http://www.technologyreview.com/news/545466/can-augmented-reality-make-remote-communication-feel-more-intimate/

Computing News

Can Augmented Reality Make Remote Communication Feel More Intimate?A Microsoft Research study uses augmented reality to project a life-size person into a room with you, perching them in an empty seat.

By Rachel Metz on January 19, 2016

Some of the equipment used to make Room2Room work: a Kinect depth-sensing camera and a digital projector.

Nothing beats talking to another person face-to-face, but a group of researchers are considering whether a life-size projection

of a person that appears to be sitting across from you in an actual chair might be a close second.

Room2Room, a project from Microsoft Research, does just this: it uses Kinect depth cameras and digital projectors to capture the image of a person in 3-D in one room and project a life-sized version of them in real time onto a piece of furniture in another room, where someone else is actually hanging out, and vice versa. Each person can then see a digital image of the other with the correct perspective, look at them from different viewpoints, and interact with them, the researchers say.

A paper on the work will be presented at the Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing conference in San Francisco at the end of February.

Augmented reality—the idea of combining digital images with real life—has been around for years, but it’s only recently that the technology has started to catch on. Microsoft is among the companies trying to popularize AR by testing out its HoloLens headset, which it envisions as a tool for work and play, and secretive Florida-based startup Magic Leap is also working on a head-worn device that has similar aims (see “Breakthrough Technologies 2015: Magic Leap”).

Room2Room, an augmented-reality telepresence project from Microsoft Research, projects a life-sized digital version of a person onto a piece of furniture.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/18/technology/driverless-cars-limits-include-human-nature.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Driverless Cars’ Limits Include Human NatureBy JOHN MARKOFFJAN. 17, 2016Photo

A test ride in a prototype of an autonomous Nissan vehicle. Like the Tesla, the new Nissan models will still require human oversight. CreditElizabeth D. Herman for The New York Times

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Car enthusiasts, after hearing industry executives discussing the self-driving technology being built into their vehicles, might be forgiven for thinking robotic cars will soon drive themselves out of auto showrooms.

Carlos Ghosn, the chairman and chief executive of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, announced during a

news media event on Jan. 7 at the company’s research laboratory in Silicon Valley that Nissan would introduce 10 new autonomous vehicles in the next four years.

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, upped the ante. In a conference call with reporters last week, he asserted that the so-called Autopilot feature introduced in the Tesla Model S last fall was “probably better than a person right now.”

Mr. Musk also said that within a year or two it would be technically feasible to summon a Tesla from the opposite side of the country.

But there is a growing gap between what these executives are saying and what most people think of when they hear executives or scientists describing autonomous or driverless cars.

What Mr. Musk and Mr. Ghosn are describing — cross-country-driving hyperbole aside — are cars with advanced capabilities that can help drive or even take over in tricky situations like parallel parking on a busy street.

Truly autonomous cars that do all the work, like the bubble-shaped vehicles Google has been testing near its Silicon Valley campus, are still at least a decade away from ferrying people around town, said Xavier Mosquet, a senior partner at the Boston Consulting Group and managing director of the firm’s Detroit office.

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http://www.technologyreview.com/news/545496/theyre-racking-up-the-miles-but-are-self-driving-cars-getting-safer/

They’re Racking up the Miles, but Are Self-Driving Cars Getting Safer?Headlines about robot cars this week make the driverless revolution seem imminent, and yet still a long way off.

By Michael Reilly on January 14, 2016

Google’s self-driving cars are going longer and longer before deciding to disengage and hand control back to humans.

It’s a big week for robot cars. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx is in Detroit today to talk about how the Obama administration plans to smooth the path to getting autonomous cars on the road. The year 2020 keeps being reported as a year when that might happen, though that’s now less than four years away.

There’s an in-depth piece posted on Medium today as well, looking at Google’s Self Driving Car Center in Atwater, California. Among other things, it introduces us to Google’s cadre of regular folks—among them a former baker, an artist, and a marketing exec—who the company employs as test (non)drivers.

