datamining
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Third-party app developers could be reading your Gmail
Last summer, Google promised to stop scanning your Gmail for keywords that helped them target advertising. However, as The Wall Street Journal points out, Google still allows third-party app developers to scan your inbox. This happens after a user grants them access, but raises questions about whether or not people understand what kind of permission they're giving, and who they're giving it to.
Yahoo releases massive 13.5TB web-browsing data set to researchers
Yahoo's business may be struggling, but millions of people still visit its site to read the news every day. That gives the company unique insights into browsing and reading habits, and today the company has released a huge swath of that data. The "Yahoo News Feed dataset" incorporates anonymous browsing habits of 20 million users between February and May of 2015 across a variety of Yahoo properties, including its home page, main news site, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Movies and Yahoo Real Estate.
Data-mined photos document 100 years of (forced) smiling
Here's an odd fact: Turn-of-the-century photographers used to tell subjects to say "prunes" rather than "cheese," so that they would smile less. By studying nearly 38,000 high-school yearbook photos taken since 1905, UC Berkeley researchers have shown just how much smiling, fashion and hairstyles have changed over the years. The goal was not just to track trends, but figure out how to apply modern data-mining techniques and machine learning to a much older medium: photographs. Their research could advance deep-learning algorithms for dating historical photos and help historians study how social norms change over time.
You can use Twitter activity to track unemployment
Governments aren't usually quick to react to changes in demographics. They frequently have to take surveys that are not only slow, but don't always paint a complete picture of what's going on. Researchers at the Autonomous University of Madrid have discovered a far more effective way of keeping tabs on the population, however: tracking Twitter updates. They've found that the content, frequency and timing of tweets across Spain correlate well with joblessness levels in their respective regions. People in high unemployment areas tend to not only mention jobs more often in their posts, but tweet more in the morning and make a larger number of spelling mistakes. Since it's both easy and quick to collect that information, it's possible to track economic patterns almost as they happen -- you can see when a financial crisis hits a city hard, or when there's a job boom.
Hyperspace Beacon: Exploits and SWTOR_Miner
Over the last couple of years, the Star Wars: The Old Republic community has changed. I believe it's matured. We changed from a community that wants everything yesterday to one that understands timetables but is still very interested in what's coming next. When we hear about the next storyline, we want to see how that's going to fit with everything that came before. Originally, I wanted to talk to the king of predicting the future of the game, SWTOR_Miner, about where the game is headed and what hidden secrets are in the client files. However, last week something happened that redirected my thinking. Late last Monday night, Miner posted on Twitter, "Just got word that @SWTOR is cutting ties with fan sites that have dealings with me. Guess I won't be coming in from the cold." Of course, the whole community went bug-eyed, wondering what exactly had happened. So when I sat down to talk to SWTOR_Miner, the only thing I wanted to talk about was what's going on?
Warlords of Draenor: New voice files datamined
Adriacraft over on Youtube has been hard at work downloading a variety of different voice files from the latest beta build. Included in the mix are what seems to be most of the tracks for the Tanaan Jungle starting experience, as well as a few different vignettes and scenarios, some of which haven't been seen on the beta as of yet. Several of the orc warlords have been dug up, as well as a full ten minutes worth of vocal tracks from Yrel. Needless to say, every single last one of these files are full of spoilers for story lines and events in Warlords of Draenor. If you are deliberately avoiding spoilers, listening to any of these would be a very, very bad idea. And if you do choose to listen to them, keep in mind that these are beta files, and therefore may or may not actually be found in game once the expansion is released.
Robin Williams models possibly spotted in World of Warcraft files
Apparently Blizzard is making good on its word to include the late Robin Williams in an upcoming World of Warcraft build, as players have found a character named Robin <The Entertainer> tucked away in the game files. Datamining through Warlords of Draenor's files turned up three models for Robin, including a djinn (Disney's Aladdin), a human female with a man's voice (Mrs. Doubtfire), and a human male with suspenders (Mork). There are theories floating around that the djinn will morph into the other two characters while putting on a show for players, although we won't know for sure until the expansion releases this November. On the day following Robin William's death, fans petitioned the Blizzard to include a tribute to the comedian as he had been an avid WoW player through the years. Blizzard responded by saying that it was "working on it."
