Narrative screenplays follow a standardized format fortheir parts (e.g., stage direction, dialogue, etc.) including short descriptions for what, where, when, and howto film the events in the story (shot headings). We created a grammar based on the syntax of shot headings toextract this and other discourse elements for automatic screenplay annotation. We test our annotator on over a thousand raw screenplays from the IMSDb screenplay corpus and make the output available for narrative intelligence research.

We have developed a cinematic annotation scheme and used that scheme to create a shot-by-shot annotated corpus of similar scenes to aid with research in film understanding. This paper introduces and describes the scheme and the created corpus, discusses some of its merits, and summarizes some basic findings.

Washington, DC (CNN)Michigan announced Thursday that it's teaming with tech and auto companies to attempt to retrofit a roughly 40-mile stretch of two roads outside Detroit exclusively for self-driving vehicles. Michigan's partners include Ford and Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, a company that Alphabet has invested in. Alphabet owns Google (GOOG) and Waymo, one of the companies at the forefront of developing self-driving vehicles. Both Interstate 94 and Michigan Avenue between Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan, would be retrofitted to include a dedicated lane for self-driving vehicles. Sensors and cameras added to the roads would help the vehicles better understand their surroundings.

Welcome to your living room, the latest battleground for tech companies vying for your allegiance. What started as Amazon staking its claim with the Echo line of smart speakers now includes competition from Google and Apple, too. It's not just tiny smart speakers, either -- all three companies have launched Hi-Fi systems in the past few months in an attempt to appeal to audiophiles. But while the Sonos One with Alexa and the Apple HomePod have mustered a ton of press since their debuts, the Google Home Max hasn't picked up quite as much traction. It's not that the Home Max is underwhelming -- it's just that the Sonos One is surprisingly affordable, while the HomePod launched to much fanfare because it's Apple's first foray into the smart-speaker space.