In this continuation of "Hybrid content-based and collaborative filtering recommendations wi..." I will describe the application of the {ordinal} clm() function to test a new, hybrid content-based, collaborative filtering approach to recommender engines by fitting a class of ordinal logistic (aka ordered logit) models to ratings data from the MovieLens 100K dataset. All R code used in this project can be obtained from the respective GitHub repository; the chunks of code present in the body of the post illustrate the essential steps only. The MovieLens 100K dataset can be obtained from the GroupLens research laboratory of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. This second part of the study relies on the R code in OrdinalRecommenders_3.R and presents the model training, cross-validation, and the analyses. But before we proceed to approach the recommendation problem from a viewpoint of discrete choice modeling, let me briefly remind you of the results of the feature engineering phase and explain what happens in OrdinalRecommenders_2.R which prepares the data frames that are passed to clm().

Spotify began building custom-curated playlists back in 2015 and now Pandora is offering a similar option for its listeners. With that Pandora calls "personalized soundtracks," the company will put its Music Genome to work creating a library of playlists based on your listening habits. "The personalized playlists fit your moods, activities and favorite genres and are updated each week based on your individual musical tastes," chief product officer Chris Phillips explained in a blog post. "We combined our human curation with personalized algorithms to automatically serve up new artists and songs anticipating the perfect balance of discovery and steady favorites." Of course, this isn't the first time Pandora has offered curated playlists.

Warner Bros. Pictures says Wednesday that the cut will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 12 before launching in select U.S. theaters on May 18. Filmmaker Christopher Nolan will introduce the film at the Cannes premiere, where members of Kubrick's family will also be in attendance.

With Photoshop, you can weave all manner of deceptions if you want to (as well as creating and enhancing wonderful images, honestly and openly). I wouldn't be averse to a bit of help from Photoshop if I had to sit for a portrait. Nor would I question the integrity of a photographer who had graded his or her raw footage and added a bit of sharpness and saturation for "punch". But what would I think about a news photographer removing objects - buildings, trees, groups of children - from a picture to make it look more menacing. I'd think the same about them as I would about anyone acting deceptively.

LIE DETECTORS ARE not widely used in business, but Ping An, a Chinese insurance company, thinks it can spot dishonesty. The company lets customers apply for loans through its app. Prospective borrowers answer questions about their income and plans for repayment by video, which monitors around 50 tiny facial expressions to determine whether they are telling the truth. The program, enabled by artificial intelligence (AI), helps pinpoint customers who require further scrutiny. AI will change more than borrowers' bank balances.

Ready Player One opens less than two weeks after the eruption of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which is only the most recent reminder that we must be vigilant about the tech industry, as that vigilance likely won't come from within. Directed by Steven Spielberg, the video game–inspired sci-fi epic--a hybrid between live action and motion-capture-assisted animation--initially seems to be exactly the kind of plugged-in dystopia tale we need right now. Twenty-seven years in the future, the film's Columbus, Ohio, setting is a teeming scrapyard. Trash lines the streets, trailers resembling shipping containers are perilously stacked on top of one another, and the stench of mass civic disengagement pervades the neighborhood. The only reality that matters to almost everybody is the virtual one known as the OASIS, the control of which went up for grabs five years earlier, with the death of its founder, James Halliday (Mark Rylance).

Friday's Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage was a historic moment for civil rights in America, and for the first time ever, Facebook released a tool that encouraged people express solidarity with a rainbow profile picture. I really resent that they are using something like this to glean information that they can use later on. I try to stay away from giving Facebook any information that I don't have to. Things like this are why. They are taking advantage of people's good intentions.

About Datameer Datameer is changing the way companies do business by enabling them to get value and insights from their data at the speed of thought to make better, more trustworthy decisions and drive better business outcomes. Datameer offers a unified way to simplify the time-consuming, cumbersome process of turning complex, multi-source data into valuable, business-ready information in a matter of minutes and hours, rather than weeks or months. Leading global organizations, including Citibank, Royal Bank of Canada, Aetna, Optum, HSBC, National Instruments, Vivint and more use our secure and scalable enterprise-grade platform to streamline and simplify data integration, preparation and exploration so subject matter experts can leverage trusted data to cultivate innovation, creativity and efficiency for competitive advantage.

Huawei has unveiled the world's first triple rear camera system on a smartphone, which will use artificial intelligence (AI) to help users take photos. The Chinese firm said the new £800 ($1,130) P20 Pro uses AI to identify objects and scenes in the camera's view and adjust its settings accordingly. The smartphone can snap photos in near-dark conditions without using its flash or a tripod by taking exposures lasting up to six seconds to get enough light. Its AI system adjusts the camera's settings to avoid the blurring and smearing that often plagues photographers employing this technique handheld. The P20 Pro is the flagship device among three new phones the company announced at an event in Paris, where the P20 and P20 Lite were also introduced.

Fake news of the future will be much more sophisticated thanks to artificial intelligence, according to a CIA consultant. Efforts to influence consumers and voters through the spread of disinformation have been primitive compared to what is to come, he warns. Intelligent machines will be used to generate millions of stories, each personally tailored to suit the beliefs and interests of the recipient. Fake news from Russia, disseminated on Facebook, is already believed to have influenced the outcome of a US presidential election and perhaps also Brexit. The predictions suggest that this may just be the tip of the iceberg, with fake news set to become a regular part of online life.