OKCupid treats your love life like a lab rat
Facebook is perhaps the most prominent example, but the internet, whether we want to accept it or not, is a gigantic data-mining operation where every thing about us is monitored, measured and experimented with -- even our love life, should we choose. The folks over at online-dating service OKCupid (OKC) have recently detailed, among other things, how they futzed with the site's match-percentage system to see if it'd affect users' messaging habits. To start, OKC wanted to see just how much bearing system had on the likelihood of sending one message. When the service took two people who were actually 30 percent compatible and fudged the numbers by, say, 60 points, the amount of first messages sent naturally increased. As the OKTrends blog notes, that's exactly what was expected because that's how the site's users have more or less been trained; a higher number means a potentially better match. But, as anyone who's used the site can probably attest, one message doesn't mean a whole lot.
Warlords of Draenor: Garrison achievements
The latest Warlords of Draenor build, meticulously datamined as always by the fine folks at Wowhead, reveals a ton in the way of Garrison achievements. Seriously, there are oodles of points to be earned in and around your Garrison. You can get achievements for Garrison buildings, Garrison Followers, Garrison levels, Garrison missions, and Garrison invasions. The glut of ways to earn achievement points should have dedicated achievement hunters licking their chops in anticipation. The 700 skill point profession achievements are also listed with Garrison achievements, which doesn't come as much of a surprise. The majority of the achievements focus on Followers, missions, and invasions, but there are also plenty associated with constructing and upgrading the buildings themselves. The complete list of datamined Garrison achievements is after the break.
Recommended Reading: Colombia's high-tech World Cup training and testing Facebook
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. Colombia's High-Tech Advantage in its World Cup Match Against Brazil by Matt Hartigan, Fast Company Pocket!function(d,i){if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement("script");j.id=i;j.src="https://widgets.getpocket.com/v1/j/btn.js?v=1";var w=d.getElementById(i);d.body.appendChild(j);}}(document,"pocket-btn-js"); Colombia certainly faced an uphill climb against Brazil at the World Cup, and the side turned to tech to increase its chance of winning throughout the tournament. During training, the Colombian national team leveraged Catapult: a wearable GPS system that maps players' bodies in three-dimensional space to gauge the "load" placed on each athlete. Among a host of other features, the sensors transmit data to coaches and staff instantly at a range of up to 250-300 feet. Soccer isn't the only sport using the system either, as the San Antonio Spurs implemented the system to track basketball prospects ahead of last week's NBA Draft.
Warlords of Draenor: Challenge mode weapon models datamined
Adriacraft is at it again, datamining new models and more from the alpha client. This time around, it's a look at Challenge Mode weapons -- presumably the rewards for completing Warlords challenge mode dungeons. Like some of the armor sets that have been datamined so far, the weapons feature some really unique animations and moving parts that are far more complex than any weapon we've seen to date. There's a wide variety to look at, here -- and while I'm ambivalent on some of the models, I have to say the sword that assembles itself is pretty interesting. But before you get too caught up in liking or hating the weapons, keep in mind that looking at these datamined models may be pretty cool, but these are in fact alpha models. Community Manager Rygarius hopped on Twitter yesterday to remind people of just that. PSA: Datamined art assets/models that are not used in the current live game may not be final art. - Rygarius (@Rygarius) May 23, 2014 Regardless of whether you love or hate these datamined models, remember that they might not actually live to see the light of day. If nothing else, they're definitely worth a look just to see the leaps Blizzard has made in weapon design -- these aren't your run of the mill vanilla weapons anymore. Be sure to check out Adriacraft for more models and sets.
Legendary quest boosts on the way?
Wowhead dug up some interesting new information this past week, largely in regards to the legendary quest chain offered by Wrathion. These changes are not for patch 6.0 -- they are for patch 5.4.8, which should be coming to the PTR soon. Two new spells of note have been added to the PTR -- one, called Gaze of the Black Prince, increases your reputation earned with the Black Prince by 100%, which might sound a little like the Grand Commendations for other Pandaria reputations that unlock bonus reputation for all characters on your account. But that doesn't seem to be the case with this particular spell. In fact, Gaze of the Black Prince also increases the chances of getting a Secrets of the Empire, Sigil of Power, Sigil of Wisdom, or Titan Runestone from enemies. How much of a chance isn't directly stated, but frankly, gathering the needed drops is far more time-consuming than simply earning the required reputation with Wrathion, so that's fantastic, right? Well ... there's more.
