Deal: 128 GB PNY High Performance microSD card only $49.59!
Still rocking a smartphone or tablet with a microSD card slot? Fortune is definitely on your side. Not only due to microSD card readers becoming an oddity in the mobile industry, but also because Amazon has an awesome deal for you today.
The 128 GB PNY High Performance microSD card is going for only $49.59! That would be about a 50% discount over the original $99.99 price point. You also wouldn’t be buying some low-tier memory card; this is a class 10 UHS-1 microSD card with transfer speeds of up to 60 MB per second. It will be fast enough to handle all your photos, videos and any type of files you throw at it.
Having a 128 GB microSD card definitely has its advantages. That is a lot of storage for a phone. In fact, many computers have this much storage! The only issue is that these microSD card sizes tend to get exopensive, so go get yours before the price goes back to normal!
Buy the 128 GB PNY High Performance microSD card for only $49.59!
3 lessons IBM’s Watson can teach us about our brains’ biases
What can artificial intelligence teach us about human intelligence? Quite a bit, it turns out. IBM’s Watson had its crowning moment back in 2011 when the cognitive computing system famously destroyed its Jeopardy champion contenders, but lately Watson has been wading into far more murky cognitive territory—creative thinking.
“The crowning achievement of human intelligence is our ability to be creative,” says Steve Abrams, director of IBM Watson. Abrams is in the business of recreating cognitive processes in computers. “I have to know how people work,” he says. And one of the biggest pieces of understanding how people work is uncovering what it means to think creatively.
From Chef Watson, which teamed up with the Institute of Culinary Education to develop unexpected food combinations to Watson Tone Analyzer, which performs automatic linguistic analysis to interpret not just the informationm but the tone of people’s writing, Watson is reaching into all sorts of creative applications.
And the cognitive computing system, which has been snapped up and applied in various ways by some 5,000 different application developers in the past year, can also teach us quite a bit about the way our minds work. Years of studying cognitive computing and developing cognitive systems for Watson point to a number of ways in our brains function during creative thinking and problem solving.
“What is creativity? It’s having a message to convey or a problem to solve in the face of some sort of constraints, and figuring out how to achieve that goal in the face of those constraints,” says Abrams.
But what are some of the cognitive roadblocks that might be standing in the way of our ability to think and problem solve most creatively? Fast Company spoke with Abrams about what he’s learned about the cognitive biases we bring to the table that a computing system like Watson is designed to overcome.
The Brain’s Ambiguity Effect
In the absence of information, we tend to avoid choosing options we don’t know enough about or don’t feel fully confident in. Behavioral scientists call this the “ambiguity effect”—a cognitive bias in which your decision-making is impaired by a lack of information, says Abrams.
Take, for example, the choice by some investors to put their money in a less risky fixed yield instrument rather than opting for a more volatile investment like stocks and funds that have less predictable results, but offer higher returns over time. “There are people for whom that unknown factors into the equation more than it should,” says Abrams. Recognizing those biases and seeking out information in the face of doubt can help counter that ambiguity effect from preventing you to make the best and most informed decision.
Our Tendency Toward Confirmation Bias
On Watson’s recommendation, the chef went ahead, resisting his own confirmation bias and found the pairing was surprisingly complementary.
Another bias we’re often susceptible to is confirmation bias, or the tendency to look for and favor evidence that confirms what you already believe to be true. This affects the way we approach problem solving—from the key words we choose to look up on a search engine to the details we selectively notice in favor of our own opinions.
Take for example, our preferences in food taste. When Chef Watson called up a flavor pairing between apples and olive oil, the immediate reaction from the human chef involved was skepticism. Apples and olive oil are not a typical combination. But going on Watson’s recommendation, the chef went ahead, resisting his own confirmation bias and found the pairing was surprisingly complementary.
Are You Suffering From Not Invented Here Syndrome?
To be clear, this isn’t an actual syndrome, but the phenomenon (sometimes referred to as NIH) is very much out there. It’s the tendency to be more critical of someone else’s ideas rather than your own. We tend to apply higher standards to other people’s solutions rather than our own, rejecting external solutions as less superior.
In the tech world, this kind of NIH is often what leads people to reject software or developments made outside their company in favor of their own in-house version, however inferior it may be. But this happens across industries and organizations.
“Those biases that we aren’t even conscious of having impact the way we interpret results,” says Abrams. “We are trying to build a system that will help us come to a more reasonable set of interesting options, despite the fact that we as human beings have these biases.”
More from Fast Company:
- Mozilla CEO Vows To Fire Anonymous Employee For Hate Speech On Reddit
- Uber Partners With The University Of Arizona On Self-Driving Cars
- Is Hampton Creek’s Eggless “Just Mayo” Misleading Customers? FDA Says Yes
- Slack Just Made It Easier To Unify Your Online Work Life
[Photo: Ben Hider/Getty Images]
Tags: fastcompany, ibm, IbmWatson, partner, syndicated, watson
The many (surprisingly realistic) hacks of ‘Mr. Robot’
Most infosec pros agree that few Hollywood films or TV shows have gotten hacking as “right” as USA’s Mr. Robot. The show’s creator, Sam Esmail, told Engadget, “The hacker side of it actually was a combination of my frustration with the way hacker culture and tech culture was represented in Hollywood. I thought it was a very inaccurate, forced and cartoonish way of representing that kind of a culture.”
