Computer remixes famous film scenes with classical art
Imagine that you could take any video clip and transform it into the art style of a classic painter with a click of a button. That’s the process that researchers at Germany’s University of Freiburg have been working on thanks to the advancement of computer learning. The team has learned that it’s now possible for computers to watch the action on screen and effectively see the elements that make up each frame. It can then trace the outlines of, for instance, the actors in the foreground, and re-skin them with any art style you choose. For instance, the team took scenes from British TV series Miss Marple and made them look as if they’d been painted by Van Gogh during his Starry Night phase.
As you can see in the first video, some of the clips look no better than some of the images that come out of Google’s DeepMind. Others, however, like the scenes from Cloud Atlas and the Jungle Book, seem significantly better-looking after being processed. It’s still early days, but there are plenty of areas in both filmmaking and art where systems like this could be applied.
Right now, it’s computationally intensive, but not so much that you can’t expect the cost and availability of such power to drop. As MIT Tech Review explains, it takes three minutes for each frame to be processed on a system using NVIDIA’s $1,000-plus Titan X graphics card. Given that Movidus’ deep learning USB stick already costs less than $100 (and fits inside a USB stick), it seems likely that smart TVs of the future could have art-filtering as a feature within the decade.
Via: MIT Tech Review
Source: Arxiv
European regulators block Three and O2 merger
We suspected it was coming, but the European Commission has finally come out and said it: Three UK owner Hutchison Whampoa cannot buy UK carrier O2. In a statement, the Commission said that a potential merger between Three and O2 would have “reduced competition” and “resulted in higher prices,” which may have negatively impacted the quality of service for UK consumers.
When Hutchison confirmed it was buying O2, the UK’s second biggest mobile network, for £10.25 billion in March 2015, it immediately began offering concessions in order to secure approval. One was to introduce a five-year freeze on the price of minutes, texts and megabytes across both networks. Others included the sharing of network capacity with one or two MVNOs, the divestment of O2’s stake in Tesco Mobile and a wholesale agreement with Virgin Media.
European Commissioner Margrethe Vestager today confirmed that they didn’t go far enough to satisfy investigators, stating MNVO concessions were “commercially and technically dependent on the merged entity” and raised too much uncertainty over how they’d be implemented.
“Allowing Hutchison to takeover O2 at the terms they proposed would have been bad for UK consumers and bad for the UK mobile sector. We had strong concerns that consumers would have had less choice finding a mobile package that suits their needs and paid more than without the deal,” says Vestager. “It would also have hampered innovation and the development of network infrastructure in the UK, which is a serious concern especially for fast moving markets. The remedies offered by Hutchison were not sufficient to prevent this.”
Commission has decided to block Hutchison’s plan to take over O2 in the UK. Why? To serve UK consumers – affordable prices and innovation.
— Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) May 11, 2016
Although buyout rumours were swirling at the same time regarding EE and O2, Hutchison’s bid for O2 came after BT’s £12.5 billion deal for EE. The broadband provider was able to secure approval from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the acquisition went through in January, despite opposition from rival providers. However, in Three and O2’s case, the merger would ensure that the UK’s mobile landscape has only three major players, which is something the CMA would only get behind if Hutchison agreed to sell one of its mobile businesses or break them up to form an independent fourth provider.
The Commission’s three major areas of concern focus on the size of a combined Three/O2 network, the development of network infrastructure and a potential squeeze on smaller mobile providers who rely on wholesale agreements from the big four carriers to operate.
Together, Three and O2 would become the UK’s biggest carrier with a market share of more than 40 percent. The Commision argues that because of its size, the combined entity wouldn’t have an incentive to compete with EE and Vodafone, which may result in higher mobile prices across the industry.
Because Three and EE have a 3G network agreement and O2 is sharing infrastructure with Vodafone, the merged company would have played a role in determining its rivals’ network plans. European investigators believe that would weaken both EE and Vodafone and hamper the development of next-generation mobile networks (like 5G).
Hutchison has come out firing following the announcement and is threatening to pursue legal action:
“We are deeply disappointed by the Commission’s decision to prohibit the merger between Three UK and O2 UK. We will study the Commission’s Decision in detail and will be considering our options, including the possibility of a legal challenge.
