Recently we wrote about the development of AI and neural nets beyond the second generation Convolutional and Recurrent Neural Nets (CNNs / RNNs) which have come on so strong and dominate the current conversation about deep learning. Our research shows that the next generation of neural nets is most likely to be led by Spiking Neural Nets (SNNs) that are a return to the'strong' AI tradition and closely mimic actual brain function. Unlike CNNs that fire signals to every one of their deep layer connections every time, SNNs are modeled after the fact that in the brain neurons do not constantly communicate with one another. Rather they communicate in spikes of signals or more correctly short trains of spiking signals. As each spike in the train arrives at a neuron it raises the potential of that neuron until finally a spike arrives that tips it over its potential threshold and it in turn fires, propelling the signal onward.

Sometimes you go out hard and party like the cool kids. Other times, your Saturday night plans are … less than spectacular. For times like those, here are the 6 best ways to get entertainment out of your Amazon Echo when you're bored and lonely, or just sick of other people. After all, your friends may judge you, but Alexa never will. You can either read this whole article, or watch our entertaining video coverage where we make fools out of ourselves in the attempt to honestly demonstrate these features to you.

What will be the impact of machine learning on economics? NEW YORK, NY - MAY 05: Susan Athey speaks at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2014 - Day 1 on May 5, 2014 in New York City. The short answer is that I think it will have an enormous impact; in the early days, as used "off the shelf," but in the longer run econometricians will modify the methods and tailor them so that they meet the needs of social scientists primarily interested in conducting inference about causal effects and estimating the impact of counterfactual policies (that is, things that haven't been tried yet, or what would have happened if a different policy had been used). Examples of questions economists often study are things like the effects of changing prices, or introducing price discrimination, or changing the minimum wage, or evaluating advertising effectiveness. We want to estimate what would happen in the event of a change, or what would have happened if the change hadn't taken place.

Do you know what is common between San Bernardino's shooting spree and the terrorist attacks in Paris last month? Jillennials, Jihadis who are Millennials. We mine data worldwide, a lot of it, a ton of it, every day and every night, and we do this for a living at PredictifyMe. We have partnership with the United Nations to protect school-goers in Pakistan, Nigeria, Sudan and Lebanon using our proprietary software SecureSim and Soothsayer . When the Paris attacks unfolded, we asked ourselves (and our database), how can we use data sciences to prevent something like this from ever happening again. Can we find out what factors influence an otherwise ordinary citizen to become radicalized?

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Wednesday announced 23 violations after investigating the death at the Ajin USA plant in Cusseta, Ala., about 90 miles southwest of Atlanta, the AP reports. Regina Allen Elsea, 20, was killed June 18, two weeks before her planned wedding day, OSHA said in a statement. The assembly line had stopped, and Elsea entered a robotic station to clear a sensor fault. "The robot restarted abruptly, crushing the young woman inside the machine," OSHA said. OSHA said Ajin failed to have procedures to prevent machinery from starting up during maintenance, among other violations.

A standoff between Uber and the State of California became more serious on Friday when Uber rejected a demand to get permits for its self-driving car program and the state fired back with a threat of legal action. The spat began earlier this week when Uber launched a fleet of self-driving cars in San Francisco. The company had not obtained autonomous driving permits for the cars, and California's Department of Motor Vehicles asked the company to stop the service until they were issued. "We respectfully disagree with the California Department of Motor Vehicles legal interpretation of today's autonomous regulations, in particular that Uber needs a testing permit to operate its self-driving cars in San Francisco," Anthony Levandowski, vice president of Uber's advanced technologies group, told reporters. He said Uber believes the technology in its self-driving cars is akin to the autonomous mode in a Tesla.

Uber says it intends to continue a self-driving car test program in San Francisco in defiance of warnings from California's Department of Motor Vehicles that it faces legal consequences for not getting a $150 permit for the project. The state Attorney General's office joined the DMV late Friday in demanding that Uber halt the program immediately. In a letter to Anthony Levandowski, head of the ride-hailing company's automated vehicle team, the state's highest legal office asked Uber to "adhere to California law and immediately remove its'self-driving' vehicles from the state's roadways until Uber complies with all applicable statutes and regulations." Should it fail to do so, "the Attorney General will seek injunctive and other appropriate relief," said Miguel Neri and Fiel Tigno, Supervising Deputy Attorneys General. State rules on autonomous vehicles "don't apply" to Uber's program, Levandowski said in a conference call earlier Friday.

SAN FRANCISCO ― Uber's self-driving cars will continue to ply the streets of San Francisco despite growing threats of legal action by state officials if the company refuses to obtain proper permits. Uber plans to defy the California Department of Motor Vehicles demand that it seek autonomous vehicle permits, because company executive Anthony Levandowski said Friday that the cars are not truly driverless and therefore not subject to the regulations. "It's hard to understand why the DMV would seek to require self-driving Ubers to get permits when it accepts that Tesla's autopilot technology does not need them," Levandowski said on a conference call with reporters. "We asked for clarification as to specifically what is different about our tech from the DMV, but have not received it.' The state attorney general's office responded with its own threat against the tech giant on Friday, saying the office will intervene if Uber fails to obey the regulations.

Russian hackers have been implicated by the CIA and FBI in an audacious effort to sway voters in the recent U.S. presidential election in the direction of Donald Trump. Like other key events in U.S. history, such as Pearl Harbor or 9/11, the revelation of the Russian cyber intrusion is a wake-up call. It signals that a new "code war" is underway through the weaponization of information. The irony can't be missed, of course, that the CIA, which itself sought to influence democratic elections around the world from the earliest days of the Cold War, is calling out the Russians. Former CIA director Bill Colby once regaled me with tales of his years as a young operative in Italy, paying off journalists and channeling laundered funds to the Christian Democrats in elections during the 1950s to (successfully) defeat the Communists at the polls.

Uber will continue providing people with rides aboard its San Francisco fleet of self-driving cars, its technical chief said today, defying state regulators who have told the startup to put the cars in park. The intransigent move is sure to bring a rebuke from lawmakers who are threatening to sue. The legal fight started Wednesday morning when the ridesharing giant opened its fleet of autonomous Volvos to riders throughout the city. It did so without applying for a permit to test autonomous technology, arguing that California regulations governing the tech apply only to vehicles that don't require a human supervisor. There is always someone at the wheel of an autonomous Uber.