The NFL is fitting players' shoulder pads with data sensors. This will allow the real-time collection of metrics such as position, speed and acceleration. In last year's Pro Bowl sensors were installed in footballs to measure the length of throws. Surprisingly, given "Deflategate", they have chosen not to expand this idea. In addition to being used for the "game stats" that are popular in the … [Read more...]
Election polling errors blamed on bias
A report has concluded that the spectacular failure of pollsters to predict the result of the 2015 UK Parliamentary elections was largely due to systematic over-representation of Labour voters and under-representation of Conservative voters The report, compiled by a panel of academics and statisticians, was commissioned by the polling industry to determine why they had predicted a … [Read more...]
R is coming to Visual Studio
R Tools for Visual Studio is an open-source plug-in that makes Visual Studio an IDE for R development. It looks very similar to the excellent RStudio. If you are already using Visual Studio it seems like it'll be an obvious choice for R development. It's not available yet, but you can sign up for early access. … [Read more...]
Dilbert on spreadsheet abuse
As spreadsheet abuse has now been "Dilbertized" it's clearly entered mainstream consciousness. About time. We've been complaining about it for years. … [Read more...]
Data science with Microsoft
Jan Mulkens recently published an article on Microsoft's recent rush to enhance it's data science offering. And, as he illustrates, they have been very busy this year. He highlights a number of their flagship data science initiatives. Azure Machine Learning Power BI Cortana Analytics Suite Acquisition of Datazen & Revolution Analytics Integration of R in SQL Server Other significant data … [Read more...]