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Google Photos: The Best Tips and Tricks – Digital Trends

January 4, 2020 | Author: admin

Ever since it launched back in 2015, Google Photos has been among the most popular cloud-based photo backup and storage apps for both iOS and Android. Combining cloud storage, image hosting, and image sharing, it competes with iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, and a host of other specialty apps.

Not only does it provide a historical repository and immediate backup for every shot you take, but it also allows you to immediately free up precious storage space on your phone. Its free of charge for everyone with a Google account, unless your images top resolutions of 16MP and you choose to save them on the service in full resolution. It also stores HD videos up to 1080p and supports Apples Live Photos. You do have the option of paying extra for high-resolution photo storage beyond 16MP after you hit Google Drives 15GB storage limit but most smartphone camera photos weigh in at less than that.

Google Photos also lets you edit and crop your shots, share them with whoever you want, and archive screenshots and informational shots out of the main feed, if you prefer. Its built-in assistant uses artificial intelligence to enhance certain shots with filters, slideshows, and animations subject to your approval. Even if you already have an elaborate backup plan for your photo collection, storing your photos in Google Photos as an extra precaution cant hurt. Google Photos comes with most stock Android phones and the interface on both platforms is similar.Here are some tips on how to get the most from the service.

One of Google Photos primary features is its ability to immediately back up photos to the cloud, allowing you to free up space on your phone. As soon as you download the Google Photos app and sign in to your Google account, you will get a prompt to enable the Back up and Sync function. This automatically saves every photo and video recorded to your phone to your Google Photos library, when you have internet access.

To initiate a backup, just launch the Google Photos app and swipe down to start the upload to your Google cloud. Once images are backed up in the cloud, the app can delete the local version from your phone or tablet. If you opt to do that, Google may now hold your only copy of the image.

If you are not comfortable with that, you do not have to delete photos off your phone or tablet immediately. You can first download them to your hard drive and save them locally on your computer or in a separate storage disk or even a thumb drive. Or you can use other utilities for backing up and storing your images, such as Dropbox or iCloud. You can never have too many photo backups.

One of Google Photos recently launched features specifically lets you message individual photos to your Google contacts. Its a great help for folks who just want to share a single image with one person. This allows users to build a threaded response to one or a series of images without leaving the app.

Before the new messaging feature, the only way to share a photo within the app was to create and share an album containing a single photo. Theres a small catch in that the recipient must also have a Google account, but creating one is a free, easy process. For those who eschew a Google account, Google Photos users can still share images viatext, iMessage, or email all available options are presented as choices when you select a photo to share. Theres an option to share with a group of people if you tap the New Group icon, which will let you access all your contacts.

Google Photos arranges uploaded images by date and location, and with its advanced image recognition capabilities, it easily classifies the subject of your photos. Search photos for items you shot leaves, trees, birds, your cat and enter them as search terms. Sometimes, the app will prompt you with geographical hints, or if you already tagged your cats name, it will display all the images you have of her. You can enter multiple search parameters and tap the search button at the bottom of the window, and the app will present all images that include both search terms.

Google Lens now features optical character recognition (OCR) that can recognize text inside an image, so you can now search for text in a document as well as objects, people, and locations. Then, once you find the targeted image, you can tap on the Lens button to easily copy and paste the text you find.

You can easily find photos of anyone by tagging the faces of people and pets and then locate them using the apps Albums sheet. Click on Albums and at the top of the screen, youll see preset options like People & Pets, Places, Things, Videos, Collages, Animations, and Movies.

Tap on People & Pets, and youll see headshots derived from all your photos. Click a person and enter their name. If you already have that person in your contacts, their name might pop up for you to tap, and if you dont, you can enter that name in the album. That immediately brings up a reference to all the other photos of that person or pet within your Google Photos library.

Googles face recognition can span decades, so if you have a photo from high school and then one taken 20 years later, theres a good chance that Googles A.I. face matching engine will recognize it and make the photo easier to find in a future search. If you tend to shoot in public places, faces will likely include many people you dont know.

Google Photos Memories pulls old content taken on a specific date in previous years. But unlike social media outlets like Facebook, Google Memories shows you unshared pictures and videos.The feature displays images from previous years in a familiar full-screen format where users tap to advance to the next image. The apps machine learning engine removes duplicate shots, showing only the highest quality images with sharp content or smiling subjects. But you dont always have to see everything. Google lets you hide certain people and time periods, or you can disable Memories altogether. Just tap a Memory module, then tap the three-dot button on the top right, tap Settings, and either choose to show or hide Memories or tap People and Pets, and tap anyone you never want to see.

Google Photos is an excellent app for editing smartphone photos. You can rotate and crop a photo, adjust light levels and color, or use built-in filters to enhance your photos for sharing with friends and family or posting on social media.