Earlier this week, the Guardian looked at how safely these test drives are going. Google now has a fleet of 53 cars operating day and night, and they have logged 1.3 million miles of autonomous driving. Google is required by California state law to report “disengagements”—that is, times when either the computer has handed control of the car back to the driver, or the driver has taken over on his own. The reporting process isn’t entirely clear: the Medium piece says disengagements can happen anytime a car encounters something as simple as a piece of wood in the road and has to be steered around it. It suggests they happen several times per trip.

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http://gizmodo.com/the-us-military-wants-a-chip-to-translate-your-brain-ac-1753876325

The US Military Wants a Chip to Translate Your Brain Activity Into Binary Code

Adam Clark Estes

1Complete with 1/4" headphone jacksIt’s been a weird day for weird science. Not long after researchers claimed victory in performing a head transplant on a monkey, the US military’s blue-sky R&D agency announced a completely insane plan to build a chip that would enable the human brain to communicate directly with computers. What is this weird, surreal future?

It’s all real, believe it or not. Or at least DARPA desperately wants it to be. The first wireless brain-to-computer interface actually popped up a few years ago, and DARPA’s worked on various brain chip projects over the years. But there are shortcomings to existing technology: According to today’s announcement, current brain-computer interfaces are akin to “two supercomputers trying to talk to each other using an old 300-baud modem.” They just aren’t fast enough for truly transformative neurological applications, like restoring vision to a blind person. This would ostensibly involve a camera that can transmit visual information directly to the brain, and then the implant would translate the data into neural language.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/01/19/more-u-s-military-drones-are-crashing-than-ever-as-new-problems-emerge/

More Air Force drones are crashing than ever as mysterious new problems emerge

The inside track on Washington politics.

By Craig Whitlock January 20 at 10:02 AM

The crash of an MQ-9 Reaper drone near Creech Air Force Base in Nevada on Dec. 11, 2014. The investigation determined the cause of the accident to be pilot error during a training flight. (U.S. Air Force)

A record number of Air Force drones crashed in major accidents last year, documents show, straining the U.S. military’s fleet of robotic aircraft when it is in more demand than ever for counterterrorism missions in an expanding array of war zones.

Driving the increase was a mysterious surge in mishaps involving the Air Force’s newest and most advanced “hunter-killer” drone, the Reaper, which has become the Pentagon’s favored weapon for conducting surveillance and airstrikes against the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and other militant groups.

The Reaper has been bedeviled by a rash of sudden electrical failures that have caused the 21/2-ton drone to lose power and drop from the sky, according to accident-investigation documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. Investigators have traced the problem to a faulty starter-generator, but have been unable to pinpoint why it goes haywire or devise a permanent fix.

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http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/635009/Mystery-of-BIONIC-GIRL-who-doesn-t-eat-sleep-or-feel-pain-even-when-hit-by-a-CAR

Mystery of BIONIC GIRL who doesn't eat, sleep or feel pain - even when hit by a CARDOCTORS have dubbed a seven-year-old BIONIC after she was hit by a car and did not feel a thing.By ZOIE O'BRIEN

PUBLISHED: 13:31, Fri, Jan 15, 2016 | UPDATED: 17:36, Fri, Jan 15, 2016

3K 130

SWNS

Olivia Farnsworth does not feel tired or hungry and cannot feel pain

Unique Olivia Farnsworth stunned medics when they discovered she has a rare chromosome condition stopping her from feeling hunger, fatigue or pain.

It is thought she could be the only person in the world to exhibit the three symptoms together.

When she was diagnosed, the consultant geneticist told mum Niki Trepak, 32, she had never seen the disorder before which allows the youngster to go THREE DAYS without sleeping.

SWNS

Olivia's mum knew her daughter was different from around nine months

Little Olivia's condition is described as chromosome 6 deletion but the mix of super-human abilities has never been reported before.

