colossus
Move over, Alan Turing: meet the working-class hero of Bletchley Park you didn't see in the movies
Tommy Flowers: nothing like the machine he proposed had ever been contemplated. Tommy Flowers: nothing like the machine he proposed had ever been contemplated. Move over, Alan Turing: meet the working-class hero of Bletchley Park you didn't see in the movies The Oxbridge-educated boffin is feted as the codebreaking genius who helped Britain win the war. But should a little-known Post Office engineer named Tommy Flowers be seen as the real father of computing? T his is a story you know, right? It's early in the war and western Europe has fallen. Only the Channel stands between Britain and the fascist yoke; only Atlantic shipping lanes offer hope of the population continuing to be fed, clothed and armed. But hunting "wolf packs" of Nazi U-boats pick off merchant shipping at will, coordinated by radio instructions the Brits can intercept but can't read, thanks to the fiendish Enigma encryption machine.
- Europe > United Kingdom > England > Buckinghamshire > Milton Keynes (0.63)
- Europe > Western Europe (0.24)
- Europe > United Kingdom > England > Greater London > London (0.14)
- (7 more...)
- Media > Film (1.00)
- Leisure & Entertainment (1.00)
- Information Technology > Security & Privacy (1.00)
- (2 more...)
- Information Technology > Security & Privacy (1.00)
- Information Technology > Artificial Intelligence > History (1.00)
Despite Protests, Elon Musk Secures Air Permit for xAI
A local health department in Memphis has granted Elon Musk's xAI data center an air permit to continue operating the gas turbines that power the company's Grok chatbot. The permit comes amid widespread community opposition and a looming lawsuit alleging the company violated the Clean Air Act. The Shelby County Health Department released its air permit for the xAI project Wednesday, after receiving hundreds of public comments. The news was first reported by the Daily Memphian. In June, the Memphis Chamber of Commerce announced that xAI had chosen a site in Memphis to build its new supercomputer.
- North America > United States > Tennessee (0.06)
- North America > United States > Indiana > Madison County > Anderson (0.06)
From the Colossus of Rhodes to the Statue of Zeus: AI reimagines how ancient Seven Wonders of the World that were destroyed by war and natural disasters thousands of years ago would look like today
Imagine the Colossus of Rhodes, the Statue of Zeus and the other ancient Seven Wonders of the World standing as they did thousands of years ago when first built. Artificial intelligence has done just that by recreating each historic structure in modern society with bustling tourists snapping photos with smartphones. Only one of the original seven survives today, with the others lost over time due to war, crumbling civilizations and natural disasters. But using the imagine generator Midjourney, AI has brought them back from the dead, allowing the world to take another look. Ancient artwork depicting the Colossus of Rhodes shows the statue straddling the harbor entrance, but researchers have determined such a feat would be impossible.
- Asia > Middle East > Iraq > Baghdad Governorate > Baghdad (0.06)
- Africa > Middle East > Egypt (0.06)
- Asia > Middle East > Republic of Türkiye (0.05)
'70s Sci-Fi Movies Were Kind of Preachy
The 1970s were one of the most overtly political decades for science fiction filmmaking. Humor writer Tom Gerencer grew up watching movies such as Logan's Run, Silent Running, and Beneath the Planet of the Apes, all of which contain clear political messages. "We were watching industrialization do what it's continued to do now, getting worse and worse and worse, and we had a lot of voices back then saying, 'No, we have to stop this,' and rightly so," Gerencer says in Episode 543 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Geek's Guide to the Galaxy host David Barr Kirtley was impressed by the continued relevance of many '70s science fiction movies, whether it's the idea of a deadly new virus in The Andromeda Strain or the threat of artificial intelligence in Colossus: The Forbin Project. "If you look at some of the issues they're dealing with--pandemics, AI, ecological collapse, youth culture, nuclear war--you would have to say that they did a pretty good job of honing in on some of the issues that were going to be important over the coming decades," he says.
