. And so I wrote it that way in 2017 and for the 2nd edition I went back and updated all of that. That's really the only thing I changed was I went to C sharp.

00:03:06 Andy

An I kind of needed to because the rest of the book was going to be in C sharp anyway.

00:03:12 Andy

And so yeah, that's that's kind of how it went.

00:03:15 Andy

And for anybody listen, it thinks wow, Andy is smart.

00:03:18 Andy

He's written a book about C sharp.

00:03:20 Andy

He must know C sharp really, really well.

00:03:22 Andy

I say throughout the book I am not a C sharp developer.

00:03:26 Andy

I feel like I'm working my way up to being a noob, but but.

00:03:29 Frank

Don't you work classes?

00:03:31 Andy

I do wear glasses.

00:03:33 Andy

Yes, yeah.

00:03:33 Frank

So you can see sharp.

00:03:36 Andy

I did.

00:03:36 Andy

They took me awhile.

00:03:37 Andy

Do you have your sound effects running from I?

00:03:39 Frank

Do were back in Zend Caster.

00:03:41 Frank

So for folks listening like I don't remember this being on the live stream.

00:03:45 Frank

If it's not, we're doing this the old fashioned way right then, and don't worry, Andy and I've been live streaming a lot, which you probably noticed, but today we have a very special guest, don't we, Andy?

00:03:48 Frank

Um?

00:03:56 Andy

Yeah yeah, Dan Burke all is awesome.

00:04:00 Andy

He's a co-founder and CEO and I hope I say this right, is it?

00:04:04 Andy

Is it nami? Nami ML Dan.

00:04:07 Dan Burcaw

Yeah nami. Like tsunami.

00:04:09 Andy

Ah OK, I got it right the first time NAMI AML and it's a really smart service for monetizing digital products with subscriptions.

00:04:09 Frank

Well.

00:04:19 Andy

And just he's had a whole ton of experience working in, you know, in marketing for the Oracle Marketing Cloud, working with the mobile product for that.

00:04:31 Andy

So pretty smart Guy joined joined Oracle back during the acquisition of Push IO and.

00:04:39 Andy

Push IO was a leading mobile messaging provider as well.

00:04:44 Andy

And he served there as a Co founder and CEO.

00:04:47 Andy

There's a bunch more in here about Nan, an it all kind of boils down to super smart, successful guy.

00:04:54 Andy

We've had a little bit of banner before we click the record button an I can attest to.

00:04:59 Andy

That is really enjoyable conversation.

00:05:01 Andy

I look forward to this show.

00:05:02 Andy

Thanks for being here, Dan.

00:05:05 Speaker 1

Really happy to be here.

00:05:05 Speaker 1

Really happy to be here.

00:05:06 Speaker 1

Thanks for having me.

00:05:07 Frank

Awesome, so you're a serial entrepreneur and you founded a bunch of companies.

00:05:13 Frank

Um, but my favorite part of the bio I read on you was that.

00:05:18 Frank

You wrote software that ended up on a nuclear submarine.

00:05:23 Speaker 1

Yeah, that's right.

00:05:26 Speaker 1

It's it's hard.

00:05:26 Frank

That that totally away I was like what?

00:05:29 Speaker 1

It it's it's hard to even tell that story sometimes because it's so unbelievable.

00:05:35 Speaker 1

I 17 years old at the time.

00:05:38 Speaker 1

The company that I cofounded was building a flavor of Linux.

00:05:46 Speaker 1

A flavor of Linux that was designed to run on Apple Macintosh hardware.

00:05:52 Speaker 1

And at the time.

00:05:52 Frank

Interesting.

00:05:54 Speaker 1

Then the the reason for that was that Apple was using the power PC chip power PC chip in that moment of time. You know, we're kind of talking in the late 90s. Early 2000s had fantastic price per performance per Watt, which is a metric that a lot of folks in the kind of high performance computing world look at when they're trying to figure out.

00:06:11 Andy

Me.

00:06:18 Speaker 1

How to build these kind of supercomputer clusters?

00:06:21 Speaker 1

And so it just happened at that moment in time, the Mac would had had the best price performance per Watt because of the chips that they.

00:06:29 Speaker 1

We're using and so we we ended up doing a deal with Lockheed Martin and the US Navy to build a cluster of Macs running Linux.

00:06:45 Speaker 1

That were deployed across the US Navy nuclear sub fleet for the purpose of doing sonar image processing, yeah.

00:06:53 Andy

Wow.

00:06:55 Speaker 1

The the the software that I wrote was related to.

00:07:00 Speaker 1

You know how folks on the boat would have to manage these units if there was issues, how would you know?

00:07:07 Speaker 1

Kind of the maintainability repair ability was a big issue when you're actually out at sea and trying to have this stuff run in kind of a mission critical fashion so.

00:07:17 Speaker 1

We ended up.

00:07:17 Speaker 1

I mean it was this was such a crazy project because the hardware was modified hardware.

00:07:22 Speaker 1

It wasn't off the shelf Apple hardware, it was Apple Hardware and then we did a bunch of things to it and then it was Linux and then it was some custom software that made the whole thing operate an.

00:07:35 Speaker 1

So it's it was.

00:07:37 Speaker 1

It was a nutty project, an I'm.

00:07:40 Speaker 1

Looking back on it now, I'm surprised that it had ever shipped quite frankly.

00:07:46 Frank

Spoken like a true engineer, right?

00:07:48 Frank

You're always you always look at your flaws and like Oh my God, that's actually running.

00:07:56 Frank

So so you you where did you go after that?

00:08:00 Frank

'cause it says you know you're a serial entrepreneur and so how did you get into?

00:08:05 Frank

I don't want to steal.

00:08:06 Frank

Kind of our pre canned questions Thunder but.

00:08:11 Frank

Tell me how did you get into A&ML? Or were you doing ML on those on those retrofitted Max?

00:08:18 Speaker 1

No, we weren't.

00:08:19 Speaker 1

We weren't, but but you know, I think that part of the hype that world of high performance computing where a lot of our customers were, you know, national labs or defense oriented things.

00:08:30 Speaker 1

I mean, part of the appeal of what we were offering in that period of time was that they were running algorithms an doing some of this stuff.

00:08:39 Speaker 1

You know, obviously ahead ahead ahead of their time and they need it.

00:08:43 Speaker 1

There wasn't the cloud computing yet, so they were literally just trying to assemble the biggest.

00:08:49 Speaker 1

Supercomputers using off the shelf hardware that they possibly could so we weren't writing the algorithms.

00:08:55 Speaker 1

We were more enabling these algorithms to be run, but I would say the Fast forward is that in terms of my career, is that working on that led to?

00:09:09 Speaker 1

Being involved in sort of the mobile ecosystem from the launch of the App Store and the iPhone back in 2000, seven 2008 and in a way it was very very similar to what we did with the submarines. Because you were dealing with constrained hard.

00:09:25 Speaker 1

Where you always had to care about performance and battery life and battery life, less so on the Subs.

00:09:31 Speaker 1

But some of the same sort of constraints where you're trying to get the best performance you can out of these things and operating in that mobile landscape and building apps for some of the largest consumer brands.

00:09:46 Speaker 1

And then you guys mentioned in the in the intro about push IO.

00:09:49 Speaker 1

This mobile messaging company that we.

00:09:51 Speaker 1

Built, we ended up at Oracle building this mobile marketing engine is part of the Oracle Marketing Cloud an and one of the things that we saw there is that now.

00:10:03 Speaker 1

Fast forward to kind of more modern times and there's such a prevalent use out there of.

00:10:11 Speaker 1

Technology like email, you know email marketing systems and push notifications in the world of mobile in order to tackle kind of a fundamental problem that exists with some of these products, which is the user.

00:10:28 Speaker 1

Download your app, let's say, and they use it and then and then they churn, and then they abandon an and you as a publisher of a product like this, is one of the battles that you're trying to fight is how do I get them back into the experience and so are sort of observation is we were.

00:10:44 Andy

Right?

00:10:48 Speaker 1

You know, done our tenure there and we're looking to do something next.

00:10:52 Speaker 1

And new was a couple of things.

00:10:55 Speaker 1

The first thing we saw was that with the iPhone 10, I think it was.

00:11:01 Speaker 1

Apple released.

00:11:02 Speaker 1

Face ID.

00:11:03 Speaker 1

And that was using algorithms running on the device, so the benefit was you could unlock the phone very, very fast, but also it had some privacy characteristics where Apple doesn't need your face and the kind of the point cloud representation of your face to be up on their servers somewhere.

00:11:21 Speaker 1

That was really intriguing to us.

00:11:23 Speaker 1

The other thing was that we saw that the app economy, so to speak, was in transition from kind of the early days of where it was paid downloads.

00:11:33 Speaker 1

Transitioning to kind of in app purchases, which the game ecosystem has really been been focused on to trying to create more durable, sustainable revenue models through subscription.

00:11:35 Speaker 1

Which is right?

00:11:46 Speaker 1

And so how we sort of arrived at focusing a lot on data at NAMI.

00:11:53 Speaker 1

Is that it?

00:11:54 Speaker 1

It seemed to us like there was.

00:11:56 Speaker 1

If we we would, we really were excited about an idea that if we could.

00:12:02 Speaker 1

Help the guy.

00:12:04 Speaker 1

Is.

00:12:04 Speaker 1

App publishers a mechanism to send way fewer push notifications.

00:12:10 Speaker 1

An email messages because they had a technology stack that could allow them to detect in the experience, right directly on the device that somebody was showing signs of churn, or that somebody was showing some.

00:12:25 Speaker 1

Early intent that they might be a a candidate to be a subscriber, and so just that idea that maybe there's a way that we could be part of cutting down the messaging load by making the actual experiences smarter and more intelligent about what users are doing was where we.

00:12:42 Speaker 1

Started.

00:12:43 Frank

That's interesting.

00:12:43 Frank

That's it.

00:12:44 Frank

What sorts of signals?

00:12:47 Frank

That you can collect given specially with Apple's kind of enhanced privacy policies that they've been been doing.

00:12:55 Frank

An what?

00:12:56 Frank

What sorts of signals kind of indicate churn?

00:13:00 Speaker 1

So you know it is.

00:13:01 Speaker 1

It's a great question.

00:13:02 Speaker 1

When we started out we were thing.

00:13:04 Speaker 1

Gain, we're going to collect all this crazy stuff.

00:13:07 Speaker 1

I mean, we were even thinking at one point in the early prototyping that you know, maybe maybe, what carrier the user is on is some signal.

00:13:16 Speaker 1

Maybe the device form factor, whether it's the really expensive version of the phone or the lower you know there's all these things that we were thinking about, but.

00:13:24 Speaker 1

When when?

00:13:27 Speaker 1

And we're not my cofounder and I are not experts in this field, so one of the things that we did was we recruited our CTO who has a PhD in applied math and had been building data science animal models, kind of in production at, you know, in the real world.

00:13:46 Speaker 1

Applications of places like the Los Angeles Times and Tribune Publishing and one of the first things he told us when he came in was guys like, wait, you're trying to?

00:13:55 Speaker 1

You don't need all these days.

00:13:56 Speaker 1

Points a lot of what you're trying to collect just isn't isn't going to move the needle, and So what.

00:13:57 Speaker 1

Huh?

00:14:03 Speaker 1

It really gets to both on the so we look at, you know from subscriptions we're looking at.

00:14:07 Speaker 1

Kind of two things.

00:14:08 Speaker 1

One is what are signals that show that somebody might be have a propensity to purchase.

00:14:17 Speaker 1

And then, secondarily, that early turn detection, or kind of likelihood to churn.

00:14:23 Speaker 1

And it turns out it's it's pretty simple on some level, because it's really about the behavioral signals around engagement.

00:14:34 Frank

Interesting soon.

00:14:34 Speaker 1

So are they using the app or are they using the app a lot?

00:14:38 Speaker 1

Or they did they used to use it a lot and now they're not using it as much so those are kind of the key?

00:14:44 Andy

Signals, so you're not popping up little boxes and saying, do you want to keep using the app?

00:14:51 Andy

Check yes or no.

00:14:54 Speaker 1

No, I mean it's it's.

00:14:55 Speaker 1

It's funny, you know.

00:14:57 Speaker 1

I have a friend that has that has a company that that powers some of that around the ratings right?

00:15:05 Speaker 1

Do you want?

00:15:05 Andy

Yeah, yeah.

00:15:05 Speaker 1

To make this.

00:15:06 Speaker 1

Yep, and you know they have a really fascinating take on it, which is that.

00:15:11 Speaker 1

Because whenever I see one of those, I hit no, I don't.

00:15:14 Speaker 1

I you know, I just like want to dismiss it an.

00:15:17 Andy

Yeah, yeah.

00:15:18 Speaker 1

Yeah, he's got a strong viewpoint that by by asking a user a binary question it provides them better data for what they're trying to do around kind of customer sentiment an so I just thought I was fascinated by that because whenever I see one of those ratings popped up so I just wanted to like.

00:15:34 Andy

Interesting.

00:15:41 Speaker 1

I want to say no, even if I like the experience on some level, I have a visceral reaction that's just like I leave me.

00:15:47 Frank

No.

00:15:48 Frank

Right, right?

00:15:48 Andy

Well, I wonder if that's

00:15:48 Frank

Well, it's always when you're sorry, ID.

00:15:50 Andy

That's OK, go ahead.

00:15:52 Frank

It's always when you're trying to do something or the kids are screaming like do you want to write this?

00:15:52 Frank

It's always when you're.

00:15:56 Frank

Like no, I want to use this stupid app like even if I like it.

00:15:58 Frank

But what I find myself doing and I've as I'll say not now like like remind me

Livestream Staying Motivated in the New Year, a Secret Project, and Impact

Tue, 12 Jan 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy talk about staying motivated in the new year, answer questions from the audience, and share a little about their secret project.

This episode was originally recorded on an impromptu livestream and in a delightful surprise Andy was able to join.

Off Topic Work the New Year and Don't Let it Work You

Tue, 05 Jan 2021 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank offers some encouragement for people hoping for a better year in 2021.

This episode was originally recorded on an impromptu livestream and in a delightful surprise Andy was able to join.

Links:

Get a free Audible book on us at https://www.audible.com/ep/creator?source_code=PDTGBPD060314004R

Transcript

Coming Soon

Going from Student to Data Scientist

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank interview Baby Supriya about her journey from student to professional data scientist.

Transcript

coming soon.

DataPoint A Heartfelt Thank You on this Thanksgiving Day

Thu, 26 Nov 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Thanksgiving Data Point, Frank sends a special message of thanks to you, the best audience in the world!

Show Notes

Did AT&T Predict the Future?

http://franksworld.com/2020/11/26/did-att-predict-the-future/

Transcript

00:00:00 Frank

Hey, what's up is Frank here from data driven? Just wanted to take a moment here. It's Thanksgiving here in the US. I'm actually sitting by the by the ocean on the beach.

00:00:15 Frank

And it's a beautiful day.

00:00:19 Frank

And God.

00:00:21 Frank

Some interesting interesting email the other day from website called Pod Stats or Pod Status. You'll see I have my other production assistant with me, but I just wanted to say thank you to all the listeners who helped made data driven successful over the years. Can't believe that tomorrow.

00:00:42 Frank

It's been four years since I had the idea for data driven. Next week will probably be. It'll be about four years since I asked Andy to be the cohost we've been rocking it pretty well. We're at about 160,000 downloads.

00:00:55 Frank

265 or 266 shows an.

00:01:03 Frank

Just wanted to say thank you.

00:01:05 Frank

Actually got an interesting email the other day from a website called Pod Stats Pod status.

00:01:11 Frank

And apparently we are very highly ranked where the 29th ranked podcast in technology in Italy. So I want to say gratze. We also rank very high and definitely in the top 50. In Sweden, Thailand, Norway in Brazil.

00:01:30 Frank

So thank you, I only know how to say thank you in.

00:01:35 Frank

Italian sorry, but I would have to go back and figure out how to say it in those other languages.

00:01:46 Frank

I'm sorry about that, but I will go back and figure out how to say it in the other language is another thing. If you've been very eagle eyed in terms of our show notes and the transcriptions.

00:01:57 Frank

Uh.

00:01:58 Frank

We have we have a name now for the AI voice over Lady probably do more formal show on it. But you know what?

00:02:07 Frank

Not gonna do it, figured I would just get the information out. Right now we call her Bailey which is an acronym for British AI Lady. You can look in the transcripts. You'll see her kind of listed as there is a name.

00:02:23 Frank

Interestingly enough, we changed up how we do our transcripts. I used to use video indexer but now word online you can actually upload the audio file, the MP3 file and it will actually not only do the transcription and the timestamp, but actually the speaker identification too. So we actually test this out.

00:02:45 Frank

And it's pretty accurate, so you'll so hopefully now are.

00:02:52 Frank

Hopefully now are.

00:02:55 Frank

Our transcripts are much more accessible. That's something we've been meaning to do and.

00:03:01 Frank

Yeah, oh, I see Andy's on hey what's up? Andy yeah we I shared that email with you and yeah, we are we're we're we're reaching the top 30 this is pretty good I'm I'm excited I'm happy about the show. Happy I'm thankful Thanksgiving right?

00:03:18 Frank

So I'm thankful for having Andy as a good friend and a cohost on this journey on this epic road trip down the information superhighway. As we say in our standard intro and but he was basically talking about all the things that look very futuristic in those commercials and.

00:03:39 Frank

The my dog is about to pull my arm off. I can feel it.

00:03:43 Frank

And.

00:03:46 Frank

So.

00:03:47 Frank

Yeah, so it's interesting that how how that you know. So he kind of goes through. It's interesting from a language point of view, 'cause I was alive in 1993. I was in the middle of college and all that stuff seemed I wouldn't say in pop.

00:04:00 Frank

Possible seems a little far fetched in a little improbable, but it's interesting how that video predicted touch screens. The widespread use of touch screens so it held up pretty well, except for the fact it wasn't really a T&T that was a major player in that, and if memory serves the AT&T we know today is actually a rebranding of singular, which was another company entirely so.

00:04:24 Frank

I'm sure someone will call me on the comments if I'm wrong.

00:04:28 Frank

But just wanna say I love you too man.

00:04:32 Frank

See Andy's comment. Yeah man, I'm just thankful to have good people in my life. Like Andy. I'm happy to have a great audience that I have happen. Will be happy to be able to, you know, spend some time and I'm unplugged by the ocean.

00:04:48 Frank

So happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I'm going to sign off now and might do another quantum show. Probably tomorrow, maybe not today because I had a mental breakthrough in terms of what I was able to figure out by watching this video. And I might even scored a new guest for that show. So with all of that.

00:05:10 Frank

From all of us to all of you.

00:05:13 Frank

You have a great Thanksgiving if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving. I hope you have a wonderful Thursday.

DataPoint Livestreaming from the Beach Beats Sending a Fax from the Beach

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank livestreams from the beach to talk about how sometimes specific predictions of the future are correct, even if they miss some details.

In the 1990s, AT&T ran a series of commercials, highlighting the ways in which the internet would transform our lives.

One that stands out is the prediction that we would eventually send faxes from the beach. In 2020, the fax machine is somewhat of a relic. In the 90s, the concept of livestreaming on a platform like Facebook, would have seemed too far fetched at the time.

Show Notes

Sending a fax from the beach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kfIFDX9kE4

Data Driven Merchandise: https://www.amazon.com/s?rh=n%3A7141123011%2Cp_4%3AData+Driven&ref=w_bl_sl_s_ap_web_7141123011

Transcript

Coming soon

Dana Mantilia on Why Humans are the Weakest Link in CyberSecurity

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy interview Dana Mantilia on Why Humans are the Weakest Link in CyberSecurity.

Watch Original Livestream

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/frank-lavigne_data-driven-live-with-dana-mantilia-activity-6735628251328204800-Qjwq

Show Notes

Coming soon!

Transcript

AI Generated

00:00:05 BAILeY

Hello and welcome to data driven.

00:00:08 BAILeY

The podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

00:00:16 BAILeY

In this episode, Frank and Andy speak to Dana Mantilia about cybersecurity and why companies are not investing their time and attention where they should be.

00:00:26 BAILeY

This episode was originally recorded on a live stream and this was the first time we had a guest join us on the life stream for a show.

00:00:34 BAILeY

Season 4 just keeps the innovations coming.

00:00:38 BAILeY

Without further ado, here are your hosts Frank Lavigna and Andy Leonard.

00:00:44 Frank

Alright, thanks for tuning into data driven. If you're watching this live, thank you for taking time out of your day. I realize this being the lead up to the Holidays. Things are kind of hectic. I know in Chateau Lavigna things are very hectic today.

00:00:59 Frank

00:01:00 Frank

Andy and I are happy to announce a new guest that we have with us. I first saw her on LinkedIn when she would do these really cool training videos.

00:01:10 Frank

On basically security topics.

00:01:14 Frank

An with with Black Friday, literally a week from now Cyber Monday and the just the The Creativity alarmingly creative and flexibility of scammers that we've had in light of the kovid, pandemic etc etc.

00:01:32 Frank

I figured it would be worth having kind of a good discussion about just the basics of cyber security and why it's important my wife happens to be in the cyber security field, so I'd like to think that I'm better prepared, but I know if you think you're better prepared, that's probably a vulnerability.

00:01:50 Frank

So welcome to the show, Dana.

00:01:52 Dana

Well, thank you for having me nice to be here.

00:01:55 Frank

So this is you are actually the 1st guest. We're going to have on the show that we interviewed live on a live stream first on video.

00:02:02 Dana

Very honored, very.

00:02:03 Frank

Honored so awesome. We're trying to push the boundaries for season four, so tell us a little bit about you and your company for those that haven't seen your videos on LinkedIn.

00:02:15 Dana

OK sure yeah. My name is Dana Mantilia an I am the founder of identity Protection Planning an we tried to help educate people in very layman's terms on how they can protect themselves from identity thieves and cybercriminals. And so we have a variety of different kinds of training. Either you know, training data, webinars, some videos or we have an on line.

00:02:35 Dana

Platform that's short little videos that everyone is required to watch.

00:02:38 Dana

And just to kind of start spreading the word, I mean cybersecurity is not going away and unfortunately the the frontline workers are the people that really are maybe not educated on it and they also are the ones that are clicking on things they shouldn't be clicking on so.

00:02:54 Frank

No, so that's a good point. So one of your most recent videos, and this is the one that made me think we should have her on the show.

00:03:00 Frank

Was the one the gift card scam and how?

00:03:04 Frank

Somebody in your organization got snared up in this.

00:03:08 Dana

Yeah, I mean it's.

00:03:09 Dana

It's crazy, I mean that the way that I did that little video is how exactly how it happened. She came to my office door with her codon and I said, well, why do you have your code on and she said, oh I'm going to get that stuff you need and I said well, what stuff are you talking about? And she said this stuff, we were just messaging back and forth about. I said I was. I've been sitting here at my office just doing work I didn't.

00:03:28 Dana

Message you about anything.

00:03:30 Dana

So then she showed me and they they person initially sent an email that looked like it was kind of from my email very similar, which is always usually what they do. And then you know the urgency factor. I always tell people when there's a sense of urgency. We have to stop and say, is this really a big big emergency here to go buy gift cards? But people want to please their boss so they get these emails and they act upon them.

00:03:50 Dana

So she then then the person said, can you give me your email? I mean your cell phone. I wanted to text you this. So then the conversation jumped over to her cell phone and now they're texting back and forth and she said, well, how am I going to pay for these?

00:04:02 Dana

And then he said, well, you know what? Just when you get to the store, read off the numbers in the back of the card and then when you get back I'll reimburse you. So they were. I mean, it was just back and forth and back, but anybody would have fallen for this anybody.

00:04:13 Frank

Wow, the thing that struck me is the most insidious part.

00:04:17 Frank

It's how they moved away from email pretty early in the process, because maybe I mean it was a good. I mean, there's a I don't know. As a data scientist, I I hate giving out statistics, but let's say it was a 5050 chance that that person had your cell.

00:04:30 Frank

Phone number.

00:04:31 Frank

Millimeter like an an. It's a good gambit for them because I guess they didn't have your number already saved in their phone, so they could have this whole conversation with you, right? Yeah, an I would assume that folks in your organization are well trained.

00:04:46 Dana

Well, we're at least talking about this stuff right times. That's that's a startling factor, is that?

00:04:52 Dana

You know we're talking about all these things all the time and we we totally almost fell for it so.

00:04:57 Frank

Well, I never disclosed this publicly.

00:05:00 Frank

Until I'll do it now is that one time Microsoft? I work for Microsoft, they they pay the mortgage, they pay for the electricity and it goes through the my little monitor display there.

00:05:12 Frank

But they will routinely send out kind of phishing emails.

00:05:16 Frank

And it will be like urgent you have to, like, you know, do this because your expense report or something like this. And I shouldn't admit this publicly, but I did I was driving. I see this like emergency thing come through. I'm like the screen and I'm like.

00:05:30 Frank

So I didn't think I clicked on it and it it got it. It it it got a there was there was there should have been an animated GIF of like somebody?

00:05:38 Frank

At the company doing this, but it was like this. It was this like badge of shame of like hey you fell for this uh huh.

00:05:45 Frank

You know, and I was like crap and I was like I learned. 2 lessons one.

00:05:51 Frank

Pull over first.

00:05:53 Frank

If I can't mouse over the link.

00:05:56 Frank

Probably shouldn't click on it, right?

00:05:58 Frank

And three is just.

00:06:00 Frank

That sense of urgency.

00:06:01 Frank

Um was what really like, and maybe there's a psychological thing to this where it just tricks off like this. The primordial brain, or I know there's the three brain model and Andy and I go off on tangents a lot. Dan, I should warn you, but not us. Ultimately the idea is that once you're kind of anxious about something right, your higher brain functions are going, if not shut off kind of be pushed aside.

00:06:24 Frank

And all you have to do is click the link to get your answer or whatever I mean.