People with chromosome disorders suffer from missing or re-arranged genetic material - one common disorder being Down’s Syndrome.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/technology/techs-frightful-5-will-dominate-digital-life-for-foreseeable-future.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Tech’s ‘Frightful 5’ Will Dominate Digital Life for Foreseeable FutureFarhad Manjoo

STATE OF THE ART JAN. 20, 2016

There’s a little parlor game that people in Silicon Valley like to play. Let’s call it, Who’s Losing?

There are currently four undisputed rulers of the consumer technology industry: Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, now a unit of a parent company called Alphabet. And there’s one more, Microsoft, whose influence once looked on the wane, but which is now rebounding.

So which of these five is losing? A year ago, it was Google that looked to be in a tough spot as its ad business appeared more vulnerable to Facebook’s rise. Now, Google is looking up, and it’s Apple, hit by rising worries about a slowdown in iPhone sales, that may be headed for some pain. Over the next couple of weeks, as these companies issue earnings that show how they finished 2015, the state of play may shift once more.

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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/15/white-house-proposes-spending-3-9-billion-on-push-for-driverless-cars.html?intcmp=hplnws

White House proposes spending $3.9 billion on push for driverless carsPublished January 15, 2016

FILE - In this May 13 2014, file photo, a Google self-driving car goes on a test drive near the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. (AP) (AP)

The Obama administration is proposing to spend nearly $4 billion in a decade to accelerate the acceptance of driverless cars on U.S. roads and curb traffic fatalities and travel delays.

The proposal, which would require congressional approval, aims to have federal regulators work with auto makers and others to craft policies and rules for vehicles that can move without a driver at the wheel. It also would set up pilot programs for testing “connected vehicles” that talk to one another to avoid crashes under the $3.9 billion budget proposal.

It isn’t clear whether or when any new regulations might be adopted. Regulators said they plan to issue guidance within six months on preferred performance characteristics and testing methods for driverless cars and collaborate with state officials on policies.

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https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/growth-curve/young-infants-have-perceptual-superpowers

Young infants have perceptual superpowers

by Laura Sanders

1:53pm, January 8, 2016

SUPERBABE  Early in life, babies’ heightened senses help them make sense of the world.  

RobHainer/iStockphoto 

Young babies get a bad rap. They’re helpless, fickle and noisy. And even though they allegedly sleep for 16 hours a day, those hours come in 20-minute increments.

Yet hidden in the chaos of a young infant’s life are some truly magnificent skills — perceptual feats that put adults to shame. So next time your baby loses it

because she can’t get her thumb into her mouth, keep in mind that her strengths lie elsewhere.

Photohunt masters

Six-month-old babies can spot subtle differences between two monkey faces easy as pie. But 9-month-olds — and adults — are blind to the differences. In a 2002 study of facial recognition, scientists pitted 30 6-month-old babies against 30 9-month-olds and 11 adults. First, the groups got familiar with a series of monkey and human faces that flashed on a screen. Then new faces showed up, interspersed with already familiar faces. The idea is that the babies would spend more time looking at new faces than ones they had already seen.

Adults and babies alike saw differences in these men’s faces. Six-month-olds could distinguish between the monkey faces, but 9-month-olds and adults struggled.O. Pascalis, M. de Haan and C. Nelson/Science 2002…

Memory that learns could help tomorrow's intelligent computershttp://www.itworld.com/article/3024582/memory-that-learns-could-help-tomorrows-intelligent-computers.html Knowm hopes its new memristors will lead to new types of computers

The New Mexico-based startup is being funded through equity investment and government grant programs, and will receive more equity funding from an undisclosed partner in the coming months.Knowm's memristors are designed around human brains, in which a synapse that connects two neurons gets stronger the more often a signal is passed. Similarly, the learning and retention of information on Knowm memristor circuits are determined by data flow characteristics and the current.Memristors are best used in machine-learning models to make predictions based on patterns and trends culled from large stacks of information . . . …

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/21/technology/personaltech/video-feature-quantified-self-apps-to-help-track-habits-and-identify-patterns.html?ref=technology&_r=0

Video Feature: ‘Quantified Self’ Apps to Help Track Habits and Identify PatternsBy KIT EATON JAN. 20, 2016

Day Trackers

A selection of apps, including Reporter, Instant and Sleep Cycle, that help you log your daily activities.

