Peggy smart clothes peg detects rain, tells your phone so you can bring washing in

Now smart home devices can even help us stay one step ahead of nature. The latest is a clothes peg named Peggy from Omo that can detect rain.

The Omo Peggy clips onto a clothesline like any other peg, albeit larger, and uses light, temperature and humidity sensors to detect weather. Since it is Wi-Fi connected it can alert a connected smartphone to when rain is coming so washing need never get caught out again.

The Peggy not only uses its array of local sensors to predict the oncoming of rain but it also taps into the internet’s data to find out what’s to come. The result should be never worrying about clothes caught out in the rain again, even when you’re not at home – presuming you can get back in time.

The knowledge of weather on a larger scale even lets Peggy advise you on when is best to do a load of washing so that it can be dried quickest outside. It can even notify you when the wash load is done and let you know how long drying will take from that moment.

The Peggy is still in developmental stages right now but it is thought to cost in the tens of pounds when it arrives. You can register your interest at the Omo link below to be first to get your hands on a Peggy.

READ: Amazon Kindle Oasis preview: Supersonic rethinking of the ebook reader

HTC Sense 8.0 vs Sense 7.0: New features tweaks and changes reviewed

The HTC 10 brings with it a new version of Sense that’s moved a fair distance from the experience on HTC’s previous flagship device, the HTC One M9, with a change in software emphasis.

We’ve been tracking the changes in Sense for a number of years, but the step to Sense 8.0 is perhaps one of the biggest. Not because it adds more, but because it changes less from the Android 6.0 Marshmallow core that it sits on.

It’s not actually Sense 8.0

Let’s clear this up first of all. The HTC 10 doesn’t actually run Sense with a version number. Head into the software information of the device and it just says the Android version (6.0.1 at launch), whereas previous devices have given the Sense number. For example, the One M9 lists HTC Sense 7.0 and the One A9 lists HTC Sense 7.0_g.

When we asked HTC what version it was, we were told that the message was no longer about Sense versions, and that the HTC 10 officially runs “Android with HTC Sense”.

Sense 8 on HTC 10 is cleaner, lighter and faster than ever. https://t.co/fhXTKimkIg

— Drew Bamford (@drewbam) April 12, 2016

However, subsequently, we’ve seen Drew Bamford, head of HTC Creative Labs, and the driving force behind Sense refer to it as Sense 8, so we’re doing that too.

HTC Sense 8.0: Continued app unbundling

We’ve mentioned this in our previous Sense examinations, so we’ll keep it brief here. Central to HTC’s software strategy is app unbundling. Most HTC apps are now updated from Google Play, so they are not tied directly to the version of Sense or Android.

This is the same as Google’s own strategy, where core apps aren’t tied to the version of Marshmallow, meaning that updates arrive to the app separate of the rest of the system – Gmail, for example. 

HTC’s approach is especially clean and brings benefits. Firstly, there’s no duplication of app stores: rivals, like Samsung or Huawei, want to update from their own store, often meaning that you’ve a separate set of notifications and a different store, which is messy. 

Secondly (and this is something of an aside), that policy also brings benefits to other devices. For example, HTC announced AirPlay support through HTC Connect on the HTC 10, but the app update brings that feature to the One M7, M8 and M9 as well.

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HTC Sense 8.0: Home screen, launcher and BlinkFeed

The BlinkFeed launcher is still the default launcher in HTC Sense 8.0, so HTC’s content aggregator is still in place and is very much the same as it was before. There’s the introduction of page dots on the home screen which stay permanently visible, whereas on older models they only appear when the home page is touched.

There’s also been a tweak to HTC’s weather clock visually as it is smaller, and now you can have it automatically switch to the travel clock when you’re roaming, which is a nice touch.

However, a long press on the wallpaper opens up the pop-up menu that’s expanded on Sense 8.0, introducing one of the new features – Freestyle layout – as well as the options to change the theme of the phone and manage widgets or pages. 