00:06:28 Frank

It seems like these folks are well versed in this type of psychology.

00:06:33 Dana

Yeah, and they also know too that you know every when you're on your mobile, everybody is rush rush rush rush rush for rushing on the mobile phone all the time and that is a little scary because sometimes even when you look on the mobile you can't even see who it's from. It'll it'll you know. Just say a name or something like even some of the Apple ones that come out. Don't say oh it's from Apple, but that's not the exact. Doesn't show you the phone number or whatever it is. It's just.

00:06:55 Dana

Summer has put up there. As you know The Who it's from kind of thing, so yeah.

00:07:00 Dana

There's a lot of things we need to all.

00:07:01 Dana

Start doing or not doing.

00:07:03 Frank

Right, it's it's an interesting. It's just fascinating that with all this advances in cybersecurity, and I've seen a lot of the things that the technical we're not going to go into.

00:07:14 Frank

Humans are like the weak link.

00:07:16 Dana

Yeah.

00:07:18 Frank

That's crazy.

00:07:20 Dana

Yeah, definitely, and that's the frontline to most of the stuff and you know the urgency factor just to go back to that real quick one. Scam that that that is targeted at seniors.

00:07:29 Dana

Is the grandparent scam, and So what they do is they will call up and pretend that there's someone's grandson or granddaughter and something crazy happened like there's held hostage in a Mexican jail or something and they need to have money right away wired to them so that they can, you know, get out of there. So then to make it even sound more valid, they put the prison guard on the phone and they say, you know who?

00:07:49 Dana

This is the information. This is where you need to send it to, and he's a very stern person and these people really do fall for this and a lot of the people Western unions around the country. They they know that this.

00:08:00 Dana

Time is running rampant, so they'll try to stop people. I did a speech to speech the other day or whatever. I talked the other day and they were about probably about 1000 people on there and nobody said anything when I brought this up. And then at the end when we had the Q&A, there had to at least be 25 to 50 people. That said, my my mother fell for this and she would not believe that it wasn't my son. You know another one.

00:08:20 Dana

Edit There there there's a scam was that they said that their grandson was had drugs in the car and was with some guy that he was going fishing with and it was just one after the.

00:08:30 Dana

And a lot of the time that seniors won't even admit that this happens because they're embarrassed by it, and then they're afraid that their children, their adult children are not going to let them manage their finances. So again, it's a whole play. An urgency plan, emotion, and you're not even thinking straight. I mean, if somebody came up to you and said your grandson is in a Mexican jail right now.

00:08:50 Dana

And we need to give money. You do stop and think a little bit, but the way we act on line is very different than the way we act when we're here. We act on the phone when somebody calls, we want to believe them. Then we would act.

00:09:00 Dana

As if they were standing in front of us, so that's kind of some of the awareness that I like to to spread is safe. Just ask yourself if this person was standing here and this conversation was happening, would it sound crazy, you know?

00:09:11 Andy

So Dana, we talked a lot about the problem and how do we make ourselves shift gears like that? How do we engage, you know, Mentale in a way that maybe defeats the Sergeant.

00:09:25 Dana

Well, you know cybersecurity training has been, you know, going on over the years. The problem is getting bigger and bigger and bigger and we're throwing more and more money at it. And it's not getting any better, right? Yeah, so I say we need to approach it. I look at things a little bit differently, so usually it's the IT department that's responsible for putting together a program to teach the regular, non technical people.

00:09:46 Dana

You know?

00:09:46 Dana

What they need to do and not do so, they're forced to sit through an hours worth of training. They're about to fall asleep. All they want to do is be able to get through it so they can check off the box that they actually went. They did it, that's it, and I don't think that's the best way to teach people what I think we should do is we should start teaching them how they can protect themselves, their families, their homes. There's going to get some interests are going to say hey, you know that's.

00:10:10 Dana

I better call my mother and tell her to watch out for that, or I better make sure my son's not doing that and there's a there's a buy in there. So now once you get that buy in, there's an awareness that we need to start protecting things.

00:10:20 Dana

And then when you're talking about the at the company, you've already educated them on how they should be looking at their emails. Then now they know how that they need to be looking at the emails with the company, 'cause emails is pretty much where most of the problems are starting from, so so I just think it's if we looked at it a little bit differently, maybe we would be getting through to people a little bit different.

00:10:37 Andy

Well, I like your approach because we've already kind of walked through a lot of this, and we've said that it's not a technical issue at all, an.

00:10:45 Andy

Being a night person and Frank just Frank admitted earlier that were high functioning. You know, savants. Basically Frank and I were both 80 D and you know. And it's.

00:10:58 Frank

A normal account cards in Vegas though, which I totally feel shaded. I'm sorry, alright cut off, that's OK, it was funny.

00:11:06 Andy

Yeah, but you know it.

00:11:08 Andy

Having the app when you were just describing that I was imagining people that you know, even my you know my cellphone Frank doing this and we're like I said kind of high functioning but normal IT people and nothing against normal IT people I love you, I mean it but having them try to explain something nontechnical. 'cause if if we've identified that the issue is not really a technical.

00:11:31 Andy

Problem and we throw money at it and bought deer. Develop software that others have built and all of that really what's happening here is very psychological.

00:11:39 Andy

So I would. I would think that that that approach you just described having a non technical person walk through this, which sounds to me very emotional scenario that comes at you. You know on.

00:11:55 Andy

People you love an urgency and it's on your phone. And it's like every card that the scammers have is being played against. Especially older people who are not familiar but not as familiar with the technology as some of us.

00:12:08 Dana

Uh-huh absolutely absolutely. So I just think it's a different way to approach things and it it comes across as if you're giving the employee a benefit as opposed to forcing them to sit down because you need to protect the company.

00:12:20 Dana

Yeah OK, great.

00:12:21 Dana

So that's what I have to do, you know, kind of thing.

00:12:24 Andy

So we'll just envision mandatory training. Sorry, I just had a vision of office space of.

00:12:30 Andy

Well, you know, is this good for the company that banner?

00:12:33 Frank

Friday is Crazy shirt day.

00:12:39 Frank

There's a movie reference for the show, Andy, that could you?

00:12:45 Frank

I don't have my sound board.

00:12:46 Andy

You don't have your sound.

00:12:48 Frank

Now that's one of the disadvantages of switching to LinkedIn. Live will fix it. You know us where engineers Andy?

00:12:55 Frank

So the the question I guess is.

00:13:01 Frank

How do so? Yeah, I mean I think it was really insightful. Was you know my wife bought a bunch of studies of books to study for the CI, SSP and all that. And it's like a I mean, it's a it's a book and.

00:13:15 Frank

It's not technical, you're right. I mean, people are the weak link and I think.

00:13:20 Frank

People, and then that whole like you brought out the whole shame factor. Like I'm not going to admit like I mean that thing would happen to me. I got caught by our internal team, right? I was a year ago and I'm just admitting it now. Like you know. And and I did that on purpose because, well, I didn't hide it on purpose. Well, I guess I did, but I wanted to.

00:13:40 Frank

To point out is that there's not a lot of shame. I mean, the shame of this, I think is a big barrier, isn't it? To protection, isn't it?

00:13:47 Dana

Yeah, definitely it is. Yeah, we all have to get over that. Oh my goodness, I don't wanna be the one that you know.

00:13:51 Dana

Took the company down. I don't want to be the one that you know did this or let this in or what you know, whatever. Whatever the case may be, it's definitely a shame factor is is a big thing and and recognizing that the people are the biggest thing and one thing is that cyber security training, right? So it's going on a little bit here and there. The big companies much more so some of the smaller companies and medium size companies. There is nothing. It's like the Wild West going on out there so you know whatever you think your secretary is comfortable clicking on.

00:14:16 Dana

That's what she's clicking on.

00:14:17 Dana

So that's where we need to say, OK, this is a whole new industry and it's you know, it's it's it's it's. It's exploding right now and I think over the next three to five years cybersecurity training is going to be. It's going to be everywhere and everybody. Even the small companies are going to have to going to have to do something along those lines, but.

00:14:34 Dana

That being said, so because it's so new again, going back to the IT department, if you said to anybody five years ago, you know something about cybersecurity, they probably don't even really know what you're talking about. They say you need to talk to the IT department.

00:14:46 Dana

So we always just that pass up. Oh, that's a night thing we don't get involved in that. It's a night thing and like you we've all just been talking about it's not it's it's the people that IT thing might be perfect. You know maybe they have at the firewall or whatever all that stuff they need to do. But it's the people are just clicking on it, downloading things, you're going nowhere.

00:15:04 Frank

No, that's true. I mean, you can have the best firewall and all that packets like lock down to the teeth, but I mean if if somebody behind the firewall clicks on the.

00:15:13 Frank

Clicks on the link.

00:15:16 Frank

It's kind of like if you want to imagine like this is. This is the image I have is well, First off. I think the problem might be the term cyber security, right? 'cause when you hear the term cyber security I think of like somebody like with this type of monitor setup. You know like yeah right. You know like hacking away at the matrix or something like that like yeah.

00:15:35 Frank

No, it's not. It doesn't have to be. I mean, there's a....

The Third AI Superpower

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 09:00:00 -0400

About a year ago, I read AI Superpowers by Kai-Fu Lee which details the struggle between the US and China for AI supremacy in the 21st century,

That got me thinking about a map I once made for the School of AI.

The US vs China debate leaves out one key player: India.

Rick Hall on Data Analytics, entrepreneurship, and the impact of COVID on Remote Work.

Fri, 30 Oct 2020 09:00:00 -0400

This episode kicks off Season 4 of the show and we are quite excited to have Rick Hall to talk to us about data analytics, entrepreneurship, and the impact of COVID on remote work.

About Rick Hall

Rick Hall is a software entrepreneur focused on the analytics market. He has led the development of over a dozen software products and taken several companies from the early stage to an eventual sale. He has been working in analytics and software for 30 years and has been apart of the evolution of several generations of technology and practices. Currently, he is the CEO at Aginity Corporation--Supercharge your SQL Experience with Analytics Management. Aginity Corporation is the only next-generation analytics management toolset designed specifically to empower analytic teams to take advantage of the top analytic platforms.

Show Notes

Sponsor: Audible.com - Get a free audio book when you sign up for a free trial!

Notable Quotes

Welcome to Season 4! (01:00)

ImpactQuantum is our new podcast. (02:30)

Rick owns and operates Aginity Corporation. (04:00)

Shoutouts to Bill Baker and the BI Advisory Council. (05:00)

"Stuff changes." (Paraphrased) (08:00)

OG can stand for Old Guy or Original Gangster." - Frank (08:30)

Getting data to the place where someone can actually use it for Analytics. (09:00)

"First, you get the data," referring to ETL, data engineering, data integration, data quality... (09:45)

Regarding GPT-3 (11:45)

"34 ways to measure coupons..." (14:20)

"It's more of a biology problem." (14:50)

On answering questions at the speed of business. (15:45)

"So many business questions are answered, initially, in the heat of the moment." (17:30)

A really honest answer on predicting the unpredictable. (18:35)

"I think we'll be talking about Covid for the next 20 years." - Frank (20:00)

Wait - did (THE) Rick Hall just say he listens to Data Driven?? (21:15)

On business travel and remote work during the pandemic... (22:30)

Rick, on pay for software engineers in Silicon Valley. (23:30)

"Innovation Happens Everywhere" - Frank (25:25)

"Everyone hears the story of the Google's of the world..." (27:30)

Rick started a company 10 Sep 2001. (28:15)

"If you don't double-down at the moment of greatest risk, well, no one's going to do it for you." - Rick (29:00)

"This is probably not the easiest way to make money." - Frank, on entrepreneurship (31:00)

"Get it useful fast." - Rick on Lean (32:00)

On starting lean and The Lean Startup. (32:45)

On startups and the cloud... (35:45)

He said it again! (THE) Rick Hall listens to Data Driven! (36:40)

Did you find data or did data find you? (38:00)

"Just shut up and go do it!" - Rick's boss (39:00)

What's the favorite part of your current gig? (40:45)

When I'm not working, I enjoy ___. (42:00)

I think the coolest thing in technology is ___. (42:25)

On Microsoft Azure engineering time-to-market. (43:00)

"Ware definitely moving forward with an Iteration Economy." - Frank (43:30)

I look forward to the day I can use technology to ___. (44:00)

Share something different about yourself (44:30)

Andy's story of being diagnosed with ADHD around age 47. (45:00)

"Ok, I know where he gets this..." - Andy (46:00)

Frank has a bunch of desks in his office (46:10)

Learn more about Aginity.com! (46:40)

Aginity.com is free to start! (47:00)

Follow Rick on LinkedIn. (47:30)

Rick's recommended Audible listens: (48:35)

The Lean Startup

Lean Analytics

Crossing the Chasm

"I love podcasts which is how I came to yours." - Rick

Aginity is platform agnostic. (49:45)

Transcript (AI Generated)

Data Point Post-Pandemic Bookstore Visit, Data, and Sugared Up Kids

Sat, 10 Oct 2020 22:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank visits the new Barnes and Noble location in Rockville, MD which is the first store in the US to sport the book retailer's new design. Oddly enough, it looks a lot like the Amazon brick and mortar bookstore just down the road in Bethesda. (see previous data point http://datadriven.tv/episodes/thoughts-on-amazons-brick-and-mortar-bookstore/ )

With less space and a revamped layout, you have to think that the store's design is much more data-driven. (Pun somewhat intended.)

How Do Voice Assistants Work?

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy explore voice assistants and the behind the scenes technology that makes them tick.

AI Generated Transcript

00:00:02 British Voiceover AI Lady

Hello and welcome to data driven, the podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence and will not be the only AI generated voice today. As Frank and Andy interview, my Cousins Alexa, Cortana, Siri and the Google assistant.

00:00:18 British Voiceover AI Lady

Now that I think of it, the Google assistant needs a proper name.

00:00:22 British Voiceover AI Lady

Doesn't it?

00:00:23 British Voiceover AI Lady

Without further ado, here are your hosts Frank Lavigna and Andy Leonard.

00:00:29 Frank

So we're both together and we're going to be talking about voice assistants and kind of how they work and.

00:00:38 Frank

Uh, we have some special guests with us today.

00:00:42 Frank

Welcome once again, if you're just joining us live. It's Andy later tonight we are here and we are live streaming, data driven podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science, machine learning an artificial intelligence.

00:00:55 Frank

How are you doing Andy?

00:00:56 Andy

I'm doing pretty good Frank. How are you?

00:00:59 Frank

I'm doing well. I know you have a hard stop so I won't Yammer too long we have.

00:01:04 Frank

Three special guests with us today.

00:01:06 Frank

And E 3 three.

00:01:09 Frank

That's a record. It is a record.

00:01:14 Frank

These guests are.

00:01:19 Andy

Alexa Hello Alexa.

00:01:22 Frank

She's going to say hello back, I'm sure.

00:01:26 Andy

Yeah.

00:01:28 Frank

Cortana.

00:01:30 Andy

Hello Cortana.

00:01:33 Frank

And.

00:01:36 Frank

On my phone, I have Google Assistant.

00:01:38 Andy

Hello Google Assistant Hey Google.

00:01:41 Frank

That didn't work. It now correctly phones on. Let me tell you whenever there's a training video or like a keynote where they talk about the integration between them. It's pandemonium in my Home Office, because I usually have all three and it's just harder pandemonium.

00:01:59 Frank

So I want to switch to, so we're recording this last. If you're watching live. Thank you. If you're watching later, thank you. We always try to respond to the comments. I think we're pretty good about that. And if you're watching this, if you're listening to this on the podcast, I will try to transcribe everything I'm saying. So let me switch.

00:02:18 Frank

Here.

00:02:19 Frank

An I'll see if I can put us in the little bottom here, how do?

00:02:22 Frank

I do that.

00:02:24 Frank

There we go.

00:02:27 Frank

Oh well anyway.

00:02:30 Andy

So there we.

00:02:31 Andy

Are were there this is a closed.

00:02:34 Frank

Almost there, this is the. This is a quote.

00:02:38 Frank

From Charles the 5th, who if you're not up in your history he was kind of a big deal. I think he was a hapsburg. I don't remember shame on me but he has this quote where he says I speak Spanish to God, Italian to women, French to men in German to my horse.

00:02:57 Frank

Now you're probably wondering what the heck does this have to do with anything? Well, here's what it has to do with.

00:03:03 Frank

Oh no, PowerPoint is going to crash.

00:03:07 Frank

No, you can tell.

00:03:08 Frank

We're live here we go. This is what I want to say.

00:03:11 Frank

This is the my my modern take on this. I speak to Elexa when I'm home to Cortana. When I'm at work and Google Assistant when I'm in my car or have my phone with me.

00:03:24 Frank

You can also replace that with Siri. I don't. I do have an iPad, but it's not with me.

00:03:28 Andy

That's Frank, the 1st right.

00:03:30 Frank

Frank the 1st.

00:03:34 Frank

I rather like that I rather like that.

00:03:38 Frank

So the idea here is you know how do these things work.

00:03:41 Frank

You know what?

00:03:44 Frank

An you know, in terms of the guests and and kind of things and I know you have a A Time Constraint so I just want to kind of demonstrate something that I've had the chance for a work engagement had a chance to kind of study up on all three because it was a competitive situation between Louis.

00:04:03 Frank

Which is ultimately what powers Cortana, kind of behind the scenes, and Lex which is the Alexa version for processing text and dialogue flow, which is the Google version, so it's a lot of mouthfuls an I did. Let's see if we can get our guests to introduce themselves Alexa.

00:04:24 Frank

Hi how are you?

00:04:27 Speaker 3

I'm feeling like a home run.

00:04:29 Speaker 3

This weekend I'll be watching a lot of my favorite sports.

00:04:35 Frank

OK.

00:04:38 Frank

I'm getting a warning sign on my stream ability here, so I don't know what's going on.

00:04:42 Andy

What's up with that?

00:04:43 Frank

I don't know Well, you're still hear me so that's a good sign.

00:04:46 Andy

Yeah, you're you're good with me and I'm out here on the in the boondocks with 25 minutes bro.

00:04:50 Frank

There you go.

00:04:52 Frank

Hey Cortana.

00:04:54 Frank

How are you?

00:04:57 Speaker 4

Great thanks.

00:04:59 Frank

There you go.

00:05:00 Frank

And let's see what our friend Google Assistant.

00:05:03 Frank

Has to say.

00:05:10 Frank

Hey court, I'm sorry. OK Google, how are you?

00:05:18 Frank

Oops, it's on my Bluetooth, that's why OK.

00:05:22 Frank

You could tell where life looks 'cause it's just all bloopers.

00:05:27 Frank

How are you?

00:05:32 Frank

So we've returned a bunch of short search results, OK?

00:05:39 Frank

What's interesting about these three is that they're all trying to solve essentially the same problem, right? The they they are trying to solve.

00:05:46 Frank

The ability to take human language.

00:05:49 Frank

And type, it in and convert it to let me see if I get this screen back up.

00:05:55 Frank

An I will maximize that there we go see my fancy setup I do. It's cool, isn't it? Yes.

00:06:04 Frank

Alright, so ultimately they're all trying to say the same problem. Hey, we have a comment wise guy. Yes I am miserable. OK, alright, so here's the problem that all these devices want to solve, right? This is a human. This is some speaker device thingy.

00:06:21 Frank

Right?

00:06:23 Frank

And.

00:06:25 Frank

You have the cloud.

00:06:27 Frank

Which I think is really makes this.

00:06:29 Frank

Possible in a lot of ways or not. Just possible and practical? Yeah yeah.

00:06:34 Frank

I say.

00:06:36 Frank

You know, turn.

00:06:39 Frank

I have to be careful 'cause I actually do have the lights in my Home Office so.

00:06:43

Set up to this.

00:06:46 Frank

Right, right? So this gets digitized into audio.

00:06:51 Frank

Right?

00:06:52 Frank

Here right, I'll draw that by Squiggly Lines.

00:06:55 Andy

Right, I like to squiggly lines.

00:06:57 Frank

See, I'm talented, I'm very.

00:06:59 Andy

Hard you are. You're an artist.

00:07:01 Frank

Then a cloud service, right? Whether that's Louis.

00:07:07 Frank

Dialogflow

00:07:09 Frank

Or Lax.

00:07:12 Frank

Converts that into.

00:07:15 Frank

Back into text or into text, right? Right turn the.

00:07:20 Frank

Lights on.

00:07:27 Frank

Then what happens is then you have to figure out what does that mean. What's the context here, right? What's the intent? That's the official word.

00:07:34 Frank

So that's turn lights.

00:07:38 Frank

And then on now most people will argue with me. Is that technically this is the intent?

00:07:43 Frank

And this is the the destination or slot.

00:07:48 Frank

Lex calls us a slot and this is the state that you want, right? So ultimately there's 100 different ways I can say that, and this is what makes the really kind of an LP problem, right? Please turn the lights on or do would you kindly turn the lights on right bioshock?

00:08:02 Frank

Right there for you.

00:08:05 Frank

Um?

00:08:06 Frank

That sort of thing, and then whatever that happens, is that this will then parse that into an action, right?

00:08:12 Frank

Which, if you have smart plugs, it will then send a message back through the magic of the Internet and then turn the actual.

00:08:20 Frank

Oh, I like how that's doing that. Turn the actual light on.

00:08:27 Frank

Right, so that's that's basically solving the same problem.

00:08:30 Frank

Right?

00:08:32 Frank

And what's interesting about this? I just realized I didn't say it out loud for folks listening on the podcast, but ultimately what happens is my words get translated into an electronic signal, right? A sign? A wave of sorts.

00:08:45 Frank

And then that is then.

00:08:47 Frank

Re on the other side, it's then sent from the speaker to the cloud, where it will turn those that sound form that sound wave back into text, right? Or words and then it'll go through and it'll parse out.

00:09:02 Frank

What I'm saying is try to get an intent from it or an action to it, and then based on that, some other program that also lives in the cloud.

00:09:11 Frank

Mostly, we'll then take an action based on that. Does that make sense like that? Explain that clearly.

00:09:17 Andy

I think so yeah, yeah I like it. I like the flow.

00:09:21 Frank

Yeah, and it's it's it's.

00:09:22 Frank

Amazing how simple this is, right? This is not rocket science inside your average in inside your average you know echo device. You know it's not rocket science, it's just well, this one is the fancy one with the screen, but you know the the typical kind of .1 or whatever is a microphone and speaker in a Wi-Fi connection. It's essentially all it is, right?

00:09:42 Frank

So ultimately the the goal then is that let me see if I can D minimize minimize this. So the the goal is is that I have an example of that, and this is essentially a build your own voice kit that I saw at Micro Center for.

00:10:01 Frank

Like $5 or something like that.

00:10:03 Frank

An inside is a speaker, a button, and a Cardboard box.

00:10:09 Frank

And if you attach your Raspberry Pi to this.

00:10:12 Frank

You basically have a Google home assistant.

00:10:17 Andy

That's nice, yeah.

00:10:19 Frank

Shame on me because I bought this longer ago than I care to admit and I haven't built it yet.

00:10:26 Frank

But that's just to demonstrate. The point is that these these actual devices are rather simple in terms of, you know, just them being their own thing, right? So what's interesting about this, and this is where the cutting edge comes is when you when I talk.

00:10:41 Frank

We have our human brains or whole.

00:10:44 Frank

Some will debate about.

00:10:45 Frank

Whether or not I have a human brain, but let's let's go with you.

00:10:49 Frank

So.

00:10:51 Frank

The short of it is, is that.

00:10:54 Frank

I have the ability to understand context right from my previous statement.

00:10:58 Frank

So I'm going to mute some of these devices because if I start to hear their name, they'll start going wild. What's interesting is how good Cortana is at this. How good the Google assistant is at this, and how.

00:11:14 Frank

Alexa needs some room for improvement, right, right? So for instance, if you haven't caught on the shirt I'm wearing says cream cash rules everything around me, that's from a Wu Tang clan song, so I will ask this simple question from Alexa Alexa, who is the Wu Tang clan.

00:11:36 Speaker 3

According to Wikipedia, Wu Tang clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, NY city in 1992 original.

00:11:45 British Voiceover AI Lady

Hopes.

00:11:46 Frank

Alexa.

00:11:48 Frank

What was their first album?

00:11:51 Speaker 3

According to Wikipedia, the first album is the debut studio album by German dual Modern Talking. It was released on April 1st, 19.

00:11:59 Frank

80 so you get the idea you and I know like if you asked me who they who the Wu Tang clan were an, then what was their first album? I would tell you right, right?

00:12:09 Frank

It does not have the notion of context. This is turns out to be very difficult problem for computers to solve. OK, because.

00:12:19 Frank

There's a lot going on, right? So if I start talking to you is like handy. I was at this great restaurant last night that and then we switch to another.

00:12:27 Frank

Topic.

00:12:28 Frank

Then

00:12:29 Frank

We would, we would then say, Hey where was that place? And then I would kind of know if you said place I would know what you were talking about right? That is humans have trouble with this right? 'cause I have many conversations with my wife that kind of go in different directions 'cause I have no idea where she's talking about.

00:12:47 Frank

But I mean it's hard for humans. It's really hard for machines, so let's try and see if Cortana does this any better. Hey Cortana?

00:12:54 Frank

Who is the Wu Tang clan?

00:12:58 Speaker 4

According to wikipedia.org Wu Tang, clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, NY city in 1992. Originally composed of rza.

00:13:10 Frank

Hey Cortana, what was their first album?

00:13:15 Speaker 4

Should I read a snippet from Wikipedia?

00:13:17 Speaker 4

That might be related.

00:13:19 Frank

Yeah, I'm afraid.

00:13:23 Speaker 4

The Wu Tang clan is a NYC based hip hop musical group consisting of 10 American rappers, rza, gza, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah.

00:13:34 Frank

There's a lot of members of the Wu Tang clan. In case you didn't know.

00:13:37 Speaker 4

Cappadonna and the label dirty *******

00:13:42 Frank

Hey Cortana, what was their first album?

