I want to create music generated by mathematical algorithms, or even turning big data files into sound files, just like NASA turned electromagnetic signals from space into music. Producing artificially generated music is a popular subject, see for instance Composing Music With Recurrent Neural Networks, or Using Machine Learning to Generate Music. My question is how to access my laptop's speaker from a script written in Python or Perl. I used to do it long ago in C language, using the command sound available in the Borland package. Today I tried various system calls from within Perl, or directly from the command line, to non avail.

In the third issue of this monthly digest series you can find out how Microsoft is bringing AI to the visually impaired, how to colorize your grayscale images, why a Google car caused a crash for the first time, and much more. Last Thursday, Microsoft showed off its Seeing AI app for the first time. It's still under development, but it looks extremely promising. Using a smartphone camera or a pair of camera-equipped smart glasses, the Seeing AI app can identify things in your environment--people, objects, and even emotions--to provide important context for what's going on around you. By a swipe of hand, the user can instruct the app to take a snapshot of the current visual scene and run it through image recognition software.

The Netflix model points the way towards marketing innovation being driven through artificial intelligence. Marketing and agency teams spend acres of time each month reviewing analytics, creating performance reports, writing and scheduling social media updates, determining blog post topics, copywriting, curating content, building strategy, and allocating resources. Machines could perform much of this heavy lifting, leaving teams of people to enhance algorithm-based recommendations and content. This approach will require everybody involved, including the creative department, to have a hands-on knowledge of data.

Welcome to another edition of In the Loop, the Los Angeles Times' theme park newsletter. I'm Funland theme park blogger Brady MacDonald, and this week, we drop in on the Wizarding World grand opening, taste-test Disney's Food and Wine Festival, bid farewell to the last-remaining Back to the Future ride and marvel at Phantasialand's visually stunning new coaster. Times columnist Mary McNamara writes that Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood is the place where "magic comes to life, or as close as it gets." For those who have never been on the world's best dark ride, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey turns the traditional dark ride experience on its head by placing riders on the end of a unique robotic arm. The often-overlooked Flight of the Hippogriff at Wizarding World is a short but fun ride that's perfect for young kids eager to climb aboard their first roller coaster.

Artificial intelligence can master the world's most complicated board game, beating South Korean Go grandmaster Lee Se-dol in the process. But can it predict the winner of a reality TV singing contest? That is the challenge facing "Ai", an artificial intelligence programme developed by Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of China's e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba. This Friday, Ai will attempt to prove that it can perceive something as subjective as the aesthetic beauty of musical notes by predicting the winner of Hunan TV's "I'm a Singer". The broadcaster is named after the southern Chinese province in which it is based.

In a decision announced Thursday, March 10, 2016, Yahoo set up a battle for control of its board by appointing two directors likely to further agitate an activist shareholder threatening to lead an investor mutiny aimed at ousting Mayer unless she bows to demands to sell the companyís Internet operations. NEW YORK–The financial meltdown at Yahoo has gotten "increasingly dire." That's what veteran Silicon Valley journalist Kara Swisher reported in Re/code after examining disclosure documents inside the sale "book" Yahoo's bankers have shown to prospective bidders. Swisher writes that the "collective issues depicted in the book has many nervous about bidding." Among the reveals: Yahoo is in a "serious free fall."

"Machine learning" is a term that's heard more often in startup and big data circles than "artificial intelligence", and interestingly enough, Google Trends confirms what's already heard through the technological grapevine: While most business laypeople have heard the term, they're more interested in what machine learning (ML) can do, as opposed to how it works. While it could be argued that both are important – even for business people – this article will focus on five current applications of ML that are likely to be important parts of an expanding trend. Most of us are familiar with Amazon's now-famous, ubiquitous "you might also like…" These suggested products aren't merely based off of randomizing products in a similar category and putting them up as a "best shot," those suggestions are the result of millions and millions of online transactions through Amazon's eCommerce platform – crunched and analyzed to discern what a user like you (geography, account history, engagement on the page, cart value) might like. Given the 200-and-something million products that Amazon offers, that's far too much information for a human being to calibrate individually over the course of 200 years, never mind in real time. Companies like Pandora and Spotify are also famously employing recommendation engines, undoubtedly contributing to their success in the domain of streaming music.

I'm not going to lie, friends: up until last night I thought technophobic hyperbole about the imminent rise of the machines was nothing more than the ranting of paranoid freaks. Sure, there have been huge strides in artificial intelligence in recent times, from natural language chatbots to Apple's phone robot Siri to Facebook's weirdly targeted ads. However, each of those systems have certain undeniable flaws. Musician Courtney Barnett speaks about the significance of the APRA awards to her as they honour songwriting, the success of her album and her future plans. And artificial intelligence is a popular thing about which to irrationally panic, thanks to half a century of warnings about the robopocalypse.

Musician Courtney Barnett speaks about the significance of the APRA awards to her as they honour songwriting, the success of her album and her future plans. I'm not going to lie, friends: up until last night I thought technophobic hyperbole about the imminent rise of the machines was nothing more than the ranting of paranoid freaks. Sure, there have been huge strides in artificial intelligence in recent times, from natural language chatbots to Apple's phone robot Siri to Facebook's weirdly targeted ads. However, each of those systems have certain undeniable flaws. And artificial intelligence is a popular thing about which to irrationally panic, thanks to half a century of warnings about the robopocalypse.

Spectacular drone footage has emerged showing a huge pod of dolphins swimming off the shores of a popular beach. Steve Maxwell captured the pod of about 40 dolphins cruising between Avalon Beach and Whale Beach in Sydney's north. The licensed drone pilot stumbled upon the majestic scenes while photographing surfers in the area, reports Daily Telegraph. Photographer Steve Maxwell captured the pod of about 40 dolphins cruising between Avalon Beach and Whale Beach in Sydney's north Mr Maxwell quickly decided to focus on capturing the marine mammals, who can be seen frolicking together in a large pack. 'Every available chance I get, I send the drone up over them,' Mr Maxwell said.