Where Sense 7.0 put HTC’s Sense Home widget front and centre, showing apps you use in different locations, that’s not been mentioned at all on the HTC 10. It’s still available, however, if you want to use it, but HTC Sense 8.0 is more about removing clutter. 

One other area on the home page where clutter has gone is the recent apps button. This opens in the standard Rolodex view that Android offers with a “clear all” option at the bottom. One thing you don’t get is the option to switch back to HTC’s old grid layout, something that HTC Sense 7.0 offered, but Sense 7.0_g didn’t.

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HTC Sense 8.0: Themes and Freestyle layout

One of the big changes that the HTC 10 brings is the Freestyle layout option. This follows the lines HTC’s wide range of themes that were evolved in Sense 7.0, letting you change just about every aspect of the visuals of your phone.

The big change, however, is Freestyle layout. There are a range of Freestyle themes to download and they then behave very much like other themes in that you can change icons, fonts, wallpapers and sounds within that theme.

The main point of Freestyle however is that you can put an app shortcut wherever you like, escaping the grid layout. It’s basically like having a selection of stickers and putting them wherever you want on your home pages. But in this case, the stickers replace your app shortcuts.

You can reassign stickers to different apps, so if you want a picture of a rabbit to access Gmail, you can. The idea is to have something utterly unique and it’s a great idea as you can have a phone that’s completely personalised – and about as far from Apple’s grid of icons as you can get. 

It’s fun, but it definitely takes some getting used to.

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HTC Sense 8.0 (left) with wallpaper, HTC Sense 7.0 (right) without

HTC Sense 8.0: Apps tray

Believe it or not, but whether you have an apps tray or not could be the biggest thing in Android software right now. There was a furore over the possibility that Android N could drop it, but rest easy: HTC offers you the apps tray. 

It’s pretty much the same apps tray that has been in Sense for some time letting you easily change the arrangement via the drop-down menu, create folders or custom layouts. But one of the things missing has always been translucency. 

That’s now added sort of added with an option to add wallpaper, rather than stick to the background fill colour defined by your theme. This is a small thing, but makes the apps tray feel much more like part of the launcher and more modern than in Sense 7.0. 

HTC Sense 8.0: Volume controls and Do not Disturb

If the apps tray is the new hot potato in Android, then volume control was the previous. In Android Lollipop volume control went haywire and didn’t really work. Marshmallow fixed that and in Sense 8.0 you have standard Android volume controls, tied into Do not Disturb.

In Sense 7.0 on Marshmallow HTC hung on to one of the fixes it implemented to give more control, so when you run the volume down to silent, you’re presented with a menu offering Do not Disturb controls and options for notifications – on/priority/off – as well as the length of time and the option to play alarms.

In Sense 8.0, however, this is simplified, so when you run the volume down to silent, you enter the “alarms only” Do not Disturb state, without all the other choices.

To access the full set of controls you simply tap the Do not Disturb button in the quick settings menu instead.

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HTC Sense 8.0 (left) looks like stock Android, HTC Sense 7.0 (right)

HTC Sense 8.0: Quick settings and settings

Quick settings

Where Sense 8.0 takes a huge leap towards Marshmallow is in the quick settings. These are the settings you swipe down from the top and this is one area where the One A9’s Sense 7.0_g paved the way for Sense 8.0.

These quick settings are essentially the same as stock Android, although HTC has changed the selection of shortcuts to its liking, adding extreme saver and calculator as options here. The visual design is much nicer than Sense 7.0, which has overly-fussy icons, lines, menu buttons and is very cluttered. 

There’s also now a manual brightness slider in quick settings. This is separate from the auto-brightness option in the display settings menu, but lets you move the brightness up or down easily, rather than tapping the button as you did in Sense 7.0.

On Sense 7.0 you were offered menu buttons in the quick settings on some options. This is unnecessary, as a long press on the quick settings icon takes you through to the menu anyway, which is a standard Android feature.