00:13:49 Speaker 4

There might be something on Wikipedia.

00:13:51 Speaker 4

Should I read it?

00:13:53 Frank

Yeah.

00:13:56 Speaker 4

The Wu Tang clan is a NYC.

00:13:58 Frank

Based all right?

00:13:59 Frank

Well, in the past she did get that right.

00:14:03 Andy

Well, she wasn't completely off base, wasn't completely off. Now she she kept it. Seems like some kind of workflow thing put her into.

00:14:11 Andy

It shot well at at least identify the context back to your previous question.

00:14:16 Frank

It did on that's a new active. That's a new behavior. I swear I I used to do this demo all the time and depending on the audience it would be Wu Tang clan or you know Aerosmith, you know. So let's see what Google has to say. OK, Google.

00:14:32 Frank

Who is the Wu Tang clan?

00:14:39 Frank

Alright, you're not very talkative today.

00:14:45 Frank

What was their first album?

00:14:50 Frank

OK, the demo gods are not kind to me today.

00:14:54 Frank

But in the past this has worked on.

00:14:56 Frank

On home assistant, an Cortana.

00:15:00 Frank

OK, so.

00:15:05 Frank

So the reason?

00:15:05 Frank

Why we're doing this today, and I know Andy has a hard stop in a couple of minutes is because we are hoping to get data driven as a flash briefing on Alexa.

00:15:15 Frank

And.

00:15:17 Frank

Alexa.

00:15:20 Frank

So I was trying to do this whole surprise thing, but apparently since the demo failed, I figured I'd break into that.

00:15:27 Frank

Into that, but that's ultimately the goal. But I also think this is an interesting, interesting topic, because for a lot of folks, this is just this magical black box. There is listening, right? An you know it's not magical and it all comes down to math and science, right? An and the key is to understand, kind of how it's built. And once you understand how it's built, you can build your own systems and it's actually not that hard.

00:15:47 Frank

There are more moving parts than you would think, but ultimately it just comes down to.

00:15:53 Frank

You know you're taking that speed that sound data, converting it into text, then taking that text and then converting that back into some kind of intent in action, right?

00:16:04 Frank

Yeah, and then on the other side, I'm sorry, go ahead.

00:16:07 Andy

No, Mark Taylor just said it's a do loop and he's right, he's.

00:16:10 Frank

A do loop. We have Mark joining us again. Thanks for watching mark.

00:16:14 Frank

I really should ask this.

00:16:17 Frank

But unfortunately to be is a bit of a bit of A.

00:16:21 Frank

Not a nice word or not a professional word for LinkedIn.

00:16:25

Yeah.

00:16:28 Frank

But they don't have enough memory. I think not at all.

00:16:33

No they don't.

00:16:34 Frank

But it's an interesting. It's an interesting thing where you, you know, 'cause I'm a nerd. I have I happen to have all three different types, but you know, actually 4 if you count Siri. Let's see if Siri will do any better on the on the album question.

00:16:49 Frank

So Andy, we actually have 4 special guests.

00:16:52 Andy

Wow, thank you.

00:16:54 Andy

Not crazy, that's that's a new record.

00:16:56 Frank

Hey Siri, who is the Wu Tang clan?

00:17:03 Speaker 4

Here's some information.

00:17:05 Frank

Alright, so she basically.

00:17:07 Frank

Pointed to Wikipedia.

00:17:13 Frank

What was their first album?

00:17:25 Frank

So it did the transcription.

00:17:27 Frank

What I said is good.

00:17:30 Speaker 3

I don't recognize this song.

00:17:32 Andy

OK oh OK.

00:17:34 Frank

So I swear this it did work before, but I mean ultimately it's a very hard problem. In fact, one of the things that they showed a couple of years ago at ignite I or build.

00:17:44 Frank

They showed this concept video of this lady talking to Cortana and it was on her phone.

00:17:51 Frank

More on that in a minute. It was on her phone an as she was driving into work. She'd be like, Oh, remind me to tell this person.

00:18:00 Frank

You know have a meeting with them.

00:18:03 Frank

And then the the logic would then go and then schedule the meeting through the through the outlook calendar and then tell her you know so and so rejected the request. But they are able to meet 30 minutes later. Is that OK? Yes, oh and invite so and so to this meeting as well.

00:18:20 Frank

Right,...

This, Too, Shall Pass

Sat, 12 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0400

This episode is entitled "This, Too, Shall Pass" and it was recorded Tuesday the eighth of September in this foul year of our Lord two thousand twenty.

Frank and Andy tend to wander off the old conversational trail.

But you knew that already.

Thanks for listening to the Data Driven podcast. Visit us on the web at datadriven.tv and be sure to like us on Facebook.

(Bonus points to you if you caught the Hunter Thompson reference in the intro)

Recorded Live:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tevc7Wr68OE

Transcription Coming Soon

DataPoint Did We Just Replace a Human with AI?

Fri, 04 Sep 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this DataPoint, Frank examines whether or not the new AI voice over tech really replaced a human or did it open up new creative options instead?

Transcript

Speaker 1

Hey, what's up? It's Frank here.

Speaker 1

From data driven the podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data science machine learning and artificial intelligence, so the title of this data. Point is did AI take just take away someone's job. Well, yes, and no so here's an example so.

Speaker 1

So rather, quantum answer, isn't it right? It's both yes and no at the same time. See what I did there? So this is actually in regards to the voice over artist that we used to have on the show, but for both data driven and.

Speaker 1

Impact quantum but.

Speaker 1

I just recorded something today for impact quantum, so this isn't this isn't just a cheap kind of product placement for the other show. This is a serious thing, so if we go and we listen to this.

Speaker 2

Hello and welcome to this episode of impact quantum. This episode is titled freaking cubits how do they work?

Speaker 1

So basically that is an artificially an AI generated voice that we've been using.

Speaker 1

Probably since the three year anniversary prior to that we used someone an voiceover artist I found on fiber called shifty pop. Awesome work that she does.

Speaker 1

Um and her turn around is pretty quick too, but.

Speaker 1

She also doesn't do voiceover work anymore. She just singing kind of stuff which is still cool. So definitely check her out and tell her data driven center sent you. But the key here is that.

Speaker 1

We would love to be in a position where budget Wise. We could have a voiceover artist custom do this. But just was never practical right for every show, however, with the AI.

Speaker 1

I can.

Speaker 1

Create a custom intro for every show and eventually a custom outro outro at the end too.

Speaker 1

See we've done that were on data driven a few times an every episode of impact quantum has been that now part of that is just you know, practical right so I can type up what I need to type have the voice over artist say tweak the voice settings or whatever, although we have kind of a setting we like.

Speaker 1

And hit generate and I have a wave file right away for MP3 actions. What generates.

Speaker 1

Right away, right? So I have that instantaneous feedback, right? So there's the time and it doesn't cost me anything extra to do that. I I I spent $30 or something on some web based platform so it can actually pull in voice wave voice generation capabilities from Google, Amazon as well as as Azure so I have.

Speaker 1

All that ability kind of depict the voices. Pick the accents. I can even do a child's voice a man's voice. I mean, it's obviously a lady's voice. I can do that. I can do that right away. I paid for it basically one time and I can get that. So in a sense.

Speaker 1

I was actually having a discussion with my manager. Actually, wow, you've put somebody out of work.

Speaker 1

And yes and No.

Speaker 1

So I hired a voiceover artist three years ago.

Speaker 1

Yeah, 3 1/2 years ago an I paid her I think was like ended up being $50 or so. So for less than the cost of re engaging her to do a voiceover I now can create custom voiceovers with different voices, different accents, different gender.

Speaker 1

I can do all sorts different ages. I could do all sorts of things there, where as before I, I guess. I guess I could go through fiber and find that selection, but I can't do it on demand and a lot of case you haven't figured this out by now. A lot of what Andy and I do is ad hoc. We don't really do we do preparation, but not to the degree that I think.

Speaker 1

We present it, we do so I think that what what? This gives us the agility an the cost point. So in a sense yes. did I replace a human being with an AI generated voice? Yes I did, but I wouldn't say that.

Speaker 1

I put her out of work because I wasn't going to engage her anyway because it $30 to $50 or more per engagement.

Speaker 1

Wasn't going to do it anyway.

Speaker 1

Right, so this gets into that. That real question have I replaced?

Speaker 1

A person and the answer is yes and no. In in, in the strictest sense, yes. But honestly, I really wasn't going to engage her for at least another year to do another voice over.

Speaker 1

You know the podcast isn't well monetized right now. Speaking of monetizing.

Speaker 1

You can check out this cool shirt I'm wearing. If you're watching the video, it's the data graffiti shirt. Just search for it on Amazon data graffiti. It looks an awful lot like the obey stickers you might have seen up and down East Coast, and I think I've seen it in London a few times.

Speaker 1

Once you see it, you'll kind of. It'll trigger your memory. Also, we are looking for sponsors, so if you want to sponsor this show, hit me up.

Speaker 1

But so in a sense.

Speaker 1

AI has opened up an opportunity for us that was really kind of closed before.

Speaker 1

And I'm sure there's a fancy economic word or economic model for this, but this is just something AI has enabled that really wasn't going to spring the money for a custom voiceover.

Speaker 1

For every show.

Speaker 1

So I don't know. I think this is worth further discussion, but I also think you know it's not exactly.

Speaker 1

It's not as a clear cut answer yes or no. It's it's very quantum if you will.

Speaker 1

So with that.

Speaker 1

I'm going to.

Speaker 1

Wish you a good day and hope you have a great weekend.

Frank and Andy Go Quantum

Fri, 14 Aug 2020 09:00:00 -0400

Like Star Trek in the 90s we are creating a spin off series.

The new show is called Impact Quantum and will focus on quantum computing.

Additionally, Frank and Andy explain how they keep creating content despite having full schedules.

Careers in Data Predictions, Transforming Organizational Culture, and DIY Solar Power

Wed, 29 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy talk about why Data Engineering may be the next hot career, how Microsoft's culture has changed, and Frank's solar power experiments.

Transcription & show notes coming soon.

The 3 R’s of the 2020s: Robots, Retail, and Reskilling

Thu, 09 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode Frank and Andy talk about the "three Rs" of the 2020s: robots, retail, and reskilling.

Original live stream link:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/frank-lavigne_data-driven-live-robots-data-and-retail-activity-6687056930667548672-tVKq

Transcription

coming soon

DataPoint Robots at Walmart

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank sees a robot patrolling the aisles of his local Walmart and gets excited.

The robot scans shelves and helps identify what needs to be restocked and what's out of place.

https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-adding-robots-help-stock-shelves-to-650-more-stores-2020-1

3 Year Retrospective

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy share their thoughts on three years of podcasting, stoicism, and climbing Mount Royal.

Show Notes

This is the first show that we recorded via live stream. It also marks the debut of our AI voice over talent.

Sponsor

Get a free audiobook on us at http://thedatadrivenbook.com/

Transcription (AI Generated)

The following was generated by YouTube's caption system.

0:00:03.200,0:00:15.540

hey Andy how it's going good how are you

0:00:06.600,0:00:16.830

good I'm seeing a black screen and for

0:00:15.540,0:00:21.779

some reason the audios being piped

0:00:16.830,0:00:27.150

through you know are you input should be

0:00:21.779,0:00:29.640

my my camera does on the pair of B let

0:00:27.150,0:00:36.480

me try turning it off and back on again

0:00:29.640,0:00:40.670

I know you have a call so for those of

0:00:36.480,0:00:43.440

you joining us on YouTube and our

0:00:40.670,0:00:45.989

Facebook live page Andy and I are doing

0:00:43.440,0:00:49.039

an experiment and what's data science

0:00:45.989,0:00:53.489

without experiments right Andy so true

0:00:49.039,0:00:55.980

so how's my audio your audios awesome

0:00:53.489,0:01:00.469

okay could you hear

0:00:55.980,0:01:05.700

all right I've turned my camera on main

0:01:00.469,0:01:07.680

using the app that came with it so the

0:01:05.700,0:01:10.350

software that we were explaining for

0:01:07.680,0:01:14.220

folks and for you Andy I'll bring our

0:01:10.350,0:01:18.960

listeners into this the image we haven't

0:01:14.220,0:01:20.790

started three years ago plus or minus a

0:01:18.960,0:01:27.229

few weeks we wanted to hold off on the

0:01:20.790,0:01:30.060

celebrations for a number of reasons and

0:01:27.229,0:01:33.840

we originally envisioned this show to

0:01:30.060,0:01:37.110

become a video podcast so technology and

0:01:33.840,0:01:40.770

costs have come down that if Sumi Annie

0:01:37.110,0:01:45.360

gets his camera going we will be able to

0:01:40.770,0:01:49.770

do there we go I see yeah I am here I

0:01:45.360,0:01:53.250

found the Settings button awesome so

0:01:49.770,0:01:58.229

this is good this is good so we have the

0:01:53.250,0:01:59.219

ability now to kind of do something more

0:01:58.229,0:02:01.350

long a lot to think what we were

0:01:59.219,0:02:03.719

originally envisioned so as awesome as

0:02:01.350,0:02:05.520

you may think the show has been we

0:02:03.719,0:02:08.929

actually had even we had even grander

0:02:05.520,0:02:11.489

plans so this is just an experiment

0:02:08.929,0:02:12.770

might even put this live on the feed is

0:02:11.489,0:02:14.420

kind of like a

0:02:12.770,0:02:17.300

call it a data point how about that Andy

0:02:14.420,0:02:18.860

I like it I like that a lot because the

0:02:17.300,0:02:21.770

advantage is that because I'm using a

0:02:18.860,0:02:24.110

product called restream that I can pipe

0:02:21.770,0:02:25.340

two different output so this is actually

0:02:24.110,0:02:28.190

going to Frank's world TV YouTube

0:02:25.340,0:02:31.400

channel our Facebook live feed and

0:02:28.190,0:02:35.180

because of the magic of automation this

0:02:31.400,0:02:38.930

is also going to be I'm actually going

0:02:35.180,0:02:41.360

to once this ends will see that it

0:02:38.930,0:02:45.530

should pick up the arm the video feed

0:02:41.360,0:02:47.570

from Facebook and then pipe that into an

0:02:45.530,0:02:50.870

mp3 file which should be ready for

0:02:47.570,0:02:56.180

upload to the scene so again it's data

0:02:50.870,0:02:57.490

science right in data magic it's not

0:02:56.180,0:03:01.400

science

0:02:57.490,0:03:03.890

I told that to customers a lot like you

0:03:01.400,0:03:05.690

know it's ok to fail because it's called

0:03:03.890,0:03:09.740

data science it's not in Dean in the

0:03:05.690,0:03:11.660

perfection so you know and and silently

0:03:09.740,0:03:13.700

calling it science what you say well it

0:03:11.660,0:03:19.010

failed but you know we weren't sure it

0:03:13.700,0:03:20.600

was gonna work so it's kind of so how's

0:03:19.010,0:03:23.270

it going I know you have a call in like

0:03:20.600,0:03:27.380

five minutes but yeah it's I'm I'm

0:03:23.270,0:03:29.150

waiting on someone and if they if they

0:03:27.380,0:03:32.000

don't show up that that's ok they're

0:03:29.150,0:03:34.010

busy it's a regular call with with

0:03:32.000,0:03:37.190

someone who subcontracts with me and

0:03:34.010,0:03:39.620

he's older but he is a data scientist as

0:03:37.190,0:03:42.140

well and he sometimes gets distracted

0:03:39.620,0:03:43.550

heads down that's why you pinged me

0:03:42.140,0:03:45.080

about five minutes till the call I was

0:03:43.550,0:03:46.280

like well I got a call in five minutes

0:03:45.080,0:03:50.510

five let's do it

0:03:46.280,0:03:53.180

I was upstairs drinking coffee when I

0:03:50.510,0:03:55.310

messaged you and I'm glad you did

0:03:53.180,0:03:56.810

this is our oh I like this Frank this is

0:03:55.310,0:04:01.370

you're right this is our vision that's

0:03:56.810,0:04:02.960

why we registered data-driven dot TV so

0:04:01.370,0:04:04.700

okay there's another reason we want to

0:04:02.960,0:04:07.340

0:04:04.700,0:04:08.930

why we're distr dot TV but the real

0:04:07.340,0:04:13.340

reason we didn't do coms because it was

0:04:08.930,0:04:16.460

taken so well there was that full

0:04:13.340,0:04:18.020

transparency minor and convenience minor

0:04:16.460,0:04:19.670

inconvenience I turned it into a

0:04:18.020,0:04:21.950

potential opportunity to make it into a

0:04:19.670,0:04:25.070

video podcast but the and

0:04:21.950,0:04:28.010

look here we are so don't give up on

0:04:25.070,0:04:29.450

your dreams kids that's right no things

0:04:28.010,0:04:33.200

are things are going good here today

0:04:29.450,0:04:35.170

Franco a little busy it's um it's an

0:04:33.200,0:04:38.900

interesting time to be an entrepreneur

0:04:35.170,0:04:42.410

right in technology it's it's usually

0:04:38.900,0:04:46.520

feast or famine but there's a lot of

0:04:42.410,0:04:47.690

factors kind of weighing in on all of

0:04:46.520,0:04:50.480

that today

0:04:47.690,0:04:53.990

I think 2020 has been that kind of year

0:04:50.480,0:04:58.040

where it's just been you know one thing

0:04:53.990,0:05:02.000

after after another but Frank you and I

0:04:58.040,0:05:04.070

are both people of faith right and what

0:05:02.000,0:05:07.070

I say when it's good times and bad times

0:05:04.070,0:05:08.960

is you know we're in God's hands and a

0:05:07.070,0:05:13.760

lot of people don't like us mixing that

0:05:08.960,0:05:15.830

kind of stuff that way if you're if

0:05:13.760,0:05:19.300

you're don't believe in God then you

0:05:15.830,0:05:22.940

know you can take the stoic approaches

0:05:19.300,0:05:25.100

um anyway I mean well and we have you

0:05:22.940,0:05:27.410

know we had I remember a couple of

0:05:25.100,0:05:29.090

people that we interviewed brought that

0:05:27.410,0:05:31.700

up brought up the stove approach Brent

0:05:29.090,0:05:35.930

those are stands out right right

0:05:31.700,0:05:38.870

Raven the last one so and in Bob Ward

0:05:35.930,0:05:41.960

spoke a lot about his face right all

0:05:38.870,0:05:43.580

right at the end of it and I'm gonna go

0:05:41.960,0:05:48.950

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I

0:05:43.580,0:05:50.630

still believe this room I mean something

0:05:48.950,0:05:52.130

I read it might have been from talev but

0:05:50.630,0:05:53.240

wasn't in one of his books it might have

0:05:52.130,0:05:59.060

been like a tweet or something like that

0:05:53.240,0:06:01.880

you know that wars and plagues happen so

0:05:59.060,0:06:04.490

frequently in human history yet we're

0:06:01.880,0:06:06.350

still surprised when they happen yeah

0:06:04.490,0:06:09.320

and that kind of that kind of stuck with

0:06:06.350,0:06:10.820

me and and you know if you are person of

0:06:09.320,0:06:13.280

faith Amen that's cool if you're not

0:06:10.820,0:06:17.720

that's cool too we all have to live on

0:06:13.280,0:06:24.130

the same planet we did until Mars is an

0:06:17.720,0:06:27.230

option then we'll share too but I mean

0:06:24.130,0:06:28.910

you know as someone you know you all

0:06:27.230,0:06:31.850

know I mean I don't not everyone knows

0:06:28.910,0:06:35.630

but you know I was at the World Trade

0:06:31.850,0:06:38.780

Center I had PTSD

0:06:35.630,0:06:44.510

and one of the lasting legacies is a

0:06:38.780,0:06:49.340

PTSD is kind of the the overreaction to

0:06:44.510,0:06:51.740

stress now to say the 20/20 has been

0:06:49.340,0:06:55.040

stressful here both for family reasons

0:06:51.740,0:06:59.870

I'm kind of side this is an

0:06:55.040,0:07:05.210

understatement and you know I you know I

0:06:59.870,0:07:07.220

it's it's it's very easy to cower and

0:07:05.210,0:07:09.200

kind of like just zone out and I've done

0:07:07.220,0:07:10.820

that like you can figure out when that

0:07:09.200,0:07:12.290

happened when if you would look at the

0:07:10.820,0:07:15.290

blog when kind of the post kind of

0:07:12.290,0:07:18.620

dipped as well as the podcast when we

0:07:15.290,0:07:21.760

didn't record but kind of I had this

0:07:18.620,0:07:25.370

moment of of clarity that you know

0:07:21.760,0:07:27.140

reading reading uh things you know about

0:07:25.370,0:07:29.800

stoicism it was a really good book

0:07:27.140,0:07:32.990

called the obstacles the way yeah and

0:07:29.800,0:07:34.670

you know there are two things in this

0:07:32.990,0:07:36.230

world right there's one way to look at

0:07:34.670,0:07:38.480

I'm paraphrasing but basically things

0:07:36.230,0:07:40.310

you can control and things you can you

0:07:38.480,0:07:43.490

know so things you can control

0:07:40.310,0:07:48.050

well you know laying in bed all day it's

0:07:43.490,0:07:49.220

not kind of fix it right and things you

0:07:48.050,0:07:51.680

can't control

0:07:49.220,0:07:55.180

you can't do anything about it so at

0:07:51.680,0:08:00.560

some point I kind of this thought that

0:07:55.180,0:08:03.110

how can I make this how can I be a

0:08:00.560,0:08:06.160

better person despite all this how can I

0:08:03.110,0:08:08.000

be a better father how can I be a better

0:08:06.160,0:08:09.590

technologist not gonna be better like

0:08:08.000,0:08:14.270

human being just in general right

0:08:09.590,0:08:15.890

because you know I I've listened to a

0:08:14.270,0:08:17.750

lot of Tony Robbins over the years and

0:08:15.890,0:08:20.270

some people like him some people hate

0:08:17.750,0:08:21.560

him but one of the things he says that

0:08:20.270,0:08:23.750

the quality of your life is largely

0:08:21.560,0:08:28.880

determined by the questions you ask

0:08:23.750,0:08:32.930

yourself and we're really off topic here

0:08:28.880,0:08:35.120

that's okay we live in a very odd year

0:08:32.930,0:08:37.219

but I mean you know if you ask yourself

0:08:35.120,0:08:39.740

constantly why is this happening or why

0:08:37.219,0:08:44.390

is this being allowed to happen by you

0:08:39.740,0:08:46.550

know some divine entity you you're going

0:08:44.390,0:08:49.500

to get answers that lead I think to

0:08:46.550,0:08:52.950

despair but if you ask your

0:08:49.500,0:08:54.900

self questions of how can I use this to

0:08:52.950,0:09:00.180

be a better person what can I learn from

0:08:54.900,0:09:02.490

this you're gonna put your head in a

0:09:00.180,0:09:05.250

better place now I'm not saying that's

0:09:02.490,0:09:09.570

gonna magically solve everything but

0:09:05.250,0:09:10.520

honestly and if falling apart isn't

0:09:09.570,0:09:14.640

going to help anyone

0:09:10.520,0:09:18.620

it's interesting the where you know

0:09:14.640,0:09:22.080

where the euler's overlap between

0:09:18.620,0:09:24.270

stoicism and and faith and where they

0:09:22.080,0:09:25.830

don't right and I think it's you know

0:09:24.270,0:09:27.030

it's a it makes it's important

0:09:25.830,0:09:29.820

distinctions and I think there's

0:09:27.030,0:09:31.980

different flavors of both stoicism enter

0:09:29.820,0:09:34.380

or is it a Venn diagram well I think

0:09:31.980,0:09:39.300

this would that you could probably get

0:09:34.380,0:09:40.650

away with a ban on this although since

0:09:39.300,0:09:44.070

we're doing experiments let me try this

0:09:40.650,0:09:49.440

let me try this yeah do your pen thing I

0:09:44.070,0:09:51.180

see your pen I got my pen and let me

0:09:49.440,0:09:53.820

make sure customer notes I had a huge

0:09:51.180,0:09:56.190

customer engagement yesterday which is

0:09:53.820,0:09:58.440

why my LinkedIn live feed yesterday was

0:09:56.190,0:09:59.670

kind of like it was short because I had

0:09:58.440,0:10:02.850

to pick up the one of the kids from

0:09:59.670,0:10:05.670

daycare but okay I leave my frame was

0:10:02.850,0:10:08.250

pretty much melted I miss Frank and and

0:10:05.670,0:10:09.960

while you're bringing that up no I don't

0:10:08.250,0:10:13.860

know if the our listeners know it or not

0:10:09.960,0:10:17.160

but I've been doing twitch yes oh you

0:10:13.860,0:10:20.250

see that screenshot I said I I think I

0:10:17.160,0:10:22.410

did well you send me a bunch Frank let

0:10:20.250,0:10:24.180

me finish this fuck I spend I spend a

0:10:22.410,0:10:26.760

while stop forehead let me scroll up the

0:10:24.180,0:10:31.320

one I think I said there whose is it's

0:10:26.760,0:10:33.480

not the profile one is it no let me

0:10:31.320,0:10:36.120

finish this is one of you on art there's

0:10:33.480,0:10:38.040

another view on live there you are

0:10:36.120,0:10:41.610

alright update assurance I want to do a

0:10:38.040,0:10:44.280

joke okay do a joke so this is your

0:10:41.610,0:10:46.200

right I think it is ven em no no I

0:10:44.280,0:10:56.790

spelled it I spilled it all out because

0:10:46.200,0:10:57.270

you'll see okay bad movies diesel it's a

0:10:56.790,0:11:00.310

joke

0:10:57.270,0:11:06.320

I don't know

0:11:00.310,0:11:09.470

yeah it is it is actually then and I

0:11:06.320,0:11:12.020

think it's to ends but this is cool so

0:11:09.470,0:11:17.060

we can actually do we can go further the

0:11:12.020,0:11:18.230

original vision in terms of you know

0:11:17.060,0:11:19.240

doing architectures and stuff because

0:11:18.230,0:11:21.590

when you're talking about data

0:11:19.240,0:11:24.560

engineering aspect especially in some of

0:11:21.590,0:11:28.820

the more esoteric kind of mathematical

0:11:24.560,0:11:31.490

concepts around data science in AI I

0:11:28.820,0:11:33.830

think having that whiteboard will...