You can share an album of photos with groups of people, who can also add to a common photo collection for ongoing updates of events and memories.You can share directly to anyone with a Google account. For everyone else, you can create a sharable link.

When you share photos or albums, a link will be sent to the people you share with, but anyone who has the shared link can view the shared album or photos.If you share an album that automatically adds photos, anyone with the album link can view added photos in real time.

Smartphone camera apps are used for many purposes in addition to photographing friends, family, pets, and outings. Its likely that you also have street signs, storefronts, parking locations, merchandise tags, and other informational images stored in your Gallery or Camera Roll. Do you want to constantly view these kinds of images in your photo stream? Not likely.

Google Photos is smart enough to know what to do with those photos. The Google Photos Assistant may suggest that you archive this nonpictorial material so that you can have it on hand when you need it and find the image you need via a search later on. Alternately, you can choose the photos you want to archive, tap the three-dot icon in the top right corner, and select Archive. If you need to see that document again, you can go directly to the Archive folder.

Another recent feature for Google Photos is same-day printing of photo favorites from 11,000 Walmart and CVS locations around the United States. This gives customers immediate options to print 4 x 6, 5 x 7, or 8 x 10 photos as an alternative to ordering Photo Books.

You can order prints directly from the Google Photos app with prints sent to the nearby Walmart or CVS of your choice. Prices start at 25 for a single print. You can also order canvas prints of any photo in your library. These start at $19.99 for sizes of 88, 1214, and 1620. These prints are shipped directly to your home, and Google even recommends which photos are best suited for canvas printing in the app.

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There’s now a new way to experience your favorite shows thanks to the Astro Ultra Box – Mashable SE Asia

January 4, 2020 | Author: admin

Do people even watch television in this day and age?

Depending on who you ask, your answers might differ. But chances are many still do but not in the conventional sense.

While online streaming is all the rage these days, Malaysian television network Astro has taken watching television to a whole new level.

It's hard to put the Astro Ultra Box into a box. Pun not intended.

It's not a streaming platform, yet it behaves as one. What's more, it has a cloud storage system which allows you to record more than a hundred hours of your favorite shows to be watched later.

Unlike the previous Astro decoders, this one has numerous major updates that'll give big online streaming sites a run for their money.

Here's what makes the decoder a turn on for older and younger generations alike.

The first thing you'll notice when powering up the Astro Ultra Box is how simple, easy to use and intuitive the New Home Screen is. It's a breath of fresh air!

The box is also pretty advanced in that it studies your viewing behaviour and recommends programs based on what you like. There's also a Store function which allows you to rent the latest blockbusters at an affordable rate which is really swell.

The Search function has also been given an upgrade, allowing you to find a particular program or show with so much ease. Simply type in the title, actor, director, or even a specific channel's name and you'll be able to find what you're looking for.

Be careful though, because sometimes you can also discover hidden gems that'll get you hooked for hours. Speaking of which...

Astro is now Malaysia's first television network offering its users 50,000 videos to be streamed.

From the latest films, hit television series, your kid's favorite cartoons, important documentaries and yes, even the weekend's English Premier League matches can be enjoyed in crystal clear, sharp resolutions thanks to the Astro Ultra Box.

Among the films that are available for streaming through the box's Video On Demand are Aquaman, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, The Kingdom, Mission Impossible Collection, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and more. Nice!

True to its tagline, 'Truly Yours, Truly U', what's amazing about the Astro Ultra Box is that it's a perfect companion for a person on the go.

Say you're watching a show on the television and you need to head to class, all you have to do is pause the video and turn on the Astro Go app on your smartphone and continue watching your favorite series there while commuting on the train.

Like a particular series? There's also a Cloud Storage function that gives you 200 hours of HD recording for free. Yes, you'll also be able to record multiple number of shows at the same time as well.

In case you need more storage space, you just need to fork an additional RM12 a month for 400 hours. And if that's not enough, the RM15 a month for 1,500 hours of HD recordings might be up your alley.

But wait, what if you missed the first 20 minutes of your favorite cooking show? No worries, you can simply restart the show. We're serious, you can really do that directly via the remote.

Before you sign up, there are some requirements to fully enjoy the Astro Ultra Box for what it's worth:

If you don't have an internet connection? That's okay, the Ultra Box also comes bundled with Astros broadband package with rebates of up to RM30 a month. More details on the packages here.

Installing the Astro Ultra Box is free for those who have a monthly bill of RM100 or more. But it'll cost RM199 to install the box if you're paying below RM100 for your Astro bill.

Ready to take your binge watching to the next level? Head over to the Astro Ultra Box website to sign up.

P/S: There's only one downside from using the Astro Ultra Box: You'll lose sleep. So don't say we didn't warn you!

