Wired has an article on a slot machine hack that seems to make use of data analytics. The hack relies on a weakness introduced in the pseudo-random number generator used by the machines from Austrian gaming company Novomatic. Teams in the casino video the machines using their cellphones. The videos are then sent to St Petersburg where they are analyzed---there are no technical details available … [Read more...]
Personal rating dystopias
Black Mirror's "Nosedive" episode portrays a future society, frighteningly like our own, in which people rate each other as a consequence of all kinds of trivial social interactions. Your overall rating is public and determines your job prospects, housing options, social invitations, etc---causing people to obsess over improving them. As in most public policy decisions you control behavior by … [Read more...]
Visualization pioneer, Hans Rosling, dies aged 68
Hans Rosling has died this week, aged 68. He become famous due to a TED talk he gave in 2006. In the talk he brought international health statistics to life via animated visualizations. He used motion to help viewers make sense of the data. The software used in his talk was later released as Gapminder and can be used by anyone wishing to display their own data using time-based animation. … [Read more...]
Superconsumers
The Economist's Schumpeter column recently cautioned that Research shows that firms ignore passionate consumers at their peril These "superconsumers" represent 10% of all customers, but are responsible for 30-70% of sales, an even greater share of profits and almost all consumer insights. In addition, they influence their social circle with their unbridled enthusiasm. The article offers … [Read more...]
Idiosyncratic Rater Effect
A colleague of mine cautions that performance ratings say more about the marriage of the person doing the assessing than the performance of the person being assessed. Turns out she may have a point. Most people have some experience with performance appraisals. Maybe as part of an annual salary review. Or even just completing a customer satisfaction survey. It's become a pretty ubiquitous process … [Read more...]