Bob Ward on SQL, Faith, and the Dallas Cowboys

Mon, 22 Jun 2020 00:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy talk with the legendary Bob Ward.

Links

Sponsor: Audible.com - Get a free audio book when you sign up for a free trial!

Notable Quotes

On playing the "plague or pollen" game. (02:30)

Regarding sportsball... (05:30)

Virtual is the new norm. (06:30)

Bob and Azure (07:30)

Frank caught Bob in person at Microsoft Ready (08:15)

On sharing code...(9:30)

Bob on SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters (11:00)

... and PolyBase (12:30)

"Keep the data where it lives, access it through the language you're familiar with." - Bob on PolyBase (13:48)

Regarding Synapse (14:48)

...even for AS/400... (18:20)

PolyBase as an incremental migration strategy... (19:30)

COBOL, and more COBOL, and Y2K (20:30)

"Buck Woody works with me..." - Bob Ward (21:00)

An aside about NFL Football teams and rivalries. (23:00)

We all miss baseball. (23:50)

"Did you find data or did data find you?" (25:00)

How Bob was recruited by Microsoft 26 years ago (26:45)

Anna Hoffman... (28:15)

Bob's Book: SQL Server 2019 Revealed (31:00)

"So this Bob Ward guy... he's kinda a big deal..." - Frank (32:45)

"I have people like my wife to keep me humble." - Bob (34:00)

"There's always somebody smarter..." - Bob (34:45)

"The Silverlight apocalypse..." (35:30)

"When I'm not working, I enjoy ____." (36:30)

Some Good News (37:30)

A Quiet Place (38:15)

"I think the coolest thing in technology today is ____." (38:45)

Bob started at Microsoft in 1993. (40:15)

"There's no way somebody is going to put a SQL Server in the cloud." (42:00)

FranksWorld.com (42:40)

On remote training (44:00)

"I look forward to the day when I can technology to ____." (45:30)

"IoT-ness" - Bob, circa 2020 (46:40)

"Share something different about myself." (48:00)

"We're all screwing up!" (49:30)

Grace is Greater, by Kyle Idleman (50:20)

Bob on LinkedIn (51:30)

aka.ms/bobwardms (51:45)

aka.ms/sqlworkshops (52:30)

Tom Clancy series (53:00)

Sherlock Holmes series (54:00)

Sherlock - BBC (54:45)

"John Krasinski is a great Jack Ryan." - Bob (58:00)

Transcript (AI Generated)

Hello and welcome to data driven,

the

podcast where we explore the emerging

field of data science. We bring the best minds

in data, software, engineering, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Now hear your hosts Frank Lavigna

and Andy Leonard. Hello and welcome back to data driven.

The podcast or we explore the emerging fields of data

science,

machine learning and artificial intelligence.

If you like to think of data as the new

oil,

then you can consider as well like Car Talk and

with me on his epic road trip down.

The information superhighway is Andy Leonard.

Although. I think we are now currently in lock down

so that road ship and has been postponed.

It has and wow what a you know

what an interesting time to live in right Frank.

Right right, we are recording this on April 15th.

You know it's serious when even the government postpones tax

collection.

True, yeah today would have been the day that your

taxes were doing US,

but they pushed it back.

I forgot three months for

months whatever. Yeah, yeah, three months,

but it's in Julies coming up on my birthday.

That's how I remember it.

Like I need another paper.

They give it kind of.

Yeah exactly, but you know it's been an interesting day

here.

This I live in Virginia.

You know? This uh, FarmVille,

VA Ann. I imagine you may have gotten different weather

than I did,

even a little more odd for this time of year.

This late in spring. It is extremely odd to have,

uh, you know, an overnight temperature in the 30s.

Not only that, but we saw flurries this morning.

I believe this is the latest I've ever seen.

Snow flurries. Just crazy.

Well, you're at a higher elevation.

I think I know. Western Maryland had some snow overnight

too,

so.

It could be definitely could be,

yeah. It's hilly here where I am.

I'm a little little East of the

mountains. OK, but it is

allergy season so we're having just loads of fun here

with that.

How's things going with you Frank?

How's the family well? Well,

we're

doing good. We're all

sequestered together, and Fortunately I don't live in New York

City anymore.

In a small apartment. Otherwise,

I think I probably would've lost my mind by now.

Wow, yeah we my have allergies,

and I think my older son is developing allergies,

so we're playing the plague or pollen game.

And so terrible

game to play, isn't it?

Especially when you're outside.

It's like, although I found that wearing kind of like

face masks and stuff does help the sneezing and actually

in watery eyes.

So yeah,

actually does so.

Yeah, I I.

It's funny like I watch TV now and they show

old clips or something and

I'm like they're sitting too close together.

And that's the truth. I've seen it.

I've

kind of noticed that too.

enough about enough

about the stuff that's

going on with that. I have an announcement,

Frank.

What's your nationality? I am

so excited about this. My 17 year old son Stevie

Ray has been selected to present at SQL Saturday.

Richmond is going to be a virtual event at nearly

the last Saturday of April to 25th.

He came to me about a year ago.

He's been going to these things with me for over

half his life and he came to him 10 months

a year ago and says I want to do one

of these. I think I can do a presentation.

How do I go about it and I said,

well? You know, pick something shiny as a topic.

And he actually doubled up on that.

He is presenting on how to install SQL Server 2017.

On on Linux, running on a π three a Raspberry

Pi 3.

And I was like, you know,

you could have picked something harder

maybe. No, but he worked on this and it's been.

I would

estimate he's got 4 or 500 hours on it.

I helped him out as much as I could with

you.

Know like technical stuff, but I was mostly kind of

standing back just to see if he was going to

do this and he beat through it.

Frank and he got it to work nice and right

after that he put together.

I think so too and I'm so excited we're I'm

presenting in the first slot a week from Saturday.

He's presenting in a second right behind me and in

that same channel so.

I just I'm so proud of him.

You know these proud Papa moments,

right? You gotta eat.

These are totally, totally. I'll

never forget the day my.

He was nine at the time he went.

He was over to play date a friends house and

he fixed their router.

So yeah,

now so

proud that's awesome. Well, Speaking

of Speaking

of being Super Smart

and probably at a young

age to we are we are very honored today to

have.

I'm going to say the Bob Ward on the show

today as our guest.

Bob works for Microsoft. He doesn't awful lot of speaking

at the major major conferences is usually on the big

stage and in the big room.

And doing keynotes and stuff.

The only bad thing I think I can say about

Bob is I've seen him at the past summit a

few times wearing a Dallas Cowboys Jersey.

Goodness, gracious Bob. I don't know what

to say about that, but.

Will will let you select.

I'll confess, I'm a

Redskins fan an you know,

understand because I'll

admit it now. On

recording, you know at least you're not an Eagles fans.

can, you know, Redskins. Was this rivalry from years ago

in the 70s right now?

Not so much for us.

It's the Eagles pretty much so.

If you're an Eagles fan,

I might have to

drop off the call right now.

But it it please I if you do not know

who

Bob Ward is Gogo, checking out,

popping his name into you know into your favorite search

engine and check him out in my favorite search engine

actually is is Bing so I can say that,

but he's a lot of talks about data you do

a lot of free webinars.

You do a lot of speaking an you know you

do more than just talk about this.

I know you're engaged with the future of SQL Server.

And the data products I want to Azure and we're

just honored to have you here Bob.

Welcome today.

I'm happy to be here.

Thanks for thanks for inviting me

today. Appreciate it. While we sure appreciate your time.

Tell us a little bit about what you've been working

on lately,

what, what's

cool, what's going on? You know?

Of course, these are interesting times as you guys started

off the call,

so a lot of the things that I've been doing

in terms of showing up at a big event personally

have altered and changed obviously quite a bit,

so there's a lot of pivot within Microsoft and even

outside of Microsoft.

But how do we do things more virtual and digital?

I spent over the last year and a half leading

up to the end of last year on SQL 19.

Our latest release of SQL Server.

I mean, I was just immersed from this from the

beginning.

Uh, an, which again landed ultimately in launching of the

product last November,

December. Over the Holidays, I'm up in Redmond when I

could travel back then the Redmond and I'm with my

boss,

but I'm talking about, you know,

what should I focus on in calendar year 20 and

he's like you know what?

It would be really cool if you could spend some

time in Azure,

which I had done a little bit in the past,

but not near as much.

So lately I've been spending a little bit more time

on that space on the Azure Sequel space.

Still doesn't mean that I'm not doing SQL Server,

that's still my my pride and joy.

My passion, right? So I heard you talk here at

the beginning about doing your son doing SQL Linux on

a pie.

I mean, that's amazing. I spent a lot of time

on the Linux side with SQL,

spent a lot of time doing things with Linux from

containers and so forth.

But yeah, doing little cloud work right now actually kind

of a little bit of my focus in the last

few months,

so.

Very. I'm sorry, go ahead friend.

So I may

have the distinction of attending one of your last public

in person talks,

Bob. I was in the session you did delivered it

ready.

OK it ready. Yes in February?

Well it's funny because I did the ready thing and

that was when the virus situation was all kind of

just just starting a little bit internationally.

And so I was pretty comfortable that ironically I went

to Charlotte,

NC at the end of February and I also went

to Charleston up to that.

'cause my son lives in Charleston,

SC. So I was there in Charlotte.

I did a little bit of an event there in

Charlotte and I did cover sequel 19 in Azure sequel

and so forth.

But yeah, it's it's interesting.

You are ready. When

I was there, OK?

Yeah, great session, great session by the way I I

so for those who don't know ready is on.

I think if they're if they're an active listener of

the show that I did a couple of live streams

from ready.

Outside the building, 'cause it's you know,

super secret of course. It's an internal event for to

get field people ready for technologies that are coming out.

Yeah we even did a workshop there on if you

got a chance to be part of that but um

one of the things I've pivoted on over the last

year and doing more of it again this year as

well is making sure not just doing a talk where

I'm up there just bloviating on slides and just talking

about technology and so forth but some real hands on

stuff so you know we did a sequel 19 workshop

at the past summit last year it all on GitHub

it's all out there and so we kind of did

a mini version of that ready very very popular 'cause

we were teaching people hands on like how to use

the new sequel 19 features how to deploy your own

container was the container what is all this kind of

stuff right.

Um, so we did all sorts of things like that,

and that's a big pivot.

Now for me is to make sure what I'm doing

anything publicly or even internally.

You know, can I get that stuff on a GitHub

site and make it readily available so people can try

it?

That's a fantastic idea and absolutely love all of these

ways.

We can now share code,

especially those of us who've been doing presentations for years.

It's it's awesome when you could stand up there and

talk like you said you could talk about it for

maybe 75 minutes.

There's not usually enough time in a 75 minute slot

to have everybody open their laptop and work through this,

but it's awesome, especially when you can put it on

these markdown sites like GitHub,

an Azure Azure DevOps. I've been using that a lot

now to kind of.

I've got some code in one location,

summon another. Love is that they can go through an.

I've started sticking the slides up there,

Bob Even so they can walk me through.

My slides are for me right?

All the notes are about say this then say this

then do that.

But it's it's incredible that we could do that.

and I know from experience just an watching you speak

at events like to pass on it that you did.

It seemed to me maybe I'm maybe I'm out of

line here but tell me it seemed to be you

focused a lot on.

On the clusters of the big data clusters in 2019,

yeah. I mean, it's obviously

one of the hero capabilities

of SQL 19, so I talk about SQL lighting all

up like I'm one of the few people in the

team to just cover everything we do in the product

in 19, right? But one big folks have that in

my colleague Buck.

Would you spend a lot of time in this as

well?

One big focus of 19 is this big data cluster

technology.

This is radical stuff. This is like you know,

people are used to the SQL engine,

which is great obviously. But then all of a sudden

now we're installing Hadoop,

were installing spark. We're combining it with big data technologies

all in a Kubernetes cluster,

and people are like. I'm sorry,

what did you say? Hadoop spark Kubernetes that's not a

sequel thing like?

What do you mean? So for us to come out

there?

And by the way, if you got a sequel license,

you just get this thing like we just allow you

to install this.

So that's that's one of the things I focus a

lot of time on is try to make sure we're

still doing that.

We're still trying to make sure we get the word

out that if you want to start building kind of

your own data Lake within your environment and incorporate these

big data technologies with SQL things like machine learning as

well big data clusters,

this is probably a good solution for you.

So yeah, that was, uh.

Big focus of 19.

Yeah, I will say

this is that I'm really impressed with the kind of

the thinking.

Is it in order to adapt to kind of the

big data world?

How much engineering is got into updating and improving?

Uh, and adapting to kind of this new,

bigger data world that SQL Server is done.

You know that big data cluster technology,

one

thing about it, the heart of it,

is that this technology called Poly base.

You probably heard of right?

And this? This is really us just kind of looking

at the landscape of the industry and realizing,

hey, we'd love for everybody to store data in SQL

Server like right ETL jobs and do all the converted

from all your data sources.

But the reality is customer saying I can't do that

like there's some reasons I really let it really can't

even move the data.

So Poly base which started in 16 we just took

that thing exploded it.

We're like, OK, now you can use Poly based access.

Anything you want. Literally with an odbc driver,

let the day to stay where it is,

but access it through like external tables in SQL as

that hub and then you know quite frankly customer said

like well,

I like that Hadoop thing,

but I don't have a hoe to cluster laying around

were like OK,

will just install one for you.

You know, listens to do for you.

You just copy files in there,

like even petabytes of files.

And you just access them like tables and will just

make it scalable and

queryable. Pretty cool. Yeah, that's awesome.

That mean that excites me,

because that's, you know. As a data scientist Emil engineer,

you know, whatever you know,

you want to call Maine.

Although

keep it PG. Uh, you know.

I mean that excites me.

That kind of that beyond kind of the Relational Datastores.

And you know that SQL Server is definitely catching up.

One point is for those who are not familiar with

Poly base,

what would you be? Your kind of your elevator pitch

for Poly base?

Keep

the

data where it lives, access it through the language,

or use 2T SQL. That's really what it comes down

to.

You know leverage or T SQL skills go access this

data.

Keep it where it lives.

Run SQL queries. Looks like a table results.

You know, brought back to you.

That's really what it's about.

Awesome,

that's a great description.

I would also want to.

I want

to ask you a question.

How does this relate to what we're seeing with synapse?

It's a great question. Synapses,

a complete platform as a service analytics...

DataPoint Unplugging, empathy, and selfcare

Tue, 16 Jun 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this DataPoint, Frank goes off topic.

Transcript (AI Generated)

Hey, what's up? It's Frank here from data driven.

The podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data

science,

machine learning, and artificial intelligence.

I just wanted to take a minute to say I'm

basically.

Uh. What's going on? The show we we've been both

kind of slammed.

I've had some family issues I needed to take care

of.

I had the chance to release the show,

but even all the Goings on last week or two

it seemed inappropriate thing.

I just take a pause and reflect and I actually

had the chance today.

To unplug, take a day off and.

You know he was very refreshing,

a kind of reconnect with my purpose.

And realize, for instance, right now I'm I'm actually getting

my car washed and it's been a long while and

they're going to do the interior and stuff like that,

but. You know, we pull up in there like how

it's going to be an hour.

It could be an hour or more and I'm like.

It's OK. I mean there's a lot of you know

we went to a restaurant was a week ago.

And,

uh. You know it was pretty clear that they reduce

just to take out,

and I think as things slowly get back to.

Normal. People are adjusting. People are stressed out.

For many reasons, and I think that's the importance of

empathy

right now. Any points of self care,

I mean just I needed to have kind of a

different work schedule this week because of some family commitments.

But the key. Is I didn't have to really be

unplugged today,

but. I felt like I needed to and it definitely

help help me reconnect

with my purpose.

Why we do the podcast all that stuff have an

episode going out,

probably. Midnight or tomorrow. I'll work on getting it,

edit it out and published and dumb.

You know we're gonna. Do that and I've got a

really good gas.

Really great conversation. It was about data about.

It was really. It was a great conversation and poured

it over a month ago an I hate when I

pulled off a show that long.

Not really what I intended but here we are and.

Just wanted to just say the most important thing you

can do for yourself,

your family, but world is.

Take care of yourself 1st and the second most important

thing you can do is be apathetic towards folks.

Make sure that you know.

Take a deep breath before you get upset.

You know I was like I was like Oh my

God forsaken hour.

He's like I could use it.

Not a nice little shaded place were good and.

There it is.

DataPoint If Remote Work Becomes Commonplace, What Happens to Real Estate in Big Cities?

Sat, 16 May 2020 09:00:00 -0400

SalesForce, Microsoft, and Twitter have all extended their work from home policies either indefinitely or for the remainder of the year.

To say that housing is expensive in the Bay Area would be an understatement.

Frank ponders what will happen to the real estate market if you only go to the office once or twice a week? Or not at all?

Why spend money to be near a place you no longer go to daily?

Transcript (AI Generated)

Hey, what's up is Frank here from data driven,

the podcast or we explore the emerging fields.

Data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

So uhm, today this morning.

Actually, I read that Salesforce is allowing their workforce to

work from home for the remainder of the Year this.

Got me thinking. Uh, about other companies that have done

that.

Microsoft has at least last time I checked,

working from home or going into the office is voluntary

through at least October.

It might be extended. Who knows?

Twitter is said that they are going to make remote

work possible indefinitely.

I'm not sure Google stances,

but I think when you see the big tech industries,

the Big Giants in the tech industry is really what

I want to say.

Is they're all embracing work from home that is going

to have enormous.

I think implications across, well,

every industry, but I think one of the ones that

will be particularly impacted.

Given that number of Bay Area Giants have kind of

jumped on,

this will be real estate real estate in the San

Francisco area is notoriously expensive,

and it's the stuff of almost jokes in terms of,

you know, shack and cause a couple $1,000,000 and they'll

be a bidding war for said Shack.

I really wonder. Watt That will do for real estate,

because if you could you could stay in California.

Maybe move 3 four hours away from San Francisco or

the Bay.

And you can get a house that's more affordable.

And if you are going to be working remotely indefinitely,

or even when things kind of go back to normal,

whatever, that will look like.

You probably only be required to come in less than

five days a week.

Uh, you know, maybe a once a week,

4 hour commute. Each way maybe that won't be so

bad.

Uh, maybe maybe? I mean,

that's really going to. I think that's really going to

impact realestate ticular Lee in places like Silicon Valley and

San Francisco,

and possibly other places like New York,

but I'm really curious to see what the data will

say.

So if you have that bad of a commute once

a week,

I think most people would be willing to tolerate that

for more affordable housing an.

You know, I don't know.

I think that's really going to impact kind of not

the high end 'cause I think people are always going

to want to have some property there,

but I really think it's really going to change.

Kind of the lower to mid range of realestate all

over.

Let me not just San Francisco,

but I can easily see this applying to New York,

Seattle. Places where. Technology companies have really driven up the

real estate recently.

I don't know, you know,

and you also have the opportunity that you know if

you don't have to go into the office at all,

why not move to Nebraska?

You know where land is much cheaper than anywhere in

California?

I really think that when the dust shakes out of

this and now that remote work is much more accepted,

I think it's. I think we're going to see changes

or unanticipated changes.

I always like to say that one of the most

powerful forces in the universe is actually.

Unintended consequences, so I'm really curious to see how that

goes.

I can also imagine folks trying to sell real estate

in this environment.

Must be having a difficult time because you're basically asking

people to kind of come and go into peoples homes.

If you are real estate agent and you are dealing

with this,

my heart goes out to you.

But if you like to talk on the show,

kind of about how this is impacting you,

I don't know. I think that would be interesting to

our listeners listeners if you if you're not interested in

that,

please leave a comment and we won't pursue that,

but I think it'll be interesting to see how the

data shows,

kind of the fallout in real estate,

not just immediately, but I think over the long haul.

You know why pay millions of dollars for a condo?

That's five blocks to an office that you're not really

going to have to ever really set foot in.

It's really going to become,

I think, at that point,

a lifestyle choice you want to live on a farm,

or you want to live in the heart of San

Francisco.

I think the same holds true for New York.

You know, any major city,

really. As long as there's good bandwidth.

Doesn't really matter where you are,

and I say this as someone that has worked remotely

for the better part of 15 years now with a

couple of exceptions here and then.

It's interesting to see, kind of how this is going

to shake out.

And originally I was going to post this and talk

about how I'm getting my vitamin D 'cause I'm out

on my deck overlooking a forest and but Facebook did

not. Facebook live did not want to seem to let

me want to post with that.

I'm going to get some more vitamin D from the

sun.

The further protect myself. And you stay safe out there.

And if you have any thoughts about future shows,

I'm dropping a new show on Monday with a very

distinguished guest.

But I will not reveal that name.

'cause I think any and I want to keep that

as a surprise.

But we had a great time talking to him,

so that should drop Monday.

Today's Saturday, May 16th, so that would be Sunday,

May 18th. See just did some math in my head.

Anyway, you have a great day.

Data Warehousing Deep Dive

Wed, 29 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Deep Dive, Frank and Andy delve into the world of Data Warehousing, what is it and do they know things? Let's find out!

Frank also shares that he has a new role at Microsoft.

AI Generated Transcription

Hello and welcome to data driven,

the podcast where we explore the emerging field of data

science.

We bring the best minds in data,

software, engineering, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Now hear your hosts Frank Lavigna and Andy Leonard.

Hello and welcome back to data driven.

The podcast where we explore the emerging fields of data

science machine learning an artificial intelligence.

If you like to think of data as the new

oil then you could consider us like Car Talk.

However, we can't go on a road trip because of

the Corona virus lock down.

So it's just Andy and I kind of stuck at

home respectively.

And thanks to the Magic of Technology we can be

on the show at the same time.

And, uh, how's it going?

Andy? It's going

well, Frank, how are you doing?

Good, good, uh, you'll

probably hear my kids in the background.

will, and you know what Frank,

I think it's fine. You know I'm going to.

I understand why you said the word stuck with you

and I work remotely an awful lot.

We usually record like this.

There's there's less in the background.

It's your place most of the time,

but you have couple of young boys there and you

need to be in the room with them when mom

who's also working from home is you know is doing

some of her work so kudos to you to both

of you for finding a way to manage this.

Everybody's going through these sorts of things and I'm sure

that none of our listeners will mine here in your

sons play in

the background or hopefully won't start fighting so that's Well,

I asked, I asked if they do I think a

lot of folks

can relate though. Yeah, oh absolutely,

absolutely

so. We're recording us on April 16th.

We Speaking of kids, we had your son on which

if the order of recording goes the way I planted

in my head.

That would have been released last week.

And Uh, which I thought was a pretty good,

uh, discussion on. How stem is taught?

How stemmers perceived by quota quote policymakers?

And how the actuality of it is?

And some of the interesting stuff your son is doing

with Raspberry Pi and stuff like that.

Yeah,

I was a I was first I was very proud

of him.

You know the work that he's doing and he's he's

had his his hands in machine learning for really a

couple of three years.

Now I want to say he was 14 and I

came into his room.

You know just checking on say something or something I

saw.

A Mario Brothers playing in the background.

Like what do you think you know he was?

He he had done his school work?

He was home schooled at the time he done his

school work.

So you know what he wants.

But um, later talking to him about it,

he said he actually came and got me and he

said,

OK, dad, it took, you know with I think it

was like 6.

You know neural nodes. Here he was able to,

Mario was able to figure this out and something like

4 hours or something you know later he said I

wonder what it would be if I added a note.

I wonder what that would do to it and I'm

kind of sitting there with my mouth hanging open.

Going show dad more about that nice,

but he's been doing it for awhile.

I know your kids are interested in the same thing.

They're younger Stevie 17 now and you know.

and I know that your sons are coming up in

this.

In this age as well,

they are mentioned Mark Tapatio in that show as he

referred to digital natives.

They are digital natives and yeah,

that comes with some pretty interesting stuff.

So I'm just glad we were able to record that

show as he gets ready for his first sequel Saturday

presentation here on that topic.

So and that's all assuming that we were able to

overcome the technical glitch.

We we learned something, Frank,

I'd learn something. Yeah,

it's not a glitch. If you learn something.

So if if for some reason.

The you know what hit the fan then that episode

will be recorded at a future date,

so we'll see it will,

but we've got. We've got

a great topic today. You and I've been bad this

around I want.

I know it's been several weeks.

It may have been a couple of months.

We've been talking about doing this.

Right absolutely, and part of what motivates this?

An based on the release schedule that I anticipate this

will have already happened.

I'm changing jobs at Microsoft Woo.

At your new job. I will be the data and

the AI technology architect at the Reston MTC or Microsoft

Technology Center,

so congratulations. Thank you very much.

It's an honor to join such a prestigious team.

If you're not familiar with what the MTC is.

MTC is a Microsoft Technology Center.

There is about 80 of them around the world,

and they basically are meant to provide specific experiences.

Ends well as architecture design guidance for customers around the

world and it's an honor to be kind of in

that team.

It's very rarely does an opening happen in an empty,

so when one opened up in my neck of the

Woods is like I have to take it.

I have to at least try.

Right right? So Fortunately I am super excited.

And Uhm, 'cause That's what we say at Microsoft were

super excited and it's a great team.

Great stuff that they do.

They do a lot of work with the community.

They do a lot of work with customers.

It's just an awesome gig.

I'm really looking forward to it and.

Yeah, I'm really excited about

it. Congratulations brother. That's a great thing and I think

you're perfect for that job.

I know, I know, someone else in that job at

an MTC in the northeast.

And it's it's kind of a rare breed of person

that has to walk into that role because.

It optimally you have a smattering of exposure to all

whole slew of enterprise architecture,

an both both you and this other individual that I

know fit that mold.