We strongly believe that the merger would have brought major benefits to the UK, not only by unlocking £10 billion of private sector investment in the UK’s digital infrastructure but also by addressing the country’s coverage issues, enhancing network capacity, speeds and price competition for consumers and businesses across the country and dealing with the competition issues arising from the current significant imbalance in spectrum ownership between the UK’s MNOs.”
What’s next for the two carriers? Reports suggest that now the merger has been denied, other providers may decide to get in on the act. Liberty Global, owner of Virgin Media, reportedly expressed an interest in picking up O2 in the event that European regulators blocked the takeover. Should it not find a buyer, Telefonica may also consider making the company public.
Source: Europa
Garmin’s latest running watch tracks your suffering
Garmin’s latest running watch can track multiple sports, measure your heart rate and even give you a “suffer score,” but the price might make you gasp. The Forerunner 735XT now occupies the top of the company’s run tracker lineup next to the two-year-old 920XT with the same $450 price. For that substantial sum, you do get a lot: it packs the company’s Elevate heart rate monitor and is the first sports tracker with Strava’s Suffer Score. That app measures your heart rate compared to a baseline, so casual or serious athletes can see how much they’re pushing it.
The watch is compatible with Garmin’s Vector pedal tracking and Varia radar accessories that help keep you safe in traffic. It’s also waterproof to 50 meters and has custom tracking features for swimmers. Other sports tracked include hiking, cross-country skiing, strength training, cardio and multisport. The latest model is made from soft silicon, has a color display, runs up to 14 hours in training mode and goes 11 days as a regular watch.
The wearable links with Garmin’s Connect IQ store, letting you get free apps, watch faces and more. Users can also track workout, sleeping and others stats on the Connect online community, or compete against friends and join larger competitions (then brag about the results, if merited). The devic also connects with your smartphone to control your music and can notify you for calls, emails and social network alerts. The Forerunner 735XT comes in black/gray or midnight blue/frost blue and is available for $450.
EE’s ‘Jay’ own-brand tablet is its cheapest to date
It’s been almost a year since EE added a new tablet to its own-brand, avian-themed range — or one aimed squarely at grown-ups, at least — so you know what that means. With only refurbished Harrier Tabs left in stock, it’s time for a new slate to become EE’s value offering. At £120 on pay-as-you-go, the “Jay” is the cheapest homegrown tablet EE’s ever launched; and it shows, at least when compared with the more powerful, larger-screened Harrier Tab.
The white and silver Jay is fronted by a 7.85-inch, 1,024 x 768 display, with a 5-megapixel rear camera and 2MP front-facer rounding out the rest of the visible features. Inside you’re looking at a 1GHz quad-core MediaTek processor running Android 5.1 Lollipop, a 3,600mAh battery, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage (expandable with microSD cards up to 32GB). And of course you get a 4G radio alongside WiFi 802.11b/g/n support, this being an EE tablet and all.
That’s good for users, giving them internet on the go, and also good for EE, since the network can tempt you with a monthly contract as an alternative to the £120 pay-as-you-go price. Available today in-store and online, contracts for new customers start at £16 per month with a £30 upfront payment. Existing customers, however, can forget about the upfront payment and get a slight discount on the monthly fee.
Source: EE (1), (2)
CDC labs sanctioned for mishandling potential bioweapons
You’d think an agency like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be extremely careful in handling potential bioweapons. But according to a report by USA Today, at least one CDC lab’s permit was secretly suspended in recent years for “serious safety violations while working with bioterror pathogens.” In addition, the agency has admitted to the publication that its labs had been sanctioned six times since 2003 for the same reason. Take note that the CDC helps run the Federal Select Agent Program, which oversees any work on anthrax, Ebola and other bioterror pathogens.
The CDC said the lab that got its permit revoked in 2007 is located in Colorado. Its scientists were working on the Japanese encephalitis virus that causes inflammation of the brain. They ended up destroying all their samples after a USDA inspection, but the lab’s permit got reinstated in 2010.
The agency was more secretive when it came to the labs that faced sanctions. It refused to divulge which facilities they are exactly, but it did tell the publication why they were investigated. In three instances, the labs sent pathogens, which weren’t properly killed, to recipients not authorized to receive them. Twice, someone reported that they discovered potential bioweapons in places where they shouldn’t be within the agency’s facilities. The last instance involved “inventory and oversight concerns.” Only one of these cases remain open — the other five were closed after it was determined that the CDC tweaked its procedures to prevent anything similar from happening again.