- Media > Film (1.00)
- Leisure & Entertainment (1.00)
Injured In A Car Accident? Your Legal Adversary Is Artificial Intelligence
Attorney Jack Cohen knows both sides of the blame and claim game. He's spent nearly 40 years practicing law, much of it trying injury suits for insurance companies. But he's also written a novel called "Bad Faith," which tells the story from the victim's side. Cohen knows his limitations--you can't fight artificial intelligence (AI). You have to work with it.
- Law (1.00)
- Banking & Finance > Insurance (1.00)
British treasure finders accused of piracy
British archaeologists who discovered hundreds of artefacts from a cluster of 17th century shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea have had their cargo seized and been accused of an'illicit excavation'. Enigma Recoveries, which led an expedition into the Levantine Basin off the coast of Cyprus, found 12 shipwrecks filled with Chinese porcelain, jugs, coffee pots, peppercorns and illicit tobacco pipes. The ships and their priceless cargo, hailed as the'archaeological equivalent of finding a new planet' were recovered in ancient'shipping lanes' that served spice and silk trades from 300 BC onwards. But in a strongly-worded statement, the Cypriot government accused the company of being well known to both Cyprus and UNESCO for its'illicit underwater excavations' and its'violent extraction of objects causing destruction to their context'. Cyprus's Department of Antiquities accused the company of intending to sell the objects, as allegedly evident in documents filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (NASDAQ).
- Europe > Middle East > Cyprus (1.00)
- Atlantic Ocean > Mediterranean Sea (0.25)
- Asia > Middle East > Israel > Mediterranean Sea (0.25)
- (25 more...)
PS5 release date: Sony says launch of new PlayStation is on track despite coronavirus
The launch of the PlayStation 5 is still running on schedule despite the coronavirus outbreak, according to Sony. The company said that it has seen significant changes to the way it works – but that development is still continuing as expected. Sony said earlier this year that the console was planned for the holiday period at the end of this year, along with the Xbox Series X. And though the outbreak has led to "some challenges", it is still progressing as scheduled, the company said. Sony gave the update in a new results release, which also indicated a rise in the number of people buying and downloading games during lockdowns.
- Leisure & Entertainment > Games > Computer Games (1.00)
- Health & Medicine > Therapeutic Area > Infections and Infectious Diseases (0.90)
- Health & Medicine > Therapeutic Area > Immunology (0.90)
PS5 controller: PlayStation reveals new 'DualSense' for upcoming console as it promises 'radical departure'
Sony has revealed the PlayStation for the upcoming PS5 – and claims it is a "radical departure" from what has gone before. Named "DualSense", the controller comes with a variety of new features including haptic feedback, new triggers that can make themselves harder to push, a built-in microphone and a whole new redesign. The chief change in that redesign appears to be that the controller is larger and bulkier than the DualShock 4 that came with the PlayStation 4, borrowing a design more akin to the chunkier Xbox One controller. PlayStation boss Jim Ryan said the controller marks a "radical departure" from its previous generations, and promised that more about the console – including its design – would be unveiled in the coming months. Both Xbox and PlayStation have taken the unusual step of showing off a variety of details about their new consoles, months ahead of their "Holiday 2020" release schedules.
12 shipwrecks uncovered in the east Med dating from 300 BC
Archaeologists have found shipwrecks in the Mediterranean filled with hundreds of artefacts including Chinese porcelain, jugs, coffee pots, peppercorns and illicit tobacco pipes. A British-led expedition found a cluster of 12 ships on the sea bed, 1.2 miles below the surface of the Levantine Sea, using sophisticated robots. The ships were recovered in ancient'shipping lanes' that served spice and silk trades of the Greek, Roman and Ottoman empires, from 300 BC onwards. The ancient ships – including the biggest ever found in the Med – were unearthed in a muddy part of the eastern seabed between Cyprus and Lebanon, where remnants are often hard to find. The cluster of shipwrecks were found in the Levantine Basin in the east of the Mediterranean Sea.
- Europe > Middle East > Cyprus (0.26)
- Asia > Middle East > Lebanon (0.25)
- Atlantic Ocean > Mediterranean Sea > Levantine Sea (0.25)
- (25 more...)
- Leisure & Entertainment (0.71)
- Transportation > Marine (0.50)
- Transportation > Freight & Logistics Services > Shipping (0.50)