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Age of Innovation: Learning from Infinity and Beyond – Porterville Recorder

January 4, 2020 | Author: admin

The first thing that comes to mind in education here in Porterville in the past 10 years is the sheer advances in technology. The Pathways and the Academies in Porterville Unified and Burton districts have brought middle and high school students many choices in technological learning.

All the Pathways and Academies in both local school systems all have acronyms, and theyre all ways for students to get involved in learning new career options. The PUSD Pathways were originally implemented in Fall of 2011, and there are now 14 Pathway choices.

The new Pathways or Linked Learning, gives students additional opportunities to explore career possibilities. There are Pathways at the high schools in environmental science, business, health, emerging agriculture technology, performing arts, engineering, manufacturing, construction and technology, Academy of Energy and resource occupations, computer operations, and Academy of Career in Education, Law, Justice and Ethics, Multimedia and Technology, and Hospitality.

Big impacts on education in PUSD, Erik Santos, Pathways Learning Director, describes as:

PUSD Pathways expanding to 14 open-choice career-themed pathways, preparing students for both college and careers.

Qualcomm technology partnering with PUSD to create the Future Ready Lab, giving all students in the community engineering and coding experiences at an early age.

High school students obtaining internships all across the valley, gaining real-world experience before even going to college. And the creation of STEAM (science, technology, electronics, art, and math) Labs in all 10 PUSD elementary school sites, allowing hands on learning for every student.

Local and statewide business and community leaders engaging as partners with PUSD in Career Technical Education (CTE).

And the partnering of PUSD withPorterville College to allow dual enrollment with college credit courses at every high school site.

The opening of Porterville Military Academy (PMA), bringing the total to 6 PUSD high school sites.

And the Pathways programs being recognized at the national level for their strong impact on students and education (numerous NAF Distinguished Academies, National Blue Ribbon School for Harmony Magnet Academy, and the Sandy Weill Award).

The creation of high tech, state of the art, CTE Labs at PUSD high school sites, such as Engineering lab at HMA, CODE Lab at Granite Hills High School, Forensics & Courtroom Lab at GHHS (in construction), Environmental Science labs at Monache High School, and Health Science labs at Porterville High School.

Also the district partnering with Garner Holt Productions to bring an Animaker Space Lab to Porterville, where students learn the ins and outs of programming animatronic figurines, just like those at Disney and other amusement parks lab will be in construction in 2019.

The Academy of Digital Design, (ADDI), is the newest academy addition to Summit Charter Collegiate Academy (SCCA), and its designed for students to develop creative and technical skills to spark innovation. The goal of the academy is to give students confidence and the skills necessary to create a business and organization proposals by the end of their senior year.

ADDI is an interdisciplinary and cross-curricular approach designed for students in media arts, to empower students to believe, design, and manifest their ideas for the future and graduate leaders who collaborate, communicate, and problem-solve and create.

Then there are the new buildings that go with them, such as the Law, Justice, and Ethics Center thats being built at Granite Hills High School.

Then there are the schools, that 10 years ago, people might have thought about, such as the Porterville Military Academy (PMA), thats changing the way some young people are taught, with an emphasis on leadership by example and skills based learning and academic excellence.PMA cadets dont have to go into the military, but they do wear military style uniforms, and drill and maintain physical fitness and well being. The schools mission is to develop 21st century leaders, who will be agents of change in business, politics, and public service. The school instills civic responsibility in students.

Also the Summit Charter Lombardi Campus and the one year old Summit Charter Intermediate Academy are both International Baccalaureate (IB) schools in the Burton School District, schools that were built between 2009 and 2019.

Summit Charter Intermediate Academy (SCIA) built in 2018 students is designed to provide a well-rounded education, plus students study Spanish in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades, with classes focused on conversational Spanish, learning about Hispanic culture, traditions. The overall education aims to develop perspectives targeting international-mindedness.

Robert Styles, from the Multimedia and Technology Academy at Monache High School explained the various technical innovations being used in the Porterville school system, technologies. They are as follows:

Career Technical Education is expanding, and the classes teach students a technical skill. This includes a variety of courses including culinary, welding, and video production. These classes prepare students for a career in one of these fields, and often include certifications as part of the process. CTE classes have been steadily expanding over the last decade. Students get to use industry-standard equipment and work with industry professionals in various internship and work-based learning opportunities.

Smartphones can be used in the classroom for educational purposes. One website in particular, Kahoot, benefits from the use of phones. Its a website that allows teachers to create quizzes and students use their phones as a sort of buzzer to submit their responses. The top scores in the class are displayed on a projector screen in front of the entire class.

