algorithms: ai, ar, vr, crypto
How AR VR Apps Are Gamifying Exercise And Workout
Augmented reality ( AR ) mixes up the digital content into a person’s actual environment and makes it interesting. Businesses are benefiting from this …
Language models like GPT-3 could herald a new type of search engine
Now a team of Google researchers has published a proposal for a radical redesign that throws out the ranking approach and replaces it with a single large AI language model, such as BERT or GPT-3 —or a future version of them. The idea is that instead of searching for information in a vast list of web pages, users would ask questions and have a language model trained on those pages answer them directly.
Source: Language models like GPT-3 could herald a new type of search engine
A New Brain Implant Translates Thoughts of Writing Into Text
In early experiments, a paralyzed man with implants in his premotor cortex typed 90 characters per minute—by envisioning he was writing by hand.
Source: A New Brain Implant Translates Thoughts of Writing Into Text
Google Analytics prepares for life after cookies
As consumer behavior and expectations around privacy have shifted — and operating systems and browsers have adapted to this — the age of cookies as a means of tracking user behavior is coming to an end . Few people will bemoan this, but advertisers and marketers rely on having insights into how their efforts translate into sales (and publishers like to know how their content performs as well).
Elon Musk says Tesla will stop accepting bitcoin for car purchases, citing environmental concerns
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday on Twitter that Tesla has “suspended vehicle purchases using bitcoin,” out of concern over “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining.” The price of bitcoin dropped about 5% in the first minutes after Musk’s announcement.
Source: Elon Musk says Tesla will stop accepting bitcoin for car purchases, citing environmental concerns
The Secret Origins of Amazon’s Alexa
In 2011, Jeff Bezos dreamt up a talking device. But making the virtual assistant sound intelligent proved far more difficult than anyone could have imagined.
Hacking collective DarkSide are state-sanctioned pirates
The FBI confirmed yesterday (May 10) that a Russian hacking group called DarkSide was behind a recent cyberattack that shut down Colonial Pipeline, the company that operates the largest fuel pipeline in the US . What is DarkSide?
Source: Hacking collective DarkSide are state-sanctioned pirates
Apple and Epic Games are revealing a ton of industry secrets in court filings — from untold billions in ‘Fortnite’ profits to private email exchanges, these are the 5 juiciest bits
“Fortnite” maker Epic Games is suing Apple, and the bench trial started this week in California. Epic says Apple’s App Store is a monopoly. Apple says Epic broke its developer contract. Through court filings, major secrets from Apple, Epic, Microsoft, and more have been revealed.
What a Crossword AI Reveals About Humans’ Way With Words
At last week’s American Crossword Puzzle Tournament , held as a virtual event with more than 1,000 participants, one impressive competitor made news. For the first time, artificial intelligence managed to outscore the human solvers in the race to fill the grids with speed and accuracy.
Source: What a Crossword AI Reveals About Humans’ Way With Words
The Strange, Soothing World of Instagram’s Computer-Generated Interiors
The 3-D-modelling software used to design digital interiors lends itself to certain elements, such as plastics, curves, and soft light. Space design and rendering by Nareg Taimoorian and Charlotte Taylor Last spring, several months into the pandemic , a series of images appeared on Instagram, depicting a luxury home nestled into the cliffs of the Scala dei Turchi, on the coast of Italy.
Source: The Strange, Soothing World of Instagram’s Computer-Generated Interiors
Apple’s AirTag trackers made it frighteningly easy to ‘stalk’ me in a test
Apple’s new AirTags , $30 wireless devices that help you locate things, work well. Frighteningly well. Clip a button-sized AirTag onto your keys, and it’ll help you find where you accidentally dropped them in the park. But if someone else slips an AirTag into your bag or car without your knowledge, it could also be used to covertly track everywhere you go.
Source: Review | Apple’s AirTag trackers made it frighteningly easy to ‘stalk’ me in a test
How to stop AI from recognizing your face in selfies
A growing number of tools now let you stop facial recognition systems from training on your personal photo
Source: How to stop AI from recognizing your face in selfies
How Pixar Uses Hyper-Colors to Hack Your Brain
The animation studio’s artists are masters at tweaking light and color to trigger deep emotional responses. Coming soon: effects you’ll only see inside your head.
A meme gold rush? Classic viral images selling as NFTs for thousands
The image of Zoe Roth, her small face grinning somewhat ominously at the camera while firefighters work to save a burning home behind her, has made the rounds online for years. The image of Roth, taken in 2005 near a planned and controlled burn, became an iconic meme known as “Disaster Girl.” Now, 16 years after the image was snapped, “Disaster Girl” has made Roth, 21, roughly $430,000.
Source: A meme gold rush? Classic viral images selling as NFTs for thousands
The Computers Are Getting Better at Writing
To spend ten minutes with Sudowrite is to recognize that the undergraduate essay, the basic pedagogical mode of all humanities, will soon be under severe pressure. Take an A paper, change a few words in the first paragraph, push buttons three times, and you have an essay that fits the assignment. Whatever field you are in, if it uses language, it is about to be transformed. The changes that are coming are fundamental to every method of speaking and writing that presently exists.
Schools Use Software That Blocks LGBTQ+ Content, But Not White Supremacists
A Motherboard investigation found the algorithmic surveillance tools allow racist groups like the KKK while flagging LGBTQ health sites as ‘porn’.
Source: Schools Use Software That Blocks LGBTQ+ Content, But Not White Supremacists
Will AI Change the Game for Adtech?
The technology aided with artificial intelligence has revolutionized this industry; it has moved the advertising efforts from “brought to you by” on TV to actual relatable content to every cast and creed, making its way to several different platforms. This technology can read and understand the text while sensing the external environment.
Shadow Bans, Dopamine Hits, and Viral Videos, All in the Life of TikTok Creators
A secretive algorithm that’s constantly being tweaked can turn influencers’ accounts, and their prospects, upside down
Source: Shadow Bans, Dopamine Hits, and Viral Videos, All in the Life of TikTok Creators – The Markup
It’s here! The winners and losers of Apple’s seismic privacy change
Apple’s long-awaited crackdown is being enforced. Starting today (April 26), people will start receiving prompts on their Apple devices as to whether they want to be tracked by various apps. Now comes the hard part: while no one can say with any certainty how this will shake it out, it’s clear that mobile advertising won’t be the same once it does.
Source: It’s here! The winners and losers of Apple’s seismic privacy change
How Big Tech got so big: Hundreds of acquisitions
For decades Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google gobbled up their competition to become behemoths of the tech industry, which has drawn attention from Congressional leaders and other critics who claim they’ve stifled innovation in the industry.