Monthly Archives: May 2017
2017 is the year of artificial intelligence. Here’s why
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 24, 2017
by Sandhya Venkatachalam, May 24, 2017 A recent acceleration of innovation in Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made it a hot topic in boardrooms, government, and the media. But it is still early, and everyone seems to have a different view of what AI is. I have investigated the space over the last few years as…
PH leads drive to stop human traffic in ASEAN
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 23, 2017
By Chito Chavez, Manila Bulletin, May 23, 2017 The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) expressed confidence that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members would support the Philippines in fighting human trafficking in the region.
Tax eyed on rent, remittances
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 23, 2017
By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star), May 23, 2017 MANILA, Philippines – The Duterte administration will tax apartment and housing rentals and money remittances like pera padala, Rep. Carlos Zarate of party-list group Bayan Muna said yesterday.
Betting on online gaming
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 23, 2017
By Rey Gamboa (The Philippine Star), May 23, 2017 We’ve been hearing lately exuberant statements from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) officials about the prospects of online gaming for the Philippines, months after it denied the renewal of Philweb Corp.’s license, which then operated the largest network of electronic gaming outlets in the country.
Goldman warns of 2018 oil glut amid optimism over OPEC cut extension
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 23, 2017
by Huileng Tan, CNBC, May 23, 2017 Goldman warns of 2018 oil glut amid optimism over OPEC cut extension There are risks for a renewed surplus next year in crude oil markets, Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a report published on Monday.
ADB $300 million loan to help Philippines boost youth employment
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 23, 2017
http://www.finchannel.com/society/employment/65096-adb-300-million-loan-to-help-philippines-boost-youth-employment The FINANCIAL — The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide $300 million to support the Philippine government roll out services aimed at assisting Filipino youth find gainful employment, part of the government’s job creation goal under the Duterte government’s 10 point agenda and 2017-2022 Philippine Development Plan.
School exec electrocuted
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 23, 2017
By Ben Serrano (The Philippine Star), May 23, 2017 BUTUAN CITY, Philippines – A school principal died of electrocution at the Ormaca Elementary School during Brigada Eskwela in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur on Saturday. Josie de la Cruz, 61, a resident of Purok 3, Barangay Omaca, was helping in cleaning the school grounds when…
6 Chinese arrested for human trafficking
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 23, 2017
ABS-CBN News, May 23, 2017 Six Chinese nationals on Tuesday were arrested after offering P150,000 for marriage to 7 Filipinas so they could take them to China to be farm workers.
Coop representatives vow to fight removal of VAT exemption
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 22, 2017
By: Marc Jayson Cayabyab, INQUIRER.net, May 22, 2017 The party-list representatives of the cooperative sector will oppose the provision in the government’s tax package lifting the value-added tax (VAT) exemption being enjoyed by cooperatives in the country, Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines (AGAP) party-list Rep. Rico Geron said on Monday.
Bayan Muna solon withdraws co-authorship of tax reform bill
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 22, 2017
By: Marc Jayson Cayabyab, INQINQUIRER.net, May 22, 2017 Update Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate withdrew his co-authorship of the government tax reform package bill that seeks to expand the value added tax (VAT) base and impose oil excise taxes despite lowering the personal income tax.
Your boss is worried you soon won’t have the skills needed to get a job
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 22, 2017
“There will be no quantum leap in our ability to ‘up-skill’ people” by Danielle Paquette, Washington Post, May 22, 2017 Nearly a third of business leaders and technology analysts express “no confidence” that education and job training in the United States will evolve rapidly enough to match the next decade’s labor market demands, a new…
Street sweeper dies of heat stroke
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 22, 2017
By Rey Galupo (The Philippine Star), May 22, 2017 MANILA, Philippines – A 57-year-old street sweeper reportedly died of heat stroke in Sta. Cruz, Manila on Saturday afternoon. Mario Velasco complained of shortness of breath while doing his job at the corner of Oroquieta street and Doroteo Road at around 4 p.m., according to the…
Bill promoting ‘work from home’ hurdles Senate
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 22, 2017
INQUIRER.net, May 22, 2017 The Senate on Monday approved a bill that encourages “work from home” arrangements in a bid to ease traffic in Metro Manila and other urban areas.
Protected:
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 22, 2017
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Economic prosperity at a personal cost
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 22, 2017
New Life for the TPP?
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 22, 2017
THE DIPLOMAT MAY 22, 2017 Never mind U.S. President Donald Trump: the Trans-Pacific Partnership’s remaining 11 members have vowed unity and pledged to press for a new pact by November. However, Trump has his own plans for bilateral Asian trade deals that “put America first.”
