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Donald Trump Tweet-Burning Robot Sets The Internet On Fire

Huffington Post - Tech news and opinion

It prints out the president's tweets, sets the paper alight and then dumps the ashes into a tray. See how it destroyed Trump's recent post bemoaning the "failing" New York Times here:


Four Suspected Al Qaeda Members Killed in Yemen Drone Strike: Residents

U.S. News

The United States has repeatedly attacked AQAP, the Yemeni arm of the militant group, in strikes this month from aircraft and unmanned drones in what U.S officials says is a campaign to degrade the group's ability to coordinate militant attacks abroad.


Idaho is the second state to allow unmanned robots to deliver to your front door

#artificialintelligence

Idaho has become the second U.S. state to pass legislation to permit unmanned, ground-based delivery robots to rove around on sidewalks across the state. Earlier this month, Virginia made robotics history as the first state to pass a law specifically addressing the use of autonomous terrestrial delivery robots. The new Idaho law, which was signed by the governor today, goes into effect July 1. The legislation was championed by state Republican lawmakers, Jason Monks in the House and Bert Brackett in the Senate. Monks worked with Starship Technologies, an Estonia-based robot delivery company, on the legislation, which sailed through both state houses to pass in less than a month.


A robot is burning every one of Donald Trump's tweets so you don't have to

#artificialintelligence

Donald Trump's tweets seem to provide some catharsis for the man himself, allowing him to work out some anger at Hillary Clinton, leakers inside his own administration, and FAKE NEWS. But each one is also an opportunity for his opponents to work out their own frustrations, quoting and replying to his messages with their own sick burns. It's difficult, though, given how often Trump tweets, to think of witty replies to each of his wild statements. That's where new Twitter account @burnedyourtweet comes in. The account replies to each Trump tweet with a short video showing a robot printing the tweet out and grabbing it with a claw, before setting it on fire and dumping it in an ashtray.


Japan's Cerevo makes Ghost in the Shell's Tachikoma AI combat vehicle a reality

#artificialintelligence

It's not the first time a product inspired by anime has been brought to life in the real world. However, this product is sure to attract more international Japanese anime fans than ever. Japan startup Cerevo, which has invented a number of smart home electronics and IoT products, announced an eighth-factor model of the multi-legged tank Tachikoma, a popular character from the animated series Ghost in the Shell S.A.C. They have begun accepting pre-orders on their website. The price is $1,799 and shipment is scheduled for June of this year.


Apple Takes Down Drone Notification App 'Metadata' From App Store -- Again

International Business Times

After numerous rejections, Apple finally decided to allow a drone-strike notification app back on the App Store Tuesday after it was pulled in 2015 -- and then took it down again hours later. The app called Metadata, created by Josh Begley from The Intercept, sends a notification every time a U.S. drone strike is reported in the news. Begley, created the app five years ago and called it Drone . He said Tuesday in an article for The Intercept Apple rejected the app three times for "excessively objectionable or crude content." However, the app didn't include graphic images or video and only aggregated news about drone strikes. "If anything about the app is'excessively objectionable or crude,' perhaps it's the airstrikes themselves," wrote Begley.


Immigration chat bot can help you with the H1-B visa

Engadget

When Visabot went live last November, the Facebook Messenger-based artificial intelligence attempted to simplify the US visa application process and help many people skip the fees associated with a visit to an immigration lawyer. At the time, however, Visabot's conversational approach only supported two types of visas for travel or "exceptional individuals." Now, as promised, Visabot support is adding support for the H-1B visa transfers and applications that many Silicon Valley companies rely on for attracting talent. As Buzzfeed reports, the H-1B applications won't be supported by Visabot in time for this year's April 3 deadline, but they will be available soon. In the meantime, Visabot does support H-1B transfers -- which should give workers more mobility and prevent them from getting locked into the company that sponsored their visa in the first place.


Here's how China is battling drones

Popular Science

The country is already selling truck-mounted laser cannons: the Low Altitude Guard and the higher powered Silent Hunter. The Silent Hunter uses a laser to zap ground and air targets up to 4 kilometers (about 2.5 miles) away, and at closer range is powerful enough to threaten lightly armored vehicles. The government used the Silent Hunter to protect the September 2016 G20 summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Such "hard kill" systems would be necessary to fight future autonomous drone threats, which won't be so easily disabled by jammed communications. The current use of drones by militaries and everyday citizens, coupled with the promise of AI-enhanced and networked platforms, suggests that we will see more technology and incidents of the kind shown off at Wuhan.


How artificial intelligence is redefining our world - Eton Bridge Partners

#artificialintelligence

Not too long ago, robots were considered a possible but surreal feature of a distant future. But take stock for a moment and it's clear that artificial intelligence and machine learning has already pervaded our lives. From high-frequency trading in financial markets to customised playlists on Spotify, machines are able to receive, process and act upon data intelligently. Machine learning and artificial intelligence are at the forefront of drastic change, and the world's largest technology companies, from Google and Amazon to Dyson, are focussed on harnessing artificial intelligence to revolutionise business and consumer services. Recognising its sea-change capabilities, the British Government is also committed to advancing artificial intelligence, predicting it could add £654 billion to the UK economy by 2035.


Social Networks Need Clearer Terms of Service

Slate

This clarification followed an American Civil Liberties Union report late last year saying that a company called Geofeedia was marketing its social media–monitoring product to U.S. law enforcement as a tool to keep an eye on protests. In an email from Geofeedia to a potential police department client, which the ACLU obtained, the company boasts about how its special access to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter data could be used to monitor protests. Geofeedia said that its system allowed it to have "covered Ferguson/Mike Brown nationally with great success." It could access a vast amount of public posts, potentially in real time, allowing for the company to isolate posts and users in specific protest locations. In a case study document, the company also states that during the 2015 protests in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray, police officers were able to run facial recognition technology on social media photos to identify individuals with outstanding warrants and "arrest them directly from the crowds."