One thing you lose, however, is the option to customise the quick settings menu. That’s also the case in stock Marshmallow, with access only being granted via the System Tuner UI, an experimental menu option that’s hidden from regular users. The option to unlock it isn’t offered by HTC either, so there’s no customisation here. 

That means in Sense 8.0 you get what you’re given, whereas in Sense 7.0 you could opt to change the order as well as make a wide variety of changes to the options you’re presented.

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HTC Sense 8.0 (left) is simpler and cleaner, Sense 7.0 (right)

Main settings menu

The settings menu is where you spend a lot of time in a device as you tweak and change things. The menu is cleaner, simpler and just like stock Android.

The order of things it pretty much the same as it was before, but the fussy switches are gone for simpler sliders and the icons are simpler – losing the engines on the aeroplane icon for airplane mode. It was only a few Sense versions ago that these were all fully coloured, which in reflection now seems like a massive waste of time.

There are little details, like being able to search for apps in the settings app list, which saves a lot of scrolling if you just check the permissions on a particular app, for example.

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HTC Sense 8.0: Photos and editing

One of the biggest changes in Sense 8.0 is losing the Gallery app. This has been a huge app for HTC for a long time, and in Sense 7.0 the Gallery was the focus lots of features, like photo shapes and so on.

Of course when Sense 7.0 made its debut on the HTC One M9, the immediate question was why HTC was giving frivolous features so much time, when basics like the camera just weren’t up to scratch. With the HTC 10 that position is very different: the phone is very much better and there’s less of that bloat. 

That means that Google’s Photos app is now the gallery app in Sense 8.0. We like the Photos app, as it’s easy to navigate and updated with new and clever features regularly. That also means that HTC can ditch the Cloudex/One Gallery online album it offered before, again reducing bulk. Remember, as a Marshmallow device, Photos is something you get as standard anyway, backing up to your Google account online. 

Of course, HTC’s photo editor (which was excessively over-featured) is gone too, but Photos has its own editor which is easy to use.

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However, Photos now supports much more, including raw capture that HTC’s cameras have offered for a while. You can view raw files in Photos and these are labelled as “raw”. There’s a raw enhancement option too, offering a single hit edit that basically rebalances your shot and restores contrast, much in the same way that the auto mode in Photoshop or Lightroom might. 

One thing to note is that raw shots aren’t backed up to Google and this makes sense: at about 23MB a photo, they’d quickly eat your online storage allowance. However, the raw images are saved alongside jpeg versions of the same photo in the 100MEDIA folder, so they’re easy to find. 

Overall, we feel this is a nice balance of options. Removing the overwrought Gallery leaves a simpler photos position, but you don’t miss out on anything that really matters. While we’re at it, it’s worth saying that the arrangement with raw capture is much better than Samsung’s TouchWiz on the Galaxy S7, which lets you capture, but then provides no means to even view those files on the device.

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HTC Sense 8.0: Camera

The camera in Sense 8.0 is completely redesigned, replacing the Sense 7.0 camera that evolved from the HTC Eye camera experience. Gone is the ability to swipe from one type of camera to the next, with a more regular pop-out menu to replace it. 

This is mostly a two-tiered proposition: for example, if you select video, you then get the option to tap through the resolution of capture; if you select the pro camera, you can select the self-timer and aspect and so on.

One of the big new additions is auto HDR something that rivals have offered for several generations, but HTC has previously failed to embrace. Now it’s applied to the standard camera, balancing out highlights and shadows for a more even result. When auto HDR is operating, a small green dot appears next to it. 

For selfies you now have the addition of selfie flash, using the display to illuminate you and this flash colour changes depending on the ambient light, so you look natural. 

Zoe camera now sits in this side menu, having evolved through its life from highlight feature on the HTC One M7, attempting to become a social network for video sharing, to this final form where it’s returned to offering 3-second video clips in place of photos.

