by Teknita Team | Dec 14, 2022 | Artificial Intelligence - Machine Learning, Uncategorized
By building CICERO, Meta AI has created the first AI agent to achieve human-level performance in the complex natural language strategy game Diplomacy. CICERO demonstrated this by playing with humans on webDiplomacy.net, an online version of the game, where CICERO achieved more than double the average score of the human players and ranked in the top 10% of participants who played more than one game. The AI sent 5,277 messages to players in 72 hours of gameplay, and almost no one realized that they weren’t communicating with a human. Only one person expressed some suspicion, that one of the AI accounts is a bot.
This breakthrough rests in the achievement of combining two different areas of AI: strategic reasoning and natural language processing. The integration of these techniques gives CICERO the ability to reason and strategize with regard to players’ motivations, then use natural language to communicate, reach agreements to achieve shared objectives, form alliances and coordinate plans.
The Cicero is only able to play Diplomacy, but the technology behind it is relevant to many other applications. Current AI assistants can perform simple question-and-answer tasks, such as providing information about the weather, but with the further development of artificial intelligence, according to Meta AI specialists, they could even conduct long conversations to teach someone a new skill.
You can read more about Cicero here.
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by Teknita Team | Dec 12, 2022 | Artificial Intelligence - Machine Learning, Uncategorized
The British artificial intelligence company – DeepMind – has created an AI tool that helps in writing the script – it will generate character descriptions, plot points, as well as dialogue and location descriptions. Artificial intelligence has certainly helped many people become an “artist”, and with the help of a new tool designed by DeepMind, it will also support aspiring screenwriters.
Dramatron is a system that uses large language models that could be useful for authors for co-writing theatre scripts and screenplays. Dramatron uses hierarchical story generation for consistency across the generated text. Starting from a log line, Dramatron interactively generates character descriptions, plot points, location descriptions and dialogue. These generations provide human authors with material for compilation, editing, and rewriting.
To assess the usability and capabilities of Dramatron, DeepMind engaged 15 playwrights and screenwriters for two-hour research sessions with users to co-create scenarios with the tool. Respondents suggested that it would be useful for world building and would help them test other approaches in terms of changing plot elements or characters. They also noted that AI can be a great way to “generate creative ideas.”
What about copyright?
Using Dramatron may raise questions about authorship. Last year, a UK appeals court ruled that artificial intelligence could not legally be considered an inventor and patented. DeepMind points out that Dramatron may display snippets of text that were used to train the language model, which, if used in a produced script, could lead to accusations of plagiarism. Therefore, it is always worth checking the generated scenario carefully in this respect.
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by Teknita Team | Dec 9, 2022 | Uncategorized
Picking the right business laptop is not as easy as one could think. You can find hundreds of business-oriented laptops to choose from — everything from sleek ultralight tablets to huge portable workstations. It all depends on your business needs.
What to look for in a business laptop?
Whether it’s a two-pound ultralight or an eight-pound traveling workstation, all laptops are basically desktop computers with built-in screens, keyboards, miniaturized components, and batteries. Without a doubt, the processor and the system’s size and weight get the most attention, but other areas like the screen and battery should also be considered.
Processor
Most Windows systems use Intel or AMD processors, although a small number of ARM-based CPUs are being used in ultralight systems. Apple has taken this idea to its logical conclusion with its M1 and M2 MacBooks.
The minimum processor you’ll need to satisfy users varies widely and depends on the tasks at hand. A receptionist or call center worker might need nothing more than an Intel Celeron or Pentium, while a salesperson might need an Intel Core i3 or i5 and a graphics designer an i7 or an M2 Pro.
RAM
Random Access Memory (RAM) is short-term data storage used for immediate processing tasks such as displaying websites, running Excel calculations, or showing CAD imaging. It comes in many sizes and speeds, and having more generally translates into better performance. 4GB should be the bare minimum for any business computer, even for buyers on a strict budget. 16GB is better for typical office workers — and the more RAM you get, the happier your users will be.