Cloud storage such as Google Drive is beneficial because students can collaborate with their peers and work on assignments in various locations. Students can upload files to Google Drive, share the file with another student who needs to receive the file, and it does all this with a great amount of ease. Cloud storage also allows students to begin working on an assignment in one location, and then pick it up and finish it in an entirely different location on a different computer.

Using a computer or a smartphone, students can now access class materials that are available online and work remotely from any location.

Monache High School has an AP Computer Science class in which students learn how to do computer coding. Coding is required to make any computer program or phone app work, and the behind the scenes aspect of these apps/programs are necessary but often unseen. Students learn to create their own apps during their time in this class.

REMIND is a communication app for educators, Styles says is helpful. It allows teachers to send messages to an entire class of students straight to their smartphones. And through the app, messages can be sent and received, without the educator or student seeing the other persons phone number. This way privacy is maintained, while also opening the opportunity for more communication between educators and their students, as well as their parents.

Google Classroom is a website that allows teachers to create their own classes online, and it gives them a space to post announcements, assignments, quizzes, discussions, and other class-related information thats relevant for students. It integrates well with Google Drive and Google Docs, and does so in an organized way that makes its use intuitive for teachers and students alike.

The Multimedia & Technology Academy at MHS, received a grant for an Oculus Rift, which is one of the top Virtual Reality devices available. This headset allows users to enter into a new world, and it can be used in a variety of ways including simulation of surgery for aspiring medical students and exploring a museum students wouldnt otherwise have access to because its on another continent.

There are 3D printers at Monache High and Harmony Magnet Academy, and the new technology allows students to access their full creative potential, said Styles. Our Graphic Design students can transform their concepts into physical objects that occupy space in reality. Architectural design students can create models of their concept as well. The possibilities are limitless with this new technology.

Kindergarten through 12th grade students no longer paper-pencil tests, theyre all taken electronically on computer. And state tests, like Californias statewide student assessment system (CAASPP) and The English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC), are taken electronically.

No Child Left Behind Ended in 2015, said Stuemky, and the Dashboard Accountability System is now in place. Californias accountability system is based on multiple measures that assess how local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools are meeting the needs of their students.

Hand held devices are used in K-12 grades in all PUSD classrooms.iPads and Chrome books are now used for classroom use and testing purposes.

Blackboards are no longer used in classrooms.Teachers have Interactive whiteboards allowing them to use technology to support different learning modalities of students.

Most PUSD teachers are using Google Classroom to implement student remote learning.Google classroom is a web-based service allowing a streamline process of sharing files between teacher and students.

Dictionary and encyclopedia use has changed, said Stuemky. Students use the Internet, google search, and they use Google translate, which helps support English Learning students from kindergarten to 12 in their efforts to be fluent in English.

College Dual Enrollment Courses are available to high school students, where they can earn up to 11 credits per semester starting their sophomore year.

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Marcus vs Bengio AI Debate: Gary Marcus Is The Villain We Never Needed – Analytics India Magazine

January 3, 2020 | Author: admin

According to his website, Gary Marcus, a notable figure in the AI community, has published extensively in fields ranging from human and animal behaviour to neuroscience, genetics, linguistics, evolutionary psychology and artificial intelligence.

AI and evolutionary psychology, which is considered to be a remarkable range of topics to cover for a man as young as Marcus.

Marcus, in his website, calls himself a scientist, a best-selling author, and an entrepreneur. And is also a founding member of Geometric Intelligence, a machine learning company acquired by Uber in 2016. However, Marcus is widely known for his debates with machine learning researchers like Yann Lecun and Yoshua Bengio.

Marcus leaves no stone unturned to flaunt his ferocity in calling out the celebrities of the AI community.

However, he also, call it an act of benevolence or finding a neutral ground, downplays his criticisms through his we agree to disagree tweets.

Last week, Marcus did what he does best when he tried to reboot and shake up AI once again as he debated Turing award winner Yoshua Bengio.

In this debate, hosted by Montreal.AI, Marcus, in his speech, criticized Bengio for not citing him in Bengios work and complained that it would devalue Marcus contribution.

Marcus, in his arguments, tried to explain how hybrids are pervasive in the field of AI by citing the example of Google, which according to him, is actually a hybrid between knowledge graph, a classic symbolic knowledge, and deep learning like a system called BERT.

Hybrids are all around us

Marcus also insists on the requirement of thinking in terms of nature and nurture, rather than nature versus nurture when it comes to the understanding of the human brain.

He also laments about how much of machine learning, historically, has avoided nativism.

Marcus also pointed out that Yoshua misrepresented him as saying deep learning doesnt work.

I dont care what words you want to use, Im just trying to build something that works.

While Marcus argued for symbols, pointing out that DeepMinds chess-winning AlphaZero program is a hybrid involving symbols because it uses Monte Carlo Tree Search. You have to keep track of your trees, and trees are symbols.

