As humans, we perceive the three-dimensional structure of the world around us with apparent ease. Think of how vivid the three-dimensional percept is when you look at a vase of flowers sitting on the table next to you. You can tell the shape and translucency of each petal through the subtle patterns of light and shading that play across its surface and effortlessly segment each flower from the background of the scene (Figure 1.1). Looking at a framed group por- trait, you can easily count (and name) all of the people in the picture and even guess at their emotions from their facial appearance. Perceptual psychologists have spent decades trying to understand how the visual system works and, even though they can devise optical illusions1 to tease apart some of its principles (Figure 1.3), a complete solution to this puzzle remains elusive (Marr 1982; Palmer 1999; Livingstone 2008).

This year flooded theaters and streaming sites with a wealth of riches. Audiences hungry for escape were rewarded with adventures that boasted evil AI, high fantasy, and sprawling superhero showdowns. Those craving the cerebral were gifted art house films with a perturbed princess, an unnerving nurse, and a serial killer who took her love of muscle cars to a wild extreme. It was a year where musicals sang of the best and worst of New York City, where dramas made infectiously thrilling turns and comedies took culotte-coated leaps that had us in stitches. Here are our picks for the 15 best films of 2021.

What if I told a story here, how would that story start?" Thus, the summarization prompt: "My second grader asked me what this passage means: …" When a given prompt isn't working and GPT-3 keeps pivoting into other modes of completion, that may mean that one hasn't constrained it enough by imitating a correct output, and one needs to go further; writing the first few words or sentence of the target output may be necessary.

The tiny Smart car was meant to be a revolutionary new idea in urban mobility. But more than 20 years after its creation, the Smart car pulled out of the U.S. after years of increasingly dismal sales. Now, its parent company, Daimler, is looking in a new direction. About CNBC: From'Wall Street' to'Main Street' to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more.

Google wants to do more than just organize the world's information. It wants to infuse itself into our lives and replace several of our daily tasks robotically. That, clearly, is the goal, as outlined this week. Forget about those shiny new Pixel phones, tablets and speakers that Google announced this week at a splashy event in New York. Or a new talking video speaker that takes on Amazon's Echo Show with a focus on Google visuals like mapping, calendar, and, of course, all that YouTube content.

CNBC's Phil LeBeau explores who is leading the autonomous car race, and which company will have cars out on the road the soonest. About CNBC: From'Wall Street' to'Main Street' to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more. Connect with CNBC News Online Get the latest news: http://www.cnbc.com/ Find CNBC News on Facebook: http://cnb.cx/LikeCNBC

"Today is the slowest rate of technological change you will ever experience in your lifetime," wrote Shelly Palmer in his e-book Data-Driven Thinking (Digital Living Press, 2016). As one of the world's premier voices on the accelerating pace of digital technology, he is increasingly preoccupied with helping companies and individuals prepare for the dramatic changes he sees coming, particularly in entertainment and media. Palmer started his career at age 12 as a musician, playing the clarinet, saxophone, and flute in the 1970s in venues around New York. He was also an early experimenter with analog and digital synthesizers. He holds patents for two major interactive television technologies, one of which -- a method for syncing broadcast TV with server-based text, known as enhanced television -- was adopted by Monday Night Football and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? His background also includes writing the theme music for Spin City and Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, and conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. Currently, he is Fox 5 New York's on-air tech and digital media expert and the proprietor of a popular and prescient email newsletter that covers the impact of technology on media and daily life, with a special focus on smart cars and smart homes. For the past decade, as a venture capitalist and CEO of his own consulting firm and marketing agency, the Palmer Group, Palmer has focused his attention on the evolution of advertising, marketing, and related businesses, along with leading-edge technologies such as smart home systems and data analytics. We recently talked with Palmer in New York. Conscious of the intertwined trajectories of trends in technology and media, we sought to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) and the churn in business models could affect advertising, media, and related fields over the next few years.