You've got programming experience, software development experience,

and you also have data experience,

and it's just rare to be good at both of

those things I know,

but I know you're good at it,

and I know my other friend is good at this

as well,

so I just I just think it's going to be

a great fit for you,

Frank. I'm I'm excited, you got

it. Thank you. Thank you very much.

So with that, one of the things that I've been

ramping up on in anticipation for this job or whatever

opportunity I was going to go to next.

I was learning more about the quote Unquote traditional side

of the data world,

which let me move kind of explain my little worldview,

which is twisted and as weird as it may be,

it might actually be right.

I see this alot in my current current or old

roll current as of April 16th.

Role is that we have data in the I cloud

solution architects,

but there's a very clear line of demarcation between the

data scientist.

Part of the data in the icy essays and the

sequel veterans side of things.

So I actually had a call this morning where it

was.

It was very, very much laid bare 'cause we were

talking about that and that there's essentially kind of two

types of data in AI folks at Microsoft for sure,

probably everywhere else, to you have the RDBMS folks.

These folks have been doing sequel since it was aside

based joint venture,

right, right? That's their world.

Ann, you have kind of the big data open source

kind of tooling world,

right? The folks that are more comfortable in spark or

Hadoop or with the crazy statistics and math around machine

learning and AI,

right? You kind of have those two.

Rarely do

the two. Rarely do you

have a person who's. Comfort,

Rible and happy in both.

I am aiming to be happy and comfortable in both.

Obviously I'm more in the data science kind of world.

And part of my part of what I see is

the opportunity in this new role is to grow into

the kind of the sequel.

RDBMS traditional database world. That makes

sense. They are no. It makes perfect sense.

and I mean coming at coming at this from,

you know, we as we shared in each show the

past few days that we've recorded.

We've known each other for like 15 years.

And most of that time you were a professional software

developer.

You are a Microsoft MVP in.

I forget which discipline it was.

Frank, I know it was software development related.

think

the world has forgotten that this discipline never existed.

tablet

PC. Tablet PC right? OK and you did an awful

lot in there and I know there's a lot of

people out there working in what that evolved into mobile.

That benefited from the blog post you shared,

solutions. You shared an all of that,

but yeah, that whole mobile thing turned out not to

be such a,

you know, it was a trend it and it evolved.

To what it is now,

and having that experience, I think you're going to find

that that plays well into kind of backfilling like you

said,

or filling this other bucket that you want to go

after,

which is traditional T SQL an.

I know, I know, from experience and dabbling in machine

learning and AI.

I'm on the opposite side of the fence,

although I'm not really that good at,

you know. Let's say like DBA level T SQL,

but I you know I can hold my own in

there,

but if we are. If we're selling tuning performance tuning

to a client.

I may be involved in the project,

but rarely am I the person actually performing the tuning.

There are lots of people out there that we subcontract

as a as a consulting firm,

enterprise data and Analytics. We bring others in who are

better at that much better at that than I am,

and we have people on the team who are much

better than I am as well,

but it's. I think your experiences has his set you

up really well.

To make this transition and it will like everything else

right?

We talked about this in the other shows.

It takes time. And it's frustrating,

but I think you're well positioned to pick up this

skill as fast or faster than almost anyone else I

know just well,

thank you now you know part of it,

I'm not. I'm not completely like naive to the ways

of RDBMS.

I took sequel in college,

database design and college and my professor worked with card

in date.

So you know, like. You know,

I'm only two degrees of Kevin Bacon away.

From the founders of the theory,

so you know that's going for me,

but I never really got into just kind of the

nuts and bolts of it,

and I'm not. I'm not concerned about that.

I'm actually fascinated about it,

because it's just another way to solve the same problem.

Absolutely. Ultimately, at the end of the day,

you're moving bits around, and it's a question.

What's your philosophy? Or obviously,

RDBMS has a philosophy and it you know I'm not

knocking.

I mean, it worked well for 5060 years.

But now we live in a world where there's a

lot more unstructured data.

And how do you deal with that?

And how do you deal with it now that you're

not making assumptions about spinning

disks, right? Right there's a whole.

Kevin hazard.

'cause we haven't hazard.

Yeah who talked about that on our show that yeah

there still leaves it's 2020 and I would say still

most of our code is designed for that age of

the heads picking up seeking a sector an reading data

and then picking up again.

So there's there's a whole new opportunity where obviously relational

databases are going to still matter,

but it's just one of many tool sets.

In fact, one of the things that I learned when

I was doing start up with angelism for Microsoft was.

You know, having debates with startup founders who UR?

I will say I put them in a hipster category,

right? I worked with when you work with startups runs

the gamut between really like I mean like that this

person is going to be the next Steve Jobs to

this person is kind of like I think they're living

in their parents basement,

but rather than seeing unemployed they haven't so somewhere in

the middle you kind of what I have.

The hipster ones where they learned code because of make

the startup.

Now that's not nothing wrong with that,

but do you think that you're an expert in all

things technology because you learn to code?

Right, you know, and then you go to a person

that is supposed to help you take your stuff to

the next level and kind of talk down to them.

So right context this conversation.

So they were basically lamenting the fact that they wanted

to.

They wanted to have the reliability of.

Up an RDBMS, but they wanted to do it in

a note SQL type of environment.

An I was like that's

a fair. You know that's a fair thing to want.

I'm just all cards on the table.

Approaching that, architecturally, that's that's not an unreasonable request.

But unless and until you get into the engineering part

of it.

And that's where you start to see that you just

can't have everything that you want.

I mean, there's no single do it all type application,

everything, every software application ever.

And I'm going to maintain,

probably forever. They're going to be applications.

There's going to be some spot that I define as

a corner.

It's something that the application or server or what have

you doesn't do well.

And what you'll often find is there's some other application

out there that's available,

or some other platform, and it will do that part

well.

But again, that also has its corners,

and So what you're trading is pain.

The nicest way possible. You're picking your picking your poison,

picking your pain. What is it that you want to

fight?

And it depends on. You know.

Relational databases have their pain points.

No sequel. It turns out a lot of companies have

learned this over the past few years.

Also has its pain points as well so.

You can't always get what you want,

but if you try sometimes you might get get what

you need.

Awesome. So, so I

mean part of it is,

you know, sometimes whether it's technology,

anything else, you have, kind of these dueling philosophes an

there is a point where they just won't meet just

because of.

They're they're kind of philosophically opposed an you're right,

you have to kind of pick which one you want

to have over the other.

And there's cause and effect to that.

So with that kind of deep philosophical you were data

philosopher,

so that's good. So I wanted to talk to you

about.

We want to do a deep dive.

It's not officially a deep dive until I have fun

with my soundboard there.

Into data warehousing, what is data warehousing?

Where did it start? I'll channel A little bit of

bojack horseman.

What is data warehousing? What do they know?

Do they know things? Let's find out.

Well, yeah, data

warehousing in my opinion in my experience is really this

idea of of collecting data from all over different places

and placing it into a centralized location.

Now there's some distinctions and there's other scientific answers to

that question,

and you can actually build something that today is not

considered a technically a data warehouse.

You can gather all of the information that spread across

the enterprise in different places.

Into what's now called an operational data store.

Ann, it's not totally unlike a data warehouse.

In fact, I think the Euler diagrams have quite a

bit of overlap for that,

at least if we if we kind of improve or

add to the word data warehouse or the term data

warehouse with relational data warehousing,

there's a lot of overlap between relational data warehousing and

operational data store.

Wanna confuse that really with our listeners?

But I just want to make you aware if you

hear oh DS or DW or EW.

It could be that they're talking about largely the same

thing.

And when you think about like you think about supply

chain management,

which is a topic on everyone's mind these days as

we're talking about the economic impact of the pandemic.

Supply chains are where really where really way more important

than we realize and it's kind of like oxygen or

money.

You don't recognize how important it is until you don't

have enough.

An supply chains are like this and you could think

of a data warehouse.

In that terminology. The analogy holds for quite a bit,

and I'm going. I'm just going to use Walmart and

Amazon as you know,

is kind of examples of this.

They both have these distribution centers and they have these

network set up all over the United States,

probably all over the world and its places where the

goods come from the source and they're trucked into.

You know, they may be collected at other points along

the way.

But they're trucked into these large,

physically large warehouses and then stocked.

And then from there there actually shipped out to in

the case of Amazon.

Usually there handed off to some delivery service.

In the case of Walmart,

they're placed on other Walmart trucks that are shipped to

the stores.

The actual brick and mortar stores and that warehouse in

the middle.

That distribution center. That's what I think of when I

think of data warehouses.

I think of the the electronic equivalent of that because

you know,

there's all of these. You'll see especially at what I

consider an EDW enterprise data warehouse.

You've got a collection of companies that have been acquired

in mergers and acquisitions,

and they're looking at. I want to get all of

their data.

But they have and want to bring that into this

one location,

and that I want it there for a number of

reasons.

But one of the big reasons is so I can

query that data and I can learn how my entire

enterprises performing.

How's it working? And. And in that,

and now if I apply that Walmart Amazon analogy to

that to the data there,

they...

Data Point COVID, Oil Prices, and Our Podcast Tagline

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank reflects on the somewhat ironic nature of our tagline (and t-shirts) in light of the negative price of Oil.

This was recorded on Monday, April 20, 2020 and, while oil prices have rebounded somewhat, there are some strange things afoot at the Circle K that is this world.

Stephen Leonard on STEM and the Frustration Inherent to Engineering

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy interview Stephen Leonard, Andy's son, about his upcoming first SQL Saturday Talk, digital natives, engineering and STEM, and old movies like "Aliens" and "the Matrix."

AI Generated Transcript (experimental)

Hello and welcome to data driven,

the podcast where we explore the emerging field of data

science.

We bring the best minds in data,

software, engineering, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Now hear your hosts Frank Lavigna and Andy Leonard.

Hello and welcome back to data driven,

the podcast or we explore the emergent fields of data

science machine learning an artificial intelligence.

If you like to think of data as the new

oil then you can consider us.

Car Talk 'cause we focus on where the rubber meets

the virtual road and with me on this epic journey

road trip down information superhighway.

Although I think we have to be sequestered because of

the pandemic is Andy Leonard,

how's it going? Andy, hey it's going well Frank,

how are you doing, brother?

You know I'm doing OK,

I'm doing OK, we're in lockdown.

I'm in. My wife is actually on an important work

meeting and I have the kids.

In the room with me so you might hear in

a frequent interjection,

but I understand that Speaking of kids,

yeah, we have a very unique guest.

We do, we do have Steven Ray.

My older son is joining us for the first part

of this an we want to talk to him because

at least in this it is first part because he

is about to deliver his very first sequel Saturday presentation.

Yes Sir, very cool. So I know a little bit

about the back story to this so.

Steven, why don't you, uh,

kind of do an intro to yourself.

You're just. Quick bio I know and he probably knows

everything about you,

but most of the rest of his home.

Well, I'm for the uninitiated.

I'm Steven. I'm Andy's son and or as I normally

refer to him.

Dad, I do stuff with small AI and neural Nets.

I also work with Raspberry pis specifically.

Sorry iot devices, specifically Raspberry pie.

Zan, Jetson, Nanos working a little bit less with the

latter.

Recently I've been doing more work with the pies.

And, uh, pretty soon on the 25th I will be

presenting my first sequel Saturday class and I guess I

just got lucky enough to do it on the first

several virtual SQL Saturday. Call it whatever you want,

lock or unlucky based on the world events.

I'll be teaching class on how to install SQL Server

on a Raspberry Pi 3B and I'm working on a

solution for the four as well.

Very call and it's my understanding that you actually you're

actually studying.

Was it telerobotic? Not telerobotics but.

Was it? Does a really cold like $10 word for

it that Angie,

Oh, Mecatronics Mecatronics That's it?

Yes, Sir. Cartoon yes it does.

I'm uh, it's It's, uh,

it's really just all the I believe there are like

12 or 13 official realms of engineering,

or at least the ones that they teach in college.

And it's sort of all of those mixed into one

like hyper focused,

really hard class and I really just chose it because

when I walk into the when I walk into a

room,

if someone has a question,

I just want to be able to answer it.

I want to be sort of the most helpful I

can be and I figure if I'm well enough versed

in.

As much engineering as much as much of the realms

of engineering as I can be,

I figure I can be pretty helpful.

That's pretty, that's the plan.

A chip off the old block there Andy.

Well, he, uh, you know his.

I'll say Frank, he's probably better at it than me

because his mom has a lot of background training in

multitasking type tasks.

She was 911 dispatcher for awhile and to graduate from

that course.

They they literally play five or six conversations at the

same time.

And she had to write down and track all of

the conversations and respond accordingly.

So it makes for a good project manager,

which is awesome because I have exactly zero of those

skills,

so he has. He has more of that than I

do,

but I think he definitely gets his ADHD for me,

which this is Frank. We've talked about this about weaponizing

things that maybe hindrances in some fields an you know

that I hear some of that in Stevie's plans here

because rather than just go after one discipline.

You know, just pick up a discipline of engineering,

mechanical or electronics. You know he likes the idea of

kind of popping between disciplines and.

You know, I, I think that so he's kind of

leveraging the ADHD there.

Yeah, I, I mean I.

I think that if you can,

it's one thing to kind of play to your strengths

and quote Unquote fix your flaws.

But I think there's a whole new level of self

improvement that I've kind of discovered over the last four

years or so.

Is weaponizing your flaws. Yeah,

you know what we talked about this with anti fragile

right?

Antifragility and not seem to loves books on that.

you and I are both huge fans and I'm still

working on getting him to come on the show.

Frank I don't know. I don't know if we're going

to be able to pull that or not,

but I have two goals here.

Is you're well aware one is to make contact with

him and two is to not get blocked on Twitter?

Yes, so he's although if you're for the listener,

if you're not familiar with the lab he's been,

he's been on fire lately with Twitter,

as well as his one of his big sticks is

risk prediction and risk modeling and risk management.

Although he would call it something else,

and he would probably smack me across the face for

calling it risk management.

But honestly, it would be an honor.

Do snack Crossface by to lab in my agree.

Agree yeah, but he's on fire both on Twitter and.

He's making crazy money on this on the fund that

he manage is.

Oh wow, OK, I didn't realize he still managed to

find.

I didn't know either, but somebody reported that he made

either 360%.

A three 3600% or 36 times I don't know whatever

it is,

but he's in March. He made a ridiculous amount of

money,

partly because I think he predicted a lot of the

long tail effects of the Cove in pandemic.

Wow, yeah, if you look at him on Twitter lately,

don't get blocked for him though.

Please yeah, I'll try not true.

I can live without kind of that pseudoscience biohacker knowledge

from his Twitter feed,

but I don't think I could live without to labs

wisdom.

Yes, I'm here. Which again we will share that story

in full detail.

Later, you're laughing. I am laughing now.

We were going through that phase of.

A kind of anger denial and all that.

Now we're kind of laughing at it were accepting.

That's where we have accepted it.

An yeah, so we've gotten over it.

But yes, we need your child.

We have. We have ignored him and we want to

talk about his product now.

You gave him advice that he should Chinese.

He combines the more likely his proposal to speak would

be accepted.

Yeah, and you know this Frank from our relationship and

I've been doing this for.

Along time when I get,

you know, once I got to to be able to

speak,

I started reaching out trying to help others do it.

'cause it was such a rush and I had.

I had a couple of of men tease,

I guess actually present at the pass summit 2019 in

Seattle back in November and you know,

that's just a huge, huge,

great failing and you see the kind of picked up

on that as well.

You heard it when he was talking about his motivation,

part of it as he wants to be able to

help just as much as possible.

But yeah, it came to me.

I don't know ten months a year ago he said

dad,

I want to. I want to do a presentation.

He's been traveling with me to events over half his

life and.

He said, You know, the very first thing I told

him is,

I think that's awesome. You'll do a good job,

but here's what we're not going to do where we're

not going to get you picked because you're my son,

but I'll do the same thing for you.

I do for everyone else,

and I did. That was my next piece of advice.

Was my first real piece of advice.

Was picked something shiny, and by Shawnee I mean you

know something new.

A little edgy an he picked 2.

Uh, an when he first told me about it inside,

I was thinking that's a pretty big bite,

but I didn't share that until just now with him,

but he jumped right in on it.

Franken, I would estimate in the first couple weeks.

He probably put 100 hours on this.

After that. You know he's probably been averaging 50 or

so hours per month or so and I would say

he's got a good solid 400 hours into it before

he got it to work.

And that was a couple months ago.

He actually got it to where he got SQL Server

running on one of our π three is.

So yeah, that was that was a very,

very interesting way that happened to.

I solved it while hanging out I.

It honestly looked like I was building a weapon in

a college that was that was really where it happened

is I was setting in the lobby of the college.

My mother works at. And you know the HD MI

cable was too short sided hanging out of the port

and everything.

But you know I just kind of threw my hands

up and laid back and the desk lady kind of

looks over me like are you OK?

It was it was. It was a very interesting time,

but when I finally got it was just like everything

that I had been waiting for.

Just kind of crashed down on me.

All the money we'd spent on replacing the walls.

I was hitting my head into,

it was just it was.

It was worthwhile. We've been there,

Stevie. I mean, Frank and I both done that an

I've shared this story.

In fact, this is completely unrehearsed

I I've I've shared with people on a bunch of

different times.

When I talk in class is about this.

You know I will. Failure is normal and my demo

for that is I will walk down stairs on a

break and you and your siblings are homeschooled here and

I'll say guess what my code just did and what

is it that you reply in Unison user?

Exactly what you told it to exactly what I told

you right?

Not not what I wanted but exactly what I told

it to.

Yes. But you experienced that.

Go ahead, go ahead now.

You've experienced that, and what I shared with you as

we were going through,

and I do this with everybody that you know,

I have a opportunity and it's truly an opportunity.

It's an honor to mentor anyone when I have that

opportunity to share with them.

Listen failure. You gotta look at failure as the latest

step on the path to success.

And really, what you'll see is when you succeed,

the number of times that you failed will actually kind

of set the bar.

How good it's going to feel.

When you succeed. Was alright,

so yeah, no you were totally correct.

It was. It was the you kind of get to

a point where I explain this to it to my

best friend who was,

you know he works. He helps me work with this

as well.

And I explained it to him and the way I

kind of explained it was I reached a point where

jumping off a Cliff was preferable to continuing to work

on this. And, uh, you know,

I just kept pushing through it.

And finally, once you get to the end,

it's just everything sort of it.

Just kind of collapses on you,

really. It's like being in a building and it's just,

it just feels so good,

just all the all the weeks of hitting your head

against a wall and being angry and not figuring out

not being able to figure out why it's giving you

this error and that error.

And why is this breaking and why I can't get

Docker installed after I've installed it 3 times before on

the same kernel?

You know, it's just. It's all these things over and

over and over again.

Just finally hit you and you just go.

Yes, it's completely foreign to both Frankie.

Now we write code and it just works the first

time,

every time, right? Frank, Oh yeah.

No, it's true. He's never come downstairs.

I've never heard dead come downstairs and go Dang my

code didn't work today.

It's always just man that was perfect.

There's actually a cartoon where it shows the same skeptical

look of a person in front of a computer.

And it says my code didn't work and I don't

know why that was the first captain.

The second one is my code worked the first time

and I don't know why.

It again, if your code works the first time,

then either you forgotten something it didn't work and it's

just not telling you,

or you need to stab yourself with a fork and

wake up,

right, right? Or you kind of like something is bad,

so going something even worse is going to happen.

And what I anticipated, right?

Which I think a lot of folks,

I think you know. I learned this when I was

doing a couple of years ago.

This is back in the Windows 8 days when I

was in evangelism.

Uh, I spoke to a bunch of high school kids

and I kind of did this summer course on writing

apps and stuff like that.

And like I thought, I bombed it the first day.

Like really bad, because it just kept compiler,

kept happening problems and there were some driver issues and

I worked through it an I talked to kind of

like the coordinator with the local high school and he

goes no. That was awesome because a lot of these

kids,

they see how programming is represented on TV and it's.

Everything works the first time and I'm like looked at

him like we both kind of set in Unison.

Nothing ever works the first time,

and if it does, I'm very,

very suspicious. Very sets to write a lot of folks.

They think that they get there,

they get their hands kind of dirty with code or

stem an the first time.

If it doesn't work, they think it's them.

But no. I mean that's frustration is on Fortunately or

unfortunately a large part of engineering.

Right, and that's that's the that's the issue I run

into when when I tell people that I run into

or people that I know that I work with computers

and you know, they tell me stuff like Oh well

that's I'm not smart enough to that.

Or that's too hard. I could never figure that out.

And then there's two kind of groups and that's the

first group is well,

you're so smart an my answer is no,

I just spent a lot of time in it and

the other the other group that I run into is

that like are the people who have seen.

What's the movie called? The oceans,

movies and there like in.

They asked me how nice you know how it feels

when you finally hack the mainframe and get through the

Firewall.

And it's really just like the reality that you run

into when you start getting into doing programming and engineering

of any sorts really,

is that? It's nothing like what it's portrayed in the

movie.

In the movies, in the general consensus of how it

works is nowhere near how it actually works.

Right, right? I mean it it to everybody,

it almost seems. It's almost it's almost synonymous to rocket

science.

I've seen to the at least of the general public

that I've talked to is they think it's some sort

of thing that you have to go to college and

get a degree for, when in reality you can learn

it in your Mother's basement in six months.

Now that's true. Patience is under rated,

I think in our society and this and a lot

of the folks that what differentiates kind of someone who.

Is good at, this is just the patience.

The tenacity. I mean you've demonstrated this.

I think you've internalised it now,

right? But you know a lot of folks,

I think in result of this pandemic are going to

start pondering new careers as they should,

right? You know, just. It makes a lot of sense,

and I think a lot of folks have to realize

that.

Programming is frustration.

Yeah, it's it's definitely. It's definitely not a career that.

4. Uh, what's the word I'm looking for?

Not short minded, but sort of short sighted people who

look for instant gratification,

right? Although I would say that.

As someone who, as someone who has been,

I've never been formally diagnosed with ADHD.

But you know, people close to me have said I'm

high functioning ADHD.

Uh, which is? You know I'm not going to argue

with that,

but there's a lot of folks who were quote a

quote on the spectrum or on a spectrum of some

sort who who do work in Tech.

Which is interesting because I think part of it is

part of ADHD is.

I'm not an expert on this,

but is the ability to focus on one task for

a very extended period of time,

yeah? Yeah, hyperfocus, yeah. So if you are listening to

sorry,

go ahead. Oh, I was just going to say I

completely agree with you.

That's that's really how it is,

at least for me. I'm not sure how it is

for other people with ADHD.

I can't speak for everyone right,

but how it is for me is if there's a

task that I'm just set on completing.

I just do it. I mean,

it's it's hard to really explain.

I just have an idea and I want to do

it and I go and do it,

and I do it until it's done.

That's how it is. Yeah,

I think its tenacity is the real skill tenacity in

patients.

I like that and having an end in mind like

for me when I first learned programming,

this was. Steve, this is like probably Stone Age for

you.

I mean there was no Internet.

I didn't even have a modem,

but she probably even know what a modem is.

Oh, so, So what did you name your Dinosaur?

The one that you wrote to school?

Obviously. I know you had some for cleaning the house

is right,

but what was the name of the one that you

wrote to school back on I we called him Rodney.

I don't know why. Oh OK,

cool because my dad was Rodney Dangerfield then.

Which is probably another name you don't know.

I was gonna say. Yeah,

hold on 1 second.

Look that up in the Wikipedia.

Yeah, it's like it's like the Spiderman movies again where

he's talking about.

There's really, really old movies like back to the future

and aliens,

right, right? Yeah, that was,

uh. Now give me...

DataPoint Turning the COVID-19 Pandemic Lemons 2 Learning

Wed, 01 Apr 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this hybrid show and Data Point, Frank and Andy discuss the ongoing pandemic situation and how to help people laid off.

Quantum Computing Deep Dive, Jetson Nano, and the Importance of Anti-Fragile

Tue, 25 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0400

For the first time in a long time, Frank and Andy are in the same time zone with free time to record a full honest-to-goodness show.

DataPoint Citizen Data Science in New Zealand

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy explains how citizen data science is done in New Zealand after a whale watching tour.

DataPoint Andy Talks to Reza Rad about the SQL Family and Difninity

Tue, 18 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy talks to Reza Rad about the Difinity conference, being an RD, and the SQL Community.

DataPoint Manohar Punna at Difinity 2020

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy catches up with Manohar Punna at Difinity 2020 to talk about self-service BI tools.

DataPoint Catching up with Marck Vaisman

Wed, 05 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this DataPoint, Frank talks with Marck Vaisman, fellow Cloud Solution Architect from DC, about data, the R community in DC, and that "aha moment."

DataPoint Playing with the Blockchain

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank tells us all about playing with Blockchain in a workshop at the Microsoft internal conference in Seattle.

DataPoint Live from Sunny Seattle

Mon, 03 Feb 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank records live from the streets of sunny Seattle (yes, you read that right) to talk about the cool tech he's seeing at an internal Microsoft training event.

DataPoint Thoughts on Amazon's Brick and Mortar Bookstore

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank shares his first impressions of Amazon's brick and mortar store in Bethesda, MD and why the future of retail is data driven.

Also, here is the first book for the Data Driven Book Club: Data Loom by Stephen Few.

Use the following affiliate link to help support the show!

https://amzn.to/2TL0SMx

Thanks!

DataPoint Rise of the Chatbots (Again?)

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank points out that chatbots are in demand again.

DataPoint Live from Azure Data Fest Philly

Thu, 09 Jan 2020 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank is live at Azure Data Fest Philly Winter 2020 and talks about LinkedIn Live.

DataPoint What is Real Time Data Mean Exactly?

Sun, 22 Dec 2019 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank talks about the nebulous buzzword of "real time" and why that's not as clear cut as it may seem.

And how, if you run fast enough, maybe you can see how real time "real time" is at Sams' Club.

