Bits and Bytes

I see so many interesting articles every day, that I thought I'd start a new "featurette" that I'm calling Bits and Bytes.  This will be a short compilation of links to things I've seen that might interest readers, with a brief explanation of why I thought it worthwhile to post the link. Google is planning to purchase Deep Mind, a machine-learning company from the UK.  Machine learning is the art of developing software that can educate itself.  As the linked article notes, this will increasingly threaten white-collar jobs (recent efforts allow, e.g., for a machine do a cancer biopsy), but more notably, it may be (for real) a step toward the whole "artificial intelligence run amok" idea that is a trope in science fiction -- at least the folks at Deep Mind think so. Charles Sherm was arrested.  He has been accused of trying to money launder Bitcoins (which, by now, you know are a virtual currency).  We still don't know if Bitcoins are currency, commodity, or just smoke and mirrors, but we do know that if you use them to commit a crime, you might get charged.  New York's superintendent of financial services is planning a regulation -- which will have real influence coming from one of the world's financial capitals.  If London follows suit ....