Zoe camera actually works nicely mixed with the Zoe Video Editor app, as you can quickly have it mix together short video clips rather than just static images, which makes more sense. Still, Zoe has never really blossomed into the feature that HTC wanted, but the video editor app is well worth using as it does everything for you.

Back to the camera and the other big change is that previously HTC wanted you to add other camera features to your selection. In Sense 8.0, the camera app has everything in there, offering video, slow motion, selfies, hyperlapse and the pro mode, without some of the other features previously offered, like bokeh, photobooth and split capture. Again, less is more. 

There’s also a new launch gesture for the camera. If you swipe down on the display twice when picking the phone up, the camera launches. This replaces the “pick up and press the volume button” to open the camera. Yes, both are too complicated and we wish that the standard double press on the standby button was in place, as on the recent Nexus devices.

HTC Sense 8.0: Phone, People, Messages

The Phone app and the People app are intrinsically linked as one feeds into the other. The arrangement of the dialler is very much the same as it was before, with tabs across the top for call history, people, favourites and so on – which can be edited if you don’t have any favourites, for example.

Within the People end of the app, the design has changed slightly, switching contact photos to round rather than square images. This matches the general material design of Android, as you’ll find round contact images across Gmail, Google+ and so on. It makes for a lighter app with more white space, also removing the divider lines.

Another aspect removed from People is the contact’s updates. This is actually one of the earliest features of Sense, first launched as a people-centric user experience. It would allow you to browse a contact and see what they’d been up to. In Sense 8.0, it’s all gone.

Contacts are still linked to social accounts and there’s now a single Twitter update, linking through to the Twitter app – it’s just that your contacts app is no longer a place to browse social updates, which makes sense. 

The design theme from Phone and People flows in to Messages, HTC’s own SMS and MMS app, again better matching Android’s material design. Sure, Android has its own Messenger app, but HTC lets you block contacts and put messages in a secure box if they contain sensitive information, perhaps nuclear launch codes or the sordid details of your affair.

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HTC Sense 8.0: Keyboard changes

Another element that gets the axe in Sense 8.0 is HTC’s keyboard. In Sense 8.0 on the HTC 10, the keyboard is now TouchPal, although it’s labelled as “HTC Sense version”. 

TouchPal is available as an app in Google Play, but the difference here is that it’s completely integrated. When you open the settings in Sense 8.0 via settings > language and keyboards, you go straight to the TouchPal settings. 

If you install the app from Google Play, tapping the keyboard in the settings menu would open the app, offering themes and other elements. Instead, these reside in the Personalisation settings in Sense under the option to change the keyboard colour.

As a keyboard, TouchPal offers plenty of customisation, although we’ve not found it to be quite as proficient as SwiftKey for accuracy of input. Of course, you’re free to switch to any keyboard you like and there are plenty on Google Play.

We’ve also noticed that HTC still offers the option to switch your input choice when using the keyboard. In Sense 7.0 this was irritatingly in the bottom right-hand corner and now it appears in the top left. That’s a better place for it, but really we don’t know why we’d want to be changing the input method all the time.

HTC Sense 8.0: A whole load of apps are gone

Sense 8.0 drops the HTC calendar for the stock Google calendar. This is the default calendar for Android and it’s marvellous, easy to navigate, lovely and graphical and fitting the design of the rest of Android.

There’s a range of other apps from HTC that are also gone in Sense 8.0: Car has been scrapped, Fit Fun has run off, HTC Backup has backed down, Kid Mode has moved out, Music has been dropped, Polaris Office 5 has dissolved and Scribble has been rubbed out. 

Of course, this is the state of the HTC 10 with Sense 8.0 and we suspect that when older devices get updated – like the One M9 – some of these apps will stay. 

But this app removal tells the real story of HTC Sense 8.0 and the HTC 10: it’s about focusing on getting the essentials right, rather than giving you a load of clutter that you don’t need. Although we’ve been long-time HTC users, there’s nothing missing in Sense 8.0 that we miss, in fact it moves closer the changes we usually make ourselves.

