Personal Assistant Systems
Tinder Transgender Options: Dating App Wants To Be More Inclusive
Popular dating app Tinder is rolling out a new update that allows people to choose their gender beyond just the binary options of male and female. In a blog post Tuesday, the company said: "Starting today, no matter how you identify, you can express your authentic self on Tinder." Users who want to use this option can go do so by updating their profile, which now has a "More" button under the "I Am" option. Choosing "More" will allow you to type the descriptor that best fits your gender identity. You can also choose to display your gender in your profile as well as appear in searches specific to your gender identity.
Tinder Now Lets Users Identify As Genders Other Than Male Or Female
A man uses the dating app Tinder in New Delhi in 2015. A man uses the dating app Tinder in New Delhi in 2015. The dating app Tinder has made a change that it hopes will make the experience more inclusive for transgender and gender non-conforming people. Previously, users had to identify either as a man or a woman. Now, the company says people can now select a gender description from a much wider array of options.
Amazon's Black Friday deals: Cheap TVs galore
The online retailer plans to add deals every five minutes from now until December 22nd. Amazon, the sleeping giant as other retailers unveiled their Black Friday plans, is back with a vengeance, rolling out a slew of rock-bottom deals on television sets. While not every deal has been detailed, the company has put out a list of some items customers can expect to see discounted at various points over the 35 days. Other deals include a Denon Heos 1 speaker for $99.99 and Sennheiser's HD 598 Cs Closed Back Headphones for $99.95, both roughly $100 off. Hyundai is how owners can now use Amazon's Echo home connectivity system in conjunction with their cars (Photo: Hyundai) As has already been seen at other retailers, Amazon will be giving its own devices some hefty discounts.
Embedding Projector: Interactive Visualization and Interpretation of Embeddings
Smilkov, Daniel, Thorat, Nikhil, Nicholson, Charles, Reif, Emily, Viรฉgas, Fernanda B., Wattenberg, Martin
Embeddings are ubiquitous in machine learning, appearing in recommender systems, NLP, and many other applications. Researchers and developers often need to explore the properties of a specific embedding, and one way to analyze embeddings is to visualize them. We present the Embedding Projector, a tool for interactive visualization and interpretation of embeddings.
At Sundar Pichai's Google, AI Is Everything--And Everywhere
Sundar Pichai is huddling with five Google staffers in a room next to his office that's known--appropriately enough--as "Sundar's Huddle." The employees are members of the Google Photos team, and they're here this morning to update Pichai on something they've been working on for months. The group has barely begun its presentation when Pichai starts peppering them with questions, opinions, and advice. For half an hour, the discussion careens from subject to subject: the power of artificial intelligence, the value of integrating Google Photos with other products such as Google Drive, the importance of creating an emotional bond with the users of an app. After the team shows Pichai a rough cut of a promotional video, his feedback is unguarded and heartfelt: "That's awesome!" Google's bearded, 44-year-old CEO is, unmistakably, in his element. "Nothing makes me happier than a product review in which I can sit with the team and they're showing me something they're building," Pichai had told me a few days earlier. "Being able to react to it and think through, 'When users get this, what will their feedback be?' I'm always on a quest to do that better and do more of it."
AI-powered virtual assistant, Mezi, pivots to focus on travel
A startup that originally launched as an AI-powered virtual assistant, Mezi, has pivoted to focus on travel only. There's little to do online that's more annoying than booking flights, hotels and everything else you need just to take a break, or be somewhere for work. Mezi's newly designed app allows users to find and book flights and hotels and make restaurant reservations wherever they want to travel by simply typing a bit about what they're looking for into a messaging-style interface, or chatbot. Rather than relying on AI from the likes of IBM Watson or other providers, Mezi has built its own deep learning and natural language processing systems to make its app able to converse with users, and to filter out three options that meet their needs each time they make a request. Travel apps, from big players like Kayak and Google to growing startups like Hitlist or Skyscanner, already help users plan trips or find great deals on flights, hotels and more.
Google Play Music Now Uses Machine Learning to Offer Personalized Recommendations
Google released an update for Google Play Music, its music-streaming service. With this update, the service will use machine learning to present a user with personalized music recommendations based on "signals" such as their location, current activity and the weather. For instance, a selection of workout music may appear when a user walks into a gym. Google said users can opt in to receive these personalized recommendations. In addition, the app's home screen has been updated to provide users with additional personalized content.
Hello, Alexa? Call your Hyundai car from home
USA TODAY's Chris Woodyard gets a look at Hyundai's new Blue Link connection through Amazon's Alexa at the Los Angeles Auto Show. LOS ANGELES -- Sometimes, even the most diehard couch potato needs to leave the house. For them, Hyundai has come up with a system to ease the pain -- with a little help from Amazon's Alexa. Starting today, Tuesday, Hyundai vehicle owners who subscribe to the Blue Link connectivity service will be able to sign up to use it in conjunction with Amazon Echo. You can call your car hands-free from inside the house on a cold morning, start the car and have it all warmed up by the time you go outside.