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A Model for Learned Bloom Filters and Optimizing by Sandwiching

Neural Information Processing Systems

Recent work has suggested enhancing Bloom filters by using a pre-filter, based on applying machine learning to determine a function that models the data set the Bloom filter is meant to represent. Here we model such learned Bloom filters, with the following outcomes: (1) we clarify what guarantees can and cannot be associated with such a structure; (2) we show how to estimate what size the learning function must obtain in order to obtain improved performance; (3) we provide a simple method, sandwiching, for optimizing learned Bloom filters; and (4) we propose a design and analysis approach for a learned Bloomier filter, based on our modeling approach.


Deep State Space Models for Unconditional Word Generation

Neural Information Processing Systems

Autoregressive feedback is considered a necessity for successful unconditional text generation using stochastic sequence models. However, such feedback is known to introduce systematic biases into the training process and it obscures a principle of generation: committing to global information and forgetting local nuances. We show that a non-autoregressive deep state space model with a clear separation of global and local uncertainty can be built from only two ingredients: An independent noise source and a deterministic transition function. Recent advances on flow-based variational inference can be used to train an evidence lower-bound without resorting to annealing, auxiliary losses or similar measures. The result is a highly interpretable generative model on par with comparable auto-regressive models on the task of word generation.


Autonomous firefighting robot can drive straight into a 1,000 degree blaze

Popular Science

The tank-like vehicle is already being tested in South Korea. The robot sprays itself with water to stay cool and uses thermal cameras to see through smoke. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Firefighters in South Korea will soon start deploying alongside a massive, six-wheeled, self-cooling autonomous robot that could help keep them safe. Hyundai recently revealed the new, driverless ground drone, built atop a chassis initially intended for military use and looking like something out of a sci-fi film.


Iran-linked hackers target US medical tech company

FOX News

Iran-linked hackers claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on Stryker Corporation, disrupting the medical technology company's Microsoft environment and wiping devices.


Ball x Pit on mobile, Piece by Piece x2 and other new indie games worth checking out

Engadget

Welcome to our latest roundup of what's going on in the indie game space. A bunch of intriguing games arrived this week, including a mobile port of one of the most absorbing things I've played in years and two completely different titles with the same name. Let's get things started with a look at a few projects that were featured in the latest edition of the Future Games Show . To recharge your weapons and systems, you have to plug a cable that trails behind your spaceship into a socket. While you're plugged in, your movement is restricted by the length of the tether, but you gain more firepower.


You Can Approximate Pi by Dropping Needles on the Floor

WIRED

Who needs a supercomputer when you can calculate pi with a box of sewing needles? Happy Pi Day! March 14 is the date that otherwise rational people celebrate this irrational number, because 3/14 contains the first three digits of pi. And hey, pi deserves a day. By definition, it's the ratio of the circumference and diameter of a circle, but it shows up in all kinds of places that seem to have nothing to do with circles, from music to quantum mechanics. Pi is an infinitely long decimal number that never repeats.


Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Review: The Privacy Screen

WIRED

Now I wish every smartphone had a built-in privacy display. Privacy Display is very useful. Some AI features are useless. Did you privately ask ChatGPT how to bring up nonmonogamy with your husband? Your commuting neighbor on the train snuck a glance at your phone, guffawed internally, and blasted it on X with a satisfied smirk.


A Hacker Accidentally Broke Into the FBI's Epstein Files

WIRED

Plus: A porn-quitting app exposed the masturbation habits of hundreds of thousands of users, Russian hackers are trying to take over people's Signal accounts, and more. The United States and Israel's war with Iran has now been ongoing for two weeks, and the bombs continue to fall. But many of Iran's missiles are failing to hit their targets. WIRED's team in the Middle East detailed how countries in the Gulf region are intercepting these weapons . Of course, the international conflict is not just happening in the physical realm.


Iranian drone attacks strain US air defenses as Ukraine pitches low-cost interceptors

FOX News

As Iranian-designed Shahed drones spread from Ukraine to the Gulf, U.S. and allied forces are using multimillion-dollar air defenses to counter low-cost attacks, raising sustainability concerns.


One-Shot Unsupervised Cross Domain Translation

Neural Information Processing Systems

Given a single image $x$ from domain $A$ and a set of images from domain $B$, our task is to generate the analogous of $x$ in $B$. We argue that this task could be a key AI capability that underlines the ability of cognitive agents to act in the world and present empirical evidence that the existing unsupervised domain translation methods fail on this task. Our method follows a two step process. First, a variational autoencoder for domain $B$ is trained. Then, given the new sample $x$, we create a variational autoencoder for domain $A$ by adapting the layers that are close to the image in order to directly fit $x$, and only indirectly adapt the other layers. Our experiments indicate that the new method does as well, when trained on one sample $x$, as the existing domain transfer methods, when these enjoy a multitude of training samples from domain $A$.