Source: http://gizmodo.com/google-will-now-pick-out-which-news-stories-you-should-1661152079
Google just added a new Suggested Stories feature to its news search results, so you can let the search engine pull up a customized selection of stories to read about based on whatever terrifyingly dense accumulation of personal data Google has on you by now.
In June, the developers of a Russian chatbot posing as a 13-year-old boy from Ukraine claimed it had passed the Turing test. While a lot of people doubt the result's validity because the testers used a sketchy methodology and the event was organized by a man fond of making wild claims, it's clear we need a better way to determine if an AI possesses human levels of intelligence. Enter Lovelace 2.0, a test proposed by Georgia Tech associate professor Mark Riedl.
Here's how Lovelace 2.0 works:
For the test, the artificial agent passes if it develops a creative artifact from a subset of artistic genres deemed to require human-level intelligence and the artifact meets certain creative constraints given by a human evaluator. Further, the human evaluator must determine that the object is a valid representative of the creative subset and that it meets the criteria. The created artifact needs only meet these criteria but does not need to have any aesthetic value. Finally, a human referee must determine that the combination of the subset and criteria is not an impossible standard.
Okay, so that official description is pretty hard to parse. Thankfully, Riedl's recently published paper about the subject gives us an easy sample test. One could, for instance, ask a computer/software to "create a story in which a boy falls in love with a girl, aliens abduct the boy and the girl saves the world with the help of a talking cat." The story doesn't have to read like an instant classic, but it has to be able to fulfill those conditions and convince a human judge that its tale of alien abduction and female-feline heroism was written by a person in order to pass. That's just one possibility, though -- testers could also ask the computer to create other types of artwork (painting, sculpture, etc.) while fulfilling a set of conditions. These conditions need to be outrageous or unique enough to prevent the computer from finding possible results to copy through Google. In comparison, a machine merely has to convince someone that the person is talking to another human in order to pass the Turing test.
Riedl's idea stemmed from the original Lovelace exam created in 2001, which requires computers to conjure up a novel, painting or any original work of art. For a computer to pass, its creators must not be able to explain how the machine came up with its creation. History buffs might have already guessed that both were named after Ada Lovelace (above), the world's first computer programmer, who once said that "computers originate nothing; they merely do that which we order them, via programs, to do."
The associate professor decided to design the second Lovelace exam, as he believes the original one makes it hard to judge if a machine has truly passed, since it doesn't have measurable parameters. In the sample test for Lovelace 2.0, for instance, those parameters are the elements of the story the machine needs to use. Riedl will talk about Lovelace 2.0 at the Beyond the Turing Test workshop in Texas in January 2015, but you can already read his paper online if you want to know more.
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/20/sonys-alpha-7-ii-full-frame-mirrorless/
Most camera manufacturers will milk a popular model dry, but not Sony! Just a year after releasing the first full-frame mirrorless cameras, the Alpha 7 and Alpha 7R, Sony has revealed their successor: the Alpha 7 II. Launched in Japan only, for now, the new model is Sony's first with 5-axis in-body stabilization for still photos and video, which helps reduce camera shake regardless of the lens used. Even with lenses that have no stabilization at all, the sensor itself is shifted in the pitch, roll, yaw, X and Y axis to counteract camera movement.
If E-mount lenses are used, however, the body will correct in just three directions and let the lens do the rest. The type of stabilization used is shown in the display, and you can even manually input the focal length for a better result. All of that will help reduce blur in low-light situations, even with a vintage lens.
Sony has significantly improved its hybrid autofocus system, which uses 117 phase and 25 contrast points, making it about 30 percent faster. Subject motion detection is also 50 percent quicker, helping ensure that fast-moving subjects remain sharp. The full-frame sensor itself appears unchanged at 24.3-megapixels, and there's no word yet on a possible "R" version of the updated model with more resolution. Last year, both the Alpha 7 and 36-megapixel 7R were announced at the same time.
The body is largely similar, with a slightly better grip. Other specs are also unchanged: it still uses the same BIONZ X image processor with 14-bit RAW support, has a max 1/8000 shutter speed, a 2.4 million dot finder and a 3-inch 1.2 million dot display. If you were hoping for some of the Alpha 7S's 4K video or 409,000 ISO light sensitivity mojo to trickle down to the base model, it's not to be: max ISO remains at (a still respectable) 25,600, and video capture is 1080P/60fps using XAVC-S or AVCHD.
The price for Japan will be ¥190,000 ($1,600), but the Alpha 7 II has not been announced for North America yet. If you just purchased the original Alpha 7, there's no reason to feel bad -- the new model brings some nice features, but isn't a huge leap over the last one. Still, by releasing a new version of a lauded camera after just a year, Sony is sending a strong signal to its more lackadaisical competitors.
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2014/11/20/qualcomm-making-server-chips/
Qualcomm is sitting pretty right now. Its Snapdragon processors and cellular chips are present in most of the big-name mobile devices you can use today, whether it's the Nexus 6 or the iPhone. However, the company isn't content to stop there -- it just confirmed plans to launch its own line of server processors. CEO Steve Mollenkopf isn't offering many details just yet, but it won't surprise you to hear that these heavy duty CPUs would be ARM-based like their mobile counterparts. There's no timing yet, either, although the exec adds that his firm is already "engaged with customers."
As with existing server chips from AMD and HP, Qualcomm is trying to attack Intel where it's weakest: power consumption. While Xeon chips are typically very fast, their sheer thirst for energy limits how many you can use and thus how flexible you can be. ARM isn't as quick, but it's much more efficient. You can stuff hundreds of CPUs into a small space instead of just a few, giving you much more freedom to juggle multiple tasks at once. Mollenkopf sees his company's future parts being handy for internet giants like Facebook, which could tweak their data centers to handle very specific tasks. There's no telling whether or not Qualcomm will dominate the server world like it did your pocket, but it's definitely going to make Intel nervous.Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Mobile
Source: Wall Street Journal
Source: http://gizmodo.com/lg-curved-oled-vs-sony-4k-lcd-which-tv-tech-reigns-su-1658030475
It's not an easy time to be shopping for a new TV. Do you want that crisp 4K resolution
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