By KIT EATON and DALLAS JENSEN on Publish Date January 20, 2016. Watch in Times Video »

THIS year, I’m trying to keep better track of my life. That includes tallying how much I exercise, how often I use my phone and how well I sleep. To do all of that, I’ve turned to a trend called “quantified self,” which is essentially using technology to monitor many daily activities. Not surprisingly, I’m relying on a bunch of apps for this.

Perhaps the simplest quantified-self app is Instant, which is $3 on iOS and free on Android . Instant requires little personal input because it largely runs in the background, tapping into a phone’s systems and sensors to log how many times you unlock your device, how many minutes you use it, the geographic locations you’ve been to, how much time you spend traveling, how many steps you’ve taken and how much walking or running you’ve done.

The app’s home page shows a summary of daily activity and, with a few taps, users can see the history of each item, like fitness activity. The app can also display this history in graph form, making it easier to spot habits.

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Tech faces hour of reckoning as fundraising drops, layoffs rise

Jon Swartz, USA TODAY3:56 p.m. EST January 18, 2016

The wild ride may be over for tech startups. Venture capitalists, the ones who invest billions into promising ideas for

companies, have cut back on spending. A new report from Price Waterhouse Coopers and the National Venture

Capital Association say USA TODAY

(Photo: Bryan William Jones for USA TODAY)

 28941CONNECTTWEET  594 LINKEDIN  36COMMENTEMAILMORE

SAN FRANCISCO — Is tech in for a rude awakening this year after a magic carpet ride the past few years?

The numbers, and recent actions by once-highflying start-ups, would seem to suggest so.

Consider: Mega-rounds, defined as funding of more than $100 million for venture capitalist-backed companies, are in free fall. The rate of private start-ups attaining unicorn status — a valuation of at least $1 billion — are grinding to a crawl. Friday layoffs at tech start-ups, deemed Black Fridays, are increasing. Bellwether tech stocks such as Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon have been taking it on the chin.

"It's a time to re-calibrate — so many companies can't burn extraordinary amounts of money forever," says Sunil Paul, co-founder of Sidecar, a pioneer in the crowded ride-sharing space that shuttered operations on Dec. 31.

Last year, Silicon Valley projected unbridled swagger. Today, "there is definitely an era of reckoning," says Chris Sacca, a venture investor with stakes in Uber and Twitter. "Reality is setting in."

A report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and National Venture Capital Association underscores the chasm: While last year was the second-best in two decades for venture capital investments, at $58.8 billion, the fourth-quarter figures marked the smallest amount

Tom Ciccolella, PwC's U.S. venture capital lead, says the decline in mega-deals is the first clear sign of a tamped-down market for funding. The slowdown began late last year, according to several market researchers.

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http://www.technologyreview.com/news/545421/giant-yahoo-data-dump-aims-to-help-computers-know-what-you-want/

Giant Yahoo Data Dump Aims to Help Computers Know What You WantThe release of data on the news-reading habits of 20 million Yahoo users could help advance recommendation algorithms.

By Tom Simonite on January 14, 2016

Hundreds of millions of people visit Yahoo’s news sites each month. Today the company released a huge trove of information

about the news-reading habits of some 20 million of them in an attempt to help researchers invent software that’s better at predicting what we want.

The giant 13-terabyte data set (13,000 gigabytes) is drawn from activity on Yahoo sites between February and May of last year and is being made available only to academic researchers. Yahoo says the data set is the largest to ever be made freely available, besting a one-terabyte data set released by the online ad company Criteo last year.

Suju Rajan, director of research for personalization science at Yahoo Labs, says the data provides a valuable testbed on which to train and test algorithms that try to understand what people like based on their past behavior. “This is not just relevant to Yahoo; work on this data set is going to benefit the whole industry,” she said at a news briefing Tuesday.

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