Getting hacks and hacking right on Mr. Robot means the tools and techniques pull from work done by security researchers in real life. In fact, it’s not uncommon to see hackers tweet that they spotted a colleagues’ research on episodes of the show. This is all in large part because it’s a TV show about hacking that chooses accuracy over drama. Mr. Robot’s technical consult, Michael Bazzell, told Forbes, “We don’t need to fake it. … We want that code to be accurate so that even the most sophisticated hacker or technical person out there will not roll their eyes at a scene.”
So while we all wait patiently for Mr. Robot‘s season one finale, let’s take a look back at Mr. Robot‘s notable hacks and the researchers who made them possible.
Slideshow-316039
Filed under:
Internet, Software
Tags: entertainment, hacking, MrRobot, security, UsaNetwork
(Deal) Last chance to get the Earjax ‘Lyrics’ Noise-Isolating Headphones for 80% off
Yesterday we brought everyone a great deal on some Bluetooth headphones, and today, we have a great deal for some “regular” headphones. However, the EarJax ‘Lyrics” Headphones aren’t you’re average set of headphones. The EarJax ‘Lyrics’ are noise-isolating, so that you can listen to your music, podcasts, or videos in peace.
Peace and quiet while listening to anything is something that I always try to find when it comes to getting new headphones. While you can easily get noise-isolating headphones that cost a few hundred dollars, if you can find a pair that costs next to nothing, it’s a deal that should be jumped on immediately.
- Precision fit & studio quality sound
- Oversize high-definition drivers
- High frequency response & rich bass
- Engineered to block outside noise
- Woven cloth braid for cable longevity
- Gold plated, aluminum plug for optimum conductivity
- Convenient braided extension cable
- Multiple foam tip options to ensure optimal fit
Today, the deal for the EarJax ‘Lyric’ Headphones is pretty awesome. Normally priced at $100, you can head over to the AndroidGuys deal page and get them for only $19.50 with free shipping. Anytime you can get a good pair of headphones for less than $20 with free shipping it’s worth a second look. Add in the fact that you are saving 80%, and it’s a can’t miss.
So head over to the AndroidGuys deal page and grab these bad boys today. This deal is running out, so be sure to grab these before the deal runs out and you miss out on a great set of headphones to have.
If you like this deal, and want to see more of these, let us know in the comments below. You can find this, and many other great tech bargains through our Deals Page. Backed by StackCommerce, there are daily promos, giveaways, freebies, and much more!
The post (Deal) Last chance to get the Earjax ‘Lyrics’ Noise-Isolating Headphones for 80% off appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Big toys for the big kid in all of us
Some of the toys we played with as children have grown up along with us and now they pack adult-sized fun. Memorable designs have bubbled up into lifestyle products with smarts, but most offer what we always loved them for: an action-packed thrill. Sure, we can drive real cars now, but that doesn’t diminish the urge to drift on a motorized Big Wheel. Skateboards and pogo sticks have powered up over the years, too, and hoverboards can now actually hover. This week we pay tribute to the big kid inside each of us with a lineup of reinvented, rebuilt and improved versions of playtime classics.
[Image: Local Motors]
Slideshow-314889
Filed under:
Robots, Transportation
Tags: big toys, drift, electric skateboard, flybar, hoverboard, MAME, roland, skateboard, tangram, toys for big kids, traxxas xo-1, vurtego
Amazon Echo gets new multi-account support, BART schedule access
Amazon has rolled out a couple updates to their Amazon Echo home assistant appliance to help improve its usefulness. The first new feature that will impact the most users is the ability to play audiobooks and music from multiple Amazon accounts.
Users can fire up the Amazon Alexa companion app on their mobile device to add new accounts to the Household Profile setting. The Amazon Echo device has a couple new commands available once accounts are added. These include “Alexa, switch accounts” so users can move between them on the fly and “Alexa, which account is this?” if you happen to lose track of which account is currently active.
The other new feature will only benefit users in the San Francisco Bay area. BART schedules are now available through Amazon Echo by adding BART Times as a “Skill” in the Amazon Alexa app. Users can then use the command, “Alexa, open Bart Times” in order to check the schedule for home and destination stations.
source: ZDNet
Come comment on this article: Amazon Echo gets new multi-account support, BART schedule access
Google Maps as art: a splattering of color changes the world we live in
It’s said that there is beauty in the world around us: all we need is but to open our eyes and see it. Google is interested in helping us see that world with greater detail and clarify than ever before thanks to apps like Maps and Earth. Thanks to some creative use of coloring, Sean Utter has now created an entirely new vision of the world we live in.
