Alzheimer APP

A 14-Year-Old Made An App To Help Alzheimer’s Patients Recognize Their Loved Ones.

 After watching her grandmother struggle to remember her own family members, the young coder Emma Yang decided to figure out how to use AI and facial recognition to help her–and others coping with the illness. 

https://www.fastcompany.com/40519094/embargo-wed-6am-et-a-14-year-old-made-an-app-to-help-alzheimers-patients-recognize-their-loved-ones?

Samsung Smart Fridge says: 'Me Too'

From City AM of the UK:

The innovative product below is a must-have, in my view: I am going to order one.

Next week: Release of The Smart Toilet Seat, also known as Harvey (after a famous -- now notorious -- Hollywood movie producer) which offers a selection of 50 famous operas: at the touch of a button, you get to hear the gorgeous voice of Luciano Pavarotti rising up from the toilet plumbing in majestic mode.

"We have fitted Harvey with a high-tech sound system, after consulting the Royal Opera House in London.

Listening to famous arias and rich baritones will assist you in your excretion efforts while you are sitting on Harvey, through relaxation and unwanted-noise sound-proofing, as it is called in Japan.

It is all about reducing stress for opera lovers. Not the others, obviously, but then again they don't have to buy our Smart Toilet Seat," explained Bill Windbag-Winkles, Marketing Manager Europe, The Smart Toilet Seat [Harvey] PLC.

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This year’s version of Samsung’s smart fridge, still called the Family Hub, adds new features. As well as being able to view a live camera feed of your sliced ham from almost anywhere on the planet, the world’s most pointlessly advanced fridge now boasts premium speakers alongside its touchscreen display, meaning you can watch entire movies while standing next to your freezer.

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http://www.cityam.com/278579/rollable-tvs-mind-reading-hats-some-best-and-weirdest-new?

Microsoft Quantum Development Kit

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/quantum/development-kit

(Requires Registration).

And a short introductory video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7b4J2INq9c&MC=Vstudio&MC=JavaScript&MC=WebDev&MC=AppDnDTool

Translated

AI News from Intel

• AI News from Intel:
  
  https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/intels-new-self-learning-chip-promises-accelerate-artificial-intelligence/
  
  http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2017/07/deep-learning-device-from-intel-enables-artificial-intelligence-programming-at-the-edge.html
  
  http://www.vision-systems.com/articles/2017/08/intel-acquires-mobileye-plans-to-deploy-100-autonomous-vehicles-later-this-year.html

AI @ Rand Corporation

Rand Corporation's site on Artificial Intelligence (a good place to start reading about AI's social and political implications)

https://www.rand.org/topics/artificial-intelligence.html

email Signatures

I saw this on Moneyish and wanted to share it.

https://moneyish.com/ish/what-people-really-think-when-you-use-these-email-sign-offs/

For myself, after years of using "Best" (rated the worst in another article), I have moved from "Warm Regards" to "Kind Regards", and I expect to stay there for a while.

Technology, Statecraft, and Unrestricted Warfare

Ambassador Chas Freeman on Technology, Statecraft, and Unrestricted Warfare:

http://chasfreeman.net/technology-statecraft-and-unrestricted-warfare/

Personal Challenges of Microsoft Chairman

Personal Challenges of Satay Nadella:

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/inspirational-stories/a46221/satya-anu-nadella-microsoft/

AI in the News

In the news

Here is the full story of the pet parrot having placed an order over Amazon via the Alexa voice-recognition platform. 

The Texan parrot in the video-clip is also very articulate. Maybe he could fill in for the Prime Minister, Theresa May, who seems to need a break from it all: "Brexit means Brexit! Brexit means Brexit! Squawk! Brexit means..."
_________________________

http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/animals/pet-parrot-uses-voicecontrolled-gadget-to-place-order-with-amazon/news-story/9cdf23dccd0c0887fbb68b9279850a5d

Pet parrot uses voice-controlled gadget to place order with Amazon www.news.com.au There’s a reason this parrot is called Einstein. With an extensive vocabulary, he can replicate everything, from a human to a telephone. Credit: Einstein Parrot via ...

2 Items on AI

The need for a (US) National Strategy:

http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/booz-allen-hamilton-2017/machine-intelligence-we-need-a-national-strategy/1497/

and Booze-Allen-Hamilton take on it:

https://www.boozallen.com/expertise/analytics/machine-intelligence.html?cid=spo-atl17-1

Lovely Churches

The Food Art of Dinara Kasko

Creativity is Everything.