DataPoint You Can't Escape Tech and Why Every Company is a Data Company Now

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank wanders into a real estate convention that's talking about tech.

He then finds his way to the AI Summit and explains why every company is a data company now.

DataPoint Live from the AI Summit Expo Floor

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank walks through the AI Summit expo area and explains the two things that will make him walk out of his way

DataPoint Catching Up with Mark Tabladillo on Why Search is Crucial to AI

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 09:00:00 -0400

In this DataPoint, Frank talks to Mark Tabladillo, who's nominated for a major AI award, about why search may be key to AI's future.

DataPoint On the Way to AI Summit NYC

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 05:40:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank is up way too early, but it's all worth it for a chance to go to the AI Summit in NYC.

If you're there, stop by the Forbes Lounge and say hello.

DataPoint Tim McAliley on Azure Data Fest Expansion and Global AI Bootcamp

Tue, 10 Dec 2019 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank speaks with Tim McAliley about Azure Data Fest's expansion out of DC and upcoming events.

DataPoint Live from Azure Data Fest Boston

Tue, 10 Dec 2019 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank talks live from Azure Data Fest Boston and big plans for 2020.

DataPoint Celebrating 100,000 Downloads

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, we celebrate a huge milestone in front of a very important donut shop.

Thank you for being our loyal fans!

DataPoint MLADS Wrap Up Live from the Treehouse

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank reflects on another inspirational MLADS experience, plans for Black Friday Data Driven merch sales, and going 1000 miles per hour.

Data Driven Merch: https://www.amazon.com/s?rh=n%3A7141123011%2Cp_4%3AData+Driven&ref=w_bl_sl_s_ap_web_7141123011

DataPoint An AI Science Fair

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank talks about one of his favorite parts of the MLADS conference: the Poster Demos.

Essentially, the Poster Demos are an AI science fair, where researchers working on cutting edge projects show off their work.

DataPoint Is Hardware the Next Frontier in AI?

Wed, 20 Nov 2019 11:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank share his "aha" moment from the MLADS keynote this morning.

DataPoint At MLADS Where Brilliant AI Minds Gather

Tue, 19 Nov 2019 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank talks about the awesomeness that is MLADS.

PASS Round Up, Frank’s Secret Mission, and the Data Driven Book Club

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 10:00:00 -0400

Frank and Andy are finally back in the studio together to talk about PASS 2019, Frank's "secret mission," and the Data Driven Book Club?

Also, more talk about data driven health with a continuous glucose monitor.

DataPoint Real Time Blood Sugar Monitoring

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 09:00:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank shares his fascination with a new health tech device that has changed the game for his health.

DataPoint Leaving PASS 2019

Sun, 10 Nov 2019 15:09:02 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy reflects on all the new announcements and happenings this week.

This is part of our on going coverage of PASS 2019 Summit.

Let us know in the comments how we’re doing and what you’d like to see.

Live video version of this Data Point is at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV/videos/535717323652790/

Watch all our live videos at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV .

Like us on Facebook to be notified of when we go live.

DataPoint Pinal and Kevin

Sun, 10 Nov 2019 14:57:03 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy talks to Pinal and Kevin about SQL Server messes and good SEO.

This is part of our on going coverage of PASS 2019 Summit.

Let us know in the comments how we’re doing and what you’d like to see.Live video version of this Data Point is at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV/videos/2427637377454643/

Watch all our live videos at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV

Like us on Facebook to be notified of when we go live.

DataPoint Live from the PASS Summit 2019 Expo Hall

Fri, 08 Nov 2019 04:20:49 -0400

Andy walks around the PASS Sumitt 2019 expo floor and bumps into his favorite editor to brainstorm some new book ideas.

This is part of our on going coverage of PASS 2019 Summit.

Let us know in the comments how we’re doing and what you’d like to see.

Live video version of this Data Point is at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV/videos/3136932926333654/

Watch all our live videos at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV .

Like us on Facebook to be notified of when we go live.

DataPoint Go Behind the Scenes of PASS 2019 with Andy

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 15:24:07 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy takes you behind the scenes of the PASS 2019 Summit on his way to his presentation.

The livestream of the session Andy’s walking to is at http://franksworld.com/2019/11/06/ssis-devops-and-azure-containers/

This is part of our on going coverage of PASS 2019 Summit.

Let us know in the comments how we’re doing and what you’d like to see.

Live video version of this Data Point is at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV/videos/2418536671736052/

Watch all our live videos at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV .

Like us on Facebook to be notified of when we go live.

DataPoint Andy Talks to CozyRoc Co-Founder Ivan Peev

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 15:13:44 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy chats with CozyRoc co-founder Ivan Peev while roaming the expo floor at PASS 2019 Summit.

This is part of our on going coverage of PASS 2019 Summit.

Let us know in the comments how we’re doing and what you’d like to see.

Live video version of this Data Point is at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV/videos/714319039080872/

Watch all our live videos at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV.

Like us on Facebook to be notified of when we go live.

DataPoint Andy Speaks with SentryOne CEO Bob Potter

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 15:03:47 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy chats with SentryOne CEO Bob Potter while roaming the expo floor at PASS 2019 Summit.

This is part of our on going coverage of PASS 2019 Summit.

Let us know in the comments how we’re doing and what you’d like to see.

Live video version of this Data Point is at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV/videos/2362966150499722/

Watch all our live videos at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV.

Like us on Facebook to be notified of when we go live.

DataPoint Hanging Out with #SQLGeeks at PASS 2019

Thu, 07 Nov 2019 14:54:37 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy chats with SQL GEEKs while roaming the expo floor at PASS 2019 Summit.

This is part of our on going coverage of PASS 2019 Summit.

Let us know in the comments how we’re doing and what you’d like to see.

Live video version of this Data Point is at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV/videos/538984283584445/

Watch all our live videos at https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV.

Like us on Facebook to be notified of when we go live.

DataPoint PASS 2019 Welcome Reception

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 14:33:08 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy bumps into some familiar faces on the way to the PASS 2019 Welcome Reception where Grant Fritchey kicks off the festivities.

Link to CozyRoc

Fun fact: Frank used to work with Grant Fritchey back in the 90s at a large investment bank on Wall Street. Small World.

Video version available at: https://www.facebook.com/DataDrivenTV/videos/790212794754980/

DataPoint Andy Arrives at PASS 2019

Wed, 06 Nov 2019 01:54:55 -0400

In this Data Point, we follow Andy as he walks his way through PASS 2019 registration and into the rarefied air of the speakers’ area.

DataPoint Andy is on the Way to Seattle for PASS 2019

Tue, 05 Nov 2019 17:35:56 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy talks to us outside of a Waffle House in Raleigh about announcements from Ignite and his upcoming trip to the PASS Summit.

Transcript (experimental)

Hey all this is Andy an this is the beginning.
Well, not really. It’s kind of in the middle of
my trip to PASS Summit,
2019 looking forward to getting out to Seattle,
catching up with old friends,
making new friends. And we’re in my Redgate shirt today
friend of Redgate Awesome company.
Love you guys looking forward to seeing you all too.
And I am in Raleigh.
I am at Waffle House.
No one who knows
me will be surprised by that.
And. I’m going to grab a quick bite to eat
catch the first flight.
And I’ve gotta connect and of course,
every now and then I Get Lucky and get a
direct flight from
RDU to Seattle but exciting news out of ignite yesterday.
If you didn’t get a chance to watch those keynotes.
You can watch him on YouTube.
They’re all over such a an the crew dropped a
bunch of announcements about new cool tech coming out very
impressed.
I was very impressed by a lot of what I
saw there.
SQL Azure SQL, DW has been rebranded that was a
big one.
Just looking at this whole approach where they seem to
be using the technology that they built to stack new
technology on Top of it absolutely love that approach.
This is the little individual units of technology are like
design patterns and seeing them put those design patterns together
in these little chunks together.
I liken it to Legos.
And they built the you know the bottom
layers already and now they’re building on Top of that
it’s pretty cool stuff.
And you know, there’s a lot of marketing
mix in their marketing is not a bad thing,
but from a technology standpoint if it does any of
what they said it does it still pretty good leap
forward an I’m sure that it does
it probably does more than they mentioned so as I
head out this morning to breakfast.
I hope all of you are having a
great day. If you can’t make it just passed summit.
There’s past TV and they’ll be showing the key notes
from the past summit,
you can watch the ignite.
Keynotes as well, and it’s going to be a neat
week,
Anna in technology, so you’ll be good.

DataPoint In Defense of Siraj Raval

Mon, 21 Oct 2019 23:02:45 -0400

In this DataPoint, Frank explains why Siraj Raval has been and still can be a force for good and the democratization of AI.

DataPoint Live from SQLBI Saturday Atlanta with Patrick Leblanc

Sun, 20 Oct 2019 19:37:25 -0400

In this DataPoint, Andy talks with Patrick Leblanc about some of the AI features of PowerBI live from SQL BI Saturday Atlanta.

Special Neural Networks from the Ground Up

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 03:53:29 -0400

Continuing our live coverage of Azure Data Fest Fall 2019 in Reston is this session by Frank La Vigne.

Neural Networks from the Ground Up

Neural networks are an essential element of many advanced artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. However, few people understand the core mathematical or structural underpinnings of this concept. In this session, learn the basic structure of neural networks and how to build out a simple neural network from scratch with Python.

This episode was recorded live at the Azure Data Fest in Reston, VA on Oct 11, 2019.

You can watch the entire live stream here: http://franksworld.com/2019/10/11/azure-data-fest-reston-live-stream/

Special Linux on Azure with James Genus, Jr

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 03:41:12 -0400

Continuing our live coverage of Azure Data Fest Fall 2019 in Reston is this session by James Genus, Jr on Linux on Azure.

About the Speaker:

James Genus Jr. has been working in technology for 25+ years across many industries including commercial, public and non-profit sectors. In 1997, he started using Linux which led to eventually working for Red Hat. Currently, he works for Microsoft as an Azure Cloud Solution Architect.

This episode was recorded live at the Azure Data Fest in Reston, VA on Oct 11, 2019.

You can watch the entire live stream here: http://franksworld.com/2019/10/11/azure-data-fest-reston-live-stream/

Special Global Application Deployment for Scalability and Availability

Sat, 12 Oct 2019 04:39:53 -0400

Jay Kumar presents “Global Application Deployment for Scalability and Availability.”

A case study of app deployment in Azure using our PaaS services for high availability and scalability.

This session will cover a deployment of a globally available application architecture and best practices.

This episode was recorded live at the Azure Data Fest in Reston, VA on Oct 11, 2019.

You can watch the entire live stream here: http://franksworld.com/2019/10/11/azure-data-fest-reston-live-stream/

Special Azure Databricks Recommendations with Todd Dube & Julia Barnhart

Sat, 12 Oct 2019 04:16:16 -0400

In this special episode, Todd Dube & Julia Barnhart share their real world experiences with Azure Databricks working on a Fortune 500 website.

This episode was recorded live at the Azure Data Fest in Reston, VA on Oct 11, 2019.

You can watch the entire live stream here: http://franksworld.com/2019/10/11/azure-data-fest-reston-live-stream/

DataPoint Live from Azure Data Fest Reston 2019 with Joel Cochran

Fri, 11 Oct 2019 19:30:39 -0400

In this Data Point recorded live at Azure Data Fest Reston Fall 2019, Frank talk with Joel Cochran about Azure Data Factory, Billiards, and how there’s no school like the old school.

Original show with Joel: http://datadriven.tv/joel-cochran-data-politics-law-school-billiards/

DataPoint Asynchronous is the New Customer Experience

Tue, 08 Oct 2019 14:10:00 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank explains why Amazon is winning the retail game and how you should transform your business to serve customers asynchronously or risk being left behind.

DataPoint Live from SQL Saturday Pittsburgh with Bill Wolf, His Motorcycle, and That

Mon, 07 Oct 2019 16:24:58 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy talks with Bill Wolf about SQL Saturday Pittsburgh, motorcycles, and the local slang.

DataPoint Live from SQL Trail 2019 with Devin Jaswal

Sat, 05 Oct 2019 02:05:23 -0400

In this DataPoint, Frank talks with fellow Cloud Solution Architect, Devin Jaswal, about the SQL Trail conference in Richmond, VA and serverless SQL.

DataPoint Live from Strata with Matt Kirk

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 23:56:59 -0400

In this DataPoint, Frank runs into Matt Kirk on the expo floor at Strata NYC.

DataPoint Live from Strata NYC

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 16:20:00 -0400

Frank is at the Strata NYC conference today working the Microsoft booth. Stop by and say hello!

DataPoint R vs Python – an Unexpected Perspective

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 16:09:14 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank talks about his new found respect for the R language.

DataPoint Back from Vegas and a Data Warehousing OpenHack

Fri, 20 Sep 2019 20:16:12 -0400

In this DataPoint, Frank reflects on how useful DataBricks is in a data warehousing environment. That and the importance of coffee after a red eye flight.

DataPoint Gem Mining is a Lot Like Data Mining

Sat, 31 Aug 2019 04:05:25 -0400

This week Frank is on vacation with his family in the North Carolina mountains where gem mining is a popular activity.

Ever the data geek, he notes the similarities between data mining and gem mining.

Listener Mail: NoLock, Virtual Summits, and the Scientific Method

Tue, 06 Aug 2019 14:30:25 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy answer some your questions!

Show notes coming soon!

Brent Ozar on NoLock, Stoicism, and Playing Country Music Backwards (S3E2)

Tue, 30 Jul 2019 04:37:26 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy catch up with Brent Ozar and have a laugh or two at Silverlight’s expense, NoLock, and playing country music backwards.

Links

Sponsor: Audible.com – Get a free audio book when you sign up for a free trial!

Notable Quotes

Season 3 opened with John Lee Dumas aka JLD ([01:30])
Data Soup Summit ([02:00])
Introducting Brent Ozar ([05:00])
“Get out there!” – Brent Ozar ([08:30])
Data work pays better. ([13:45])
Brent started in hotel management ([15:00])
Data is the new oil… but we should avoid spills. ([16:15])
“The job is getting harder, not easier.” ([18:30])
The “Aha” moment and ER analogy. ([21:30])
Brent’s quote voice… ([22:00])
Brent’s “Bad News Doctor” voice ([22:45])
Andy throws NoLock under the bus. Brent helps. ([23:12])
On shrinking databases… ([24:30])
NoSQL ([26:30])
Name-drop: Buck Woody ([28:30])
Name-drop: Scott Hanselman ([29:00])
Ballerina Princess ([32:20])
Brent likes to travel. ([34:45])
“No one comes to me for a good time…” ([36:20])
The data is the choke-point. Again. ([38:30])
On Google Glass ([39:45])
On Past Brent… ([41:00])
Name-drop: Brian Kelley ([41:30])
“We’re published. It’s a license to spell.” ([42:10])
Book Reference: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom ([43:45])
Social Radar ([44:45])
Regarding iTunes… ([45:00])
Brent is into restaurants. ([46:45])
Andy’s Brent Story… ([48:15])
Brent is here to help. ([50:00])
On paying it forward… ([51:30])
“This looks like an engineer built it” is not a compliment. ([52:30])
Learn more about Brent at BrentOzar.com ([53:00])
A Guide to the Good Life by William B. Irvine ([54:30])
Every Tool’s a Hammer by Adam Savage (@donttrythis)([55:30])
Titan by Ron Chernow ([58:40])
Regarding Midgely… ([1:00:00])
Brent’s Epic Life Quest ([1:02:00])
WordPress Plugins I Use to Sell Training Classes ([1:02:30])
Frank’s New Year starts 1 Nov. ([1:03:15])
Sometimes life resembles a country music song… ([1:04:00])
Frank wrote a book about Silverlight. ([1:05:15])
One day there will be a country song about a self-driving pickup leaving… ([1:06:10])

Transcript (Experimental)

The following transcript was automatically generated with AI.

Hello and Welcome to data driven the podcast where we
explore the emerging field of data science.
We bring the best minds in data software engineering machine
learning and artificial intelligence now hear your hosts Frank Lavigna
and Andy Leonard.
Hello and welcome back to data driven the podcasts are
we explore the emerging field.
Some data science machine learning and artificial intelligence.
If you’d like to think of data as the new
oil and you can consider us Car Talk because we
focus on where the rubber meets Virtual Road and with
me as ever on this epic road trip down the
information superhighway.
Can I fill us up with more data cliches Andy
is emulated?
How you doing? I’m doing great Frank?
How are you? I’m doing alright?
I’m doing alright so you had a birthday last week?
Thank you yes? Yes, I made another trip around the
sun.
Yeah, yeah, you know statistics show that the more birthdays.
You have the longer you live that you know,
I wonder. Though if it’s one of those false.
Corollary’s just just not sure is that false positive.
I don’t know. I think it’s a useless correlation.
I was looking for how describing the same thing just
in different terms.
That’s true. We’ve sound smart when we throw these words
around.
I need all the help I can get sound in
smaller.
I’m just saying so last week.
We had the jihadis show kicking off season 3.
Let’s see 02 of season 3 and.
We’ve had a lot of good feedback with that JLD
himself actually treated the.
The.
The episode. Lydia Oh wow,
I was super excited with to hear that.
We also announced speaking of super excited.
I’m doing a play on super we announced the data
Soup Summit and so that’s a virtual summit that were
put together data soupsummit.com if I’m correct and coming up
in. We’re recording this on the 29th of July 2019
and it’s coming up in just under 16 days interesting
concept.
Now we’re having people record their sessions an it’s for
a couple reasons.
One is it’s the middle of the night in some
of the places where the authors live so the presenters
will be probably be asleep when we’re playing their recording,
but we’re setting up forms and stuff like that,
for questions and we’re just trying something new,
and differentso.com. And if you sign up before August 5th.
Then you will get a discount if you use 70%
discount if you use the code data driven?
And beyond that, you’ll get a 50%
discount because we love our list.
We absolutely do. They’re the greatest listers of our podcast
ever?
I would say totally totally speaking of funny correlation?
Or redundant correlations, maybe that’s that’s the phrase,
We’re looking for but I think one of the one
of the key advantages here people like well?
Why are you doing a virtual summit one we can
kind of recruit talent from around the world and we
can do it now as opposed to some distant point
in future when if we do hit the Lotto or
whatever.
Well, you now we talked about this.
A little bit. Indiana first show last week when we
did organizing it was a lot of that was coordinating
when people were available and.
And that sort of stuff and you’re competing nowadays in
you know against all of these other events that are
out there in the calendar.
Just keeps growing with all of these events that people
want to attend that we can have folks record their
session.
We can play it back and then jump in the
middle and do commentary and what have you and then
we can actually compile those recordings and people can at
a later date sign up and listen to the recording
so there’s a lot to like about this.
I think it solves a couple of particularly nasty organizational
problems.
And I love it and I love our guest if
you go today to seesummit.com you can see the people
that are speaking in this first one.
There always is in my opinion,
so looking forward to doing more of these we haven’t
talked about our future plans for these much.
But we’re going to talk about those after we get
through with this one that’s right.
We want to get the first one.
The result and kind of see how it goes.
We are using somebody elses software as a solution platform?
Which. It’s always easier to find the flaws and somebody
else is software,
it necessary. It’s almost like that’s a universal pattern of
humanity.
I don’t know splinters and planks and all that.
But with that. Let’s get onto our guest ’cause.
I hear he’s a pretty awesome guy.
I’ve heard his name come up quite a bit with
the work.
You’ve done and some other places always in respectful tones
just.
With that out, there just engaged.
I’ll send you send you that dollar by PayPal.
Later, you work with them more closely want you do
the intro Andy.
Well, I’m not totally wing.
This introduction our guest today from sunny San Diego.
California is Brent Ozar and I consider Brenda Friend.
No matter what he says about Maine.
We met actually we met on Twitter and I want
to say it was 2007.
Something like that, and around 2008 or 9.
I landed in Seattle for a pass summit aunt,
we did. I think I actually used my phone it
may be the first week.
I sent on my phone had said you know,
I’m at the airport is anybody want to share a
ride or something like that,
and Brett comes back and says.
Hey, I gotta car. I’ll come get back.
We pick me up and we rode from the Seatac
downtown Seattle.
How to great conversation. If I remember right you will
find this ironic people who follow both their blogs.
These days at the time.
Brent was just getting started with this blog and he
was actually picking my brain for ideas.
That’s ironic now ’cause Brent is he’s a master of
marketing through and Anna Master or Microsoft.
Certified Master SQL DBA. He was an MVP I think
you stepped away from the Microsoft MVP program.
Yeah. I did that and then I jump back in
so but great guy brentozar.com.
ZAR is those are if you don’t know who Brent
is he’s he’s very popular in our community.
Great Speaker One and in Japan,
too great. Great speaker, handsome fella helper of folks with
database problems walk with the shell.
Brett I gotta cut us where you really get into
trouble and so we’re going to regret.
Well, thank thank God it is totally a pleasure to
hear thanks guys.
It’s funny hearing that big long winded introduction.
I’m like OK now seriously.
There are people who are important and worthy of that.
I am not well. You’ve got engineers to season.
I tell people that all the time is same way.
It’s like we think the stuff we know is worth
very little and stuff.
Others know that we don’t know well.
That’s like millions and it’s just a hard thing,
but you have done an awful lot you sold out.
Pass Summit Pre Conference sessions,
yet and presented all over the world.
The marketing is not to be not to be besmirched.
That’s that’s really important an I am I cannot snatch
the Pebble from your hands.
I did might I think when I talk to so
many people about what you’re going to do for your
career and what your long term perspectives look like the
thing I can’t say enough to people is that you
already know enough technically you have enough technical knowledge to
get the job done for a long time in your
career. It’s that not enough.
Other people know you know that more people.
No need to know what you know you need to
get out there on the blogs social media whatever in
order to say.
Here’s the stuff that good at but Frank about here
are the areas where I don’t have expertise yet.
But if you want to pay me,
I’ll go learn those things.
But these are the little areas where I presented expertise
on and if you want to save time you can
hire me and avoid the same burn marks that I’ve
got.
Yeah, absolutely I think that’s that’s the marketing pieces.
What makes careers so much more stronger.
The difference between y’all sitting out there on the other
side of the podcast those of you who are hearing.
The difference that it’s going to make to get on
to the other side of the microphone to become podcast
guests to start sharing your knowledge,
a user groups. That’s when your career really hits the
gas it’s bananas.
Now that’s absolutely true, I can speak from personal experience
is that the more you share the more you get
and you know it’s just we’ve gotten a lot of
we put a lot into the podcast.
But I think we’ve got a lot more out of
it,
then we put in its especially so important.
In this day and age where tools are changing continuously
techniques are changing continuously and it’s so easy to sit
on the sidelines and go well.
Everything I’m learning is just via googling.
That same as everybody else out here,
we’re all learning this stuff and building the tools as
fast as we can.
Is that all you have to do is jump in
take the plunge and start giving back to people all
the sudden,
it just makes a huge difference.
Absolutely and people shouldn’t think that you know just because
somebody’s else is already doing it that they shouldn’t try
it themselves.
Because you’re going to bring your own unique voice right
so one of the things that I’d like to point
out is that?
Podcasting’s been around since at least 20042 thousand 5.
Yeah, there’s a number of podcasters that have started you
know as recently as 23 years ago and I’ve had
enormous success.
You know if you look at John Lee Dumas right
like I forget what he makes like 100 thousand dollars
a month or something like that.
On this podcast or whatever and he only started in
2012.
This is not there is not so much,
saying such thing as being kind of too late for
this.
It’s just like musicians or poets or artists or anything
like well.
Why would I write a love song in the year
2019.
Everybody’s already covered love extensively.
You know it’s it’s all about what you bring to
it,
and how you can bring things to life that sooner.
There’s going to be somebody who’s waiting to hear the
way you’re going to bring it to life.
That’s going to be different.
Now we are not by any means,
saying that you should go start podcasting about love,
but you know in terms of data or development or
anything like that.
The market is wide freaking open get out there and
share what you know,
so, so true. And you’ve encouraged a lot of people
through your blog Brent to begin blogging you’ve gone beyond
that,
at times. You’ve I remember your week of starting a
blog.
I still send people to that series and it was
written years ago,
but it’s still relevant and it’s just really good advice.
Thanks, it’s tough for us his data people too because
I like I’m so for background on me.
I got started in development when into systems administration,
then gradually segued into database administrator.
When you’re a data person and you’re looking at like
website.
Analytics of the people who are reading.
You and it’s 0000 for 6 months that disheartening but
you just remember sooner or later.
You’re going to help people in those numbers are going
to start becoming larger.
It’s just like starting a company or anything else starting
your career.
The numbers were tiny when you started your career in
the beginning,
you’re like, Oh my God.
Can’t believe I’m actually getting paid to do this and
then generally overtime.
Later, it starts. It’s not just about numbers.
It’s also I think it’s just the weirdest things like
I would write about how to do HTTP posts like
screen scraping and you WP apps and then somebody would
come up to me like I read your post.
It was awesome. I’m like OK like wow.
So somebody other than my mom read it.
If you always took my thumb.
I thought initially when people would start saying there is.
Like why didn’t you leave a comment?
Why did he tell me what ’cause

DataPoint Here’s a Retailer that Knows How to Compete in the Amazon World

Mon, 29 Jul 2019 03:40:48 -0400

In the post-Amazon economy, all brick and mortar retailers are struggling. Some have outright failed and others on the brink. However, there are a few outliers that refuse to go down without a fight and are actually innovating.

In this DataPoint, Frank notes one that has actually turned physical location to its advantage by helping Amazon process returns!

Inspiration with John Lee Dumas and Tech Intensity with Data Soup

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 03:29:45 -0400

As we begin season 3 of Data Driven, Frank and Andy wanted to bring it back to the guy who inspired the entire show: John Lee Dumas. Although not yet quite a household name, JLD as he’s known to his fans, is the host of Entrepreneurs on Fire, an award winning podcast where he interviews inspiring Entrepreneurs who are truly ON FIRE. With over 2000 episodes, 1 million + listens a month, and seven-figures of annual revenue, JLD is just getting started.

