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Three-Word Phrases---anda Map---Can Find Anyone Anywhere Search

WIRED

According to the UK-based company What3words, I live at offers.reform.curve in Brooklyn. I work for Condรฉ Nast, which has offices in downtown Manhattan at words.artists.names--but Afterward, I'll be drinking at trick.pills.prompting. These little word-salads are cute, but you might be wondering: Why do I need a new address? If you live in the developed world, you probably don't; Google Maps knows where you live, and so does the mail carrier.


A 24-Year-Old Designed A Self-Driving Minibus; Maker Built It In Weeks

NPR Technology

Edgar Sarmiento won the Local Motors challenge to design an urban public transportation system. His self-driving electric minibus design eventually become this vehicle called Olli. Edgar Sarmiento won the Local Motors challenge to design an urban public transportation system. His self-driving electric minibus design eventually become this vehicle called Olli. At the recent unveiling of a new self-driving shuttle bus called Olli, its designer sat perched on a stool nearby, his hands cradling a photo camera in his lap.


The Autonomous Vehicle Revolution Will Be Underwhelming

Slate

One way to manage additional demand is to enact policies that ensure that if car travel becomes easier, so do more efficient modes of travel. The struggle to maintain this balance is being played out at the curbside of urban centers around the world, where cars, bicycles, buses, and pedestrians all fight to use the same precious few square feet. For nearly two decades Enrique Peรฑalosa, the mayor of Bogotรก, Colombia, has explained that the use of road and curb space is not just a tool to protect the environment, but to protect democracy, and that "an advanced city is not one where even the poor use cars, but rather one where even the rich use public transport or bicycles." Yet the distinction between public and private transport is increasingly blurry. Ride-hailing companies now offer rides shared with other passengers at lower prices, and shared-van services like Bridj operate larger private vehicles.


Roundup: The art world braces for Brexit, Lucas dumps Chicago museum plan, searching for Vincent Van Gogh

Los Angeles Times

How Brexit may affect artists and the art market. George Lucas abandons plans for a museum in Chicago. Miami models allege that an artist asked them to do intimate things with a rope. The Chicago Tribune says good riddance. Plus, how the referendum may affect artists.


Cannes Lions 2016: 10 Key Takeaways

#artificialintelligence

Once again, thousands of people from various corners of the marketing industry and the world descended on the French Riviera for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Some things haven't changed: the celebrity appearances, the late nights on the Carlton terrace that invariably lead to a regrettable hangover, the gigantic Daily Mail Yacht and the endlessly flowing rose. But this year also brought some surprises, including the Brexit decision at the end of the week as well as some unexpected Lions winners. Here are some other takeaways from adland's biggest event. The Maison Samsung featured a VR surfing experience on the roof and a super-secret "second-floor experience."


New Books Explore Breaking Habits, AI, Productivity and Enlightenment

#artificialintelligence

When American novelist David Foster Wallace delivered the commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005, he urged the graduating class to "exercise some control over how and what you think." If you don't at least try to regulate your thoughts and behaviors, Wallace cautioned, you will go through life "dead, unconscious, a slave to your head." Wallace himself long suffered with unwanted negative thoughts and crippling self-doubt--and took his own life three years after that speech. But can our mind become a "terrible master," as Wallace described? Kessler, the former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has considered that question for the past two decades, studying how substances such as food, alcohol and tobacco can hijack our brain chemistry and compel us to act against our own best intentions--bingeing on brownies, booze or cigarettes.


An AI arms race could be the death of us, scientists warn

#artificialintelligence

Robots probably won't kill people, but people could kill people with robots. That's the concern of an open letter signed by scientists and other interested parties -- including Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and Stephen Hawking. If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is virtually inevitable, and the endpoint of this technological trajectory is obvious: autonomous weapons will become the Kalashnikovs of tomorrow. See also: Team KAIST won the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge, so now what? The Future of Life Institute, the volunteer-backed research organization which posted the letter, aims to "maximize the future benefits of AI while avoiding pitfalls," according to its website.


We Happy Few โ€“ the indie game about Britain that couldn't be more relevant

The Guardian

There's always one game at E3 that proves, counter to the general theme of the show, bigger isn't always better. This year, a tiny studio named Compulsion found itself thrust into the limelight after its project We Happy Few caused a considerable splash at Microsoft's press conference. But as a black comedy set in a dystopian Britain being destroyed by a vast group hallucination, it may now take on more profound and pressing connotations following last night's result. For some, this strange combination of 1984, A Clockwork Orange and Bioshock feels very much the game of the moment. The opening of the E3 demo, which momentarily silenced the usual energetic whooping, evoked the spirit of another wonderful introductory sequence, from Terry Gilliam's seminal 1985 film Brazil.


Re-educating Rita

#artificialintelligence

IN JULY 2011 Sebastian Thrun, who among other things is a professor at Stanford, posted a short video on YouTube, announcing that he and a colleague, Peter Norvig, were making their "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence" course available free online. By the time the course began in October, 160,000 people in 190 countries had signed up for it. At the same time Andrew Ng, also a Stanford professor, made one of his courses, on machine learning, available free online, for which 100,000 people enrolled. Both courses ran for ten weeks. Such online courses, with short video lectures, discussion boards for students and systems to grade their coursework automatically, became known as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).


Fact Not Fiction: Ipswitch's Independent Research Reveals How IT Teams Are Preparing Today For The Rise Of Intelligent Machines

#artificialintelligence

WIRE)--Ipswitch, the leader in easy to try, buy and use IT management software, today announced the findings of an independent global study, carried out by analyst firm Freeform Dynamics. The survey examines the attitudes and readiness of IT decision makers with regard to intelligent machines and business systems (machines with decision making and learning capabilities). Exploring the fast-paced adoption of these systems, the report looks at the positive impacts already being observed in the commercial world and the potential barriers to even further mainstream adoption over the next decade. According to the research, investment in intelligent business systems and automation is well underway across the globe. Top current application deployment areas cited by respondents include digital customer engagement systems (55 percent), process automation and workflow systems (52 percent) and automated risk monitoring and management solutions (50 percent).