What is data mining and why is everyone talking about it?
The recent release of the alpha client for Warlords of Draenor means that there's a lot of talk about data mining that's going around the community. But if you aren't up on your tech jargon, this might not mean much to you -- and Googling the term will send you to a Wikipedia page that tells you data mining aims "to extract information from a data set and transform it into an understandable structure for further use." Even if you are up on your tech jargon, you might not grasp what that means, especially in the context of World of Warcraft. So let's start with a straightforward definition: data mining is the process of digging through WoW's data files and looking for information like maps, graphics, models, or sounds. It's not hacking or exploiting the game, just looking at the game files -- often, but not always, files that are publicly available -- to see what's there. These files can be from the current game client or come from a PTR or beta build, any of which could have new content that players can't access in the game world. Similar to looking up filming photos from a favorite TV show or movie, data mining gives you a sneak peek at game content that hasn't been publicly released, which can range from hints at the next patch to hints to the next expansion. Hungry for information, plenty of players turn to data mining for answers -- but because Blizzard can change, remove, or expand on unreleased content without any warning, anything data mined needs to be taken with a pretty big grain of salt. So should you be paying attention to data mined info? In the end, the choice is up to you -- but we'll give you some background on just what WoW data mining might tell you.
Know Your Lore: Warlords lore, spoilers and you
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. It's about that time again. The time in which an expansion is waning towards its inevitable end, and a new one sits on the horizon. The time when that expansion isn't quite available for play, but is now the subject of copious amounts of clever datamining to pluck out all those interesting details before they've even had a chance to fully see the light of day. For most players, it's incredibly fun to see the details as they are released, particularly since Blizzard has been so careful this time around to clarify any changes that may appear a little weird. For fans of the lore, it means one of two things -- a ton of delicious tidbits in regards to story information, or the inevitable launch of a minefield of spoilers that will have to be dodged for the next several months until the expansion is in hand. But is it really worth it to give them a look? Is it worth it to discuss them?
Interview: Technical Game Designer Chadd "Celestalon" Nervig talks Warlords of Draenor
I was lucky enough to head over to Blizzard Campus this week to talk to Technical Game Designer Chadd "Celestalon" Nervig. Chadd is a huge part of the class design team, key to a lot of the changes we saw in the recent Warlords of Draenor patch notes, which is just what we discussed. We were also joined by Senior Community Representatives Zarhym and Lore. You can also find a much-abbreviated summary on Wowhead. Olivia: First up, is there anything you really wanted to clarify and get out there? Celestalon: I've tweeted about pretty much everything. This was the first version of the patch notes, there have been more changes since then, those patch notes are about a week old or so? Zarhym: Yeah it's like, tons of changes. [Rygarius] said he had a huge list of changes. Celestalon: There's another five thousand words that aren't up there yet, which [Rygarius] is working on now. There have been different amounts of patch notes released for different classes. Paladins have been complaining that they haven't got enough, rogues have been really happy that not much has changed. Is it safe to assume there's more to come? This is just step one? There's definitely more coming. Like, for example, paladins had relatively few patch notes, and a lot of that is we were relatively happy with how things played out, at least for ret and prot, with the exception of a few things we can solve with tuning – changing numbers. So a lot of what you see in the patch notes now is what we call design changes, so the mechanics that we want to change so we can get to some design that we like.
Patch 5.4.2 PTR: The mystery of the Karazhan phase
Do you ever get the feeling that Blizzard might put things on the PTR just to have some fun with fansites? To toy with the dataminers? It wouldn't be the first time they'd done something like that, and it will likely not be the last. The phase titled "Karazhan Restoration" first cropped up a few builds back, to great acclaim and wild speculation about what is most of the community's favorite raid, until it was renamed in the next build to Medivh's Big Birthday Bash. Still some speculation, after all, Medivh's part of Kara, but then, as Wowhead reports, the most recent build throws yet another rename into the works: Karazhan 2: Eclectic Boogaloo. They're playing with us now, for sure. And Blizzard Senior Game Designer Jonathan LeCraft has even unmasked the prankster: @Ady_Mx Done. @Dave_Maldo has been patted. - Jonathan LeCraft (@TheCrafticus) December 3, 2013 What will it be in the next build? Is this a message to dataminers? Or an epic bluff? Are they really doing anything at all with Karazhan?
