Message Board
- The NBA is hosting their second-ever Hackathon this year. The grand prize is a trip to NBA All-Star 2018 in February in Los Angeles, as well as a lunch with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. The questions will revolve around challenging and important questions in the sports and business analytics worlds. For details, check out https://hackathon.nba.com
- If you need something that Data Elixir readers may be able to help with or have an event to announce, send me a note and I'll post it here. Readers are largely a mix of data scientists, engineers, students and decision-makers across 7,000+ organizations.
In the News
The Business of Artificial Intelligence
This online special edition of the Harvard Business Review explores what AI can and cannot do for your organization. There's a lot here and new parts are being added through July 26. For an overview of the series, check out the "Lineup" link at the top of the page.
How Checkers Was Solved
The story of a duel between two men, one who dies, and the nature of the quest to build artificial intelligence.
From binoculars to big data: Citizen scientists and emerging tech in the wild
Colin Kingen, software engineer for Wildbook, explains the technology driving data capture and wildlife research.
Sponsored Link
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Have you been searching for a step-by-step guide to help you launch your data science career with Python? Whether you want to analyze interesting datasets using pandas or predict the future using scikit-learn, Data School will help you to get started for free - no PhD required!
Tools and Techniques
You Say Data, I Say System
Jer Thorpe describes how taking a systems approach with your data will enable you to work more efficiently and give you deeper understanding. Jer is well-known in the data visualization community and he has a knack for seeing things that most people miss.
A list of artificial intelligence tools you can use today - for businesses
If you have a business use related to AI, there's probably a tool, app, or platform here to help.
Using Machine Learning to Predict Value of Homes On Airbnb
Robert Chang from Airbnb's Engineering and Data Science team describes their machine learning infrastructure and how it enables their team to work effectively. Includes discussion about the tools and process they use for feature engineering, prototyping & training, model selection & validation, and deploying models to production.
Machine Learning Crash Course: Part 4 - The Bias-Variance Dilemma
Part four of a popular series from the Machine Learning at Berkeley organization. This part explores how to optimize parameters to minimize overfitting and underfitting. This whole series is very well done and the generous use of visuals makes it easy to follow.
New fast.ai course: Computational Linear Algebra
These free courses from fast.ai are super popular. The latest, Computational Linear Algebra, includes an online textbook, a series of videos, and covers applications (using Python) such as how to identify the foreground in a surveillance video, how to categorize documents, the algorithm powering Google’s search, how to reconstruct an image from a CT scan, and more.
Deep Learning
The Limitations of Deep Learning
Insightful post by Francois Chollet that also generated a worthwhile discussion on Hacker News. Francois is the author of the new book, Deep Learning with Python.
Jobs
Recent Listings:
- Data Science Bootcamp Mentor at Thinkful Inc. At Thinkful, relationships drive learning. We advance careers by pairing students with a 1-on-1 mentors who pair program and teach best practices as students learn through a project-driven curriculum....
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