Bengio dismissed the notion that a tree search is a symbol system. Rather Its a matter of words, Bengio said. If you want to call those symbols, but symbols to me are different, they have to do with the discreteness of concepts.

Bengio also shared his views on how deep learning might be extended to dealing with computational capabilities rather than taking the old techniques and combining them with Neural Nets.

Bengio admitted that he completely agrees that a lot of current systems, which use machine learning, has also used a bunch of handcrafted rules and codes that were designed by people.

While Marcus pressed Bengio for hybrid systems as a solution, Bengio, patiently reminded how hybrid systems have already been built, which has led to Marcus admitting that he misunderstood Bengio!

This goof-up was followed by Bengios takedown of symbolic AI and why there is a need to move on from good old fashioned AI (GOFAI). In a nod to Daniel Kahnemann, Bengio, took the two-system theory to explain how richer representation is required in the presence of an abundance of knowledge.

To this Marcus quickly responded by saying, Now I would like to emphasise on our agreements. This was followed up by one more hour of conversation between the speakers and a Q&A session with the audience.

The debate ended with the moderator Vincent Boucher thanking the speakers for a hugely impactful debate, which was hugely pointless for a large part of it.

Gary Marcus has been playing or trying to play the role of an antagonist that would shake up the hype around AI for a long time now.

In his interview with Synced, when asked about his relationship with Yann Lecun, Marcus said that they both are friends as well as enemies. While calling out Lecun for making ad hominem attacks on him, he also approves many perspectives of his frenemies.

Deliberate or not, Marcus online polemics to bring down hype of AI, usually ends up hyping up his own antagonism. What the AI community needs is the likes of Nassim Taleb, who is known for his relentless, eloquent and technically intact arguments. Taleb has been a practitioner and an insider who doesnt give a damn about being an outsider.

On the other hand, Marcus calls himself a cognitive scientist, however, his contribution to the field of AI cannot be called groundbreaking. There is no doubt that Marcus should be appreciated for positioning himself in the line of fire in the celebrated era of AI. However, one cant help but wonder two things when one listens to Marcus antics/arguments:

There is a definitely a thing or two Marcus can learn from Talebs approaches in debunking pseudo babble. A very popular example could be that of Talebs takedown of Steven Pinker, who also happens to be a dear friend and mentor to Marcus.

That said, the machine learning research community, did witness something similar in the form of David Duvenaud and Smerity, when they took a detour from the usual we shock with you jargon research, and added a lot of credibility to the research community. While Duvenaud, trashed his own award-winning work, Stephen Smerity Merity, investigated his paper on the trouble with naming inventions and unwanted sophistication.

There is no doubt that there is a lot of exaggerations related to what AI can do. Not to forget the subtle land grab amongst the researchers for papers, which can mislead the community into thinking vanity as an indication of innovation. As we venture into the next decade, AI can use a healthy dose of scepticism and debunking from the Schmidhubers and Smeritys of its research world to be more reliable.

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Welcome to the roaring 2020s, the artificial intelligence decade – GreenBiz

January 3, 2020 | Author: admin

This article first appeared in GreenBiz's weekly newsletter, VERGE Weekly, running Wednesdays. Subscribe here.

Ive long believed the most profound technology innovations are ones we take for granted on a day-to-day basis until "suddenly" they are part of our daily existence, such as computer-aided navigation or camera-endowed smartphones. The astounding complexity of whats "inside" these inventions is what makes them seem simple.

Perhaps thats why Im so fascinated by the intersection of artificial intelligence and sustainability: the applications being made possible by breakthroughs in machine learning, image recognition, analytics and sensors are profoundly practical. In many instances, the combination of these technologies completely could transform familiar systems and approaches used by the environmental and sustainability communities, making them far smarter with far less human intervention.

Take the camera trap, a pretty common technique used to study wildlife habits and biodiversity and one that has been supported by an array of big-name tech companies. Except what researcher has the time or bandwidth to analyze thousands, let alone millions, of images? Enter systems such as Wildlife Insights, a collaboration between Google Earth and seven organizations, led by Conservation International.

Wildlife Insights is, quite simply, the largest database of public camera-trap images in the world it includes 4.5 million photos that have been analyzed and mapped with AI for characteristics such as country, year, species and so forth. Scientists can use it to upload their own trap photos, visualize territories and gather insights about species health.

Heres the jaw-dropper: This AI-endowed database can analyze 3.6 million photos in an hour, compared with the 300 to 1,000 images that you or I can handle. Depending on the species, the accuracy of identification is between 80 and 98.6 percent. Plus, the system automatically discounts shots where no animals are present: no more blanks.

Expect workers in 2020 to begin seeing these effects as AI makes its way into workplaces around the world.

