I was stuck up with a problem of multi class classification on which I am bound to use an evolutionary algorithm. As far as I know these are optimization algorithms. I could find out that genetic algorithms have been used to evolve a set of weights/rules for classification models. Is there a way in which I can involve EAs in the classification process?

One of Apple's greatest strengths is timing. The company that's hailed for innovation does not often invent things first -- it didn't create the first personal computer, the first digital music player or the first smartphone. Instead, Apple reinvents, slipping in and producing something more original than what we used to use. On paper, Apple is aiming to pull the same trick with a device called HomePod. The $349 gadget -- which Apple unveiled on Monday at its annual developer conference and will begin shipping in December -- is inspired by the Amazon Echo, the smart speaker that houses Amazon's virtual assistant, Alexa, and that seemed like a joke until many people (including yours truly) suddenly began to love it.

The "one-time-only" boxing match between a 40-year-old who retired two years ago and an Irishman making his pro debut in the sport is positioned to become the greatest-selling pay-per-view fight of all time Friday. Showtime Executive Vice President Stephen Espinoza said "it's too early to declare a hard number" but Saturday's Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor fight is "tracking in the mid-to-high 4 million pay-per view buys." "If we don't reach the record, we're going to be very, very close," and "we consider it a massive success." "It was an exciting, entertaining fight and there was massive interest," in it, Espinoza told The Times, crediting strong digital sales to boost the overall domestic sales. The bout is also expected to surpass the $600 million generated in total revenue by Mayweather's less-entertaining unanimous-decision triumph over seven-division champion Manny Pacquiao, with final pay-per-view numbers expected by next week.

Forty years ago this coming Tuesday, a car-sized piece of equipment launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Thirty five years later, it became the first and only man-made object to enter interstellar space. Along the way, the Voyager probes (there were two) made headlines for flybys of Jupiter, Saturn and Titan. Fran Bagenal was a student when the Voyager probes launched, and wrote her doctoral thesis on data the probes collected around Jupiter. The professor of astrophysical and planetary science at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and former chair of NASA's Outer Planet Assessment Group, has also worked on the Galileo, Deep Space 1, New Horizons and Juno missions. Nautilus caught up with Bagenal to discuss the legacy of Voyager and the future of manned and unmanned exploration of space.

Girls who have seen the first season of Hyperlinked, an original series on Google's YouTube Red, are 11% more likely to be interested in computer science careers than viewers who have not watched the show, according to a new study. SAN FRANCISCO -- Google is calling on Hollywood to give equal screen time to women and minorities after a new study the Internet giant funded found that most computer scientists on television shows and in the movies are played by white men. It does not inspire underrepresented groups to pursue careers in computer science, says Daraiha Greene, Google CS in Media program manager, multicultural strategy. "We are not trying to erase that image, but we want to diversify and show other people in these roles as well," Greene said. More than three-quarters of characters engaged with computer science are men and more than two-thirds are white while 17.2% are Asian and 15.5% are from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, according to the study from the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

This new smart speaker is cheaper than the Dot--but is it worth it? 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. Smart home technology was once nothing more than a lofty dream, but we've finally reached a point where not only do we have a slew of smart devices to control nearly everything in our homes, but they're starting to be super affordable. Take the Amazon Echo Dot.

Netflix's stoner comedy "Disjointed" was not lighting anyone's fire this summer, according to critics. The newly released Netflix show became the lowest-reviewed series this summer on Rotten Tomatoes. The show stars Academy Award-winner Kathy Bates and follows her character who runs a medical marijuana dispenser. Netflix ordered 20 episodes and released 10 of them on Aug. 25. Rotten Tomatoes created a list of the summer's newest releases based on reviews.

Smart toys maker Sphero has released two new "Star Wars" droid for Force Friday II. Sphero now sells an app-controlled version of the classic "Star Wars" R2-D2 droid, as well as an evil version of BB-8 called BB-9E. Like Sphero's original app-controlled BB-8 droid from 2015, the new R2-D2 and BB-9E droids feature very detailed representation of their movie counterparts. However, BB-9E hasn't actually appeared in any of the films yet, but it's expected to make an appearance in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." First up is the Sphero R2-D2 app-controlled droid which is a 1:24 scale robot of the life-size version, accoridng to Mashable.

Star Wars fans – and their wallets – are set to feel the Force like never before. Toy-makers and tech companies have unveiled the latest line-up of Star Wars gadgets ahead of Force Friday II, with everything from augmented reality headsets to your own personal R2-D2, complete with holographic simulations. The haul, which will become available September 1, also includes a peek at characters set to become fan favorites in the upcoming installment, The Last Jedi, revealing BB-8's evil counterpart BB-9E, and the adorable wide-eyed Porgs. The engineers behind BB8 said when they were first presented with the challenge of creating a spherical robot by the Force Awakens director JJ Abrahms, they found several ways of creating the robot. One they settled on was to create a pendulum that sites inside the main body of the robot.