Above the Trend Line: machine learning industry rumor central, is a recurring feature of insideBIGDATA. In this column, we present a variety of short time-critical news items such as people movements, funding news, financial results, industry alignments, rumors and general scuttlebutt floating around the big data, data science and machine learning industries including behind-the-scenes anecdotes and curious buzz. Our intent is to provide our readers a one-stop source of late-breaking news to help keep you abreast of this fast-paced ecosystem. We're working hard on your behalf with our extensive vendor network to give you all the latest happenings. Be sure to Tweet Above the Trend Line articles using the hashtag: #abovethetrendline.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The North American automation industry has set new records to begin 2016, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), the industry's trade group. The advent of more automation in North American manufacturing promises increased efficiencies in production and the ability to compete globally. A3, whose mission is to advocate and promote automation technologies and ideas that transform the way business is done, tracks the robotics, machine vision and motion control markets for its three daughter associations, Robotic Industries Association (RIA), AIA - Advancing Vision Imaging, and Motion Control & Motor Association (MCMA). A3 is at its highest membership level ever, welcoming 119 new member companies year to date. A3, with its daughter organizations, now represents 965 member companies directly involved with robotics, vision, motion control and motors.

The system is called Recognition and will be running for three months in London up to 27 November 2016. A nice touch is that it will also take in feedback from matching selections made by viewers themselves at the art museum on Millbank. Created by Fabrica, it's the winner of the IK Prize 2016 for digital innovation, awarded by Tate Britain, in partnership with Microsoft. A display at Tate Britain accompanies the online project offering visitors to the gallery the chance to compare the machine's matches with their own and invites them to help retrain the algorithm. The experiment will explore whether an artificial intelligence programme can learn from the many personal responses humans have when looking at images.

Lenovo Group Ltd, the world s largest personal computer maker, will launch its augmented-reality-enabled smartphone in October in China, as part of its broad efforts to boost phone sales with innovative products. Yang Yuanqing, CEO and Chairman of the Beijing-based company, said on Saturday the Phab2 Pro, the world s first smartphone to host AR applications without the need of other accessories, will help create new business models by bringing new interactive experience to consumers. The new device, first unveiled in June, is based on Google Inc s Tango project and allows users to play virtual dominoes on a physical table and shoot digital robots that inhabit users living rooms. "Technology innovation and business model innovation are part of the new path for growth," Yang said, adding the company aims to leverage cutting-edge technologies to change the way people live and work. He made the comments at the B20 summit which was held in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province on Saturday.

There can be few feelings more comforting than the warm, fuzzy envelopment of sleep as you drift off after a hard day's work. Now researchers may have found a clue as to why sleep can make us feel so good. They have discovered a key brain circuit that is indispensable to our sleep cycle and is also a major component of our internal reward system. Scientists have discovered a key brain circuit in helping us drift off to sleep (stock picture). The circuit of neurons, known as the ventral tegmental area, helps to motivate us to perform behaviours like looking for food, having sex or fleeing from predators.

Beauty pageants have always been political. After all, what speaks more strongly to how we see each other than which physical traits we reward as beautiful, and which we code as ugly? It wasn't until 1983 that the Miss America competition crowned a black woman as the most beautiful woman in the country. So what if we replaced human judges with machines? As shallow as the whole thing is, would a computer at least be able to see past skin colour and look at, potentially, more universal markers of attractiveness?

In less than a month since launching their powerful new website (http://www.2016tweets.live) In addition to this epochal milestone, the company recently began tracking and reporting on the number of bots that follow, like, and retweet the two major accounts. As bots can confuse and often mislead voters into thinking one party has more support than the other, this analysis allows the public to see the competing candidates on a more even playing field. So far Aicial has analyzed over 109,000 unique Twitter accounts that are engaging with Clinton and Trump. Aicial Co-Founder and CEO, Troy Kelly said the company is committed to further development of the social engine and is quite interested in discussing potential partnerships with news and media outlets.

Scientists at the Stanford University have released the first report of their One Hundred Year Study on Artificial Intelligence (AI100), in which they try to predict the potential impacts of artificial intelligence on human life in the long run. Known as "Artificial Intelligence and Life in 2030," the report comes just two years since the researchers began their work. It focuses on the history of AI technology and how it is being used in various fields today, such as in the development of robots for medical purposes and self-driving vehicles for transportation. Experts believe the Stanford study is important not only for researchers but for policymakers as well who may need to create new laws that would better cater to such technological advancements. AI100 is the brainchild of Eric Horvitz, managing director of Microsoft Research's Redmond laboratory.

I guess it could be an older version, but here's a single PDF: https://www.dgp.toronto.edu/

Neuroeconomics use all kinds of research methods and experimentations to understand human behavior in different situations. One of these situations is making decisions under risk and uncertainty, where multiple areas of the brain become involved. Neuroscientific research suggests that we humans are not rational beings. Much of our decision making is driven by emotion. Do we want our emotion to play a part? More and more, technologies like SPIXII are using neuroeconomics findings to help us.