Not to stop there, the Data Driven dynamic duo want to bring the heat and turn up the tech intensity levels to 11 with a virtual summit that covers everything data from soup to nuts. To that end, we are launching the Data Soup Virtual Summit. And are souper excited to give Data Driven Listeners a Discount (70% until Aug 5, 2019; 50% afterwards).

Back in the day – Richmond .Net Users Group, now Azure Richmond, and Richmond SQL Server Users Group.

Rick and Morty

Tech Intensity

John Lee Dumas!

Entrepreneurs on Fire

Age of the Entrepreneur movie

Think and Grow Rich movie

Pat Flynn – Smart Passive Income

Love this:

“What gets measured gets managed.” – Peter Drucker

EOFire.com

“Data is either part of your business plan or part of your going-out-of-business plan.” – Frank

Announcing Data Soup Summit – a new virtual summit!

Featuring:

Reza Rad, author of Pro Power BI Architecture
Nick Harris
Cathrine Wilhelmsen, co-author of The Biml Book
Tim McAliley
Dr. Leila Etaati, author of Machine Learning with Microsoft Technologies

365 Data Science – our first Data Soup Summit sponsor!

We are honored to announce 365 Data Science is sponsoring Data Soup Summit!

The Dunkin Donuts *DataPoint* raw footage from the DataDriven Facebook page.

Transcript (Experimental)

The following transcript was automatically generated with AI.

Hello and Welcome to data driven the podcast where we
explore the emerging field of data science.
We bring the best minds in data software engineering machine
learning and artificial intelligence now hear your hosts Frank Lavigna
and Andy Leonard.
Hello and welcome back to data driven the podcast where
we explore the emerging fields of data science machine learning
and artificial intelligence is you like to think of data
as the new oil then you can consider a scar
talk ’cause.
We focus on where the rubber meets the road and
on with me on this epic road trip.
Down the information superhighway as he has been from day
one.
Season one episode, one episode zero actually we started zero.
I take your room with me is Andy Leonard,
whose has gone from data engineer to chief data engineer
to you had another really data philosopher that’s what it
was yeah,
started with data philosopher back in today right which is
very cool by the way well.
I appreciate that Frank it kind of went with the
beard and back then.
I had the unbreaded version of the beard.
And so you know, I still call myself so go
ahead go ahead.
Now, because I still call myself a date a philosopher
at DILM Suite,
which is kind of like an offshoot of Edna.
They consulting company. I kept the title enterprise DNA for
those not in the know not Edna like Dame Edna
thanks.
Yes, not the insurance company but enterprise data and analytics
and.
Yeah, we are I work there Frank works at Microsoft.
Yep, which wasn’t the case during the whole podcast journey
actually.
Uh I had been riffed for Microsoft ’cause.
They basically said move to Seattle or else and I
rejoined.
But 18 months ago. Awesome has it been that long
wow well April so.
Yeah, well still fit OK 15 months,
he was 89 since the job opportunity was like first
presented to me.
Right right so it’s been an interesting it’s been interesting
journey.
I’m now they changed our titles for this upcoming fiscal
year.
Microsoft fiscal year goes from July 1st to June 30th.
I am now a cloud solution architect.
Congratulations.
I. I like that title better because it’s easier to
explain it party.
My cloud solution architect oh OK,
it’s cloud its architect. Where before I was a technology
solutions professional which?
Requires a bit of a follow-up sentence or 2 well
it’s vague.
Yeah, it is vague so.
It’s nice to have something that is.
Yeah, it’s funny ’cause throughout my tenure at Microsoft.
I’ve always had those kind of weird hard to explain
titles like evangelist.
Right you right straight folks like you and gathered 99%
of our listeners.
We get we know what Evangel says right writing,
but to normal people. They don’t necessarily like what like
televangelists right like like religious religious right?
That’s not quite like that,
Well, you weren’t although some would argue maybe it is.
Well II know you’ve always had a passion for community
for those who don’t know that I don’t know that
we’ve ever told the back story Frank.
Back story you and I when we first met it
was,
it was November of 2005.
I know that and I remember that because the netrichmond.net
users group was just getting going or getting re going.
I’m not sure. We’d kind of so when I moved
to Richmond from New Jersey I had.
Wanted to restart the group,
yeah, and by the time November happened.
We had a pretty good momentum going on.
I think you were there when we were at our
temporary location and we ended up taking up 2 conference
rooms,
which was about twice the size of the group that
we expected.
Wow, Yeah. And I was talking about starting up a
Richmond SQL Group.
And EDU Dot E. Who was the developer evangelist for
the area at the time suggested I meet you?
Very cold and I think I told you like yeah,
just sent him on by you know,
I’ll be here so.
And he did an II popped in an gosh who
was I’m trying to remember the guys name.
It was be. I think it was from New Jersey.
I want to scale Castro.
It was Miguel Yes, and I didn’t come down.
Yeah, that was a fantastic presentation.
I had no idea who he was at the time.
Uh. But he is an awesome presenter,
He really is as very smart guy,
very impressive. Just just all around and we also I
distinctly remember meeting Nick Harris at that meeting as well.
Oh really yeah. Yeah, so we were all just we
were all kind of Newish to the Richmond area.
I was born in Richmond.
But I had lived in Jacksonville,
Florida for the previous 3 and a half years.
Anne I wish I’d gotten into community.
Now there I really didn’t know much about the technical
community.
Although I lived in the area.
You know in the Richmond metropolitan area.
You know before I moved down to Florida,
but It was it was very interesting an?
You know, I kind of caught the bug and I
think you and I were both at a spot in
our lives where we had a little bit of extra
time and we were both very passionate about this whole
idea of community so we dove in.
Now absolutely and it’s funny,
you mentioned Miguel because Miguel and andem sack.
I think at the time.
He was known as Don XML,
where the guys that got me interested in community when
I lived in New Jersey.
Cool, so cool, so which actually I think leads us
to kind of our next topic.
One of our themes if you will,
for the year. ’cause now there were 3 seasons in
22 and a half years,
maybe? Yeah, yeah in this season was a bit delayed,
but it’s not been delayed as long as of Rick
and Morty season,
so count your blessings sitting at Barlow.
I love Rick and Morty so much love to harm
and I forgot.
The other guys name, but anyway,
so one of the things I think we want to
want to kick off on is.
2 things one is inspiration like what inspired us like
you know what?
What inspired us to get into data.
What can we do to inspire others.
It’s kind of pay it forward.
You know like what inspired us to get into this?
What inspired us to stay in this and how can
we pass that onto our listeners.
I think that’s really? I think that’s what gets us
up in a day and keeps up late at night.
And uh absolutely and then the other side of that.
The other topic that I think bleeds into it is
kind of takes into account our profession is tech intense
it.
Right and tech intensity is one of those newfangled terms
that if you watch the inspire keynote.
Last week and internally we’ve been using that a lot
tech intensity,
which is basically.
Helping shit helping spread the knowledge of Technology,
too.
More people like basically turning up our technology skills just
turning it up A notch.
Actually, maybe we don’t like these other things that we’re
seeing but whatever it is that there were passionate about
positively or negatively.
We share that exactly we just exactly it’s kind of
like a correlation measurement right like if it’s the closer.
It is to zero. There’s no correlation.
But the closer. It is to -1,
+1, there’s either negative correlation or a positive correlation?
How’s that for geeking out?
I like that. That’s got data science written all over
it.
It’s almost like it’s a podcast or not data science,
which you do want so I think really the key
here is and what’s really cool is over the past.
Over the past 6 months.
We both have had challenges you know in terms of
deaths in the family.
My wife was half, collage,
she’s OK now that’s really what kind of is delayed
the season from coming out,
but also was part of that I managed to as
part of my job is go and.
Go through an actually. How people come up to me
when I’m presenting at a customer site like how?
Yeah, I love to show you know like tell Andy
I said hi.
You know it, yeah, yeah that happens to me with
cool.
It’s like you know it’s not just my mom listening.
You know, and it’s not like AI.
Bots that I program. I don’t actually have that,
but it’s actually something. Wait people are listening to and
we’re appreciate that we really appreciate that is so true.
Well then II’ll just I’ll say ’cause now I know
Frank.
You said all of this up so I’m not stealing
anybody’s Thunder hear Frank did all the work once again.
Frank did all the work.
But we have 4 season 3 for this kickoff.
We have a really cool.
Guest all of our guests have been cool.
I’ve said this before they are awesome.
But this guest is a little higher visibility and some
circles that maybe not.
Our other guests have been as high visibility in an
that’s.
That’s a big tease. I’m gonna do.
Frank I’m gonna let you take it from there and
waited.
This inspiration theme. I want to share with you all
with our listeners.
The guy who inspired me to podcast.
His name is John Lee Dumas,
he runs a podcast called entrepreneur on fire.
It’s an award winning podcast where he interviews.
Inspiring entrepreneurs, who are and his words on fire.
An he has over 2000 episodes.
If anyone posts more content on the Internet than me.
It’s probably him 1,000,000 plus listeners a month,
7 figures from his podcast of annual revenue.
He’s known to his fans,
is just JLD. And he’s just getting started.
He’s he’s doing a lot of great stuff,
he’s actually been in 2 movies.
Documentaries not like Avengers or anything like that,
but that is 2 more documentaries that I’ve been in.
So you know much props to him and he’s been
continual source of inspiration.
You can better shut off my Alexa because soon as
I start talking about her.
She will start playing it.
But if he actually has a flash briefing on Amazon
Alexa.
So if you want to do it.
You could just ask play entrepreneur on fire right.
He is a genius. He is a veteran you served
our country in Iraq.
He is awesome, because he he’s just very inspirational.
He has a program called Podcasters Paradise,
which we kind of talked about.
A lot in terms of the training that I did.
We always mentioned the training.
The Frank dude? Absolutely, you kind of help get the
podcast going?
Yeah, this guy sounds pretty cool who were talking about
oh it’s some gardening.
John Lee Dumas. So Alexa Alexa always puts on like
a little bit of a French twist on it.
Like John Lee Dumas that is the roots.
That’s where the fam comes from also another French Canadian,
the call. Yes, danger danger danger Andy I’m outnumbered.
It’s all good. It’s all good welcome Mr.
Dumass. Thank you for inviting me.
I’m looking forward to hanging out with.
You too, for a little while so Welcome to the
show.
For those that don’t know.
He just mentioned that you were in 2 documentaries one
of which I just got the email about today.
Do you want to talk about that age of the
entrepreneur it was a documentary that features 24 pretty successful
entrepreneurs and I mean,
this team put in the work I mean,
they actually flew down 2.
Puerto Rico with a full team with the full video
crew.
We recorded all day I mean,
it was a definite production.
It was a couple of years ago,
the filming. I mean, this takes a long time for
these higher production movies to kind of obviously make the?
Progress from conception to reality and it was really cool
to see it come out and to sit down to
watch it and to see people like Les Brown Russell
Brunson T Harv Ecker Jenna Cucheron,
just a ton of other successful entrepreneurs be apart of
it and think it’s really going to move the needle
for some people awesome.
I was excited just watching the trailer cool well.
I can drop a quick link for people to ask
is it still free to watch it won’t be forever,
but EOfire.com slash. Video you can go watch the whole
movie for free and will be sure to put that
into show notes and the next item was you were
also I think it was the think and grow rich
documentary.
Yes, that also was a super highly produced movie that
was actually the highest produce.
I’ve ever been. I mean,
they brought in real characters real scenes were shot.
You know they would go back in time.
And I mean that was some cinematography at hours in
Preston.
I just remember I was watching it.
’cause I think it’s like Amazon Prime or something like
that.
And I’m watching and I’m like and you show up.
I’m like holy crap holy crap?
Yeah, we wanna things that I think really inspired was
kind of talked a lot about this in a number
of places about what got...

DataPoint Season 3 is Coming

Mon, 22 Jul 2019 00:36:23 -0400

In this DataPoint, Andy teases some details on Data Driven Season 3, which is set to launch Tuesday, July 23rd along with another special project that we’ve been working on.

DataPoint Amazon to Retrain Its Employees. Why That’s Big Deal.

Fri, 19 Jul 2019 17:46:52 -0400

Recently, Amazon announced that it will spend $700 Million (USD) to retrain its employees. Why are they doing this? Simple: automation. They know that a displaced workforce would be bad political mojo at a time when the giant is facing increasing calls for regulation, even potential anti-trust action.

Anti-trust laws in the US were made largely in reaction to the Standard Oil Company and its founder John D. Rockefeller.

In this DataPoint, Frank notes how Jeff Bezos just may be the Rockefeller of our day.

DataPoint Frank and Andy in the Same Place, Big Plans for Season 3, and is Frank the Forrest Gump of Data Science

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 20:16:51 -0400

Frank and Andy are in the same place for the first time in a while, so they meet up to plan season 3 of Data Driven.

DataPoint Knowledge Mining Open Hack

Tue, 11 Jun 2019 18:06:28 -0400

I’m at an OpenHack today learning about Knowledge Mining.

DataPoint Celebrating 2 Years of Data Driven

Wed, 05 Jun 2019 16:02:57 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank marks the two year anniversary of Data Driven’s launch and talks about the future.

DataPoint What If We Lie to the Machines?

Wed, 22 May 2019 04:54:05 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy ponders the ethics of lying to the machines, how that adds bias, and what the consequences may be.

DataPoint Retooling Workers and Getting Ready for Lifelong Learning

Tue, 21 May 2019 14:42:44 -0400

In this Data Point, Andy discusses our recent interview with Anders Schneiderman, What’s it going to take for neglected communities to come back to life? How are workers going to be retooled? What’s the practical application here?

Anders Schneiderman on Why We Need to Prepare Communities for the Future of Work

Thu, 09 May 2019 04:01:59 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy talk to Anders Schneiderman (LinkedIn), founder of Makers All and author of a report titled How to Help Communities Transform Emerging Tech So They Can Shape Their Destinies.

DataPoint Medical Data Engineering

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 18:15:12 -0400

Quick DataPoint today to make you aware that Kent Bradshaw – a data scientist who works with me at Enterprise Data & Analytics – and I are delivering a free webinar titled Loading Medical Data with SSIS Wednesday 17 Apr 2019 at [12:00] PM EDT.

DataPoint Chatbot Workshop

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 16:47:43 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank talks about a new offering: the Chatbot Workshop as well as his journey from bot-skeptic to bot-evangelist.

Here’s the book I referenced in the DataPoint

DataPoint SSIS and Containers

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 20:49:06 -0400

Andy has been working on a way to test SSIS package execution in Windows containers using the SSIS Catalog. That’s a lot of moving parts, which made for a lot of blog posts.

Watch the video from the Data Driven TV Facebook page:

Read the series at andyleonard.blog:

Enjoy!

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DataPoint AI Will Impact Every Business

Tue, 02 Apr 2019 00:06:09 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank ponders the wider impact on jobs and businesses related to self-driving cars that are not immediately obvious. From driving schools to truck stops, everyone will feel the change.

The question then becomes: how can we prepare the workforce for the impending upheaval in the job market? Will teaching to the test cut it? Or are we going to have to make learning play and play learning?

Show Notes:

Workforce Show interview with Frank on “Breaking the AI Code”

DataPoint Chuck E. Cheese is Watching You

Mon, 01 Apr 2019 14:35:56 -0400

In this DataPoint, Frank discovers that Chuck E. Cheese is tracking game playing statistics with the use of RFID cards and how to look up your own data with their in store kiosks.

DataPoint The Eve of Disruption

Thu, 21 Mar 2019 03:37:14 -0400

While grabbing coffee at a recently renovated McDonald’s, Frank ponders the future of work: both low-skill and higher skill work. There’s going to be no hiding from this: we are truly on the Eve of Disruption, where AI will impact everyone everywhere.

It’s not all gloom and doom and there might be a strategy to survive and even thrive now and in the next economy.

Ronald Schmelzer and Kathleen Walch on AI, Enterprises, and Startups

Tue, 05 Mar 2019 05:00:40 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy talk to two guests, Ronald Schmelzer and Kathleen Walch, co-founders of Cognilytica and co-hosts of the AI Today podcast.

Links

Sponsor: Audible.com – Get a free audio book when you sign up for a free trial!

Notable Quotes

Cognilytica is amazing!([04:00])
All chatbots are dumb – for now. ([09:00])
Machine Learning vs. Machine Reasoning ([11:30])
The DIKUW Pyramid ([11:55])
More about Knowledge Graph… ([14:00])
More about Common Sense… ([15:00])
On generalization ([16:05])
ML and the Elephant in the Room ([16:22])
Movie reference: Guardians of the Galaxy ([17:00])
How did the AI Today podcast get started? ([18:00])
AI Today podcast with Dragos Margineantu, AI Chief Technologist at Boeing ([19:44])
Is AI retro? ([22:50])
Movie Reference: Short Circuit ([23:30])
Did you find data or did data find you? (0[25:00])
Tech Breakfast DC ([28:30])
AOL plug ([31:25])
What’s your favorite part of your current gig? ([32:00])
More about pseudo-AI… ([33:45])
Shout-out to Brent Ozar (just not by name) ([38:00])
When I’m not working, I enjoy ___? ([39:45])
I think the coolest thing in technology is ___? ([41:12])
Bubble programming language ([42:15])
I look forward to the day when I can use technology to ___. ([45:00])
“Don’t overshare…” ([46:30])
The loneliest people ([47:00])
Warning: Do not watch movies while driving. ([48:30])
Also, eating tacos while driving is difficult. ([49:00])
“Lefties are alright…” – Kathleen ([49:30])
Ron may be a pool shark. ([51:30])
Ron and Kathleen write for TechTarget and Forbes. ([53:00])
Ron’s book recommendation: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution ([56:00])
Kathleen’s book recommendation: My Not-So-Perfect Life ([57:00])
Kathleen’s other book recommendation: The Glass Castle ([57:40])
You can glamp at Sandy River in Farmville ([1:00:00])

Frank and Andy Mix Things Up and Try Not Get Blocked on Twitter

Tue, 26 Feb 2019 05:00:23 -0400

Frank and Andy mix things up a bit and talk about running R in SQL Azure, becoming Anti-Fragile, Appalachia, and how they got blocked by a big time blogger.

Links

Sponsor: Audible.com – Get a free audio book when you sign up for a free trial!

Notable Quotes

Andy and Frank agree The Expanse is well-written. ([02:00])
Frank’s super-secret conference… wasn’t. ([04:00])
You should definitely check out Franks World ([04:30])
Keep up with Azure Data Fest on Twitter ([05:00])
AI Super-Powers ([05:20])
Frank and Andy “learned a lot” when we tried to land a “big fish”… ([05:40])
… and were blocked on Twitter ([06:15])
(It’s all Andy’s fault. Frank’s Twitter block was collateral damage.) ([06:30])
Frank is a Microsoft AI Ambassador ([07:15])
Check out the show with Ronald Schmelzer and Kathleen Walch on AI, Enterprises, and Startups ([08:00])
Shoutout to Milena Rodban and her show on Geopolitical Risk, Cybersecurity, and Tennis ([08:30])
Milena’s LinkedIn article ([09:15])
DIVE DIVE DIVE ([10:00])
“R-uh” ([10:45])
Kent’s show ([11:00])
Frank has another certification: AI ([11:15])
“No brakes on the F train…” ([12:00])
Frank has 36 certifications in the past 2.5 years ([12:30])
COBOL mentioned… ([13:00])
Regarding “SELECT *…” ([14:15])
More information about Azure Data Explorer ([15:30])
On dataframes… ([17:30])
Setting up R in Azure ([18:00])
Frank writes the Artificially Intelligent column at MSDN magazine ([20:00])
Learn more about Azure Databricks ([23:30])
Graeme Malcolm is an awesome presenter! ([26:00])
Frank totaled his car in December 2018 ([26:30])
More information on Honda Adaptive Cruise Control ([28:00])
Frank’s role – as a driver – has changed. ([31:12])
Book Recommendation: Anti-Fragile ([35:30])
Frank’s brush with “Ponch” ([36:50])
Interesting article about combination of tolerances ([38:50])
Andy shares thoughts on the economics of self-driving trucks ([43:00])
Frank shares thoughts on the shifting role of a driver in self-driving trucks ([45:30])
“Learn how to code” is not particularly helpful ([47:00])
AFAF == “Anti-Fragile As Frank” ([47:30])
Upcoming show with Anders Schneiderman, who has not (yet) blocked us on Twitter ([50:00])
“Disruption is now the norm.” ([51:30])
Mr. T predicts pain. ([53:30])
Frank’s *DataPoint* Be Playful With Your Data, but Judicious With Your Time ([54:30])
“Potpourri episode” ([55:55])
Book reference: Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) ([56:15])
Book references: The 10X Rule and Be Obsessed or Be Average by Grant Cardone (@GrantCardone) ([57:15])
Nassim Taleb is writing an Incerto. ([58:00])
“You’re not that guy. I’m that guy.” – Amos Burton ([1:00:00])
More love for The Expanse… ([1:01:00])
Love for Star Trek: Deep Space 9 ([1:01:30])
Love for “Stargate: Galactica” (Stargate Universe) ([1:02:30])

Milena Rodban on Geopolitical Risk, Cybersecurity, and Tennis

Tue, 19 Feb 2019 05:00:45 -0400

In this episode Frank and Andy talk with Milena Rodban, a Geopolitical Risk Consultant and Simulation Designer, which might be the best job title ever.

Milena discusses the importance of data and the often overlooked security aspects around data, especially when set against the backdrop of complex business and security environments.

Links

Sponsor: Audible.com – Get a free audio book when you sign up for a free trial!

Notable Quotes

Frank and Andy wax rhapsodic about the term “information superhighway.” ([00:45])
Andy has been busy working on new releases at DILM Suite. ([01:50])
Frank has been to super-secret conference… ([02:15])
Happy Birthday, Frank! ([03:00])
Our guest, Milena Rodban, is a Geopolitical Risk Consultant and Simulation Designer at VerSprite Security.([03:30])
“Geo-political flux” ([06:20])
An article on the risk posed by Huawei. ([07:00])
Information on the 2018 Atlanta cyber-attack. ([10:15])
Regarding the challenges of identifying Black Swan events using machine learning… ([12:30])
Milena design simulations that surface internal organizational patterns and expose information vectors. ([14:30])
Are bad actors using automation? ([16:30])
What happens when bad actors begin using AI? ([17:10])
Automation reduces the cost / attack. ([17:40])
Milena asks, “Is there a listening device in use?” when she enters a home. ([19:15])
“The same way you would ask a doctor, ‘What are the side-effects of this medication?’ we should be thinking about the side-effects of introducing this technology into my home.” ([20:20])
Frank: “So it’s a good time to be a bad guy.” Milena: “It’s definitely an easy time to be a bad guy.” ([24:00])
“We have quite enough history to tell us things that things will go wrong and they will go wrong spectacularly if you’re not prepared.” ([25:50])
Milena answers: “What’s a good first step for organizations and people interested in being more mindful of security?” ([26:00])
Did Milena find this field or did this field find her? ([28:20])
Milena tweeted the hashtag #BanDataTorture for a while.([29:10])
More information about Enigma ([31:30])
On predicting the future from the past… ([32:45])
Lots of admiration for Nassim Nicholas Taleb ([33:33])
Milena mentions The Gray Rhino by Michele Wucker ([33:44])
What’s your favorite part of your current gig? ([34:50])
Milena enjoys playing tennis and appreciates IBM’s efforts to data mine the sport. ([35:50])
The coolest thing in technology is connecting with others. ([36:10])
“I look forward to the day when I don’t feel like I want to throw my laptop out the window!” ([37:15])
Milena enjoys scuba diving. ([38:00])
Learn more about Milena Rodban on LinkedIn and at VerSprite.com. ([38:40])
Milena’s writing may be found at her (excellent) website: MilenaRodban.com ([38:45])
For more information about Milena’s upcoming book, Geopolitical Flux, follow the Twitter for @Geopolitical Flux. ([38:55])
Milena recommends The Tyranny of Metrics by Jerry Z. Muller. ([39:10])
Milena is currently reading The Leadership Lab by Chris Lewis and Dr. Pippa Malmgren. ([39:30])
Get a free audio book and support DataDriven – visit thedatadrivenbook.com! ([40:30])

DataPoint Talking About AI, Ethics, and Transparency at a Super Secret Event

Wed, 06 Feb 2019 15:10:17 -0400

This week, Frank is at (near) Microsoft’s headquarters just outside Seattle, Washington, attending internal, possibly even secret, training. In this impromptu Data Point, he chats with fellow attendees about AI, Ethics, and the ever-present Unintended Consequences of technological advancement.

DataPoint Be Playful With Your Data, but Judicious With Your Time

Thu, 24 Jan 2019 00:11:20 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank explains why you should be playful with your data and judicious with your time in this unusually philosophical Data Point

Trey Johnson on ETL, Data, and Fixing Up Old Cars

Mon, 14 Jan 2019 21:33:24 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy talk to Trey Johnson about ETL, Data, and fixing up old cars.

DataPoint Andy on Software Development, SSIS Catalog Compare, and Testing

Fri, 04 Jan 2019 04:58:14 -0400

In this DataPoint, Andy reflect on software development, SSIS Catalog Compare, and his philosophies on testing software.

Also, if you want to grab a cool SSIS t-shirt, get it from Amazon today for $19 . You get some sweet geeky swag and your purchase helps fund the show.

DataPoint Provision an Azure Data Factory Instance

Thu, 03 Jan 2019 05:00:03 -0400

In this free excerpt from Andy’s Fundamentals of Azure Data Factory course, Andy shows off some of his prowess with ADF with our listeners.

DataPoint The Costco Test, How to Determine the Line Between Data and Big Data

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 15:32:06 -0400

In this Data Point recorded at a Costco during the post-holiday shopping season, Frank explains his algorithm for determining that magical point when a lot of data becomes “Big Data.” Given the constant advances in storage technologies, that borderline is a moving goalpost that’s hard to measure. Or is it?