Storage
Every laptop needs a place to stash everything from the day’s emails to huge video files — either a traditional hard drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD). SSDs remain more expensive but are faster and more rugged, use less power, and are dominating new laptop models. Look for at least a 128GB SSD or a 1TB HDD.
Battery
Meant to power the system between charges, all notebooks use lithium-ion batteries. All other things being equal, a 3,500 miliamp-hour (mAh) capacity powerpack will likely run for longer than one with 3,000mAh. This could pay dividends on a flight from Seattle to Seoul.
Screen and form factor
While a tablet might get by with an 11.5-in. display (measured diagonally), 13.3- to 16-in. screens are the norm for laptops, with some models going up to 17.3 in. Look for a screen with the highest resolution as you can afford, particularly if the intended purpose is graphics oriented. Today, for all but the cheapest systems, full HD resolution (1920 x 1080) should be the minimum.
Many of Chromebooks and Windows laptops include a touchscreen. A touchscreen can be a big benefit for a designer sketching products, a marketer highlighting a new campaign, or even a salesperson drawing a crude map. There are also many tablet/laptop hybrids with touchscreens, which we’ve covered in their own section of this guide. It’s worth noting that Apple does not offer touchscreens on any MacBooks but does on its iPad Pro.
Security and manageability components
Security is critical in today’s business. Companies that use Windows PCs should get systems with a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and some sort of biometric authentication method, such as a fingerprint reader or a camera capable of facial recognition for secure password-free logins. Many Chromebooks include a TPM and fingerprint readers as well. Macs lack TPM but have their own defensive phalanx, including fingerprint scanners.
Business-oriented laptops should also support serious manageability features, so IT departments can remotely diagnose and update a system.
Operating system
For optimal security and manageability, most IT departments opt for laptops running at least Windows 10 or 11 Pro. These systems add protections that the Windows Home editions lack, such as BitLocker drive encryption, and support management and deployment tools such as Mobile Device Management, Azure Active Directory Join, and Windows Update for Business. Organizations that need enterprise-class security and manageability can opt for Windows 10 or 11 Enterprise.
Apple’s macOS platform has strong security and enterprise manageability features, and today’s unified endpoint management (UEM) systems can manage macOS devices in addition to Windows PCs. Most popular business apps offer versions for macOS, although companies that use legacy Windows-only programs should be prepared to invest in virtual machine (VM) software from Parallels or VMware to allow Mac users to run them.
Most UEM platforms can manage ChromeOS devices as well, or companies can deploy and manage Chromebooks through the Google Admin console. Any web app that runs in the Chrome browser works fine on a Chromebook, and the Google Chrome Web Store’s vetting of apps makes ChromeOS devices less susceptible to picking up rogue software that can infect the enterprise. Today’s Chromebooks can also run both Android and Linux apps — and, using Parallels VM software, they can even run Windows apps.
Accessories
Whether it’s at the office, on the factory floor, or on the road, a laptop on its own is never enough. Plan on spending hundreds to properly equip a system with things like a USB hub (to turn a single port into three or four), an extra power adapter (for home and away work), and a padded bag (to protect it en route).
To those who say that workers can get by with whatever they are given, you might find that with the right tools, workers can be more productive, happier, and better at their job. Just ask yourself if your competition is using anything but the best available technology.
Above all else, a business notebook should fit the user’s needs, not the other way around. There’s no sense in providing an 8-lb. mobile workstation to a traveling salesperson or a budget laptop to a video producer.
You can read more about business laptops mush-have here.
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by Teknita Team | Dec 7, 2022 | Uncategorized
How to run Windows 10 faster? Try out these tips; your machine will be less prone to performance and system issues.
1. Change your power settings
If you’re using Windows 10’s “Power saver” plan, you’re slowing down your PC. That plan reduces your PC’s performance in order to save energy. (Even desktop PCs typically have a “Power saver” plan.) Changing your power plan from “Power saver” to “High performance” or “Balanced” will give you an instant performance boost.
2. Disable programs that run on startup
One reason your Windows 10 PC may feel sluggish is that you’ve got too many programs running in the background — programs that you rarely or never use. Stop them from running, and your PC will run more smoothly.