At the same time, we are certainly right to be cautious about the potential side effects of AI. That theme comes through loud and clear in five AI predictions published by IBM in mid-December. Two resonate with me the most: first, the idea that AI will be instrumental in building trust and ensuring that data is governed in ways that are secure and reliable; and second, that before we get too excited about all the cool things AI might be able to do, we need to make sure that it doesnt exacerbate the problem. That means spending more time focused on ways to make the data centers behind AI applications less energy-intensive and less-impactful from a materials standpoint.

From an ethical standpoint, I also have two big concerns: first, that sufficient energy is put into ensuring that the data behind the AI predictions we will come to rely on more heavily isnt flawed or biased. That means spending time to make sure a diverse set of human perspectives are represented and that the numbers are right in the first place. And second, we must view these systems as part of the overall solution, not replacements for human workers.

As IBMs vice president of AI research, Sriram Raghavan, puts it: "New research from the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab shows that AI will increasingly help us with tasks such as scheduling, but will have a less direct impact on jobs that require skills such as design expertise and industrial strategy. Expect workers in 2020 to begin seeing these effects as AI makes its way into workplaces around the world; employers have to start adapting job roles, while employees should focus on expanding their skills."

Projections by tech market research firm IDC suggest that spending on AI systems could reach $97.9 billion in 2023 thats 2.5 times the estimated $37.5 billion spent in 2019. Why now? Its a combination of geeky factors: faster chips; better cameras; massive cloud data-processing services. Plus, did I mention that we dont really have time to waste?

Where will AI-enabled applications really make a difference for environmental and corporate sustainability? Here are five areas where I believe AI will have an especially dramatic impact over the next decade.

For more inspiration and background on the possibilities, I suggest this primer (PDF) published by the World Economic Forum. And, consider this your open invitation to alert me about the intriguing applications of AI youre seeing in your own work.

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The 2020s Will Be The Decade Of Artificial Intelligence – And Huge Related Societal Challenges – Joseph Steinberg

January 3, 2020 | Author: admin

Published on January 2, 2020

Over New Years Day, I saw the above cartoon that ran in the Israeli press; the image so vividly portrays one of the greatest changes that the world is likely to see during the 2020s: the mass replacement of human intelligence with Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the tremendous societal transformation that will accompany such a development.

While most people in developed nations have already become accustomed to various forms of AI technology Alexa and Siri mean something entirely different today than they did in 2010, for example we have only begun to scratch the surface of AIs potential, and even that claim may be overstated.

The 2020s are likely to include advances in AI so major that they are hard to even picture today. By the end of the decade, AIs will not only automate tasks that today require tremendous amounts of human effort, but, on various critically-important matters, they will make better decisions in microseconds than teams of humans could make in any amount of time. AIs will also create and destroy entire industries. It is possible, for example, that self-driving trucks will not only become commonplace during the coming decade, but will, due to their inherently much greater efficiency than humans (they do not lose 1/3 of the day to sleeping, eating, and bathroom breaks), quickly replace all long-distance truckers in the developed world, a process that would certainly create societal shockwaves.

Before the close of the 2020s, AIs are likely to be making life-saving, and life-taking, decisions on a regular basis. All sorts of ethical issues and safety concerns will be raised, and major political battles will ensue especially as the ability to create and utilize AIs creates an even greater delta between the lifestyles of haves and have-nots around the globe. Will individual humans seeking to rise out of poverty through the establishment of various businesses be able to compete with the decision-making skills of the finely-tuned AIs operated by their wealthier competitors?

Could the late 2020s also see AIs that write better articles, books, music, and movies than humans do today? Could AIs possibly become both smarter and more creative than humans within the next ten years? It is hard to picture such massive changes but, it is certainly not beyond the realm of possibility. In fact, when it comes to AI, it is likely that many people overestimate what will happen in a year and dramatically underestimate what will happen in a decade to paraphrase a quote attributed to Bill Gates.

We are certainly living in exciting times.

Happy New Year, and best wishes for a successful 2020.

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Top Movies Of 2019 That Depicted Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Analytics India Magazine

January 3, 2020 | Author: admin

Artificial intelligence (AI) is creating a great impact on the world by enabling computers to learn on their own. While in the real world AI is still focused on solving narrow problems, we see a whole different face of AI in the fictional world of science fiction movies which predominantly depict the rise of artificial general intelligence as a threat for human civilization. As a continuation of the trend, here we take a look at how artificial intelligence was depicted in 2019 movies.

A warning in advance the following listicle is filled with SPOILERS.