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For those interested in what third-party apps are pre-installed, you get Facebook, Messenger and Instagram. As pre-installs, these can’t be removed, but can be disabled. 

The other addition is Boost+, an HTC app designed to help you optimise your phone, clear junk and monitor your apps to make sure there’s nothing untoward going on. Boost+ also offers to save battery life when gaming, as well as letting you lock apps, adding another layer of security on apps you might want to keep from prying eyes. If you use WhatsApp to plan bank robberies, this is a useful addition.

However, Boost+ is available in Google Play as as standalone HTC app, so anyone can give it a go – although it’s designed to work the best with HTC devices.

Summing up

HTC Sense 8.0 marks a change of direction for HTC as it focuses on getting the basics right and drops a lot of software bloat from previous devices. There’s still a fair amount available to differentiate HTC from other Android phones and we can’t say we’ll miss anything that’s gone. 

Compare Sense 8.0 to TouchWiz, LG’s Optimus UX 5.0 or Huawei’s EMUI and you now have HTC sitting closer to Android than ever before. That makes the Android with HTC Sense position work, and that’s going to be the future for other HTC devices too.

As Android 6.0 Marshmallow is more refined than ever before, and Google’s own apps offer a better experience than most device manufacturer alternatives, then HTC Sense 8.0 gives you a great place to play.

This move from the original Sense up to Sense 7.0 and then a step down through 7.0_g to Sense 8.0 is for the better, leaving HTC with a modern Android handset that’s slick, fast, and mercifully free from clutter.

Hoverboard and jetpack spawn extreme Flyboard Air

Any self-respecting hoverboard fan knows for a board to work on water “you need power”, meaning the jet powered Flyboard Air can go anywhere.

Zapata Racing has been working on jet-powered hoverboard style devices for a while but this is the first time we’ve seen it create a truly tether-free personal flying craft.

The Flyboard Air was shown off in a video (below) with a pilot flying around a lake seemingly with ease. The backpack he’s wearing is carrying the kerosene Jet A1 fuel while the handheld remotes control the four turboengines’ throttle and two more on the sides for stabilisation.

At the moment the FlyBoard Air, which has only just been created and flown, uses four 250hp engines for a total of 1000hp of power – more than most supercars. All that power is intelligently stabilised using a logic board and algorithms, as well as balance and control from the rider. So don’t expect to see people nipping to the shops on these anytime soon.

That said, if one turboreactor fails, flight can continue. There are plenty of failsafes and the first flight over land will be in the next few months. Zapata Racing is hoping to break the two-mile range barrier with a top speed of 80kph.

The ultimate goal is to make this small and stable enough for anybody to use day-to-day, safely.

READ: Peggy smart clothes peg detects rain, tells your phone so you can bring washing in

Motorola Moto G (2016) leaks in clear, revealing photos

Lenovo owned Motorola may soon reveal a new Moto G for 2016 after leaked photos show the handset is already made.

The leaked photos appeared through Chinese social networks showing the handset in black.

The Moto G for 2016, possibly influenced by a Lenovo handset, is shown featuring a home button on the front. The square button is expected to feature a fingerprint reader according to other recent leaks from nowhereelse.fr.

The handset appears slim but with a decidedly budget build of a polycarbonate case. Despite this, the screen features minimal bezel and appears to come at over the 5-inch size. This would make it slightly larger than the 5-inch Moto G from 2015 which might also push that £159 price tag up a little.

The camera shown on the rear of the Moto (2016) is reportedly the same as that developed for the LG G5 but arranged here in a vertical setup with aligned flash. If that proves to be the case we can expect a 16-megapixel f/1.8 snapper with 28mm equivalent focal length.

Power and other specs have not yet been revealed but expect more on this soon. Last year’s model was announced in July so expect a similar time frame for the 2016 Moto G.