Five measures of growth that are better than GDP
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 22, 2017
by Stewart Wallis, Apr 19, 2016 GDP is like a speedometer: it tells you whether your economy is going faster or slower. As in cars, a speedometer is useful but doesn’t tell you everything you want to know. For example, it won’t tell you whether you are overheating, or about to run out of fuel.
Bond of brothers: Lex Talionis frat members get key gov’t posts
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 21, 2017
Lex Talionis (law of retaliation) seems to be living up to its Latin meaning, as its members have taken over important government posts with a vengeance By: Fe Zamora, Philippine Daily Inquirer, May 21, 2017
OFW falls to death in Hong Kong
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 19, 2017
INQUIRER.net / 10:40 AM May 19, 2017 A 30-year-old overseas Filipino worker (OFW) fell to her tragic death while cleaning the windows in her apartment in Hong Kong Wednesday night.
Economic expansion slowed in Q1
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 19, 2017
By: Ben O. de Vera, Philippine Daily Inquirer, May 19, 2017 The first-quarter GDP growth was next to China’s 6.9 percent and surpassed the rate of growth in most of the emerging Asian economies, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said in a press conference.
What’s now and next in analytics, AI, and automation
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 18, 2017
HR strategies to manage stress in the workplace
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 18, 2017
The word stress generated from Hans Selye. He defined it as an unexpected and unpredicted response of the brain and body to change. Stress is a self-produced pain occurring in thoughts. It varies in different situations and environments.
What’s the secret to vitality? Science may have the answer
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 17, 2017
by Bradley Elliott, May 17, 2017 There have been some noteworthy examples of successful human ageing in the press recently. It was announced that Prince Phillip will be retiring from royal duties in the autumn, at the age of 96. A couple of days later we heard the sad news that 85-year-old Min Bahadur Sharchan…
Las Vegas to lose 65 percent of jobs to automation by 2025, says study Based on a 2013 study conducted by Oxford University researchers, this new report is a bleak reminder of how vulnerable low-skilled jobs in the US are to automation. Rajiv Rao By Rajiv Rao for New Tech for Old India | May 17, 2017 — 11:00 GMT (19:00 GMT+08:00) | Topic: Innovation 3 115 56 Your video will resume in 13 seconds Playlist 0:02 / 0:15 ShareFullscreen It seems inconceivable that a city can simply watch 65 percent of its jobs evaporate into thin air in less time than it takes your newborn to reach kindergarten, but a recent study says that this is exactly what is going to happen to Las Vegas by 2025. A report assembled under the supervision of Johannes Moenius, director of the Institute for Spatial Economic Analysis at the University of Redlands, predicts that the huge job loss in Las Vegas will be mirrored by 64 percent of jobs vanishing in El Paso, Texas and 63 percent of percent of jobs in both Riverside, California as well as Greensboro, North Carolina being gobbled up by automation. The report mentions Orlando, Florida and Louisville, Kentucky as other vulnerable cities felled by the rise of machines. Artificial intelligence: How to build the business case Artificial intelligence: How to build the business case AI might be a hot topic but you’ll still need to justify those projects. Read More The fact that these cities are not outliers should be of grave concern to both local and state governments throughout the US. In fact, the authors state that almost all major metropolitan areas in the US could lose beyond 55 percent of their current jobs to automation in the next few decades. “We felt it was really stunning, since we are underestimating the probability of automation,” said Moenius to the Atlantic. Especially noteworthy here is the fact that the culls will not be taking place in the traditional manufacturing sectors that have already felt the brunt of automation, but in regions that have a preponderance of low-skilled jobs. Most susceptible to job losses are people working in food preparation and serving, office or administrative support, and sales. A city like Las Vegas most embodies an economy that supports labour in all of these occupations. Service sector employment, once the panacea to a fading manufacturing landscape, will now suffer the same slings and arrows that the blue-collar sector suffered not so long ago. METHODOLOGY The real heavy lifting behind this bleak outlook was undertaken by Oxford University professors Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A Osborne in a 2013 study, The Future of Employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerization?, which underpinned the report of Moenius and his colleagues. The Oxford study, which stated that nearly half of American jobs are at risk from automation over the next few decades, analysed some 700 professions that were the most vulnerable to obsolescence including telemarketers, insurance underwriters and appraisers, tax preparers, and cashiers. Moenius and his team contextualized the Oxford study with employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and extrapolated it for a hundred metropolitan areas in the US that had a large share of these kinds of jobs. Below is a map generated by the US study where the size and colour of the bubbles indicate the risk of job loss to automation. Apparently, the next iteration of the study will take a closer look at the demographics of those caught in the cross-hairs of change — age, race, education, and other factors. map-of-job-losses.png ISEA, University of Redlands