Sebastopol, CA - If you're an experienced programmer interested in crunching data, Machine Learning for Hackers will get you started with machine learning--a toolkit of algorithms that enables computers to train themselves to automate useful tasks. Authors Drew Conway and John Myles White help you understand machine learning and statistics tools through a series of hands-on case studies, instead of a traditional math-heavy presentation. "We can see how many people are interested in learning about machine learning (ML), but don't have the mathematical background to read traditional treatments of the book," says White (@johnmyleswhite). "We wanted to get people interested in ML in a hands-on fashion in the way that chemistry sets can get children excited about chemistry before they have the scientific background to learn the subject rigorously." White says that he and coauthor Drew Conway (@drewconway) wrote the book to match the tech community's growing interest in ML.

The film "2001" gained cinematic notoriety with the introduction of a self-aware, independent-thinking, murderous computer named HAL that became a sci-fi icon. In the movie's namesake year, IBM engineers launched an effort to develop technology to help computers monitor, diagnose, and heal their own problems. IBM isn't trying to create a real-life HAL, but it does want to make computers smart enough to heal themselves. The promise of autonomic computing--systems that function automatically, much like reflexive bodily functions such as breathing, without external intervention--still remains formative. Developing these sorts of capabilities often requires multiple vendors to work together toward a long-term vision to build networkwide capabilities, sometimes piece by piece.

For 20 years, computer scientists have been working on improving ways to search among reams of video clips for a particular shot. New research by IBM, Microsoft, and academic teams studying the problem could bring them a step closer to that goal. At a conference in Cambridge, England, last week, an IBM researcher gave the first public demonstration of a computer system called Marvel that uses statistical techniques to learn about relationships between colors, shapes, patterns, sounds, and other clues from video footage that can help identify its content. IBM's prototype then labels the footage so users can go back and find individual shots. That could be a boon not only to TV news producers but intelligence analysts watching surveillance video and even PC users editing home movies.

Interested in the research on machine learning and time-series analysis algorithms able to process big data in an efficient, adaptive, and robust way. Currently focused on their application to Cognitive Stimulation and Rehabilitation (see Innobrain and Cognitio projects) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (see AMATE project). Another topic of my interest is the use of Machine Learning techniques to reason and learn about musical processes like expressive music generation. Currently focused on the study of musical expressivity in Nylon Guitars (see guitarLab) and social tools for music education (see PRAISE). We have studied the issue of expressiveness in the context of tenor saxophon interpretations (see Saxex and TempoExpress systems) in collaboration with the Music Technology Group (UPF).

After finding success with guessing dog breeds and ages, Microsoft appears to be gearing up to launch a new website that can guess which celebrity a user looks like. CelebsLikeMe, which shows a percentage match with the celebrity an uploaded photo looks most like, was spotted by Twitter user h0x0d on Wednesday, before it was swiftly taken down again. Screenshots taken before the site went down reveal that Microsoft is focusing specifically on matching photos to Oscar nominees. The Oscars are scheduled to take place on February 28, so it is possible the site will go live closer to the date as a tie-in with the event. It's not the first time the site has been spotted.

Amazon introduced Thursday two gadgets similar to its voice-controlled Echo speaker, which can be used to check the weather, order Domino's pizza or hail an Uber car. The Amazon Tap, a portable speaker that streams music, sells for $129.99. The $89.99 Echo Dot is a hockey puck-shaped device that responds to prompts to control smart appliances and connects to external speakers. For now, the Echo Dot is available only to Amazon Prime members who already have the original Echo device and Amazon's Fire TV set-top box. The original Echo, launched in 2014, is larger and cannot connect to external speakers.

You may think that the cuddly rubber-skinned dinosaur robot on Steve Bannerman's shoulder is just another low-priced Christmas gift. But to Bannerman, a former Apple staffer who set up Quicktime TV (which became the iTunes Store), Pleo, as the dinosaur is called, might just be the future of human-machine interaction. Pleo, made by a company called Ugobe, coos and even sings. Rub its neck and stomach and it blinks its baby-like eyes and turns towards you and writhes happily. He likes it," says Bannerman. "He's got sound and video sensors," he explains. When it's stroked, the machine reacts with - well, you'd call it pleasure. Bannerman has only been with Ugobe since April; he'd previously cashed out of Apple at the height of the dotcom boom. But Pleo fascinated him: "I fell in love with this dinosaur," he says. "I loved the artificial intelligence component." He points to Wall-E, Pixar's latest: "What's cool is that they built character into it.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, someone had the idea that science would be at its most interesting when it was being subverted. Just as science itself was developing, storytellers began expanding the worlds of physics, biology, chemistry and engineering. They came up with a universe full of lightsabers, spaceships and robots, steeped in a heady brew of technobabble and draped on a background of journeys to exotic worlds. But science fiction is more than just pulp fiction; at its core is the desire to understand humanity's place in the universe. We asked leading scientists from around the world what science fiction meant to them: how they related to it and what influence it had on them.

It should be settling into senior citizenship, but the 65-year-old festival is reinventing itself this year. The programme has been mixed up by a host of guest curators – ranging from Gus Van Sant to Jim Jarmusch, and Mike Skinner to Apichatpong Weerasethakul. And as well as the usual core of new international features and documentaries, there are envelope-pushing new strands and events. Of the conventional features, highlights include Romain Gavras's awaited feature debut Our Day Will Come, a French skinhead tale that looks as confrontational as his music video work (which plays beforehand). David Hare presents his new MI5 thriller Page Eight, led by Bill Nighy (who'll also be giving an onstage interview); Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle buddy up in Irish cop comedy The Guard; and festival regular David McKenzie returns with apocalyptic art sci-fi Perfect Sense, starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green.

Welcome to Weird Things, a new regular column taking an oblique look at strange ideas from the worlds of SF, fantasy and beyond, that might – just might – be worth thinking about. Daniel H Wilson's novel, Robopocalypse, comes pre-packaged with two Unique Selling Points. First, that the author holds a Phd in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, and is hence more than just another oddball SF writer with an overactive imagination. And that, having been bought by Steven Spielberg for production "even before it was finished", the novel is already a success, and nothing breeds success like success. If the point of a book's title is to let the reader (or potential Hollywood producer) know exactly what is inside the tin, then Robopocalypse succeeds admirably. No doubt the sequels Zombiegeddon and Alienvasion have already been commissioned (from other suitably qualified experts).