Africa
Macro Room create video using ink and water
A hypnotic new video reveals the unearthly beauty of life up-close. Using different colored ink in water, the team at the Macro Room has created a breathtaking short film that could rival the effects of CGI. A hypnotic new video reveals the unearthly beauty of life up-close. Ink In Motion, shared on YouTube by the Macro Room, gives a close-up look at'the hypnotising beauty of colored ink in water and the interaction of this substance with different elements.' It begins with just a tank filled with water, and 3D planet models submerged in the center.
Map shows parts of the US most at risk of a robot takeover
Researchers have warned that millions of human workers in the US will be replaced by robots over the next few decades, leaving Americans to wonder what areas are at the highest risk. Now, a new map has shown where the most'automatable' jobs are in the nation - and almost every metropolitan area is set to experience a robot takeover. However, it is the low-wage cities like Las Vegas, Nevada, El Paso, Texas and San Bernardino, California that will be hit the hardest – robots are predicted to take more than 60% of jobs in these cities by 2035. A new map has shown where the most'automatable' jobs are in the nation - and almost every metropolitan area is set to experience a robot takeover. The bubble size shows the number of workers employed in the metropolitan areas in December 2016.
NASA is taking the first steps toward managing drone traffic
Drone Co-habitation Services operates a Phantom 3 commercial drone, one of 11 vehicles in the NASA field demonstration in Nevada. Drone Co-habitation Services operates a Phantom 3 commercial drone, one of 11 vehicles in the NASA field demonstration in Nevada. By 2020, an estimated 7 million drones could be zipping around the country delivering packages, taking photos, inspecting infrastructure or conducting search and rescue missions. But before that happens, they'll need a system in place to avoid crashing into each other -- or worse, passenger aircraft. NASA, along with the Federal Aviation Administration and an extensive list of industry partners, has been researching the requirements needed to establish a drone traffic management system. This summer, some of those ideas will be tested in the field.
Killing the messenger: targeting Islamic State's operatives who plot foreign attacks online
The months-long manhunt for French-born Rachid Kassim ended one chilly morning early this year when a drone-launched missile destroyed his battered white pickup truck as it motored through the besieged Iraqi city of Mosul. The 29-year-old former rapper had cast a grim shadow in international counter-terrorism circles. He spoke fluent French, once beheaded a man in an online video and allegedly helped organize or encourage nine terrorist plots -- nearly all unsuccessful -- in France last year. The Feb. 8 drone strike notched a victory for a U.S.-led effort that seeks to silence Islamic State operatives who use social media, encrypted messaging and other online tools to reach disaffected Muslims overseas and to launch what counter-terrorism experts now call "remote-controlled" attacks. As Islamic State steadily loses ground in Iraq and Syria, its ability to sponsor and inspire headline-grabbing attacks abroad looms larger than ever -- providing the militants the appearance of lethal viability despite the caliphate's collapsing borders.
How I became a video game designer: Bugi Kaigwa
Welcome to our series "How I Became a …," where we're digging into the stories of accomplished and influential people and finding out how they got to where they are in their careers. We're finding out what their biggest challenges, their biggest passions and their biggest pieces of wisdom are -- for you. Working in the world of video games is a true dream job, and Bugi Kaigwa, a technical artist at Visual Concepts, is living the dream as a video game designer. Kaigwa, who works on developing the immensely popular NBA 2K basketball games, including this year's NBA 2K17 game, chatted with USA TODAY College about vanilla lattes, hard work and, well, of course video games. Usually, being from Kenya, I am a tea guy -- usually just a ginger tea.
Mobile AI technology boosts African healthcare
The new technology has been launched as part of a cervical cancer prevention campaign across six African countries. The company behind the platform is the nonprofit Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon, and the organization has been working with local health clinics on special screening as well as education events. The new platform consists of an optical accessory that fits onto a Android smartphone and optimizes the device's camera. The clip-on attachment is called the EVA (enhanced visual assessment) Scope. The enhanced optics can be used by healthcare professionals for examining women for early signs of cervical cancer.
Microsoft creates the world's first city FONT for Dubai
The Dubai government has announced the launch of'Dubai Font' - the first typeface developed by Microsoft for a city. The font, which will be available in 23 languages, was developed simultaneously in Latin and Arabic script. Dubai Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed al-Maktoum has urged all government institutions to adopt the font in official correspondence. The Dubai government has announced the launch of'Dubai Font' - the first typeface developed by Microsoft for a city In its drive to become a city of the future, authorities in Dubai have also purchased a network of robotic pods to shuttle people to a man-made island. The automated transport system will feature 25 driverless group rapid transit vehicles capable of carrying 24 passengers each.
Releasing the World's Largest Street-level Imagery Dataset for Teaching Machines to See
Today we present the Mapillary Vistas Dataset--the world's largest and most diverse publicly available, pixel-accurately and instance-specifically annotated street-level imagery dataset for empowering autonomous mobility and transport at the global scale. Since we started our expedition to collaboratively visualize the world with street-level images, we have collected more than 130 million images from places all around the globe. While this number keeps growing at a frantic pace, we are putting serious efforts into researching, implementing, publishing, and releasing smarter computer vision models that can help us understand the semantics within this data. As stated in an earlier blog post, we keep advancing supervised deep learning models as our primary workhorses to extract information that is valuable to our community and improve our products. However, such models are inherently hungry for data--and in particular for a lot of precisely annotated data.
Does Artificial Intelligence Discriminate?
As the old joke goes, on the internet nobody knows you're a dog. But thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence, not only do today's machines know you're a canine, they can tell what color dog you are -- and may treat you differently as a result. AI-driven algorithms impact our lives in countless ways, from the technology that identifies your voice when you call your bank to the algorithms that determine whether you're a good credit risk. It's expected to play an increasingly large role in designing products, identifying potential clients, diagnosing disease and preventing crime. An AI bot may troubleshoot your computer, offer legal advice or teach your kids Spanish.
Singularity University sets up Singapore chapter to solve global problems with AI
Singapore has been hailed as one of the smartest cities in Asia. SINGAPORE has been getting a lot of positive press lately. In the last month alone, General Electric announced the opening of a high-tech service center in the city-state, while Proctor & Gamble launched a new digital innovation hub. While the tiny island nation has long been used by MNCs as a launchpad for Asia, it's clear Singapore has become the innovation cluster in the region to watch. The latest news from Tech in Asia confirms this, as Singularity University (SU) has officially launched a Singapore chapter last week.