READ: Motorola Moto G (2015) review

DJI’s pro M600 drone adapts to the camera it’s carrying

DJI might be most well known for its ubiquitous Phantom series of quadcopters, but the company makes professional drones and camera kit, too. The latest addition to the pro line is the $4,599 Matrice 600 (M600), a hexacopter that adjusts how it flies automatically, depending what it’s carrying. The M600 is also joined by and update to the Osmo hand-held rig, and a new version of its popular Ronin gimbal, as the company reveals its latest professional tools at this year’s NAB show.

The Matrice 600 might sound like a relative to the Matrice 100 — a barebones drone for developers — but it’s actually a successor to DJI’s existing professional “Spreading Wings” series. These higher-end craft feature retractable landing gear (to keep it out of the way of the camera), and a foldable design. The M600 comes with dust-proof propellors, and self-cooling motors. It will launch along with a new robust A3 flight controller (the brains of the drone) that will change flight parameters depending on what it’s carrying, and Lightbridge 2 camera link. The latter brings higher frame rates and HD live-streaming capabilities for the video link back to the pilot — at distances of up to three miles.

The M600 supports pretty much the entire line of DJI cameras and Zenmuse gimbals, including the new Ronin MX handheld camera stabilizer ($1,599) that comes with its own IMU and Bluetooth link for improved stability. This also means the M600 can carry a broad range of professional cameras, including a Red Epic. To make sure your prize camera doesn’t end up in the dirt, the M600 uses six separate “smart” batteries at the same time, so if one dies, the drone can continue to fly. Despite multiple batteries, they are smaller, so the total flight time tops out at around 36 minutes (with a Zenmuse X5 camera), and expect lower flight times for bigger cameras.

DJI also introduced new adapter for the Osmo hand-held stabilizer so it can be used with the company’s X5 and X5R cameras. The Osmo “RAW” puts the same micro four-third cameras available to its professional drones onto the hand-held camera rig. The existing Osmo camera (the X3) will also benefit from a new $130 attachment that gives better Z-axis stabilization (up/down).

Source: DJI

FAA says shooting down drones is a federal crime

Some judges might think you’re allowed to shoot down drones that encroach on your turf, but don’t tell that to the Federal Aviation Administration. In response to Forbes’ questions, the agency says that shooting down a drone is a federal crime. You’re still damaging an aircraft, according to the FAA — it’s just that this one doesn’t have a pilot onboard. You could face up to 20 years in prison as a result, which is bound to make you think twice about blasting that drone peeping at your backyard.

If that opinion holds up in court, it raises all kinds of thorny questions. If a drone threatens your safety, does shooting it down count as self-defense? What about state measures that let authorities shoot down problematic drones, such as a proposed law in Utah? And what about alternatives that use birds or even other drones to take the machines down? Those decisions may have to wait until there’s a case that creates legal precedent, and any incident like that is bound to be messy.

Via: Popular Science

Source: Forbes

BBC opens up iPlayer to outside content for the first time

Last September, the BBC put forward a number of proposals to make iPlayer and the rest of its broadcasting services more “open” and distinctive. One of these was a pledge to allow other people and broadcasters to distribute their programming through iPlayer. On April 23rd, the BBC will be kickstarting this initiative with Shakespeare Lives, a six-month celebration of the famous playwright. Recordings from the British Film Institute (BFI), the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Shakespeare’s Globe and the Royal Opera House will all be made available on iPlayer for the first time.

The highlights include a theatrical production of Richard II, with David Tennant as the titular character, and a discussion with Sir Ian McKellen about adapting Shakespeare for the theatre, TV, radio and cinema. The BBC is calling the move a “first step” as it figures out how, exactly, to open up iPlayer to other companies. British arts organisations feel like a good fit for the BBC’s public service broadcasting responsibilities, but more conventional shows — the ones that are likely to draw in larger audiences — could sit awkwardly with the UK government and license fee holders.

