Blog

Amy Webb: How I Hacked Online Dating

Amy Webb used data science to find love. After a difficult breakup of a relationship when she was 30, and feeling the pressure of her heavily involved family, this data geek started crunching numbers to game the online dating system in search of true love.

 

Big Data Seeks Online Love [Infographic]

In this infographic, datascience@berkeley explores the past, present, and future of online dating. How do dating sites’ matching algorithms work? What data do users rely on when judging prospective dates? How can you optimize your profile to find that perfect match? Watch as Big Data Seeks True Love.

 

Kevin Slavin: How Algorithms Shape Our World

In this TED Talk, algoworld navigator and data science expert Kevin Slavin discusses how the world we’re now living in is designed for algorithms that are increasingly controlling our lives and shaping our world.

 

Data Innovation Day: Big Data and the U.S. Census

Eric Newburger’s lunch keynote entitled “Why the Census? Big Data From the Enlightenment to Today” was a clear favorite for many attendees at Data Innovation Day. In the talk, Newburger explored the history of the U.S. Census Bureau — arguably one of the most data-rich resources in the United States.

Big Data and Higher Education [Infographic]

More than 6.7 million students took an online course in 2011…were you one of them?Education and Skills 2.0: New Targets and Innovative Approaches, a new book from the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Education and Skills, says that at scale, higher education’s migration to online will redefine what it means to provide a great education to students.

 

Harald Haas: Wireless Data From Every Light Bulb

In this 2011 TED Talk, Harold Haas describes how he became motivated to find an alternative to our current system of wireless data transmission. His light-fidelity (Li-Fi) wireless data transmission system through LED lighting solves issues of capacity, efficiency, availability, and security in our current radio-frequency transmission system.

 

Top Trends: Wearable Technology

Losing weight is consistently one of the top new year’s resolutions made by Americans. But how to go about this admittedly lofty task? Some approach this with exercise, some with diet…or you could try out one of the hottest trends in consumer data science: “wearable tech.”

 

Exploring Open Data Sets

It’s always fascinating to take a look at the data visualizations and in-depth reports widely available on the web. As an aspiring (or active) data scientist, however, one of the best things you can do to learn about a particular field is to get your own hands dirty. Here, we’ve compiled a list of sites that host open and free data sets for anyone to use.

 

A Resurgence of Neural Networks in Machine Learning

Guest author Dan Gillick of Google explains the recent resurgence of neural networks in the field of machine learning. In just under three years, these models have helped to substantially reduce Word Error Rate (WER) for automatic speech recognition systems.

Data Size Matters [Infographic]

KB, MB, GB…these are all measurements we understand. But how much does a terabyte hold? How many DVDs would it take to reach a zettabyte? And what on earth is a yottabyte? To better understand the scope of data size, check out our infographic for real-life examples, a timeline of hard drive innovation, and a glimpse at where the data storage industry is heading in the future.