Well, there's a bit of perspective for ya!

Well, there's a bit of perspective for ya!

Originally shared by Amartya choudhury

Just imagine

Simple DIY Flame: Battery and Gum Wrapper.

Originally shared by Andres M. Trianon

Simple DIY Flame: Battery and Gum Wrapper.
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Evidence of widespread control of fire dates to approximately 125,000 years ago and earlier. Evidence for the controlled use of fire by Homo erectus beginning some 400,000 years ago has wide scholarly support, with claims regarding earlier evidence finding increasing scientific support

Claims for the earliest definitive evidence of control of fire by a member of Homo range from 0.2 to 1.7 million years ago and it is likely that large scale climatic and disease events caused the tribes with knowledge for controlling fire to be wiped out in different areas of the world , thus explaining the long periods of history without it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_of_fire_by_early_humans

http://i.imgur.com/NjXqTB8.gifv

Too bad it doesn't apply to where the companies are located, too, not just the end-users.

Too bad it doesn't apply to where the companies are located, too, not just the end-users.

Originally shared by Daniel Suarez

Basic privacy protections finally reach the Internet...at least in California

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act was just signed into law here in California -- and with huge bipartisan support. This law will require state and local law enforcement to obtain a search warrant -- detailing what they're looking for -- to gain access to web mail, texts, geolocation history, and more for a California resident. I'm just surprised it took so long to consider the content we generate online and through mobile devices (though held by third parties) to be equivalent to our proverbial 'persons, houses, papers, and effects.'

Sure, the companies that hold our web mail and private chat sessions still have access to the data, but at least they can't be compelled to cough up information to the police on a whim -- there must now be a warrant...again, only for California residents. However, we all know where the most prominent tech companies are headquartered and hopefully this state law will have a salutary effect on legislation elsewhere. That's important because with our current drought everyone moving to California is not an option...

"State senators Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Joel Anderson (R-Alpine) wrote the legislation earlier this year to give digital data the same kinds of protection that non-digital communications have."
http://www.wired.com/2015/10/california-now-nations-best-digital-privacy-law/

This seems important to know...

This seems important to know...
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/10/whats-in-a-boarding-pass-barcode-a-lot/

Interesting! But I'm going to wait until it's under $200.

Interesting! But I'm going to wait until it's under $200.

Originally shared by Artem Russakovskii

This new L16 camera by Light looks wild. It has 16 cameras inside and says it's confident this is how cameras will be built in the future.

10 of these 16 cameras fire to create an image - which ones depends on various conditions. It's a very interesting concept, to say the least.

Shipping late summer 2016 (so they say).
https://light.co

Well, that was less weird than I thought it would be (not completely unweird, mind you).

Well, that was less weird than I thought it would be (not completely unweird, mind you).
http://www.engadget.com/2015/10/05/roboho-tiny-robot-smartphone-only-in-japan/

Extending the definition of "over the top"!

Extending the  definition of "over the top"! If it could move faster that 8 knots I could see this being used as a mobile substitute for an evil overlord's remote island lair. 
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/24/sport/gallery/migaloo-submersible-yacht-floating-island/index.html

Hey, Google Now, there's a small glitch in your algorithm - two completely different types of "charger" - EV...

Hey, Google Now, there's a small glitch in your algorithm - two completely different types of "charger" - EV chargers are for cars and the San Diego Chargers is a sportsball team that will soon be moving to L.A.

Food for thought.

Food for thought.

This article is focused on voice control and it's attendent technologies. (One of the commenters on the original post even says he's dictated a 750 novel using Siri!) It is improving rapidly and since it's a back-end process it can be significantly improved without the end users (us) having to upgrade our terminal hardware very often.

I think the next step after that will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary but will require changes to the terminal hardware (cell phones or whatever we carry next). It will be powerful enough to do the processing independently and/or the pipeline to the offline processing facility will be fast and wide enough to process and respond in near real-time. That will make the technology and it's avatars conversational. 

The revolutionary change following that will be the ability for this technology to perform always-on ambient listening. Unlike the previous conversational step which was triggered (however subtly) by the user and only required computational resources during a conversation, ambient listening will always be processing cues in the user's environment. These cues will include not just the words spoken by the user but all words spoken within earshot (and beyond?). In addition, other audible (and sub-audible?) sounds will be included. Adding visual input ( one or more cameras, light sensors, etc.), motion sensor input, and other environmental sensor data will help build a thorough model of the user's situation. Add to that non-local input based on the user's interests and the ambient AI can make suggestions, know when to interrupt and interject appropriately, reveal immediate threats, and more.

This step will require massive upgrades in data storage and retrieval, processing power, data movement infrastructure. It will also require more forms of communication to the end user than just audio through a speaker or an earpiece!

And if you thought the privacy concerns and claims of "creepiness" around Google Glass were loud just wait!

Originally shared by Mike Elgan

When artificial intelligence is everywhere, all the time.

(Read my column: http://goo.gl/8mHB99 )

If you look at a roster of the sure-fire hit gifts for this year's holiday season: The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, the iPad Pro, the Amazon Echo, the Apple TV, the Amazon Fire TV, Android phones and tablets, Hello Barbie and the Star Wars robot (Sphero's BB-8) -- the robot is the only product that doesn't come with instant access to supercomputer artificial intelligence. And it would be trivial for Sphero to add A.I. access to the app. In fact, they probably will within the next year.

Voice-interaction A.I. assistants and chatbots are the future of how we interact with machines. They will guide us, watch out for us, help, inform, entertain us and even befriend us.

Because they live in remote data centers in the cloud, they'll be constantly and rapidly improved without any action (such as buying something new) on the part of the user.

Artificial intelligence virtual assistants are already part of our lives. But very soon they will be far more advanced than ever before and they will be everywhere. They're going to change everything.

Brace yourself. The real A.I. revolution is like nothing you've ever experienced before, and it's going to blow your mind.

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2984683/emerging-technology/when-artificial-intelligence-is-everywhere-all-the-time.html

#ai #artificialintelligence #siri #googlenow #cortana   #amazonecho   #Xiaoice

::facepalm::

::facepalm::

This is why you don't build backdoors into your encryption algorithms.

Originally shared by Kirill Grouchnikov

The TSA is learning a basic lesson of physical security in the age of 3-D printing: If you have sensitive keys—say, a set of master keys that can open locks you’ve asked millions of Americans to use—don’t post pictures of them on the Internet.

A group of lock-picking and security enthusiasts drove that lesson home Wednesday by publishing a set of CAD files to Github that anyone can use to 3-D print a precisely measured set of the TSA’s master keys for its “approved” locks—the ones the agency can open with its own keys during airport inspections. Within hours, at least one 3-D printer owner had already downloaded the files, printed one of the master keys, and published a video proving that it opened his TSA-approved luggage lock.
http://www.wired.com/2015/09/lockpickers-3-d-print-tsa-luggage-keys-leaked-photos

This is more important than it seems.

This is more important than it seems.
http://gizmodo.com/why-winning-the-dancing-baby-lawsuit-is-a-big-deal-for-1730683152?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_twitter&utm_source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow