Depression is ranked as the largest contributor to global disability and is also a major reason for suicide. Still, many individuals suffering from forms of depression are not treated for various reasons. Previous studies have shown that depression also has an effect on language usage and that many depressed individuals use social media platforms or the internet in general to get information or discuss their problems. This paper addresses the early detection of depression using machine learning models based on messages on a social platform. In particular, a convolutional neural network based on different word embeddings is evaluated and compared to a classification based on user-level linguistic metadata. An ensemble of both approaches is shown to achieve state-of-the-art results in a current early detection task. Furthermore, the currently popular ERDE score as metric for early detection systems is examined in detail and its drawbacks in the context of shared tasks are illustrated. A slightly modified metric is proposed and compared to the original score. Finally, a new word embedding was trained on a large corpus of the same domain as the described task and is evaluated as well.

Emotional content is a crucial ingredient in user-generated videos. However, the sparsely expressed emotions in the user-generated video cause difficulties to emotions analysis in videos. In this paper, we propose a new neural approach---Bi-stream Emotion Attribution-Classification Network (BEAC-Net) to solve three related emotion analysis tasks: emotion recognition, emotion attribution and emotion-oriented summarization, in an integrated framework. BEAC-Net has two major constituents, an attribution network and a classification network. The attribution network extracts the main emotional segment that classification should focus on in order to mitigate the sparsity problem. The classification network utilizes both the extracted segment and the original video in a bi-stream architecture. We contribute a new dataset for the emotion attribution task with human-annotated ground-truth labels for emotion segments. Experiments on two video datasets demonstrate superior performance of the proposed framework and the complementary nature of the dual classification streams.

There's no denying that holiday music is somewhat formulaic. You'd think it would be easy for a computer to generate something indistinguishable from the typical carols piped through department stores this time of year. Turns out, it's not that easy. Swedish company Made by AI recently trained an AI system on 100 midi files of Christmas tunes, then tasked it with creating new songs. Made by AI is not the first group to create some lackluster AI-generated music. There was this attempt, from researchers at the University of Toronto in 2016.

A new company called Lighthouse introduced an advanced security camera that can tell the difference between a person and a pet back in 2017. It was a promising, Andy Rubin-backed project that managed to raise around $20 million. Unfortunately, it sounds like not a lot of people were willing to pay $300 for a security cam, even if it's powered by advanced AI and 3D sensing, because the company is shutting down operations. CEO Alex Teichman announced the closure on its website, where he admitted that Lighthouse didn't make enough money to keep the company going. "I am incredibly proud of the groundbreaking work the Lighthouse team accomplished -- delivering useful and accessible intelligence for our homes via advanced AI and 3D sensing," he wrote.

Things are moving forward for video game focused action-comedy Free Guy. The movie, which stars Deadpool favorite Ryan Reynolds, has just signed Killing Eve's Jodie Comer, Get Out's Lil Rel and Stranger Things' Joe Keery in supporting roles. Free Guy -- set to begin shooting in April -- tells the story of a background character (Reynolds) who realizes he's living in a video game, and with the help of an avatar (Comer), must stop the game's developers from shutting down his world. Shawn Levy is attached to direct, which means he'll be stepping away from Uncharted, the long-awaited live action adaptation of the game. The movie, which is loosely based on Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, has been in the works for some time, with a multiple writers and directors coming and going.

Google Assistant is everywhere, ranging from the Android smartphone in your pocket to the smart speakers and smart displays ensconced in your kitchen or living room. And that means you can control all your smart home devices without so much as turning your head. All you need to say is "Hey Google!" What do you say after that? Well, almost anything, but here are 15 essential commands you should commit to memory.

If you make a purchase by clicking one of our links, we may earn a small share of the revenue. However, our picks and opinions are independent from USA TODAY's newsroom and any business incentives. Shopping can be tough when it comes to the kids in your life; sometimes it seems like all they need is a mobile device to play on, and they're all set. If they're already on a phone or tablet, though, why not buy them a toy that uses that screen time to good effect? One trend in toys today is to set children up on the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) path early with toys or games that encourage kids to learn and explore the fundamentals of computer programming while having fun at the same time.

Tech columnist Marc Saltzman gives tech ideas to keep you entertained during your "staycation" if you're home for the holidays. Don't be jealous if your snooty friends won't stop talking about their upcoming holiday vacation. Let them deal with crowded airports, sunburns, and watered-down booze at all-inclusive resorts. Instead, having a "staycation" has never been more fun – especially if you consider all the awesome home tech you can pick up for you and the family. From big-screen televisions and smart speakers that play millions of songs (simply by asking for it) to deals on video game consoles and curling up with a great e-book on a tablet, there's never been a better time to be home for the holidays.

Stuck on what to get your loved ones for the holidays? As a tech reviewer, I get to play with all the best new gadgets before they hit store shelves, but I don't get to keep them. That means this time every year, I'm leaning over my laptop -- fingers twitching and crediting cards itching -- to buy a few of my favorites for myself or people I really, really like. Here's what I shelled out my very own money to buy this year. This is the year of voice-activated smart displays.

Artificial intelligence influencers are driving conversations about AI news and trends across social media and beyond. They advise on company boards, build startups and are moulding an industry that is key in today's tech world, with implications going far beyond. Nearly 70 years on since Alan Turing posed the question: "Can machines think?", artificial intelligence is finally beginning to have a significant impact on the global economy. Proponents of AI believe that it has the potential to transform the world as we know it, with Google's chief executive officer Sundar Pichai describing AI as "more profound than electricity or fire" at an American television network MSNBC event in San Francisco. But AI is still in its infancy, and needs the nurturing hands of its influencers to help it grow, in spite of the research and development effort that has been put into it over the years.