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Jia Jia Is A New, Human-like, Chinese 'Robot Goddess'

#artificialintelligence

Now, who on earth is Jia Jia? Does she sound like a Chinese? But not human, though she is human-like. She is a realistic-looking robot, or the robot goddess, who took three years to get created. She is part of the amazing robot industry that is continuously working on robotic products.


Bots won't replace apps. Better apps will replace apps.

#artificialintelligence

But the more articles I read on the topic, the more annoyed I get. It's taken me so long to figure out why! Conversations, writes WIRED, can do things traditional GUIs can't. Matt Hartman equates the surge in text-driven apps as a kind of "hidden homescreen". TechCrunch says "forget apps, now bots take over". The creator of Fin thinks it's a new paradigm all apps will move to. Dharmesh Shah wonders whether the rise of conversational UI will be the downfall of designers. Design, says Emmet Connolly at Intercom is a conversation. Benedict Evans prophecized that the new lay of the land is "all messaging expands until it includes software." "People don't want apps for every single business that you interact with," says David Marcus, head of Facebook Messenger, "…just have a message within a nicely designed bubble … [that's a] much nicer experience than an app." Under his charge, Facebook Messenger has tested this approach, building integrations with high profile partners as well as opening up a bot API. We've even seen avant-garde attempts at taking this idea to its extreme, like Quartz's latest app, which presents the news as a conversation, or the game Lifeline. Apps like Mailtime even promise to save us from our emails by turning them into chats. I guess I might be partially to blame for this, with a few pieces citing a section in a 2014 piece of mine that I literally titled "Chats as Universal UI."


Artificial limbs offer Syrians new chances at life

U.S. News

Every time 3-year-old Seif wears his new prosthetic legs, the toddler puts up a fight. He has already made peace with walking on his stumps, but there is no dodging his daily rehabilitation session at a prosthetic clinic in southern Turkey. In a small clinic in the dusty border town of Reyhanli, dozens of wounded Syrians stream per month come to be fitted with prosthetic limbs, their best shot at restoring a semblance of a normal life. Treatment at the clinic is free and only for Syrian civilians and fighters who have lost body parts in the Syrian conflict. Workers at the clinic manufacture prosthetic body parts while patients are in therapy.


Europe's 'moon village' is just the start: Space agency boss says the lunar base will be the first step to exploring the universe

Daily Mail - Science & tech

The European Space Agency's plans to build a village on the moon are part of a much wider scheme to explore the far-flung regions of our solar system. Speaking at a recent conference, Esa boss Jan Woerner said: 'I think we should go first to the moon and then further on.' He added that Mars should not be our ultimate goal and said he is'quite sure humans will go further.' The European Space Agency's plans to build a village on the moon (concept pictured) are part of a much wider scheme to explore the far-flung regions of our solar system. Speaking at a recent conference, Esa boss Jan Woerner said: 'I think we should go first to the moon and then further on' Woerner said the project could allow exploration of the far side of the moon.


Paramount Pictures Sued For 27 Million In China For Not Including Product Logo In 'Transformers: Age Of Extinction'

International Business Times

Paramount Pictures is facing a 27 million lawsuit by a Chinese tourism firm for not displaying its logo in the film "Transformers: Age of Extinction" as part of a product placement deal signed in 2013, according to reports. Wulong Karst Tourism claimed Tuesday that it paid the U.S. producer of the hit Hollywood film and its Chinese partner 750,000 for the display of a logo. The state-backed travel company's logo, featuring the Chinese characters "China Wulong," was to be displayed in one of the scenes, which was shot in Wulong Karst National Park, so that Chinese audiences know where it was shot, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The lawsuit was filed at a Chongqing court and the court has yet to deliver a verdict after the six-hour hearing. According to local media reports, the defendants -- Paramount and China Movie Channel -- admitted in court that they failed to use the logo.


Can Google's DeepMind Help Fix A Broken Health Care System?

#artificialintelligence

Google wants to put its artificial intelligence technology to use in top hospitals. Earlier this week, the search giant announced it would work with the U.K.'s National Health Service, or NHS, to alert staff to patients at risk of serious complications due to kidney failure. Details about the technology are fairly thin on the ground at this stage. But it is known that Google DeepMind recently acquired an app called Hark, which is a task management app that aims to replace paper-based systems and pagers. Hark was developed over four years by a team at Imperial College London, which is one of the U.K.'s top medical schools.


Self-Driving Car Successfully Drives Itself 1200 Miles Across China In Six Days

#artificialintelligence

A Chinese automaker announced the successful road trip of its self-driving cars. Two of the vehicles have completed the travel across China, which lasted for six days and covered more than 1,200 miles. Chinese automaker and Ford's partner Chongqing Changan Automobile Co. announced the successful road trip of its self-driving car. The vehicle traveled from Chongqing in Southwest China to Beijing, which is in the northeast. The journey covered more than 1,200 miles (almost 2,000 kilometers) and lasted for six days - that's an average of 200 miles (321.8 kilometers) a day.


Dyson launches Supersonic hair dryer, letting people use its bladeless fans to style their hair

The Independent - Tech

Nasa has announced that it has found evidence of flowing water on Mars. Scientists have long speculated that Recurring Slope Lineae -- or dark patches -- on Mars were made up of briny water but the new findings prove that those patches are caused by liquid water, which it has established by finding hydrated salts. Several hundred camped outside the London store in Covent Garden. The 6s will have new features like a vastly improved camera and a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" display


China Is Building An Army Of Worker Robots

#artificialintelligence

Three weeks ago we reported an amusing anecdote out of China in which robot waiters in a Guangzhou restaurant had been "fired" because whencustomers flocked to the Heweilai Restaurant chain in the southern Chinese city, they found they were not all they are cracked up to be. "A staff member said the robots couldn't effectively handle soup dishes, often malfunctioned, and had to follow a fixed route that sometimes resulted in clashes. A customer also said the robots were unable to do tasks such as topping up water or placing a dish on the table." "The robots weren't able to carry soup or other food steady and they would frequently break down. The boss has decided never to use them again," said one employee. We joked in the summary saying that "for now, it appears, China's minimum wage workers, and it has a few hundred million of those, will not be phased out just yet." According to a report released by the MIT Technology Review, where some saw failure in China's "novelty" worker robots, the Chinese government saw nothing less than the opportunity to perfect what will soon put million of Chinese workers out of a job: an army of worker robots. Because while there is certanly humor to be found in the anecdote about a robot "termination", the Chinese government is keen to change this.


Forget Disneyland, Japan set to get 'robot kingdom' staffed entirely by machines

Daily Mail - Science & tech

A Japanese amusement park is turning the fears of a robot-run world into a family friendly attraction. Guests at Huis Ten Bosch will soon be able to enjoy okyonomiyaki prepared by a robotic chef, cocktails made by an autonomous bartender and a complete staff of serving cyborgs. This'robotic kingdom' will feature over 200 androids that attendees can touch and interact with while spending the day at the park. Guests at Huis Ten Bosch will soon be able to enjoy okyonomiyaki prepared by a robotic chef, cocktails made by an autonomous bartender and a complete staff of serving cyborgs. This'robotic kingdom' will feature over 200 androids.