USA Today unearthed all these info after winning a Freedom of Information Act appeal filed after it found out last year that 100 labs in the US faced federal sanctions. The publication says the new information that came to light proves that the CDC’s facilities have one of the worst regulatory histories in the country. Despite the repeated sanctions and suspended permit involving fatal pathogens, the agency assured the publication that there’s no need to panic. It told USA Today that “[n]one of these violations resulted in a risk to the public or illness in laboratory workers.”
Source: USA Today
Facebook Moments for iOS Gets Approval in Canada and EU App Stores
Facebook yesterday released its Moments private photo sharing app in Europe and Canada, almost a year after it appeared in the U.S. App Store.
The app helps users find Facebook photos of themselves, their friends, and particular places, and collects these together for private viewing or sharing. It does this by attempting to recognize who appears in them based on facial features, and also takes into account the date, time, and location where the photos were taken.
The U.S. and international versions of the company’s photo-centric app use facial recognition technology to identify people in Facebook photos, but the feature ran afoul of privacy laws and regulations in Europe and Canada.
To get around the ban, the new modified version has been stripped of facial recognition technology and instead groups together multiple photos that “appear to include the same face”, according to the social media company (via TechCrunch). It does this by relying on a less accurate form of technology that uses object recognition to analyze the distance between a person’s eyes and ears.
Moments also integrates with Facebook and Messenger apps, where users are alerted to the fact that their friends have shared photos featuring them.
Moments is a free app for iPhone and iPad available for download in the App Store. [Direct Link]
Tag: Facebook
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Google Officially Rolls Out Cardboard VR Viewer to EU and Canada Stores
Google has begun selling its affordable VR viewer to customers in the U.K., France, Germany, and Canada.
The viewer works by phone owners inserting their handset into a cardboard shell that contains optical lenses. With a supporting game or app running on the phone, the image on the screen is split into two halves.
By looking into the lenses, the images are combined into one immersive, 3D image. Many Cardboard apps also use a phone’s gyroscope and accelerometer to let users look around the virtual world.
Previously the popular cardboard device was only available outside of the U.S. via third parties and promotional offers, but Google is now offering it direct to international customers via its online store.
The VR viewer is available in Canada for $20 each or $35 for a pair, 20 Euros each or 30 Euros for two in France and Germany, and £15 each or £25 a pair in the U.K.
Cardboard supports Apple’s range of iPhones and has an interactive click button that works with all compatible handsets.
(Via The Verge.)
Tag: Google Cardboard
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Former Apple CEO John Sculley: Apple Watch ‘Doesn’t Have Enough Utility’
Former Apple CEO John Sculley went on camera yesterday to give his thoughts on Apple’s current product lineup and offered a couple of interesting tidbits on where he thought the Apple Watch could be improved.
In an interview with The Street, Sculley said he still loved Apple products and used his iPhone, iPad and MacBook daily, but that he’d so far passed on owning an company’s smartwatch offering. “I think the Apple Watch is beautiful, but it doesn’t have enough utility to be something that I feel I have to have at this point in time,” he said.
Steve Jobs (left) and John Sculley (right) in 1984.
Asked what Apple would need to change to make it a worthwhile purchase for him, Sculley said that first the company needed to de-connect the hardware from the dependency it has on the iPhone. “When you go jogging, I don’t want to carry my iPhone and Apple Watch to count the steps – Apple will solve this though, they are good at that kind of stuff.”
Secondly, Sculley said Apple needed to take advantage of the “incredible excitement” over smart messaging which he called the “next big thing”. “Whether it’s WeChat or Facebook M, we are starting to see a move to an era where messaging could be an intelligent assistant, and that could be a perfect application for the Apple Watch if they can incorporate it.”
“I don’t think an Apple lover has to have every product, but the ones I have and use I love,” continued Sculley, expressing a particular fondness for the iPad Pro. “I think it’s a spectacular experience to read the newspaper on it every day and even read books, I much prefer it to a Kindle.”
Sculley was vice-president and president of Pepsi-Cola before he served as Apple’s CEO from 1983 to 1993, where he is famous for forcing out Steve Jobs from the company, something he has since called “a mistake”. In 1987 he was named Silicon Valley’s top-paid executive, with an annual salary of $2.2 million. When he left Apple, the company had $2 billion in cash and $200 million in debt.
