#engineering intelligence

[delivery-software]

Understanding a Software Delivery Lifecycle

The delivery lifecycle for software is not as cut and dry as many think. That's especially true with today's containerized approach to development. These days, development teams can continue adding new code and features to existing products, making software better and more capable as time goes on.

But with those new capabilities comes a more complex delivery lifecycle. It typically contains four distinct stages.

Design and Development

Whether teams create brand-new software or introduce cutting-edge features to live applications, everything begins with design and development. Engineers will design new features or updates before choosing the most compelling ones to commit to full development.

From there, teams can focus on development, writing new code and working with various other teams to create a full experience. Unified delivery data is crucial at this early stage. Development teams can encounter many possible issues that result in significant delays, so having insight into the process benefits engineering leaders.

Review and Testing

After development, feature additions and updates go through a review process. This stage involves testing code and ensuring it is worth moving forward in the delivery lifecycle. Not all updates will continue. Sometimes, leaders will determine that those additions are not appropriate for the software at this time. Or, they may realize that these features will work better with more extensive overhauls.

Whatever the case, testing is about fine-tuning.

Readiness Testing and Quality Assurance

From here, features must undergo strict quality assurance testing. Introducing new code comes with risks. There are many dependencies to consider and bugs to iron out. The last thing leaders want is for new additions to cause app-breaking issues.

Additions should be seamless; testing ensures the code is ready for implementation. Unified delivery data is crucial during testing. It highlights opportunities for improvement, maps milestones, highlights risks, etc.

Release

After testing and QA, the software is finally ready for release. At this point, updates go live, and new features go through implementation. Leaders will continue tracking releases and obtaining insights. The work isn't always over upon delivery, and historical data can lead to future insights that help teams become even more productive.

Elevate your projects with engineering intelligence! Explore this website for innovative solutions and unleash your potential today.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Google is now the only search engine that can surface results from Reddit, making one of the web’s most valuable repositories of user generated content exclusive to the internet’s already dominant search engine. If you use Bing, DuckDuckGo, Mojeek, Qwant or any other alternative search engine that doesn’t rely on Google’s indexing and search Reddit by using “site:reddit.com,” you will not see any results from the last week. DuckDuckGo is currently turning up seven links when searching Reddit, but provides no data on where the links go or why, instead only saying that “We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us.” Older results will still show up, but these search engines are no longer able to “crawl” Reddit, meaning that Google is the only search engine that will turn up results from Reddit going forward. Searching for Reddit still works on Kagi, an independent, paid search engine that buys part of its search index from Google. The news shows how Google’s near monopoly on search is now actively hindering other companies’ ability to compete at a time when Google is facing increasing criticism over the quality of its search results. And while neither Reddit or Google responded to a request for comment, it appears that the exclusion of other search engines is the result of a multi-million dollar deal that gives Google the right to scrape Reddit for data to train its AI products.

July 24 2024

[louminouz]

obsessed with this one goofy tf2 horror game goin around thats got like old internet flash game vibes

[solid-white]

10 recommendations of TF2 fan content for those looking for more like me:

Emesis Blue: this one is an obvious one, I don't need to explain it since everyone and their grandma knows it by now.

Capture The Intelligence: a tf2 horror fangame centered around Spy capturing the Intelligence. Yup. That's it. That's the game. It's a pretty fun game and I recommend it to anyone wanting a quick past time.

Anomaly: it's a tf2 analogue horror based around an anomaly in a players world. The mystery is intriguing and the scares are SO effective. There were also moments that made me go "NO WAY!" in surprise.

Endless Rust: THIS ONE. It's not underrated if you look at the amount of views it has. But it's SO good. I recommend both parts. It's about Engineer and Sniper trying to live in a world taken over by robots. I won't spoil much but watch it!

The Art Of Justice: I was gobsmacked at just how little views this one had. Especially because of how long ago it came out. PLEASE watch it. It's about Sniper and Scout teaming up to break into the red base. The animation is EASILY comparable to "The End Of The Line" and "Emesis Blue"

Magnificent Nine: I had no clue what was happening during the second half, but it deserves a mention for the Medicspy. Those men were GAY.

Assault On 2Fort: part 2 is in the making but this one is great! Scout is a female in this one but it doesn't put much attention or emphasis on that and the animation is just so detailed that I kept rewinding. THEY EVEN RELOAD THE GUN PROPERLY!!!

Winglet: Just everything Winglet makes I recommend. I drool over the animation and story telling whenever they upload something new.

Bad Sniper and Bad day: Bad day is a sequel to Bad Sniper, it's a bit corny but I recommend it to Sniper lovers. It's about Sniper being bad at sniping and the other Sniper taking it upon himself to teach him to be a good Sniper. It's a very typical story but it's charming.

Kith And Kin: Taboo mention since some people find fics cringe, but I REALLY recommend this one. The mystery and twists are so jaw dropping and I got so tense reading some scenes. There are parts that are melodramatic but everything else outweighs those moments.