DataPoint Hey, What Happened to Last Week’s Show?

Mon, 10 Dec 2018 18:28:57 -0400

In case you’re wondering, why it’s been quiet here, Frank had a car accident last Monday and, in this Data Point, shares his hastened desire for self-driving cars. Also a cameo by a dog.

Normal schedule should resume shortly.

Frank and Andy on Thanksgiving, Goal Setting Tips, and Celtic New Year

Wed, 21 Nov 2018 17:16:15 -0400

In this Thanksgiving episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy reflect on the two years since the inception of Data Driven at a humble Dunkin Donuts in Gaithersburg, MD.

Support the show!

DataPoint Applied AI Use Cases Talk Last Night in DC

Tue, 20 Nov 2018 18:21:42 -0400

Last night, I spoke at the DC Emerging Technologies Meetup at the Gensler office on K Street on Applied AI: Use cases of AI in business and government.

It was a really great conversation and an awesome meetup with some very smart people.

DataPoint Live from University of Virginia’s Datapalooza

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 04:21:29 -0400

While Andy and Tim are living it on at the PASS Summit in Seattle, Frank was at the University of Virginia today running a hands-on-lab showing off the basics of the data science process: ingestion, processing, analysis, and visualization.

#2Hosts2Coasts

DataPoint Andy on the Last Day of PASS 2018

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 04:14:40 -0400

Andy catches up with what he’s been up to at the PASS 2019 Summit, SQL Server 2019, and driving late at night.

DataPoint Tim Reflects on a Busy Week at PASS 2018

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 04:06:30 -0400

In this DataPoint, roving reporter Tim McAliley explains what he’s been up to on the last day of PASS 2018.

DataPoint Andy Live from PASS 2018 Day 2 Keynote

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 17:21:00 -0400

Andy is at PASS 2018 waiting for the Day 2 Keynote to start.

DataPoint PASS 2018 and SQL Managed Instance

Thu, 08 Nov 2018 17:12:34 -0400

PASS 2018 is this week in Seattle, Washington. Andy is on site and he even has a booth for Enterprise DNA! Rumor has it that there’s even a Data Driven logo on the booth!

We are also excited to have Timothy McAliley as our very first “roving reporter” covering events and happenings all around the conference. Be sure to like us on Facebook to stay up to date and have access to all the bloopers we make while recording DataPoints!

DataPoint Andy Reflects on Data Collection in the Wake of Hurricane Florence

Fri, 02 Nov 2018 15:07:37 -0400

Hurricane Florence hit the US East Coast nearly seven weeks ago, yet the cleanup is on going and many people’s lives are still not back to normal.

In this DataPoint, Andy talks about the importance to remembering that there are people behind the statistics and data we gather.

Frank’s Thoughts:

What prompted me to think about this was how in the first few years after 9/11, I had shared my photos of the event with a researcher at NIST. In email exchange, I remember explaining to him that I would send him more data after I attended “another memorial service, third one this week.” He wrote back snarkily, “you know a lot of dead people.” To which I replied, “I knew a lot of people in the Towers.” He wrote back quickly, apologizing how his excitement for data collection got the better of him and he never really thought about the people who died and that he’s not just researching a fire, but a mass murder.

That interchange stuck with me and, as I saw parallels between our excitement about “Andy Weather,” I thought it would be a teachable moment.It also helped that he was down in NC to volunteer to help the people whose lives have been upended by the storm.

Andy’s Thoughts:

Frank is spot on. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the numbers and forget that the numbers represent lives.

Hurricanes are massive storms. The damage they cause takes months and years to fix. Some of the damage – like lives lost or permanently altered – is irreversible. That’s easy to overlook in some moments and – often – requires a paradigm shift in thinking for data driven people (like me).

We should strive to help others at every opportunity – especially those recovering from disasters – because we are the only “us” we’ve got.

It’s data. But it’s not just data.

Special Frank La Vigne on Reinforcement Learning at Azure Data Fest

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 12:01:21 -0400

In his session from Azure Data Fest Reston 2018, Frank explores reinforcement learning. As an added bonus, Andy (who’s holding the camera) chimes in now and then.

Special Lift and Shift SSIS to ADF Azure Data Fest Keynote Part 3

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 15:22:28 -0400

In this keynote session from Azure Data Fest 2018 Reston, Data Driven’s very own Andy Leonard discusses and demonstrates migrating SSIS to Azure Data Factory Integration Runtime.

Special Building Globally Distributed Data Applications with Cosmos DB Azure Data Fest Keynote Part 2

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 15:04:35 -0400

In this keynote from the Azure Data Fest 2018 in Reston, Mark Brown dives deep into Microsoft Azure’s globally distributed database, Cosmos DB. He covers concepts then dive into specific features and capabilities that make this database the key to building global applications and services in the cloud.

Special Azure Data Services Overview Azure Data Fest Keynote Part 1

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 21:00:52 -0400

In this keynote from the Azure Data Fest 2018 in Reston, Tim McAliley and Devin Jaswal explore the data services available in Azure.

DataPoint Frank and Andy and Joel at Azure Data Fest Reston

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 20:41:45 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank and Andy talk about reinforcement learning, Mario Brothers, and then get sidetracked. Then Joel Cochran stops by and they really get sidetracked.

Rie Irish on Databases, Women in Tech, and Getting People to Walk in Circles

Tue, 09 Oct 2018 04:01:31 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy talk with Rie Irish about her path from sociology to database administration, women in technology, and getting people to walk around in circles.

Webinar SSIS Framework Community Edition

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 16:52:39 -0400

We love experimenting around here and examining the resulting data. After all, we are Data Driven: not just in name but also in spirit.

In this webinar Andy recorded, he also streamed it live on our Facebook page. We thought it was good enough to share with our larger audience here.

Let us know what you think. Both Frank and Andy have been recording/streaming their live events and we’re curious to hear what you have to say about this innovation in how we podcast.

DataPoint Andy talks to Andy from SentryOne at SQL Saturday Boston

Sat, 22 Sep 2018 17:31:39 -0400

Andy is at SQL Saturday Boston and he runs into another Andy from SentryOne.

Special Computer Vision Session from AI Discovery Day

Fri, 21 Sep 2018 03:00:14 -0400

Today, Frank was in Philadelphia presenting a session at AI Discovery Day on Computer Vision Cognitive Services.

The labs for this session are on GitHub: https://github.com/Azure/LearnAI-Bootcamp/tree/master/lab01.1-computer_vision

These events will be taking place across the US. Here are a few dates and links to registration.

City	Date	Title	Link
Boston, MA	9/28/2018	AI Discovery Day	Registration Link
Boston, MA	10/16/2018	AI Discovery Day	Registration Link
Malvern, PA	10/17/2018	AI Discovery Day	Registration Link
Reston, VA	10/25/2018	AI Discovery Day	Registration Link
Boston, MA	10/25/2018	WORKSHOP: Applied AI – Cognitive Services	Registration Link

DataPoint Hurricane #Florence is South of Farmville

Thu, 13 Sep 2018 16:02:16 -0400

Hurricane #Florence has been making its presence known on the eastern shores of the mid-Atlantic region since the wee hours of this morning (13 Sep 2018). In Farmville, Andy is seeing weather that is being pushed by the storm – not the storm itself.

Update: Andy blogged about the @AndyWeather weather station and how he uses IoT technology to tweet weather data and display it at AndyWeather.com.

In other news, this is Episode #150 and we hit 70,000 downloads earlier today. Thank you listeners! Thank you guests! Yall rock!

DataPoint Preparing to Measure Hurricane #Florence

Wed, 12 Sep 2018 11:15:27 -0400

In this DataPoint, Andy shares plans to capture weather data from Hurricane Florence for a site he maintains – named AndyWeather – and a Twitter account named @AndyWeather.

Stu Ainsworth on Reliability, Disaster Recovery, and Chaos Monkeys

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 03:04:37 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy chat with Stu Ainsworth about service reliability in a chaotic world.

Links

Sponsor: Audible.com – Get a free audio book when you sign up for a free trial!

Notable Quotes

Postmortem: VSTS 4 September 2018 ([02:00])
Stuart Ainsworth on Twitter: @CodeGumbo ([05:30])
Reliability: Expectations vs. Solutions ([06:00])
“Canada is another country.” ([11:00])
“Serendipitous” ([11:55])
TV references: MacGyver and The A-Team ([13:40])
Chaos Monkey ([00:00])
Brent‘s book review of Database Reliability Engineering ([15:00])
Andy cannot count 9’s… ([19:15])
The shifting node for “big data.” ([23:30])
Service Level Objective ([25:00])
The Black Swan (Audible) by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) ([28:00])
Frank’s 9/11 Experience ([30:00])
Culture is prime. ([35:00])
The hard part is figuring out, “What is the problem we’re trying to solve?” ([35:45])
DTU ([36:50])
Things are changing. Some folks are threatened ([40:30])
Stu works for Jack Henry. ([41:40])
Risk cannot be removed by technology. ([43:30])
“… it’s kinda like an old girlfriend…” – Stuart Ainsworth ([44:30])
Road trips! ([47:30])
“We are living in interesting times.” ([49:00])
Hoschton, Georgia ([50:25])
Stu likes the book Accelerate ([52:40])
Find out more about Stu at CodeGumbo.com! ([53:45])
Learn more about Azure DataFest by following @AzureDataFest on Twitter! ([54:00])

Special Azure AI Fest Keynote with Ashish Jaiman

Mon, 10 Sep 2018 18:49:22 -0400

On Friday, the first ever Azure AI Fest was held in Reston, VA. Data Driven streamed the keynote presentation live and was a sponsor.

So, enjoy the audio of the keynote address by Ashish Jaiman, a former colleague and manager, who now works in the Democracy and Cybersecurity team at Microsoft.

If you prefer to watch the event, including some of our special effects laden pre-roll, then click on the play icon below. Jump to the ten minute mark to see the event.

Jake Mannix on Recommendation Systems, Physics, and the Best Answer to Our Questions Yet

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 03:58:00 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy talk to Jake Mannix, an accomplished data engineer who has had an amazing career.

Links

Sponsor: Audible.com – Get a free audio book when you sign up for a free trial!

Notable Quotes

Frank heartily recommends Head Strong ([00:50])
It takes a lot of time to fly from Farmville to India… ([2:40])
Audible is a sponsor! ([04:00])
Jake is a Chief Data Engineer for LucidWorks ([06:15])
Jake describes a cool Systems Development Cycle… ([10:00])
… and compares and contrasts with Customer Service and Product Engineering. ([12:00])
Sometimes this cycle works “too good!” ([13:10])
Learn more about Lucene. ([15:00])
We now search by typing questions. Not terms. ([15:40])
More about Query-Intent Classification… ([17:10])
“How Do I Do Brain Surgery” – Google Search ([18:25])
Smart search is based on closed loop analysis of “who clicks on what.” ([19:30])
One example of public search datasets: Google Trends. ([21:30])
What is a garage-door opener? ([22:00])
“We expect a lot from search these days.” ([26:10])
Searching Amazon for garage door. ([26:40])
“Data is their foundation.” ([28:00])
“I’m a data engineer.” ([31:00])
“Math is fun but it’s 5% of the work.” What is most of the work? Data cleansing. ([31:20])
On tensors… ([31:40])
Jake likes to run long distances over mountains! ([33:10])
Jake thinks self-driving cars will be cool. ([37:30])
Jake shares his encounter with the Moonies, which wins the Something Different About Yourself segment (to date). ([39:35])
Jake and his daughter like to listen to audio books. ([43:20])
Learn more about Jake on LinkedIn! ([44:00])
Jak helped build LinkedIn‘s search engine! ([44:44])
Check out the LucidWorks blog. ([45:00])

DataPoint Data Driven Events in the DC Metro Area

Tue, 04 Sep 2018 15:43:26 -0400

If you’ve not heard the news, the first ever Azure AI Fest is happening Reston this Friday and we are super excited to announce that Data Driven will be the official media sponsor. As such, we’ll be live streaming the keynote on our Faceook page.

DataPoint Just Jump In

Tue, 21 Aug 2018 19:55:48 -0400

While on the drive back from the inaugural Azure Data Fest Atlanta, Andy pauses and reflects on what it takes to get into Data Science, AI, and Data Engineering in 2018.

DataPoint Andy Talks to Stu and Crew at the Atlanta Azure Datafest

Fri, 17 Aug 2018 20:05:26 -0400

Andy is at the inaugural Atlanta Azure Data Fest and, while talking to organizer Stu Ainsworth, a who’s who of Atlanta SQL community folks, including former guest Julie Smith, drop by and say hello.

DataPoint Joel Cochran at the Inaugural Atlanta Data Fest

Fri, 17 Aug 2018 18:11:50 -0400

Andy is presenting at the Atlanta Azure Data Fest and he bumped into former guest, Joel Cochran.

Micheleen Harris on R, Bioinformatics, and Mountaineering

Tue, 14 Aug 2018 04:32:38 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy talk with Micheleen Harris, an R developer who loves Python. Yes, it is possible.

Show notes coming soon!

Listener Mail: EdX or MCP? and How Is AI Tested?

Tue, 07 Aug 2018 04:27:16 -0400

In this episode of Data Driven, Frank and Andy answer two questions sent in by listeners.

DataPoint Teaching Kids About Data and Code

Thu, 02 Aug 2018 20:41:33 -0400

Yesterday, I had the chance to speak to a group of high school students from around the world who enrolled in a data and coding focused summer program at Georgetown University.

It was a great experience and underscores the need to teach kids the importance of data as well as coding.

DataPoint Getting Kids into STEM

Thu, 26 Jul 2018 20:57:26 -0400

Recently, this post of the Best Jobs in the US came across my news feed.

Note that “Data Scientist” has been knocked out of first place by “Machine Learning Engineer.” This title didn’t even exist a few years ago.

So then, how do we prepare kids for the future of work when the jobs don’t exist yet. Simple: you prepare them with the fundamentals.

As I recorded this show, I was joined by a distinguished guest rather by surprise. See, anything can happen on a live stream!

Check out his coding camp’s website at http://fairhavencodingcamp.com and if you live in the DC area, sign up your middle/high schooler today!

DataPoint The Unbreakable Kim Schmidt

Sat, 21 Jul 2018 03:09:47 -0400

While in Vegas, I caught up with my former DataLeader pal, Kim Schmidt to talk about her new book, advanced analytics, and why Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are the Ford, GM, and Chrysler of the 21st century.

DataPoint Data Science in Las Vegas

Sat, 21 Jul 2018 02:54:29 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank talks about how it’s data analytics and statistical analysis — and not luck — that run Las Vegas. It’s not Sin City, it’s Stats City. Although, that’s not nearly as catchy.

Frank and Andy on Reinforcement Learning, Audiobooks, and Keto

Tue, 17 Jul 2018 05:01:57 -0400

Frank and Andy sync up before a big internal conference and some goodies that Andy’s working on.

Joel Cochran on Data in Politics, Law School, and Billiards

Tue, 10 Jul 2018 03:44:17 -0400

In the first episode of “Season 2,” Frank and Andy catch up with Joel Cochran. Joel Cochran leverages data in the political arena.

Show notes coming soon.

William McKnight on Data Strategy and Leadership

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 04:00:38 -0400

Links

Sponsor: Audible.com – Get a free audio book when you sign up for a free trial!
Sponsor: Enterprise Data & Analytics
McKnight Consulting Group

Notable Quotes

On strategy and leadership… ([7:00])
“Business strategy is really about data strategy” ([7:45])
It takes a team ([10:30])
On AI: “We’re only barely tapping into the possibilities…” ([12:00])
Interviewing at IBM ([12:45])
“…data as its own discipline, it’s not a drag-along to applications.” ([14:45])
William is active! ([16:00])
AI is the coolest thing ([17:30])
Growing meat, prescription errors ([19:00])
On McKnight Consulting Group ([21:20])
@WilliamMcKnight
“Be a leader.” ([25:50])

DataPoint Data, Cancer, and One Year of Data Points

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 15:45:48 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank reflects on the impact of data analytics on cancer research and one year of recording data points. In honor of Father’s Day, he left a few bloopers in place.

DataPoint Andy Talks Amusement Ride Metrics Collection

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 15:27:31 -0400

Summer vacation season is upon on us(at least in the Northern Hemisphere) and Andy is taking some well-deserved R&R at Busch Gardens in Virginia.

However, data never takes a vacation and he notices something new at the Loch Ness Monster ride.

DataPoint That Inspirational Moment

Sat, 02 Jun 2018 00:44:01 -0400

It was two years ago today that I had what I refer to now as my “Blues Brothers moment.” If you’re not familiar with the movie, then this GIF below depicts the seen elegantly enough.

via GIPHY

As promised, here’s the live stream I did from the hotel after day one. I’d like to think my on camera presence has improved since then.

Also here are the links to the two videos I recorded in the Channel 9 Studios:

Frank and Andy Celebrate One Year of Data Driven

Wed, 30 May 2018 04:02:09 -0400

In this episode, Frank and Andy celebrate one year of podcasting, the origins of “Data Points,” how the show got started, and where it may be headed.

DataPoint Biml 2018 Update

Tue, 22 May 2018 16:11:19 -0400

Varigance is poised to release the 2018 version of their toolset: BimlExpress, BimlStudio, and BimlFlex.

BimlHero Andy Leonard has an update!

DataPoint 50,000 Downloads and Databricks Training

Tue, 15 May 2018 17:25:57 -0400

Frank and Andy are in the same place for the first time in a while and they have a special announcement: the show has reached 50,000 downloads in just under one year.

Thank you for supporting the show. You rock!

DataPoint Karen Lopez on Data Catalogs and Rocket Science at Azure Data Fest Philly

Sun, 13 May 2018 02:14:55 -0400

Frank caught up with Karen Lopez at the Philly Azure Data Fest to talk rocket science, data, and the perils of developers misusing columns in the schema. We also uncover the meaning of DBA (Don’t Bother Asking) and a super secret flag to make your databases run faster. (Not really)

DataPoint Tim McAliley Co-Founder of Azure Data Fests on What’s Next

Sun, 13 May 2018 02:08:24 -0400

At the Philly Azure Data Fest, Frank sits down with Tim McAliley to find out where Azure Data Fest started and where it’s headed to next,

DataPoint Live at Philly Azure Datafest

Fri, 11 May 2018 17:26:11 -0400

Frank and Andy are out and about and if they can’t be in the studio, they are going to bring the studio to where they are in order to keep you up to date on all the data happenings out there.

In this Data Point, Frank is at the Philadephia Azure Data Fest to listen, learn, and record. He also talks about the recent announcements from the Microsoft Build conference earlier this week.

DataPoint It’s Teacher Appreciation Day

Wed, 09 May 2018 10:49:01 -0400

… and Andy’s delivering training!

From Frank and Andy at Data Driven: “For those about to teach, WE SALUTE YOU!”

Happy Teacher Appreciation Day, teachers! You rock!

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DataPoint Kathi Kellenberger Talks Career Change, Breaking Bad, and Red Gate

Tue, 08 May 2018 04:17:10 -0400

Andy ran into Kathi Kellenberger at SQL Saturday Albuquerque to talk about her career change, Breaking Bad, and loving your job.

DataPoint Jason Brimhall on High Performance Data and Being a Data Master

Tue, 08 May 2018 04:12:32 -0400

Andy ran into Jason Brimhall, certified Data Master, about high volume transactions, big data, and how DBAs fit into the Data Science picture.

DataPoint Meagan Longoria on Accessibility in PowerBI

Tue, 08 May 2018 04:02:02 -0400

Andy speaks with Meagan Longoria about the importance of creating accessible reports in PowerBI, SQL Pass and more.

DataPoint TJay Belt on Why DBAs Say No to Developers (SQLSatABQ)

Mon, 07 May 2018 13:38:16 -0400

Andy may not be the one who knocks, but he is in Albuquerque for SQL Saturday.

He runs into DBA extraordinaire as to how DBAs fit into the Data Science ecosystem and why they say no to developers so often.

via GIPHY

DataPoint A Quick Note from RDU

Mon, 07 May 2018 13:37:34 -0400

With Andy travelling around and Frank starting a new job, Frank and Andy have not had a lot of studio time lately.

So, they are bringing the studio to you by creating more Data Point shows, which bring you some of the brightest minds they run into out in “the wilds of Data Science” as well as their thoughts and insights on the spot wherever they go.

Where possible, Frank uses his ninja editing skills to filter out background noise and make the listening experience as pleasurable as it is educational.

DataPoint Dancing on the Edge

Sat, 05 May 2018 00:15:15 -0400

A few years ago, Andy collected local weather data from his farm near Farmville Virginia and posted it online.

Why? To see if he could. Even though the old weather station ceased working years ago, he still uses the data in SSIS training courses he delivers.

It was time for a new weather station, so Andy picked up this Acurite model. He plans to use it to conduct data science and data engineering experiments. Why? To see if he could.

To get things started, Andy set up the Acurite software to append readings to a CSV file every 12 minutes. He then grabbed a copy of the AzCopy command-line utility Andy decided to run the Acurite software and AzCopy on a very old Windows 7 machine (with only 2GB RAM). Why? To see if he could.

It works.

Andy built a command line for AzCopy that performs a data transfer from the old Win7 machine to Azure Blob Storage. He then used Task Scheduler to fire the command line every 15 minutes… and you already know why.

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DataPoint What is the Data Estate?

Wed, 02 May 2018 19:50:24 -0400

In this DataPoint, Frank talks about the term “Data Estate” in front of an actual estate.

DataPoint Allergies and Outliers

Tue, 24 Apr 2018 00:27:13 -0400

Andy is suffering from seasonal allergies but the allergy meter says pollen is low. What gives? Outliers. That’s what.

Here’s the bar chart to which Andy refers:

Here’s a pollen heat map:

DataPoint Could One Character Emails Have Saved Toys R Us?

Mon, 23 Apr 2018 04:02:13 -0400

After attending the Global Azure Bootcamp with my son, I decided to drop in and see what bargains there were at the nearby Toys R Us.

I have fond memories of going to Toys R Us when I was a kid. However, I’ve noticed a distinct decline in the store over the last few years. Given the state of their business, I know I am not the only one to see this once great retailer fall from grace. It was a weird feeling walking through a store I had fond memories of and picking through its carcass like a vulture feasting on roadkill.

Naturally, the pundits will point the blame of Toys R Us at Amazon, but is that fair? Is it accurate?

Well, kind of.

Jeff Bezos recently talked about his “one character” emails that forwards to his senior managers when he fields a complaint from the public. These emails not only strike fear into the hearts of the most senior executives at the online retailer, they also spur these leaders to act immediately to resolve the customer issues. What killed Toys R Us wasn’t Amazon: it was Amazon’s relentless commitment to customer service against large retailers who’ve grown lazy and content.

Now that consumers have a choice, they will choose to do business with those companies that provide the best customer experience.

Ok, But How Does Data Fit into this?

It does indirectly. From the article: [emphasis added]

So those customer complaints gives him front-line insights. If all of his data say one thing and a few customers say something else, he believes the customers.

“The thing I have noticed is when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right. There’s something wrong with the way you are measuring it,” he explained.

Naturally, as a data professional, those two phrases caught my attention. In fact, I see this as a failing in more than one enterprise: the assumption that the BI dashboard knows all.

It might, but it very well may not. If the data tells a different story from what’s going on in the field, then is the field wrong or is the data incomplete?

Put another way: If the map says that there’s a road and there is no road, is the map wrong or is reality wrong?

Clearly, reality is the ultimate arbiter and if you’re business is retail, then your reality is customer perception, not what the pretty graphics on your KPIs say.

DataPoint Frank Talks to Brian Moran at Global Azure Bootcamp

Sat, 21 Apr 2018 19:58:08 -0400

In this DataPoint, Frank talk to Brian Moran about Global Azure Bootcamp, Databricks, AI, and life at Microsoft.

As this is Mr. Moran’s third appearance, this makes him Data Driven’s first ever threepeat guest.

DataPoint Talking Data Science to Policy Folks

Thu, 12 Apr 2018 13:36:14 -0400

Recently, I delivered a presentation on “Data Science for the Curious” at the WeWork K Street location in Washington, DC.

The goal was to help the largely non-technical audience of public policy professionals understand some of the core tenets of data science: its promises and its perils.

In light of the recent Facebook revelations, this is more critical now than ever before.

DataPoint Cognitive Biases and Predicting the Weather

Tue, 20 Mar 2018 22:16:32 -0400

Frank ponders weather prediction models, the confusion matrix, and cognitive biases.

DataPoint Andy Chats with Andy Yun at SQL Saturday Chicago

Mon, 19 Mar 2018 16:39:31 -0400

While at SQL Saturday Chicago, Andy gets recursive by talking to Andy.

Seriously, he meets up with Andy Yun, one of the organizers of SQL Saturday Chicago.

DataPoint Andy Chats with the Cathrine Wilhelmsen

Sun, 18 Mar 2018 01:30:29 -0400

Straight from the Windy City SQL Saturday, Andy chats with Cathrine Wilhelmsen to dicusss all things BIML, matching shirts, and data.

DataPoint Andy Chats with Mr. Bill Wolf at Chicago SQL Saturday

Sun, 18 Mar 2018 01:25:52 -0400

Andy’s in the Windy City on this St. Patrick’s Day attending SQL Saturday and he bumps into Bill Wolf.

Deep Dive SSIS, Data Integration Life-cycle Management

Fri, 09 Mar 2018 22:02:30 -0400

In this Deep Dive, Frank and Andy delve into the depths of Data Integration and SQL Server Integration Service.

DataPoint Studying Data Science Changes the Way You Approach Problems

Mon, 05 Mar 2018 19:48:58 -0400

In this Data Point, Frank recounts how he has a new approach to troubleshooting WPF performance issues, or any issues for that matter.

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István Mészáros on going From CERN to Startup & The Cat That Launched a Thousand Queries

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