The premise is quite simple: by taking existing images from Google Maps and playing with the colors and saturation, Utter has created something that is part art and part quiz (namely in trying to guess where some of the images depict).
By taking a stroll over to Utter’s website, you can find a seemingly endless streaming series of pictures, which he explains as follows: The site “generates a random map every 4 seconds. Each element of the map is a random color and is randomly turned on or off. The geographic location is randomly chosen from 26 predetermined cities and the zoom level is random.”
Perhaps even better, the project seems to be fully sanctioned by Google, as the Android creator has even taken to Twitter to announce the news:
Around the world in crazy color schemes—this #MapsHack takes you on an eye-popping tour. http://t.co/1AmZraOm8x pic.twitter.com/WJ8K6Enk0j
— Google Maps (@googlemaps) August 28, 2015
Take a look at some of the randomly generated pics we witnessed:
#gallery-1
margin: auto;
#gallery-1 .gallery-item
float: left;
margin-top: 10px;
text-align: center;
width: 33%;
#gallery-1 img
border: 2px solid #cfcfcf;
#gallery-1 .gallery-caption
margin-left: 0;
/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
As cool as this is, we can’t help but lament the timing; had this project been posted just a few months earlier, perhaps there would have been some retro game action to hunt for, or at the very least, some anti-Apple propaganda.
Recommended Reading: Should we be concerned robots will take our jobs?
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you’ll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read.
Robots Will Steal Our Jobs, But They’ll Give Us New Ones
by Cade Metz
Wired
With all the advances in automation and robotic technology, should we be worried that robots will replace us? Well, while they might take some of our jobs, they’ll also give us new ones. This piece from Wired offers a look at the future as we learn to live with AI, presenting a strong case that it may not be as dire as the critics predict.
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The Rise and Fall of a Bitcoin Kingpin Here’s the story of how Mark Karpeles, the head of bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, became the “accidental emperor” of the digital currency before it all came crashing down. |
The Truth About Uber’s Background Checks Uber does conduct background checks on its drivers, but are they complete? District attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco say no. |
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‘Team Fortress 2:’ Valve’s Secret Guinea Pig While this is a shorter read, it does offer a glimpse at how important Team Fortress 2 is for Valve as a whole. |
The Way GCHQ Obliterated The Guardian’s Laptops May Have Revealed More Than It Intended When the GCHQ, Britain’s version of the NSA in the US, ordered reporters at The Guardian’s London HQ to wipe computers that held top-secret docs, the agency uncovered a lot more. |
[Image credit: Carl Court/Getty Images]
Filed under:
Misc
Tags: ai, bitcoin, gchq, mtgox, recommendedreading, recreading, robot, robots, teamfortress2, uber, valve
UPDATE: Samsung finally patches Galaxy Note Pro 12.2; users rejoice
You may have recalled my article three weeks ago about Samsung’s update for the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 that broke all competitor’s Bluetooth keyboard functionality with the niche tablet. Finally, as of earlier last week, Samsung rolled out a patch that fixes the dreaded Bluetooth bug that has locked out many keyboards from working with the over sized tablet, most notably the $120 Logitech Keyboard Pro Case made specifically for this product.
The update rolled out about 5 days ago and the only details about the patch released were that it fixed the Bluetooth keyboard connectivity problems and fixed some other bugs. After testing it out for an afternoon, I must admit the Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 is running much smoother after the update. What a shame that Samsung took about 6 weeks to fix this problem and did not communicate at all during the process with end-users who rely on this business orientated tablet for productivity in the work place.
You can grab the newly updated and almost bug-free super-sized tablet on Amazon for $649.99.
The post UPDATE: Samsung finally patches Galaxy Note Pro 12.2; users rejoice appeared first on AndroidGuys.
DoubleClick ads get a Material overhaul
It seems like everything is going Material these days and the ads that appear on your mobile device are no exception. DoubleClick, the company behind many of the ads that show up in the apps you use has announced their AdMob network and DoubleClick Ad Exchange spots are being overhauled with a Material design inspired look.
Full screen ads that pop up will get a new cover photo that is much more prominent, a round install button and ad elements that use a color scheme based on the cover photo using color extraction technology. DoubleClick says they have found more variety and colors can help improve conversion rates. If users decide to drill down into the ads, they will find information on an app’s rating and a screenshot gallery within the ad itself.
The graphical ads for apps are not the only ones getting updated. Text based ads are also getting an overhaul with larger, easier to read headlines and a round call-to-action button. DoubleClick says they tested over 10 different designs during the past year to find a combination that will lead to improved conversion rates.
If you are a developer using in-app advertising to help generate revenue, you can visit the AdMob site or DoubleClick Ad Exchange to start implementing the new designs.
source: DoubleClick
Come comment on this article: DoubleClick ads get a Material overhaul
AIVAnet 