Terminator: Dark Fate the sixth film of the Terminator movie franchise, featured a super-intelligent Terminator named Gabriel designated as Rev-9, and was sent from the future to kill a young woman (Dani) who is set to become an important figure in the Human Resistance against Skynet. To fight the Rev-9 Terminator, the Human Resistance from the future also sends Grace, a robot soldier, back in time, to defend Dani. Grace is joined by Sarah Connor, and the now-obsolete ageing model of T-800 Terminator the original killer robot in the first movie (1984).

We all know Tony Stark as the man of advanced technology and when it comes to artificial intelligence, Stark has nothing short of state-of-the-art technology in Marvels cinematic universe. One such artificial intelligence was the Even Dead, Im The Hero (E.D.I.T.H.) which we witnessed in the 2019 movie Spider-Man: Far From Home. EDITH is an augmented reality security defence and artificial tactical intelligence system created by Tony Stark and was given to Peter Parker following Starks death. It is encompassed in a pair of sunglasses and gives its users access to Stark Industries global satellite network along with an array of missiles and drones.

I Am Mother is a post-apocalyptic movie which was released in 2019. The films plot is focused on a mother-daughter relationship where the mother is a robot designed to repopulate Earth. The robot mother takes care of her human child known as daughter who was born with artificial gestation. The duo stays in a secure bunker alone until another human woman arrives there. The daughter now faces a predicament of whom to trust- her robot mother or a fellow human who is asking the daughter to come with her.

Wandering Earth is another 2019 Chinese post-apocalyptic film with a plot involving Earths imminent crash into another planet and a group of family members and soldiers efforts to save it. The films artificial intelligence character is OSS, a computer system which was programmed to warn people in the earth space station. A significant subplot of the film is focused on protagonist Liu Peiqiangs struggle with MOSS which forced the space station to go into low energy mode during the crash as per its programming from the United Earth Government. In the end, Liu Peiqiang resists and ultimately sets MOSS on fire to help save the Earth.

James Camerons futuristic action epic for 2019 Alita: Battle Angel is a sci-fi action film which depicts the human civilization in an extremely advanced stage of transhumanism. The movie describes the dystopian future where robots and autonomous systems are extremely powerful. To elaborate, in one of the initial scenes of the movie, Ido attaches a cyborg body to a human brain he found (from another cyborg) and names her Alita after his deceased daughter, which is an epitome of advancements in AI and robotics.

Jexi is the only Hollywood rom-com movie depicting artificial intelligence in 2019. The movie features an AI-based operating system called Jexi with recognizable human behaviour and reminds the audience of the previously acclaimed film Her, which was released in 2014. But unlike Her, the movie goes the other way around depicting how the AI system becomes emotionally attached to its socially-awkward owner, Phil. The biggest shock of the comedy film is when Jexi the AI which lives inside Phils cellphone acts to control his life and even chases him angrily using a self-driving car.

Hi, AI is a German documentary which was released in early 2019. The documentary was based on Chucks relationship with Harmony an advanced humanoid robot. The films depiction of artificial intelligence is in sharp contrast with other fictional movies on AI. The documentary also depicts that even though human research is moving in the direction of creating advanced robots, interactions with robots still dont have the same depth as human conversations. The film won the Max Ophls Prize for best documentary for the year.

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Vishal Chawla is a senior tech journalist at Analytics India Magazine (AIM) and writes on the latest in the world of analytics, AI and other emerging technologies. Previously, he was a senior correspondent for IDG CIO and ComputerWorld. Write to him at vishal.chawla@analyticsindiamag.com

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Artificial intelligence takes scam to a whole new level – The Jackson Sun

January 3, 2020 | Author: admin

RANDY HUTCHINSON, Better Business Bureau Published 12:54 a.m. CT Jan. 1, 2020

Imagine you wired hundreds of thousands of dollars somewhere based on a call from your boss, whose voice you recognized, only to find out you were talking to a machine and the money is lost. One company executive doesnt have to imagine it happening. He and his company were victims of what some experts say is one of the first cases of voice-mimicking software, a form of artificial intelligence (AI), being used in a scam.

In a common version of the Business Email Compromise scam, an employee in a companys accounting department wires money somewhere based on what appears to be a legitimate email from the CEO, CFO or other high-ranking executive. I wrote a column last year noting that reported losses to the scam had grown from $226 million in 2014 to $676 million in 2017. The FBI says losses doubled in 2018 to $1.8 billion and recommends making a phone call to verify the legitimacy of the request rather than relying on an email.

But now you may not even be able to trust voice instructions. The CEO of a British firm received what he thought was a call from the CEO of his parent company in Germany instructing him to wire $243,000 to the bank account of a supplier in Hungary. The call was actually originated by a crook using AI voice technology to mimic the bosss voice. The crooks moved the money from Hungary to Mexico to other locations.