If you have any recommendations, go ahead and share them and I'll put them in my next list

[incorrect-green-lantern-quotes]

A funny side effect of the Corps generally recruiting only adults is that the Green Lanterns of Earth are probably on average the most well-educated of all of DC’s hero legacies*

Like, Hal was a fighter pilot in the USAF, for which a bachelor’s degree is a requirement. Guy in his original backstory got two degrees in education and psychology at the same time. John’s an architect, so he would’ve gone to college for at least five years.

Kyle’s run in the 90s mentions that he went to college, probably for art. Simon is stated to have a degree in automotive engineering. Jo went to freaking Princeton University. No idea what she studied but I assume it was something like criminal justice since she became a cop afterward.

The only reason Jessica didn’t get to finish her forestry degree was because she was hiding in her apartment for three years after her friends got murdered. But she would’ve if not for that horrifically traumatic event!!

No wonder Bats don’t like Lanterns. They’re all bright and colorful and college educated, like many of the most infamous Gotham rogues.

*I’d like to point out that this is more so because the other superhero families tend to include multiple kids, who are statistically unlikely to have graduated high school yet (and if they haven’t by now they likely never will thanks to DC’s sliding time scale)

Legit, I’m pretty sure the Earth GLs are the absolute last hero legacy to get a kid in main continuity (Keli’s first appearance was in 2019!)

And bc reading comprehension on this site is piss poor, this isn’t me saying that the Green Lanterns are smarter than all your hero blorbos. Just that the majority of them went to school long enough to get their diplomas.

[zooplekochi]

They call it "Cost optimization to navigate crises"

[viridianriver]

'Artificial Intelligence' Tech - Not Intelligent as in Smart - Intelligence as in 'Intelligence Agency'

I work in tech, hell my last email ended in '.ai' and I used to HATE the term Artificial Intelligence. It's computer vision, it's machine learning, I'd always argue.

Lately, I've changed my mind. Artificial Intelligence is a perfectly descriptive word for what has been created. As long as you take the word 'Intelligence' to refer to data that an intelligence agency or other interested party may collect.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Back when I was in 'AI' - the vibe was just odd. Investors were throwing money at it as fast as they could take out loans to do so. All the while, engineers were sounding the alarm that 'AI' is really just a fancy statistical tool and won't ever become truly smart let alone conscious. The investors, baffingly, did the equivalent of putting their fingers in their ears while screaming 'LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU"

Meanwhile, CEOs were making all sorts of wild promises about what AI will end up doing, promises that mainly served to stress out the engineers. Who still couldn't figure out why the hell we were making this silly overhyped shit anyway.

SYSTEMS THINKING

As Stafford Beer said, 'The Purpose of A System is What It Does" - basically meaning that if a system is created, and maintained, and continues to serve a purpose? You can read the intended purpose from the function of a system. (This kind of thinking can be applied everywhere - for example the penal system. Perhaps, the purpose of that system is to do what it does - provide an institutional structure for enslavement / convict-leasing?)

So, let's ask ourselves, what does AI do? Since there are so many things out there calling themselves AI, I'm going to start with one example. Microsoft Copilot.

Microsoft is selling PCs with integrated AI which, among other things, frequently screenshots and saves images of your activity. It doesn't protect against copying passwords or sensitive data, and it comes enabled by default. Now, my old-ass-self has a word for that. Spyware. It's a word that's fallen out of fashion, but I think it ought to make a comeback.

To take a high-level view of the function of the system as implemented, I would say it surveils, and surveils without consent. And to apply our systems thinking? Perhaps its purpose is just that.

SOCIOLOGY

There's another principle I want to introduce - that an institution holds insitutional knowledge. But it also holds institutional ignorance. The shit that for the sake of its continued existence, it cannot know.

For a concrete example, my health insurance company didn't know that my birth control pills are classified as a contraceptive. After reading the insurance adjuster the Wikipedia articles on birth control, contraceptives, and on my particular medication, he still did not know whether my birth control was a contraceptive. (Clearly, he did know - as an individual - but in his role as a representative of an institution - he was incapable of knowing - no matter how clearly I explained)

So - I bring this up just to say we shouldn't take the stated purpose of AI at face value. Because sometimes, an institutional lack of knowledge is deliberate.

HISTORY OF INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

The first formalized intelligence agency was the British Secret Service, founded in 1909. Spying and intelligence gathering had always been a part of warfare, but the structures became much more formalized into intelligence agencies as we know them today during WW1 and WW2.

Now, they're a staple of statecraft. America has one, Russia has one, China has one, this post would become very long if I continued like this...

I first came across the term 'Cyber War' in a dusty old aircraft hanger, looking at a cold-war spy plane. There was an old plaque hung up, making reference to the 'Upcoming Cyber War' that appeared to have been printed in the 80s or 90s. I thought it was silly at the time, it sounded like some shit out of sci-fi.

My mind has changed on that too - in time. Intelligence has become central to warfare; and you can see that in the technologies military powers invest in. Mapping and global positioning systems, signals-intelligence, of both analogue and digital communication.

