videos – Page 21 – Tech Today w/ Ken May

IBM wires up ‘neuromorphic’ chips like a rodent’s brain

IBM has been working with DARPA’s Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics ( SyNAPSE ) program since 2008 to develop computing systems that work less like conventional computers and more like the neurons inside your brain. After years of development, IBM has finally unveiled the system to the public as part of a three-week “boot camp” training session for academic and government researchers. The TrueNorth system, as it’s been dubbed, employs modular chips that act like neurons. By stringing multiple chips together researchers can essentially build an artificial neural network. The version that IBM just debuted contains about 48 million connections — roughly the same computing capacity as a rat’s brain — over an array of 48 chips. These systems are designed to run “deep learning” algorithms — similar to Facebook’s new facial recognition feature or Skype’s insta-translate function — but at a fraction of the cost, electrical draw and space needed by conventional data centers. For example, a TrueNorth chip contains 5.4 billion transistors but only uses 70 mw of power. An Intel processor, conversely contains just 1.4 billion transistors and draws between 35 and 140 watts. In fact, future iterations of the TrueNorth system could (theoretically at least) be shrunk small enough to fit inside cell phones or smart watches. These chips also hold an advantage over the GPUs (graphics chips) and FPGAs (function-specific programmable chips) that the industry currently uses because TrueNorth chips operate much the same way that the deep learning algorithms running on them do. With it, IBM hopes to eventually shift some of the computing power requirements away from traditional data centers and onto end user devices. This should speed up the computing process since data isn’t being sent back and forth over the network. Instead, companies could simply develop a deep learning model (say, to count the number of cars in a photo), upload it to a central data server and then have the model run on the user’s TrueNorth-enabled device. The system would be able to spot every car in the user’s image gallery without having to upload each photo to the remote server for processing. Unfortunately, the system is still in its infancy and years away from your phone. [Image Credit: IBM] Filed under: Google , Facebook Comments Via: Wired Source: IBM Tags: computing, deeplearning, facebook, FPGA, google, GPU, IBM, neuralnetwork, neuromorphic, Skype, SyNAPSE

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IBM wires up ‘neuromorphic’ chips like a rodent’s brain

Microsoft working on an app that reads the news to you

Microsoft is testing a new app called NewsCast, which makes a playlist of news story summaries and reads them to you, according to Neowin . The publication came across a page on the Microsoft Azure Web Sites domain that had the app for download. In it, the company mentioned that the program was created by the Bing team and is meant to make commutes more productive, since you can listen to playlist even while driving. Unfortunately, the download’s no longer available , but Neowin managed to take some screenshots that you can see below the fold. NewsCast reportedly uses Bing’s text-to-speech program to read out blurbs that last 30 seconds each, though the voice isn’t as organic as Cortana’s . It allows you to save summaries for later and also has a feedback button that launches a three-question survey for testers. Curiously, the app that was on Azure was available only for iOS devices, though it’s probably because a lot of Microsoft employees/testers use iPhones and iPads. As you can see, it’s not quite identical to the breaking news app Facebook’s reportedly developing, as well, but the two could very well be rivals in the future. [Image credit: JeepersMedia/Flickr , Neowin ] Filed under: Misc , Mobile , Microsoft Comments Via: PCWorld Source: Neowin Tags: app, ios, iphone, microsoft, mobilepostcross

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Microsoft working on an app that reads the news to you

Why Google Became Alphabet, Explained In 120 Seconds

What are the pros and cons of Google reorganizing itself as Alphabet? Well, Larry gets to play with the future, Google can focus on more ambitious projects, and it could help the company retain top talent. But will the independent Alphabet company CEOs get frustrated relying on Larry for resources? Here’s everything you need to know in a quick two minute video. Read More

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Why Google Became Alphabet, Explained In 120 Seconds

