Friday, June 13, 2014

drag2share: Visual encyclopedia builds itself by scouring the internet

source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/12/levan-self-teaching-knowledge-base/?utm_source=Feed_Classic_Full&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Engadget&?ncid=rss_full

LEVAN shows what it knows about horses

Crowdsourced knowledge bases like Wikipedia encompass a lot of knowledge, but humans can only add to them so quickly. Wouldn't it be better if computers did all the hard work? The University of Washington certainly believes so. Its LEVAN (Learn EVerything about ANything) program is building a visual encyclopedia by automatically searching the Google Books library for descriptive language, and using that to find pictures illustrating the associated concepts. Once LEVAN has seen enough, it can associate images with ideas simply by looking at pixel arrangements. Unlike earlier learning systems, such as Carnegie Mellon's NEIL, it's smart enough to tell the difference between two similar objects (such as a Trojan horse and a racing horse) while lumping them under one broader category.

Right now, the folks at the Wikimedia Foundation have little to worry about. LEVAN has only explored about 175 concepts as of this writing, and it can take as much as 12 hours to add another to the mix. It's open to suggestions from the public, though, and the university has open-sourced its code so that anyone can build on the formula. You won't want to depend on this self-assembling information hub for vital knowledge in the near future, but it should eventually be very useful for both schools teaching basic ideas as well as computer vision software that needs a helping hand.

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Posted by Augustine at 7:03 AM

âOnLive is giving enterprise cloud services one more try

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/12/onlive-is-giving-enterprise-cloud-services-one-more-try/

Stop us if this sounds familiar: after successfully launching and new a video game service, a growing cloud computing firm looks to the business sector to expand its customer base. Oh, you've heard this one? That's because OnLive is retracing its steps, following up its CloudLift gaming service (announced back in March) with an enterprise-focused counterpart. Onlive's CloudLift Enterprise is built on the same promise as its older OnLive Desktop service: your work on any device at any time -- but now it's offering its customers a bit more than a virtualized desktop.

Specifically, CloudLift enterprise is designed for graphic intensive applications -- things like drone piloting setups, military training simulators or applications for architecture and design. OnLive says it can deliver these applications to virtually any smartphone, tablet or laptop on any operating system over fairly slow connections, as low as 2Mbps.

OnLive told us that despite the potential growth the enterprise service represents, it's not designed to replace any business from its gaming division -- in fact, the company says it's well pleased with much CloudLift gaming has grown over the past few months. "The game service will continue to be a driving force for the company," Onlive Executive chairman Mark Jung told us, explaining that its enterprise service leverages the same tech that drives its gaming services. "The development work that went into our game platform is the core technology at the center of the Enterprise PaaS solution."

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Source: OnLive

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Posted by Augustine at 7:03 AM

Samsung Has A New Tablet With A Gorgeous Screen And It's Thinner Than The iPad Air

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-galaxy-tab-s-2014-6

samsung galaxy tab s

Samsung has a new line of tablets launching this summer called the Galaxy Tab S.

The Galaxy Tab S comes in two sizes: a 10.4-inch model and an 8.4-inch model. Both are essentially the same on the inside as far as specs go, but the big selling point here is the screen. Samsung put its Super AMOLED display on a tablet for the first time. It's the same type of display used on the Galaxy S5 phone, which many folks in the industry have called the best screen on the market.

The screen looks really nice in person. This is an HD video running on the tablet, but the photo doesn't really do it justice:

samsung galaxy tab sSamsung makes a lot of different tablet models under the Galaxy name, but the Galaxy Tab S will be marketed as the company's flagship brand. It's priced the same as the iPad Mini and iPad Air. The 8.4-incher starts at $399; the 10.5-incher starts at $499. (Those are the prices for the Wi-Fi models with 16GB of memory. Samsung will launch a 4G LTE version later.)

The tablets are very thin and light. Both measure just 6.6 millimeters thick (that's thinner than the iPad Air, which is 7.5 millimeters thick). The 10.5-inch tablet weighs 1 pound, and the 8.4-inch model weighs 10 ounces.

It feels good, too. Unlike previous tablets from Samsung, the Galaxy Tab S feels sturdy instead of creaky and plasticky. It looks good from the front, but the back has the same tacky dimpled plastic that originally debuted on the Galaxy S5. There's also a kitschy bronze-colored border along the sides.

samsung galaxy tab s

Also l ike the Galaxy S5, the Galaxy Tab S has a fingerprint sensor embedded in the home button. You can use it to unlock the device without a passcode or make payments through PayPal. The fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S5 doesn't work very well, so we don't have high hopes for the one on the Galaxy Tab S.

Samsung also designed new cases for the Galaxy Tab S called Book Covers. They snap onto the back of the tablet and let you prop it on the table to three different viewing angles.

samsung galaxy tab s

The Galaxy Tab S is an Android tablet, but Samsung modified the software a lot to add some of its own features and tricks. For example, you can pair the tablet to your Galaxy smartphone over Wi-Fi and drag and drop photos and files between the two devices. You can also use the pairing mode to make calls on the tablet.

There's no specific launch date, but the Galaxy Tab S should start shipping in early July.

SEE ALSO: The most important features in Samsung's new Galaxy Tab S

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Posted by Augustine at 7:02 AM

Online Video Advertising Is Growing Many Times Faster Than TV, Search, And Most Other Digital Ad Markets

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/digital-video-advertising-growth-trends-2014-5
VideoGrowth_BII
Online video is growing faster than most other advertising formats and mediums.

  • Video ad revenue will increase at a three-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.5% through 2016, according to our estimates. 
  • That's faster than any other medium other than mobile. And much faster than traditional online display advertising, which will only grow at a 3% annual rate. 
In a new report from BI Intelligence we explore the key drivers of the skyrocketing growth of video ads, examine the cost and performance of the emerging digital ad format, and look at the major players that are shaping the industry.
Access The Full Report By Signing Up For A Free Trial Today »
Here are some of the key trends we explore in the report:
The report is full of charts and data that can be easily downloaded and put to use. 
In full, the report:

FORECASTUSAdvertisingRevenueByFormat

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Posted by Augustine at 6:57 AM

You Won't Be Able To Stop Playing This Addictive Music App

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/patatap-ios-app-2014-6

Patatap

Patatap is a website that allows you to make music just by typing on your keyboard. And now it's available as an iOS app, so you can create music, even if you're nowhere near a computer.

It sounds simple, and that's because it is. But it's also mesmerizing: as you type, different animations appear on the screen. 

The site was made by designer Jono Brandel, in collaboration with music composers Lullatone; he describes the site as being a portable animation sound kit." 

Lullatone created sounds to accompany different animations. There are different color palettes, each with its own unique set of sounds. The sounds are aimed to make tapping as melodic as possible; it's like a visual drum pad. 

Patatap is even on display as a special exhibit at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California.

If you need some inspiration on tunes to play, you can check out some sheet music and see what other people have done. 

But there's no way to describe how awesome — and addicting — it is. You just have to try it yourself, which you can below.

(Pro tip: Hit the space bar to change up what the tunes sound like.)

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Posted by Augustine at 6:57 AM

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