Via: The Guardian

Coder brings ‘Counter-Strike’ to Android

To be successful at Counter-Strike, you need tremendous reflexes and hand-eye coordination. That’s why the shooter has always thrived on PC, where players can use tricked out monitors, keyboards and mice. In comparison, if there’s one platform that’s ill-suited for the game, it has to be Android. Still, that hasn’t stopped one plucky developer from making a port anyway. It’s based on Counter-Strike 1.6 — Global Offensive will have to wait — and requires not only a copy of the original game, but also some technical trickery. If you’re up to the challenge, you can grab the APK here.

Creator Alibek Omarev has posted a video of the game running on an Android tablet. It looks, well, just as fiddly as you might expect. The screen is littered with tiny touchscreen controls — these are fully customisable, Omarev explains on Reddit — and there’s a tremendous amount of slowdown. Regardless, it shows what can be done on Android hardware these days. To make the game truly playable, however, you might want to try connecting a Bluetooth keyboard or gamepad. Unless you’re happy to lope around the map and take an endless stream of headshots, that is.

Via: Kotaku

Source: GitHub

Sky’s deal with Sony paves the way for 4K movies

Sky has sewn up its first pan-European deal with Sony today, ensuring the studio’s movies arrive promptly, and in 4K resolution, in every country where it operates. In the UK, the new agreement means that Sky will continue to get first dibs on Sony’s latest flicks before any other subscription service. Sky says each movie will be available “only a few months” after it’s been released in cinemas, and “over a year” ahead of other subscription services. (Think Netflix, Prime Video, or even BT TV.)

Sky’s new TV platform, Sky Q, supports 4K, however the company is yet to offer any “Ultra HD” content or services. That should change later this year, however, and when it does, Sony’s movies will be some of the first that customers can enjoy. In its press release, Sky calls out Ghostbusters, the Angry Birds movie, Money Monster and Inferno. They could be joined by many others, of course, including those produced by other studios.

Sky’s deal with Sony is important as it tries to fight off traditional and satellite TV providers, like BT and Virgin Media, as well as streaming services like Netflix. With Sky Q and Now TV, it’s trying to compete with both groups simultaneously — and some timed exclusives, especially in 4K, could give the pair an edge in the fiercely competitive UK market.

Source: Sky

MIT’s digital lookout in the crows nest of cyber warfare

“Think about the system as a virtual analyst,” says Kaylan Veermachaneni, co-creator of MIT’s latest artificial intelligence. He’s a research scientist at the university’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence lab that, along with Ignacio Arnaldo, built an AI that acts as a lookout for the age of cyber warfare. AI2 (Short for Artificial Intelligence Squared) is a system designed to spot a hacking attack better than humans and existing software. They claim that the program can detect 85 percent of malicious attacks, although that figure is set to rise the more it learns. We can already imagine Sony’s IT gurus beating a path to Massachusetts with a suitcase stuffed full of unmarked bills.

Existing threat-detection systems broadly fall into two categories: a software bot that can detect patterns and human analysis. AI2’s gimmick is that it mashes together a handful of different machine learning tools and asks its flesh-and-blood counterparts for help. When it thinks it’s found a pattern amongst the noise of data, it offers it up to a person for a second opinion. After a short period of time, AI2 will learn from its errors and what the human experts are telling it. As Arnaldo says, “it continuously generates new models that it can refine in as little as two hours.”

On its first day of operation, AI2 flagged 200 events that it determined to be a cyberattack to its masters. After a handful of days picking up the dos and don’ts from operators, that figure had dropped to just 40. That frees up fleshy operators to concentrate on the rest of their job and giving each flagged incident more of their attention. According to Nitesh Chawla, professor of computer science at Notre Dame University, AI2 “has the potential to become a line of defense against attacks such as fraud, service abuse and account takeover.” Maybe Mossack Fonseca will be second on the list of clients racing to MIT’s door.

Source: MIT