More @ http://www.dinarakasko.com/ 

The Making of A Brave New World

Recent developments have made me realize how much closer we are to the vision of Aldous Huxely in the "Brave New World".  Consider:

Wireless recording of neural activity with ultrasound Implanted devices that record neural activity in model organisms such as rats ideally should be as small as possible, remotely powered and able to transduce information wirelessly.  See please:

http://www.cell.com/neuron/pdf/S0896-6273(16)30344-0.pdf  

We also have the news of an artificial womb that successfully grew lambs; which makes me think that humans (and-sub-humans) could be next:

https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/25/15421734/artificial-womb-fetus-biobag-uterus-lamb-sheep-birth-premie-preterm-infant

Furthermore, with the developments in gene editing of human embryos, see, as examples, 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/02/health/crispr-human-embryos-gene-editing-study/index.html 

and (the little case of 3-parent baby) http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/27/health/3-parent-baby/index.html

and, (even more broadly) the creation of human chimeras - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics)

I should think that we could be only a few decades away from the creation of sub-human species for performing dangerous jobs such as mining, as well for supplying Flesh Pots all over the world.

Aldous Huxley was an optimist.

New from AI

From Grauniad of the UK

It may not be intelligence, but it is artificial... 

Slightly sinister developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), telling us that gay men are generally effeminate and many lesbians are a bit masculine -- a great revelation, I must say. 

I wonder whether the AI program would be able to identify, say, radicalized Muslims who harbour bad thoughts, rabid feminists, constipated reactionaries who are about to lash out, or aggressive vegetarians? 

Tackling pre-crime is within our reach... 
_____________________________

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/07/new-artificial-intelligence-can-tell-whether-youre-gay-or-straight-from-a-photograph?

New AI can work out whether you're gay or straight from a photograph www.theguardian.com An algorithm deduced the sexuality of people on a dating site with up to 91% accuracy, raising tricky ethical questions

GIZMAG -- Not as frigid as he looks...

"I like to talk to my Movable Fridge and, at least, unlike my wife, he never argues with me and always brings me a chilled can of my favourite lager when I ask him," explained Timothy Prickston-Pillox, of Exeter, only to add: "I am thinking of marrying my fridge. He is almost human and he is smart, unlike my dragon of a wife. And we're already living together, after all, me and my fridge..." 

_____________________________________

http://newatlas.com/panasonic-movable-fridge/51181/?

Panasonic rolls out cool smart home concept newatlas.com Panasonic is at the IFA consumer tech expo in Berlin this week showing off a potential new addition to the smart home. The Movable Fridge can wander over to the dinner table or sofa on command to deliver chilled nibbles or drinks precisely when they're needed.

Robotic Priests

German Robot Priest:

https://www.theguardian.com/global/video/2017/may/30/german-robot-priest-helps-mark-reformation-anniversary-video-blessu-2

and Japanese Robot Priest:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/23/robot-funerals-priest-launched-softbank-humanoid-robot-pepper-live-streaming

Free eBook on Cyber-security

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5337881532064470471#editor/target=post;postID=6597838273024594120

GM’s Step-By-Step Instructions For In-Vehicle Development & Testing

GM’s Step-By-Step Instructions For In-Vehicle Development & Testing may be found here:

http://gmauthority.com/blog/2017/07/general-motors-instructions-for-in-vehicle-development-testing/

Basically, one registers, downloads the SDK, and develops one’s app. and then applies to GM for testing with an actual vehicle (VIN has to be supplied by the developer).

GM reviews the request and if approved by GM, proceeds to grant access to that vehicle.

Robotic Failure

From The Guardian of the UK

"You're fired!"

"Beep, beep: fired. Yes, I am fired up. Ready for the challenge. Thank you."

"Fired! Sacked! Dismissed!"

"Fire emergency: please do not dismiss recommendations regarding fire and fire drills. This is very important in the management of..."

"Out!"

"In and out transportation of goods poses new challenges that, beep, beep. Beeeep."

__________________

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/15/robot-boston-dynamics-take-our-jobs-viral-video?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=239528&subid=14553428&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

Robot shelf-stack fail suggests they won't take our jobs just yet www.theguardian.com Boston Dynamics demo clip shows we are not quite living in an i, Robot future – even if the machines can skate better than you can

Z3

Z3 is a theorem prover from Microsoft Research. It is licensed under the MIT license.

If you are not familiar with Z3, you can start here.

Z3 can be built using Visual Studio, a Makefile or using CMake. It provides bindings for several programming languages.