Artificial intelligence, as implemented would be hugely useful to intelligence agencies. A large-scale statistical analysis tool that excels as image recognition, text-parsing and analysis, and classification of all sorts? In the hands of agencies which already reportedly have access to all of our digital data?

TIKTOK, CHINA, AND AMERICA

I was confused for some time about the reason Tiktok was getting threatened with a forced sale to an American company. They said it was surveiling us, but when I poked through DNS logs, I found that it was behaving near-identically to Facebook/Meta, Twitter, Google, and other companies that weren't getting the same heat.

And I think the reason is intelligence. It's not that the American government doesn't want me to be spied on, classified, and quantified by corporations. It's that they don't want China stepping on their cyber-turf.

The cyber-war is here y'all. Data, in my opinion, has become as geopolitically important as oil, as land, as air or sea dominance. Perhaps even more so.

A CASE STUDY : ELON MUSK

As much smack as I talk about this man - credit where it's due. He understands the role of artificial intelligence, the true role. Not as intelligence in its own right, but intelligence about us.

In buying Twitter, he gained access to a vast trove of intelligence. Intelligence which he used to segment the population of America - and manpulate us.

He used data analytics and targeted advertising to profile American voters ahead of this most recent election, and propogandize us with micro-targeted disinformation. Telling Israel's supporters that Harris was for Palestine, telling Palestine's supporters she was for Israel, and explicitly contradicting his own messaging in the process. And that's just one example out of a much vaster disinformation campaign.

He bought Trump the white house, not by illegally buying votes, but by exploiting the failure of our legal system to keep pace with new technology. He bought our source of communication, and turned it into a personal source of intelligence - for his own ends. (Or... Putin's?)

This, in my mind, is what AI was for all along.

CONCLUSION

AI is a tool that doesn't seem to be made for us. It seems more fit-for-purpose as a tool of intelligence agencies, oligarchs, and police forces. (my nightmare buddy-cop comedy cast) It is a tool to collect, quantify, and loop-back on intelligence about us.

A friend told me recently that he wondered sometimes if the movie 'The Matrix' was real and we were all in it. I laughed him off just like I did with the idea of a cyber war.

Well, I re watched that old movie, and I was again proven wrong. We're in the matrix, the cyber-war is here. And know it or not, you're a cog in the cyber-war machine.

(edit -- part 2 - with the 'how' - is here!)

[r33lb1gf1sh]

I like this fella a lot

[curtwilde]

X

[buzzfeedunsolvable]

No hate to Steven or anything and a lot of the flack he's gotten in the yt comments is unwarranted, but one thing I think is interesting is how on Watcher he was painted as a business-guru type and yet he was like... a chemical engineering major. Like so was I for most of college and you know what we never learned? How to run a business

[nickysfacts]

Remember, girls have been programming and writing algorithms way before it was cool!

👩🏻‍💻💜👩🏾‍💻

[vieformidable]

Bagworm moth caterpillar collects and cuts tiny sticks to build a tiny log cabin to live in! '

This young engineer is an example of the greatness of the natural world and some crazy-ass creator!

[thestalkerbunny]

Locke and Key-a pair of 'Trapper' Slashers.

Locke was the heavy lifter of the two. From building the elaborate traps and puzzles they'd put people in to kidnapping people and moving their bodies. Locke, though characterized frequently as a giant mute brute, is a rather gentle person. He genuinely believed what Key and he was doing was a good thing. That the people who survived their traps would leave with a new perspective and change their lives. Which was not the case as Key was simply a man who loved control, had an ego and god complex and lorded over Locke with abuse emotional and physical despite the fact Locke was much much stronger.

Eventually, Locke had enough and killed Key publicly and submitted to being arrested. He is ironically a very model prisoner and is often contacted by the FBI to profile other killers. Locke is an alarmingly intelligent man with a strangely deep level of emotional intelligence when it comes to people. The few people who have tried to psychoanalyze Locke believes it's the same level of gaslighting and manipulation found in cults and high control abusive relationships that resulted in his submissive behavior towards Key.

Locke being a calm, pleasant man often puts people at unease because they expect him to be naturally violent. The prison he was sentenced to has become much more peaceful since he is essentially the biggest scariest son of a bitch there and he calls nearly all the shots.

[apotelesmaa]

I like to imagine there’s at least one huge nerd at kamiyama in their third year and they’re always studying to get the best grades like really hitting the books & taking classes outside of school but they continually get the second highest scores and they’re seething with rage about it because the only person outdoing them academically is that purple fuck who never pays attention in class, is put in detention every week for blowing shit up and brings his whimsical ass gadgets to school. & he doesn’t even care about his status as the most academically talented kid in the grade. They’re planning on going into medical school or some other STEM field and he’s going into the arts.

[armadillorollup]

Viktor Arcane: Evolution has a destination. Not to combat nature, but to supersede it. The final glorious evolution.

biologists everywhere:

[alfaversionlunar]

TFtober #10 team work

rested and you can return to this list

Every spy knows what awaits him A warm welcome from the defense team.