He is widely considered an expert at marketing, and continues to speak and write about disruptive marketing strategies. He also has investments in a number of high-tech start-up companies, including Zeta Interactive and WorldMate. Jeff Daniels portrayed Sculley in the recent movie Steve Jobs.
Tag: John Sculley
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Meizu m3 note with 5.5-inch FHD display, 3GB RAM and 32GB storage hits India for ₹9,999
Chinese manufacturer Meizu has launched the m3 note in India for ₹9,999. The phone will be up for sale exclusively on Amazon India from May 31, with registrations kicking off later today.
The m3 note goes up against the LeEco Le 1s and the Redmi Note 3, offering similar hardware at a slightly lower price. The phone comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD screen, 1.8GHz Helio P10 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 32GB storage, 13MP camera, 5MP front camera, LTE with VoLTE, dual-SIM (with the second SIM slot doubling up as a microSD slot), Bluetooth 4.0, and a massive 4100mAh battery.
There’s also a fingerprint sensor at the front, and while the design of the phone hasn’t changed all the much from its predecessor, the upgraded internals position the m3 note as a viable alternative to what LeEco and Xiaomi have to offer in this segment.
See at Amazon India
Logitech’s new car mounts bring smart hands-free to Android
Logitech has announced a new pair of hands-free car mounts that work in concert with a voice-controlled app to keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel.
ZeroTouch is available either as a vent mount ($59.99) or a dash mount ($79.99). The free app then connects with the the mount via a small metal plate or a disk hidden underneath a case, triggering a Bluetooth LE connection. When you remove the phone from the mount, the ZeroTouch app shuts down, so you only have to use the voice commands when you want.
ZeroTouch focuses on four basic hands-free operations — text messages, phone calls, navigation and music playback. You also can share your location via voice, with built-in Glympse support.
ZeroTouch is available today at Logitech’s website, or on Amazon.
See at Logitech
Press release:
Logi ZeroTouch Turns Any Car Into a Hands-Free Connected Car Smart Car Mount and App Help Keep Drivers’ Eyes on the Road
NEWARK, Calif. — May 11, 2016 — Today Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) introduced the Logi ZeroTouch™ Air Vent and Logi ZeroTouch Dashboard smart car mounts for Android™ smartphones that trigger Logitech’s voice-controlled app when you dock your phone in the car. With this combo you can hear and respond to an incoming text, and operate select apps such as navigation and music, completely hands free. Together, the car mount and app give you the best features of a connected car, without buying a new car.
“New car owners can experience the luxury of a connected car, but there are still tens of millions of older cars on the road,” said Bracken Darrell, Logitech president and chief executive officer. “As we look for ways to design products that are thoughtful solutions to human needs, we realized there was an opportunity to turn any car into a connected car. The result is the Logi ZeroTouch. The smart mount and app work together to give you the best features of a connected car, while keeping your eyes on the road. We believe ZeroTouch will play a crucial role in turning the look down and text, into the look up and talk.”
To get your car connected, simply snap your phone to the magnetic air vent or dashboard mount to automatically trigger the Android app, and speak freely. You can use your voice to place calls, text back and forth, stream music using Spotify®, initiate directions with navigation apps, such as Google Maps™ mapping service or Waze, or easily share your location with friends and family through Glympse® location service – all without ever touching your phone.
Through natural language understanding, using the app feels like talking casually to a person next to you in the car. A simple hand gesture quickly wakes up the app to initiate a text or command, and to eliminate errors, the app reads your text back before sending. The app automatically informs you of incoming texts, and you decide if you’d like to listen, respond or cancel without ever looking at or touching your phone. Or, depending on the streaming music app, you can request specific artists, songs, playlists, or genres, and give commands like “pause” and “skip.”
Availability
The ZeroTouch Air Vent and ZeroTouch Dashboard are available today at Logitech for a suggested retail price of $59.99 or $79.99 respectively. For more information, please visit our blog or connect with us on Facebook.
About Logitech
Logitech designs products that have an everyday place in people’s lives, connecting them to the digital experiences they care about. Over 30 years ago, Logitech started connecting people through computers, and now it’s designing products that bring people together through music, gaming, video and computing. Founded in 1981, Logitech International is a Swiss public company listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (LOGN) and on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (LOGI). Find Logitech at http://www.logitech.com, the company blog or @Logitech.
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