WHICH JOBS WILL RULE? In a world where robots are beginning to replace hotel concierges, fast-food workers, truck drivers, and farm-hands, none of this may seem all that shocking. Clearly, routine jobs are at the highest risk of being replaced. What is a more recent realization is that even non-routine jobs are rapidly facing the threat of extinction thanks to machine learning. Huge amounts of data allow complex tasks like cancer detection to be done by machines and in most cases far more efficiently and accurately than by humans. The jobs that will be saved from the predation of machines are those that — no surprise here — tap into the essence of what it means to be human. In other words, those that require creativity, emotional and social intelligence, and include professions that range from artists and storytellers to surgeons, teachers, mental health social workers, and physicians. THE FUTURE So, how does one combat this potentially destructive, soul-sapping encroachment that is destined to change human existence as we know it? “I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all solution to this,” said Moenius. “We really believe that each city will have to find its own way … Problem-solving, spatial thinking, having an understanding of multidisciplinary issues — these are things that everyone who has to make a decision of what I should be educated in now [should think about].” For instance, Moenius mentions re-imagining land use — in areas of Southern California, populations have moved next to warehouses and freeways to support the emergence of a logistics economy. Another solution could be a controversial and complicated notion that is bound to stir up controversy: ensuring that everyone gets a guaranteed income. In a world where bots do most of the work that would have built a middle-class income in an earlier generation, many have begun to introduce the idea that an income floor would allow individuals to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities without seeing all of their earnings taxed to death. Instead of promoting slacking, a common notion that tends to go along with the concept of a guaranteed income, it would actually engender risk-taking. Finally, local and national governments have to begin thinking seriously about re-education and re-training programs in an effort to ward off the kind of civil unrest that is generated when large amounts of people sit idly with nothing to do and no income streams to feed their families on. Automation will have major ramifications for every conceivable aspect of civic society — from its socioeconomic stability, to law and order, mental health, and electoral politics, to name just a few — so the sooner we figure out how to survive, or even thrive, in this new world, the better we will be able to weather its onslaught.
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 17, 2017
Las Vegas to lose 65 percent of jobs to automation by 2025, says study Based on a 2013 study conducted by Oxford University researchers, this new report is a bleak reminder of how vulnerable low-skilled jobs in the US are to automation.
6 technology trends that will change the way business leaders think about risk
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 17, 2017
By Alison DeNisco, May 17, 2017 As cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) gain prominence in the enterprise, tech and business leaders alike must reconsider risk management plans and how they impact business objectives, according to French Caldwell, a former White House cybersecurity advisor, former Gartner fellow and vice president, and…
Asbestos blocked for 6th time from hazardous substances list
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 17, 2017
by Matt Mauney, May 17, 2017 The fight to impose tough trade restrictions on chrysotile asbestos — a toxic mineral that causes mesothelioma cancer and other serious health conditions — will have to wait at least another two years.
May 18, 2017 – KAHIYA! The Metro Manila RTWPB has not issued a Wage Order adjusting the wages of domestic workers (kasambahays) MORE THAN FOUR YEARS AFTER PASSAGE OF BATAS KASAMBAHAY 10361. Read more.
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 16, 2017
Kasambahay minimum wages, for 52 months and counting, in the largest destination of kasambahays in the Philippines has remained at P2,500 per month. In contrast, 11 other regions have already issued their adjusting Wage Orders, with a number of regions having minimum wages higher than in Metro Manila. Dapat nga, this Regional Board should be…
Gov’t denies ‘Dutertenomics’ comes with heavy debt burden
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 16, 2017
by Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral, Elijah Joseph C. Tubayan, Businessworld, May 16, 2017 CABINET officials rejected claims that Chinese funding for infrastructure will burden the economy with too much debt, saying that tax reform will help the Philippines raise the bulk of the needed funds internally.
EU now top destination for Philippine exports
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 16, 2017
By Pia Lee-Brago (The Philippine Star), May 16, 2017 MANILA, Philippines – Despite President Duterte’s series of expletives against the regional grouping, the European Union was the largest destination of exports from the Philippines with $901 million in March this year, latest data the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
The workers who answer your customer-service calls
Published by rudy
Date posted on May 16, 2017
The worsening conditions at offshore call centers has become a central part of AT&T workers’ fight for workplace justice. By Michelle Chen, MAY 16, 2017 The call center seems like the workplace of the future, the cubicled office job that brings modern development to anywhere with a phone connection, from Boston to Bangalore. But throughout…