3. Go to a Previous Restore Point
As you use Windows 10, it automatically creates restore points that are essentially snapshots of your system at specific moments in time, including installed software, drivers and updates. Restore points are a kind of safety net so if something goes wrong, you can always restore your PC to a previous state.
They can also be used to speed up your PC if you notice — for no reason you can fathom — it’s started to slow down. Recently installed problematic drivers, software, or updates could be to blame, so going back to a previous restore point could speed things up again because the system will be returned to the state it was in before the problems started. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll only be able to restore your system to the state it was in during the last seven to 10 days. (Restore points don’t affect your files, so you won’t lose any files by going to a restore point.)
4. Use ReadyBoost to speed up disk caching
Windows 10 regularly stores cached data on your hard disk, and then when it needs the data, fetches it from there. The time it takes to fetch cached data depends on the speed of your hard disk. If you have a traditional hard disk instead of an SSD, there’s a trick that can help speed up your cache: use Windows’ ReadyBoost feature. It tells Windows to cache data to a USB flash drive, which is faster than a hard disk. Fetching data from that speedier cache should speed up Windows.
5. Shut off Windows tips and tricks
As you use your Windows 10 PC, Windows keeps an eye on what you’re doing and offers tips about things you might want to do with the operating system. You can rarely if ever found these “tips” helpful.
6. Stop OneDrive from syncing
Microsoft’s cloud-based OneDrive file storage, built into Windows 10, keeps files synced and up to date on all of your PCs. It’s also a useful backup tool so that if your PC or its hard disk dies, you still have all your files intact, waiting for you to restore them.
It does this by constantly syncing files between your PC and cloud storage — something that can also slow down your PC. That’s why one way to speed up your PC is to stop the syncing. Before you turn it off permanently, though, you’ll want to check whether it is actually slowing down your PC.
7. Use OneDrive Files on-Demand
Some users may not want to stop OneDrive from syncing; doing so defeats its purpose of making sure you have the latest files on whatever device you use. And it would also mean you won’t be able to use OneDrive as a way to safely back up files.
But there’s a way to get the best of both worlds: You can keep syncing to an absolute minimum and only do it when absolutely necessary. You’ll speed up performance, and still get the best of what OneDrive has to offer.
8. Turn off search indexing
Windows 10 indexes your hard disk in the background, allowing you — in theory — to search your PC more quickly than if no indexing were being done. But slower PCs that use indexing can see a performance hit, and you can give them a speed boost by turning off indexing. Even if you have an SSD disk, turning off indexing can improve your speed, because the constant writing to disk that indexing does can eventually slow down SSDs.
9. Clean out your hard disk
If you’ve got a bloated hard disk filled with files you don’t need, you could be slowing down your PC. Cleaning it out can give you a speed boost. Windows 10 has a surprisingly useful built-in tool for doing this called Storage Sense. Go to Settings > System > Storage and at the top of the screen, move the toggle from Off to On. When you do this, Windows constantly monitors your PC and deletes old junk files you no longer need — temporary files, files in the Downloads folder that haven’t been changed in a month, and old Recycle Bin files.
10. Clean out your Registry
Under the Windows hood, the Registry tracks and controls just about everything about the way Windows works and looks. That includes information about where your programs are stored, which DLLs they use and share, what file types should be opened by which program, and just about everything else.
But the Registry is a very messy thing. When you uninstall a program, for example, that program’s settings don’t always get cleaned up in the Registry. So over time, it can get filled with countless outdated settings of all types. And that can lead to system slowdowns.
11. Disable shadows, animations and visual effects
Windows 10 has some nice eye candy — shadows, animations and visual effects. On fast, newer PCs, these don’t usually affect system performance. But on slower and older PCs, they can exact a performance hit.
12. Disable transparency
In addition to turning off shadows, animations and visual effects, you should also disable the transparency effects that Windows 10 uses for the Start menu, the Taskbar and the Action Center. It takes a surprising amount of work for Windows to create these transparency effects, and turning them off can make a difference in system performance.
