Weather and atmospheric patterns are often persistent. The simplest weather forecasting method is the so-called persistence model, which assumes that the future state of a system will be similar (or equal) to the present state. Machine learning (ML) models are widely used in different weather forecasting applications, but they need to be compared to the persistence model to analyse whether they provide a competitive solution to the problem at hand. In this paper, we devise a new model for predicting low-visibility in airports using the concepts of mixture of experts. Visibility level is coded as two different ordered categorical variables: cloud height and runway visual height. The underlying system in this application is stagnant approximately in 90% of the cases, and standard ML models fail to improve on the performance of the persistence model. Because of this, instead of trying to simply beat the persistence model using ML, we use this persistence as a baseline and learn an ordinal neural network model that refines its results by focusing on learning weather fluctuations. The results show that the proposal outperforms persistence and other ordinal autoregressive models, especially for longer time horizon predictions and for the runway visual height variable.

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) in supervised settings can generate photo-realistic corresponding output from low-definition input (SRGAN). Using the architecture presented in the SRGAN original paper [2], we explore how selecting a dataset affects the outcome by using three different datasets to see that SRGAN fundamentally learns objects, with their shape, color, and texture, and redraws them in the output rather than merely attempting to sharpen edges. This is further underscored with our demonstration that once the network learns the images of the dataset, it can generate a photo-like image with even a slight hint of what it might look like for the original from a very blurry edged sketch. Given a set of inference images, the network trained with the same dataset results in a better outcome over the one trained with arbitrary set of images, and we report its significance numerically with Frechet Inception Distance score [22].

Apple has once again summoned the media to its Cupertino, California headquarters. Monday's festivities are expected to be a star-studded sneak peak of a new $9.99 monthly entertainment subscription service, offering series and movies from the likes of Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Brie Larson. The place to find the service is expected to be on the Apple TV app, which is available for the set-top box and on iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad. Reporters are eager to hear how Apple plans on expanding its base to TVs and other set-top boxes like Roku and Amazon Fire TV Stick. Additionally, Apple is expected to unveil a "Netflix of magazines," that will offer publications like the Wall Street Journal and People for $9.99 monthly.

The patient appeared to be dying. She had chronic lung disease, and she had been told she had little reserve left and had barely survived on home oxygen for the past few years. Each time she picked up a lung infection, the buzzards circled closer. Now she had tripped, fallen, broken a bone, had surgery, and her subsequent infection seemed to have pushed her past the point of no return. Still, I held off the palliative care/comfort care team for as long as I could, and she rallied.

As summer winds down, we take a look at five gadgets made for performing indoors and out: Netatmo weather station, InaTrap bug trapper, iGrill, SpareOne emergency phone and Click & Grow. If you want to garden this spring without getting your hands dirty you're in luck. Smart home technology has sprouted outdoors. Smart sprinkler systems remember to water on their own, smart irrigation controllers check the weather forecast before deciding how much water to give your flora and you can get a notification on your Galaxy S10 when you need to add some fertilizer. But don't just take our word for it.

You know, the first one you see when you turn on the Apple TV set-top box, which alerts you to the latest movies available for rent, TV shows to purchase and the like? Apple sees a bigger future for the app, as a launchpad for a new entertainment service, and a place where folks can subscribe to other subscription services, like HBO and Showtime. This week the company unveiled a new line of iMac computers and iPads, as well as an update to its popular AirPods bluetooth earbuds, to clear the deck and get all the focus on entertainment. Is Apple about to challenge the leaders in streaming? Monday, Apple is expected to sneak peek a new $9.99 monthly entertainment subscription service, offering series and movies from the likes of Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Brie Larson.

In a March 21 Slatest, Mark Joseph Stern misstated that the April 2019 Wisconsin Supreme Court election could give Democratic justices a majority. That opportunity will not arise until the 2020 election. Due to an editing error, a March 20 Future Tense Newsletter incorrectly stated that the National Institute of Standards and Technology has been using nonconsensually obtained images to train its Facial Recognition Verification Testing program. The NIST does not develop or train facial recognition systems. It provides independent government evaluations of prototype face recognition technologies.

Thursday's Google Doodle celebrated the 334th birthday of famed composer Johann Sebastian Bach, with a twist: It was the first Doodle to incorporate machine learning. Users could create a melody, then the Doodle would automatically generate custom harmonies to produce a full composition in Bach's style. It was delightful for many Google users, but it also stepped into a controversy that has been brewing in musical circles for years. Google says in its "Behind the Doodle" video that it chose Bach's music as the subject of the first A.I. Doodle because he had a characteristic style and composed with a set of musical rules in mind. This formulaic quality made his work an ideal subject for a machine-learning algorithm to train on.

It's no longer unusual to see big-name actors in video game roles – and usually it works out fine. Ellen Page in Beyond: Two Souls, Kristen Bell in Assassin's Creed and Charles Dance in Witcher 3 were all perfectly cast, bringing their talent and star quality to fitting roles, and featured prominently in those games' promotion. But sometimes, famous faces pop up in video games where you're not expecting them, whether it's someone at the start of their career who later turns into a huge star, or an ageing legend looking for a quick buck. Here are some of our favourite improbable appearances. Malek is typically convincing as sinister dudebro Josh Washington, one of eight teenagers (including Heroes' Hayden Panettiere) getting bumped off in a secluded cabin. Sadly we're unlikely to see the Oscar recipient gracing the forthcoming sequel.

On Wednesday night, Tesla sued four former employees and the self-driving startup Zoox for misappropriation of trade secrets. No, you're not having driverless-car lawsuit déjà vu--you're just remembering the time last year when Waymo and Uber settled their own trade secrets case after four days of trial. Tesla's suit, filed in the Northern California federal district court, alleges that four of its former employees took proprietary information related to "warehousing, logistics, and inventory control operations" when they left the electric automaker, and later, while working for Zoox, used that proprietary information to improve its technology and operations. Tesla says the former employees--Scott Turner, Sydney Cooper, Chrisian Dement, and Craig Emigh--worked in product distribution and warehouse supervising. It alleges they forwarded the trade secrets to their own personal email accounts, or the accounts of other former Tesla employees.