An executive with the firms insurance company, which ultimately covered the loss, told The Wall Street Journal that the victim recognized the subtle German accent in his bosss voice and moreover that it carried the mans melody. The victim became suspicious when he received a follow-up call from the boss that originated in Austria requesting another payment be made. He didnt make that one, but the damage was already done.

Google says crooks may also synthesize speech to fool voice authentication systems or create forged audio recordings to defame public figures. It launched a challenge to researchers to develop countermeasures against spoofed speech.

Many companies are working on voice-synthesis software and some of it is available for free. The insurer thinks the crooks used commercially available software to steal the $243,000 from its client.

Many scams rely on victims letting their emotions outrun their common sense. An example is the Grandparent Scam, in which an elderly person receives a phone call purportedly from a grandchild in trouble and needing money. Victims have panicked and wired thousands of dollars before ultimately determining that the grandchild was safe and sound at home.

The crooks often invent some reason why the grandchilds voice may not sound right, such as the child having been in an accident or it being a poor connection. How much more successful might that scam be if the voice actually sounds like the grandchild? The executive who wired the $243,000 said he thought the request was strange, but the voice sounded so much like his boss that he felt he had to comply.

The BBB recommends companies install additional verification steps for wiring money, including calling the requestor back on a number known to be authentic.

Randy Hutchinson is the president of the Better Business Bureau of the Mid-South. Reach him at 901-757-8607.

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Artificial Intelligence at the movies – CineVue

January 3, 2020 | Author: admin

Twentieth and twenty-first-century fiction has had a fascination with AI, and that fascination, of course, extends to movies. There are all sorts of AI programs in movies. With this ranking of AI in cinema, you can learn a little more about movie AI with typical adult intelligence.

Maria MetropolisMetropolis was released in 1927, and thats one of the reasons that its so interesting even to this day. As a robotic replica of another individual, Marias robotic double has the ability to process language, navigate itself, and even overthrow a whole city.

MU-TH-UR 6000 AlienAs an artificial intelligence mainframe, MU-TH-UR 6000, often referred to as Mother, was able to operate the main ships background systems with no human interaction necessary. Still, its less a character and more a database.

Replicants Blade RunnerReplicants are an important part of the Blade Runner films theyre stronger, smarter, and faster than humans, and have false human-like memories. That means in most circumstances, they behave just like their flesh-and-blood adult counterparts.

KITT Knight RiderIronically, KITT was developed after the executives had a difficult time getting good actors to play physical parts in Knight Rider. The car became a permanent fixture, sporting self-driving capabilities and an adult personality, complete with a fragile ego.

Bishop AlienAs viewers learn when it demonstrates its high-stakes knife trick, Bishop is able to move at near lightning speed with incredible accuracy. But although it can physically perform at levels above an ordinary human, it only learns human behaviours.

Evil Bill and Ted Bill & Teds Bogus JourneyThis movie may be a comedy, but the evil Bill and Ted robots are no joke. In fact, they actually murder the real Bill and Ted. But these evil doppelgangers eventually prove to be no match for the good Bill and Teds robotic bodyguards.

Agents The MatrixThe agents in The Matrix are comprised of software in a humans body. Although this allows them to do incredible feats like rewriting aspects of the world in which humans live, they still work at a similar level as other adults.

Bender FuturamaSure, Benders comic relief, but hes also an essential part of the world that Futurama builds for its viewers. He can disassemble body parts and has multiple processors. Still, he functions as basically another adult in the Futurama party.

Spider Robots Minority ReportIn Minority Report, PreCrime uses arachnid-like robots to find people with audio, visual, and thermal scans, and then to identify them with eye scans. But despite this advanced location technology, theyre still marginally controlled by humans behind the scenes.

Connecticut Housewives The Stepford WivesBased on a 1970 novel about men recreating their wives as docile androids, the housewives in The Stepford Wives arent really good or evil. But they are intentionally made to be as similar to a typical human as possible.

TARS InterstellarOne of the most interesting interactions in Interstellar is when the TARS makes one too many jokes about enslaving the humans inside itself, after which a crew member asks it to tone down its humour. Thats very reflective of how many viewers feel about real-life AI.

Ava Ex MachinaAva looks very obviously mechanic, but part of the storys theme centres around how good she is at behaving like a human. Though she has immensely strong mechanical capacities, shes ultimately a very human-like character.

AI is always growing and changing, both in real life and in movies and television. These adult-like AI systems offer both an interesting character choice and a peek into the world of real AI.

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[Webinar] How to Leverage Predictive Coding and Artificial Intelligence for Defensible and Effective Review – January 16th, 1:00 pm ET – JD Supra

January 3, 2020 | Author: admin

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[Webinar] How to Leverage Predictive Coding and Artificial Intelligence for Defensible and Effective Review - January 16th, 1:00 pm ET - JD Supra

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