Stormwind Harbor just fine in patch 5.4
Players may recall datamined spoiler images and videos from earlier this month, indicating a particularly disturbing fate was in store for the Stormwind Harbor in patch 5.4. The datamined information suggested that the Harbor and possibly more of Stormwind would be under direct attack from Horde forces and possibly ruined -- a low blow to the Alliance that are still diligently working on repairing the damage from Deathwing's attack in Cataclysm. But it's okay. You can breath a sigh of relief courtesy of Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak, who clarified this information on Twitter earlier today. Dataminer alert! (Spoiler?) Misleading to see Stormwind Harbor trashed out of context. That's just a vision from Garrosh's head. - Dave Kosak (@DaveKosak) August 15, 2013 Don't worry, citizens of Stormwind -- your city appears to be safe and sound. You're just looking at the optimistic visions of an overly enthusiastic megalomanical warlord bent on global domination and the onset of racial supremacy. That's ... comforting, right? Either way, you can look forward to punching Garrosh in the face in patch 5.4, ruining any and all plans, or dream boards, that Warchief Hellscream was constructing.
Breakfast Topic: What do you think about datamined info?
Okay, we admit: there aren't any spoilers in this post, but we are talking about spoilers, so perhaps some caution is called for. With data files yesterday perhaps hinting at a future expansion (and, yes, there are potential spoilers on the other side of that link), we've been thinking about the weight we put on datamined files. Digging through patch files for new or hidden info sometimes gives us access to a treasure-trove of new information about our favorite game. But datamined files inevitably give us an incomplete picture: we're looking at features that Blizzard is still working on, that may change or be scrapped before they ever see the light of a live realm. And yet, eager to learn what's coming next, we often clamor to see what new secrets each patch file might hold. But what do you think about dataming, readers? Can you just not wait for the next game update? Do you ignore datamined spoilers? Wait to see the final version of things in game before making a judgement call? (If you do, you're a better person than we, who can't resist peeking, are!)
Possible texture from the next expansion datamined in patch 5.4
Datamining must always, always, always be taken with a pinch of salt, and in this instance we'd actually recommend a whole bag of salt. But nonetheless, it is fun to speculate, and this sort of thing has happened in the past and actually turned out to lead somewhere. Back in 2007, WoW Insider's Eliah Hecht reported on a section of the PTR client called "Howling Fjord", and wondered whether this might link to some future expansion taking place in Northrend. Guess what happened? And now we have word that there is a new item under expansion05 on the PTR client. For clarity, as far as we know, we are currently on expansion number four. Again it's worth taking all of this with a very large pinch of salt, but while the file itself is simply a bit of grey stuff, the name of the folder it's in is "Iron Horde", and its name is nex_envmap01t.
Patch 5.4 PTR: Datamined files point to possible Winter Veil revamp
Wowhead has found some new items over on the patch 5.4 PTR. The latest round of datamining has dug up several items with a Greatfather tag -- Greatfather's Box of Greatness, Greatfather's Path of Cenarius, Greatfather's Satchel, and a new mount, Greatfather's Riding Turtle. Keep in mind that all datamined material is, of course, simply files that may or may not actually make it into the live iteration of the game. But the only Greatfather we know of at the moment is a jolly guy who hands out gifts once a year during the Feast of Winter Veil. Winter Veil received a revamp in 2011 when the Abominable Greench was changed to a world boss of sorts that required multiple players to kill, and several quests were added and changed. But the essential part of Winter Veil has always been the presents under the tree, and each Winter Veil has always introduced a new item and a new achievement to go along with it. However, the addition of satchels and boxes, as well as a mount, sounds much more like the other traditional holiday bosses that have required queuing for a dungeon to complete. Do we have a Winter Veil revamp in the works here? We won't really know until December, but it's certainly interesting to think about -- and if this is the case, will we see any other holidays get a makeover as well?
