Media
Alicia Vikander takes on Lara Croft role in 'Tomb Raider'
Alicia Vikander is following in Angelina Jolie's butt-kicking footsteps. The Swedish actress has signed on to play the role of Lara Croft in a new "Tomb Raider" movie from Norwegian director Roar Uthaug. MGM, Warner Bros. and GK Films announced the news Thursday. Jolie was the first actress to bring the popular video game character to life on the big screen. Both Jolie films were poorly received by critics, but the first was a big box office success.
Weighing The Good And The Bad Of Autonomous Killer Robots In Battle
The robotic skull of a T-600 cyborg used in the movie Terminator 3. Eduardo Parra/Getty Images hide caption The robotic skull of a T-600 cyborg used in the movie Terminator 3. In his lab at George Mason University in Virginia, Sean Luke has all kinds of robots: big ones with wheels, medium ones that look like humans, and then he has a couple of dozen that look like small, metal boxes. He and his team at the Autonomous Robotics Lab are training those little ones to work together without the help of a human. In the future, Luke and his team hope those little robots can work like ants -- in teams of hundreds, for example, to build houses, or help search for survivors after a disaster. "These things are changing very rapidly and they're changing much faster than we sort of expected them to be changing recently," Luke says. New algorithms and huge new databases are allowing robots to navigate complex spaces, and artificial intelligence just achieved a victory few thought would ever happen: A computer made by Google beat a professional human in a match of Go.
Vision Summit 2016: Agenda
Digital photography and video technologies are revolutionizing how humans communicate and do business. New innovations are emerging every month and the digital imaging market is poised for exponential growth. As a result, companies are struggling to leverage the right solutions to help them adapt and thrive in the new world. Join us for an interactive two-day summit to discuss trends and technologies in digital imaging and video technology. Meet the world's brightest technology innovators โ and learn firsthand how their visions will transform visual communication and boost or disrupt your businesses.
'The Man Who Knew Infinity' is limited by formulaic treatment that adds up to a less-than-great film
The story of self-taught mathematical wizard Srinavasa Ramanujan -- who in 1913 traveled from colonial India to the halls of Cambridge in Britain, shattering stereotypes with his theoretical ingenuity before dying tragically young at 32 -- has already inspired a number of books, plays and films. The latest cinematic treatment, writer-director Matthew Brown's "The Man Who Knew Infinity," is a reverent portrait starring ever-earnest Dev Patel as Ramanujan and Jeremy Irons as his supportive professor, G.H. Hardy. But the movie, a real-life "Good Will Hunting" of sorts, suffers from being nothing like the cultural outlier Ramanujan was: It's one more respectable British biopic following a formula. Early scenes in Madras show the twentysomething wunderkind as a shipping clerk with a young wife (Devika Bhise), filling books and writing equations in chalk on temple floors but with nobody to impress. When Trinity College shows interest, Ramanujan makes the journey, only to be met with skepticism and institutional prejudice outside the deep bond formed with the admiring, disciplined Hardy, who pushes for proofs that will show his inspirations to be merit worthy.
Alicia Vikander Will Play Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider Reboot
Alicia Vikander's career just got even brighter. The Swedish actress, who broke out in 2015 with a critically lauded performance in Ex Machina and an Oscar for The Danish Girl, has been cast as Lara Croft in the upcoming reboot of Tomb Raider, reports Variety. The long anticipated casting announcement comes after renewed interest in who might take the helm from Angelina Jolie, whose turn in 2001's Lara Croft: Tomb Raider and 2003's Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life were instrumental in launching her career. The news also puts to rest speculation that Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley might fill the role, as the actress had confirmed last month that she was in talks to star in the film. The reboot, which doesn't yet have a release date, could be a mega hit, especially if it can tap into the magic of its predecessors, which grossed a total of 432 globally.
Bicentennial Man (1999)
Owing to the fact that it is based on an Isaac Asimov story, Bicentennial Man' turns out to be a more interesting and meaningful film than both its advertising campaign and its own opening section would indicate. The caveat for those seeking out a fun film for the entire family is that this movie, though initially sold as a warm cuddly comedy in the tradition of say Mrs. Doubtfire,' actually deals with some very heavy and heady issues like sexuality, aging and dying, which may make it less-than-ideal viewing for young children. The first section of the film is, by far, its weakest. In 2005, the wealthy Martin family receives delivery of a brand new servant android (Robin Williams) who, almost immediately, begins to display a remarkable range of human emotions and interests. Thus, we are set up for yet another in a long line of predictable tales (i.e.
Machine Learning: Interview with Spencer Greenberg, CEO of Rebellion Research
Spencer Greenberg holds a B.S. Magna Cum Laude in Applied Mathematics & Computer Science, from Columbia University, and a Ph D. in Machine Learning, from NYU. Prior to Rebellion Research, he was Software Developer, Neuberger Berman, LLC and Engineer in The Investigative Project for Terrorism. Spencer has been interviewed on CNBC, Bloomberg News, Canada's BNN, and in the Wall Street Journal. He has also lectured at Columbia School of Business, and the NYU Stern School of Business. What type of machine learning do you use for Rebellion Research's AI system? A. We apply our own proprietary machine learning approach, which performs a form of Bayesian probabilistic modeling. We have found that off the shelf machine learning solutions usually do not work very well in our problem domain.
France shows off humanoid underwater exploration robot
French officials have unveiled a humanoid diving robot that they hope will give a big artificial hand to the practice of underwater archaeology. Ocean One, which looks like something out of a scuba-diving sequel to "Transformers," is the work of a team of roboticists, including Oussama Khatib of Stanford University. It is intended to help researchers explore underwater archaeological sites that are too deep to be explored by human divers. It was unveiled by culture officials on Thursday in the French city of Marseille following a trial sifting through the wreckage of "The Moon," a 17th century warship, where it had managed to collect a delicate ceramic pot and bring it back to the surface. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BREAKING NEWS: Cops take down man threatening to blow up station
DEVELOPING: A contractor who threatened to set off a bomb at the headquarters of Fox 45 Baltimore Thursday afternoon, forcing police to evacuate the building, walked outside before a sniper shot him as cameras rolled. The suspect, a man in his 20s, was still alive but refused to cooperate with officers, police spokesman T.J. Smith said. Reporters said they saw him kick off some of his clothing. When he walked out of the building, he was wearing a white panda suit, a surgical mask and sunglasses. Robot trying to get suspect to show his hands.
Why Hollywood actors are being drawn to star in video games
Video game plots don't always have the best reputations. It can be hard to keep a coherent story together when you're also trying to let a player explore an open world, or choose between branching storylines. But there are quite a few people in the industry who are working to make video game plots more like those in television or film. "Quantum Break," released earlier this month by Remedy Entertainment, blurs the lines between "traditional" media and video games even more than usual. The game features live-action sequences intercut between gameplay that stars the actors who are portraying the (very realistic) digital characters in the more traditional gameplay.