13. Turn on automated Windows maintenance
Every day, behind the scenes, Windows 10 performs maintenance on your PC. It does things like security scanning and performing system diagnostics to make sure everything is up to snuff — and automatically fixes problems if it finds them. That makes sure your PC runs at peak performance. By default, this automatic maintenance runs every day at 2:00 a.m., as long as your device is plugged into a power source and is asleep.
There’s a chance, though, that the feature has been accidentally turned off or you haven’t had your PC plugged in for a while, so the maintenance hasn’t been done. You can make sure it’s turned on and runs every day, and run it manually if you’d like.
14. Kill bloatware
Sometimes the biggest factor slowing down your PC isn’t Windows 10 itself, but bloatware or adware that takes up CPU and system resources. Adware and bloatware are particularly insidious because they may have been installed by your computer’s manufacturer. You’d be amazed at how much more quickly your Windows 10 PC can run if you get rid of it.
15. Defrag your hard disk
The more you use your hard disk, the more it can become fragmented, which can slow down your PC. When a disk gets fragmented, it stores files willy-nilly across it, and it takes a while for Windows to put them together before running them.
Windows 10, though, has a built-in defragmenter you can use to defragment your hard disk. You can even tell it to run automatically so it stays constantly defragmented.
16. Disable Game Mode
Game Mode works great when you’re just playing, but it can slow down your system when you’re not playing because it multitasks with lots of processes running in the background. So turning off Game Mode can give your PC a quick boost. (You can always turn it back on again when you want to play a game.)
17. Shut down and restart Windows
Here’s one of IT’s not-quite-secret weapons for troubleshooting and speeding up a PC: Shut it down and restart it. Doing that clears out any excess use of RAM that otherwise can’t be cleared. It also kills processes that you might have set in motion and are no longer needed, but that continue running and slow your system. If your Windows 10 PC has turned sluggish over time for no apparent reason, you may be surprised at how much more quickly it will run when you do this.
You can read more about speeding up Windows 10 here.
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by Teknita Team | Dec 6, 2022 | Process Automation
Data entry is a necessary, albeit time-consuming and frustrating aspect of both large and small businesses alike.
With data entry automation and business process automation (BPA), you can streamline repetitive, manual tasks allowing your employees to greatly reduce the time spent on these activities, save money, reduce human error, and improve the reliability of data.
By creating automated processes, you can simplify a number of your daily business processes and data entry tasks and eliminate the manual data entry tasks that complicate and slow down your team. This results in a number of significant advantages for your business including:
- Reduced spending on labor
- Reduced typos, data loss, and other administration errors
- Enhanced approval processes
- Greater accuracy in auditing
- Improved visibility and decision making
Automate Your Data Entry Processes with Microsoft Power Apps
With Microsoft Power Apps, you can quickly build and share applications that streamline your workflows and automate repetitive functions with little to no code.
With Power Automate, specifically, you can automate your workflows, enable business logic to simplify app building, and model your processes across connected data sources and services. Let’s explore these benefits more closely.
Design Business Logic
Use Power Automate to design logic for your Power Apps. Instead of having to hire a developer to write endless amounts of code, you can use Power Automate’s simple point-and-click flow designer to build out your business logic. These flows can fire-and-forget, or return data back to your app to display information to the user eliminating the need for manual data processing.
Ensure Data Consistency
Ensure consistency and keep users on track regardless of what stage of the business process the data is entered.
Connect All Your Data
Additionally, you can connect all of your data and create automated workflows that empower your team to collaborate productively. This includes deep integration with SharePoint, OneDrive for Business, and Dynamics 365 provides automation right in-context of the applications you use every day.
Extend Your Functionality
Using an excel-like expression language, you can connect more systems and have greater control via native extensibility for professional developers.
Combining Power Automate with Power Apps can help you to boost productivity by building these time-saving workflows into every aspect of the data entry process and seamlessly integrating with all your data sources, like SharePoint.
Furthermore, with robotic process automation (RPA) and optical character recognition (OCR), you can build secure workflows, with little to no code, and automate all of your mundane, repetitive data entry tasks.
This frees your team members up to focus on tasks that directly contribute value to your business and your customers.
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