You can now restore deleted iCloud files, contacts and calendars

If you’ve ever accidently deleted a file in a cloud service (or worse had someone delete a shared file) you know that any restore feature is a god send. Apple recently launched its own file restore feature for iCloud.com users that resurrects files, contacts, calendars and reminders. The new feature is buried in the Advanced area within Settings and deleted files seem to be available for restore for up to 30 days. While grabbing old files before they disappear forever is a no brainer, iCloud’s restoring of calendar and contacts carries with them warnings that the restored data will overwrite the calendar and contact data currently on your devices. So you want to be careful before you start going back in time with abandon. Calendar restore is especially touchy. If you restore a calendar all your shared calendars will have to be shared again and events will be cancelled and invitations will be resent. This is really only for when something goes horribly wrong with your calendar or contacts and you need to get back to a previous version. If you do decide to restore a calendar or contact and everything goes haywire, all is not lost. The feature grabs a snapshot of your current data and you can just restore that. Filed under: Storage , Internet , Apple Comments Source: 9to5 Mac Tags: apple, cloud, iCloud

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You can now restore deleted iCloud files, contacts and calendars

FDA demands Kim Kardashian remove Instagram pill ad

The FDA sent Kim Kardashian a warning letter last week, demanding that she remove an Instagram post in which she endorsed a bottle of Diclegis morning sickness pills but failed to mention any of the potential side effects associated with the product. Kardashian is a paid promoter of the product, which is made by Duchesnay USA. Her post “misleadingly fails to provide material information about the consequences that may result from the use of the drug and suggests that it is safer than has been demonstrated, ” according to the FDA. While most of the effects that she failed to mention are relatively benign — such as drowsiness and interactions with alcohol or “excitement, irritability and sedation” in infants who breast feed from women taking the drug — one neglected fact is actually quite important: it’s never been tested for use with hyperemesis gravidarum, the most severe form of morning sickness. Faced with “FDA regulatory action, including seizure or injunction, without further notice, ” Kardashian has since deleted the post, though not before it gained 434, 000 likes. [Image Credit: GC Images] Filed under: Internet Comments Via: Salon Source: FDA Tags: Diclegis, drugs, FDA, instagram, Internet, kimkardashian, morningsickness, pregnancy, regulation

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FDA demands Kim Kardashian remove Instagram pill ad

Russia bans all of Reddit over a single ‘shroom thread

Russia’s censoring spree continued on Wednesday when the government’s internet agency, the Roskomnadzor, banned the entire Reddit website from Russian access — all because of a single thread that discussed how to grow psilocybin (aka “magic”) mushrooms titled, “Minimal and Reliable Methods for Growing Psilocybe”. According to reports from Meduza , the ban came at the behest of Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service, which felt that the content promoted discussion of these substances. The government had first sought to ban just the individual threads it found objectionable but, because Reddit uses HTTPS , the only way to eliminate of those threads was to nuke the entire site from orbit (it’s the only way to make sure). This decision follows Russia’s earlier saber rattling over cannabis cultivation threads , though these actions were not wholly without warning. On August 10th, Roskomnadzor officials published a blog post chiding Reddit for not immediately capitulating to its demands, “We assume that the website is simply understaffed during the summer holidays, but this is no excuse to risk [losing] its entire audience [in Russia].” Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, on a horse The Roskomnadzor maintains the state’s federal blacklist of websites which are supposed to deal with child pornography, extremist content or subjects under to a gag order. In reality, it’s more of a clearinghouse of information that the Russian government wishes to suppress including everything from the official Jehovah’s Witnesses website to the Internet Wayback Machine to Facebook event pages that promote protests of the government — even Chess Grand Champion/outspoken Putin critic Garry Kasparov’s personal website. [Image Credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images] Filed under: Internet Comments Via: Business Insider Source: Meduza Tags: censorship, drugs, https, mushrooms, psilocybin, Reddit, Russia, VladimirPutin

Periscope’s live streaming video reaches nearly 2 million users daily

Now that Facebook is getting into streaming (soon for non-celebs too ) and even Google/YouTube is taking notice , the folks at Twitter-owned Periscope are publishing some stats to let us know where the bar is for live video apps. In a blog post on Medium , the team says it has grown past 10 million registered accounts just four months after its launch. An accompanying graph shows its number of Daily Active Users has risen to nearly two million people, with a spike showing where it just about doubled in May with the launch of an app for Android . Rival app Meerkat beat it to the punch on Android , but we don’t have similar stats on its growth yet. By their measure however, the important stat is Time Watched, which Periscope reports has risen to over 40 years of video being watched every day. This includes “huge viewership” on the web, outside of its iOS/Android apps, which the daily users stat does not. in a video Q&A , Periscope CEO Kayvon Beykpour says that features coming soon include landscape video support and better tools for handling spam/abuse. Filed under: Internet , Mobile Comments Source: Periscope (Medium) Tags: accounts, mobilepostcross, statistics, twitter, users, videostreaming

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Periscope’s live streaming video reaches nearly 2 million users daily

Your Android games are getting a software speed boost

iPhone users have low-level Metal code to speed up games and other visually intensive apps, but what if you’re an Android fan? Don’t worry, you’ll get your boost soon. Google has announced that Android will soon support Vulkan , an open graphics standard that cuts a lot of the computing overhead and gives apps more direct control over video hardware. It’s not as easy to work with as OpenGL, but it should let developers wring more performance out of your phone’s processor. That could prove very important when you’d otherwise struggle to run a game on a lower-end phone, or want to get pretty, high-detail graphics on a shiny new flagship . It’ll be a while before Vulkan for Android is ready — the standard itself isn’t available, let alone Google’s implementation of it — but it should be worth the wait if your Android devices double as game consoles . Filed under: Cellphones , Gaming , Tablets , Mobile , Google Comments Source: Android Developers Blog , Imagination Technologies Tags: android, gaming, google, graphics, khronosgroup, mobilepostcross, opengl, smartphone, video, vulkan

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Your Android games are getting a software speed boost

Quantum VJ puts a glitchy audio visualizer around your neck

Do pendants and other wearable ornaments lack pizzazz for you? Alexander Zolotov has a way to spice things up… if you’re fond of 8-bit graphics gone haywire , at least. His Quantum VJ is small enough to hang around your neck, but clever enough to turn audio into wonderfully glitchy visuals on its 128 x 64 OLED display. As you’ll see below, the result is at once modest yet mesmerizing — plug in some tunes and you’ll have a tiny, synchronized light show several inches away from your face. It runs for 20 hours on a typical coin-sized battery, too, so it can distract passers-by all day long. This is currently a one-of-a-kind device that doesn’t even have video out, but Zolotov tells The Creators Project that future models might have output. If so, you may one day have a dance party backdrop dangling around your chest. Filed under: Misc , Wearables Comments Via: The Creators Project Source: WarmPlace.ru Tags: alexanderzolotov, audio, glitch, music, necklace, quantumvj, video, visualizer, vj, wearable

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Quantum VJ puts a glitchy audio visualizer around your neck

Nano-sized ‘yolks’ should lead to longer-lasting batteries

Those eggs you might have had for breakfast? They’re not just food — they may be the key to longer-running batteries in your devices. Scientists at MIT and Tsinghua University have developed a nanoparticle battery electrode whose egg-like design is built to last. Their invention, which houses a shape-changing aluminum “yolk” in a titanium dioxide cell, can go through charging cycles without degrading like the graphite electrodes in conventional power packs. That could improve not only the overall longevity of the battery, but also its capacity and maximum power. You’d have gadgets that not only hold out for longer between charges, but don’t need to be replaced quite so often under heavy use. This is still a lab experiment, but it’s closer to practical reality than you think. The manufacturing technique is simple, and these materials are relatively easy to find. The yolks already hold up well under stress, for that matter. Even with super-fast charging (which typically shortens a battery’s lifespan), a test unit had just over half its capacity after 500 cycles. So long as the team does get its tech into a shipping product, you could see a wave of hardware that reduces many of your energy-related woes, such as range anxiety in electric cars or phone batteries that die before you’re ready to upgrade. [Image credit: Christine Daniloff/MIT] Filed under: Science Comments Source: MIT News Tags: aluminum, battery, biomimicry, lithium-ion, lithiumion, mit, nanoparticles, science, TsinghuaUniversity

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Nano-sized ‘yolks’ should lead to longer-lasting batteries