Machine-vision algorithms help craft realistic portraits from sketches
Sketching a person’s face is difficult even for the most talented of artists. But even though it’s an austere task for humans, it’s not entirely perfect for computers just yet, either. That’s where machine-vision algorithms come in.
Computers have been capable of taking hand-drawn sketches and turning them into photorealistic images for some time now, but the color photographs that result haven’t always been accurate. Obviously it’s even more of a frustrating exercise for humans to tackle, let alone take even a cursory stab at.
That’s where a neural network educated by Yagmur Gucluturk, Umut Guclu and others at Radboud University in Denmark comes in. The process began with 200,000 images of faces pulled from the internet and converted them into drawings, grayscale and color sketches to teach a neural network with 11-layers to turn a sketch into a photograph of a face that could rival one actually taken by a camera.
This went so far as to train the neural network, and then the team gave it one more go using a completely different set of data. It was direct to start with a sketch and create a photorealistic image. The resulting images were surprisingly accurate, with the team making note that the line sketches produced images with color even when there wasn’t any color to be found within them.
The neural network was tested again with an additional data set using an alternate set of sketches, and again the network produced admirable results. Some anomalies produced by the experiment were such that the network had difficulty with realistic results when there wasn’t shading with regular pencil drawings.
Despite its shortcomings when it came to some particular data sets, the network was able to recreate some impressive images of artists like Van Gogh and Rembrandt using self-portraits sketched by the greats themselves.
These results were achieved in only a few years of work, paving the way once more for the startlingly impressive neural networks we’re able to teach and train to perform complex tasks. What’s next for these machines? The sky could be the limit.
Via: MIT Technology Review
Source: arXiv
Three’s mobile ad-blocking trial starts today
Three is trialling network-level ad-blocking in the UK today. The experiment, which is sure to put advertisers and publishers on edge, will affect a small number of Three customers that were approached beforehand. It’s been described as a “technology test” for Shine, an ad-blocking specialist which Three has recruited to explore the idea.
Three has stressed that “not all participants will experience the full Shine service” over the 24 hour period. That means it could come on intermittently, or only affect certain sites. “You might still see some ads on some websites, or notice some formatting errors,” Three explains to trial participants. “Don’t worry — this is something we’re aware of, and we’re working to fix it.” The technology only works on Three’s own network too, so testers won’t see the benefit while they’re connected over Wi-Fi.
The method by which Shine blocks ads at the network level is unclear. The company says it uses “machines” that are capable of performing deep packet inspection (DPI) inside the network. Using a mixture of “real-time analysis, artificial intelligence and algorithms,” the team is able to identify ads and stop them without breaking the original webpage or app.
Once the trial is over, Three will be picking a selection of customers and asking them for feedback. Responses will be gathered over the phone, however “it may take up to three months” for the company to call.
Ad blocking is a divisive subject. There are clear benefits for the customer — better privacy and a cleaner, faster experience on the web — but it also threatens the business model of countless internet companies. “The current ad model is broken,” Tom Malleschitz, Three’s chief marketing officer said in May. “It frustrates customers, eats up their data allowance and can jeopardise their privacy. Something needs to change.”
While ad blocking is on the rise, it’s still a niche practice — mostly because people have to go out of their way to install an app or browser extension. If it was enabled by default on Three, or offered during the setup of every phone it sells, that could change the numbers dramatically. Three is stepping cautiously — EE and O2, even more so — but if it decides to go all-in with mobile ad blocking, it could have huge implications.
Source: Three
Sky Movies will become Sky Cinema next month
Sky isn’t just a household name in the UK, but in several other European countries too. In those regions, however, Sky Movies as a brand doesn’t exist. Instead, it’s called Sky Cinema in those parts, and come July 8th, that’s what it’ll be known as in the UK as well. Big deal, right? Well, the new name isn’t the only change. For starters, instead of debuting four new movies a week, a fresh film will be added to the roster every day. Sky Cinema will also devote more space to original content and foreign flicks in the future, with a new international release dropping on the service every Wednesday.
Sky’s on-demand library is now more popular than its linear channels, and this too will be growing as Sky Movies becomes Sky Cinema. For starters, the catalogue will increase from 1,000 to roughly 1,200 movies just throughout July. Themed events and transient “pop-up channels” that show back-to-back Harry Potter titles, for example, are to become more regular under Sky Cinema. On the technical side, Sky is implementing what it calls “better HD” on the Cinema service, which apparently carries one-third more pixels, as well as higher dynamic-range audio across the on-demand library.
Most importantly, upon the launch of Sky Cinema, HD movie channels will no longer command an added premium, so anyone with the right bundle (including Virgin Media patrons) will get the best resolution at no extra cost. Film discovery is also set to improve in subtle ways, and Sky subscribers will be able to skip back to the beginning of movies being shown on the linear channels from the EPG for the first time. Unfortunately, not a great deal of news for owners of a shiny new Sky Q box, though 4K flicks will be available at some point later this year.
U.S. Appeals Court Rules in Favor of FCC Net Neutrality Rules
A U.S. appeals court yesterday upheld landmark federal rules preventing internet service providers from obstructing or slowing down consumer access to web content (via Reuters).
The backing for the Federal Communications Commission’s net neutrality rules came in a 2-1 decision by a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The outcome reaffirms the law enforced last year that says ISPs must treat all internet traffic equally.
The rules prohibit broadband providers from giving or selling access to faster internet lanes for specific internet services, which the FCC claims will help protect freedom of expression and innovation on the internet.
The court also rejected legal arguments from telecommunications industry groups that the rules should not apply to mobile phone web use or that they violated the constitutional free-speech rights of internet service providers.
The court’s decision in favor of the FCC means that it too considered the internet to be a public utility, and therefore subject to government regulations. White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the ruling “a victory for the open, fair, and free internet as we know it today,” and one that barred service providers from becoming “paid gatekeepers”.
The outcome will also be seen as a personal victory for President Barack Obama, who is a strong advocate of net neutrality rules, although ISPs have already said they plan to appeal to either the full appellate court or the Supreme Court over the ruling. Telecoms industry groups have also said they will continue with efforts to get Congress to limit the FCC’s authority.
Netflix and Twitter were among the companies that praised the ruling, while Google and others have backed the rules. Democrats in Congress also lauded the decision to back the FCC rules, which have been in place since June 2015.
However, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce business group accused the FCC of “essentially transforming an entire industry… from an innovative, lightly regulated enterprise that made huge investments into this country, into a public utility subject to the whims of regulators.”
South Dakota Republican John Thune, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, said the decision upholds FCC restrictions “designed for the monopoly-telephone era” and asked the Republican-led Congress to step in to overturn a decision that results in “a highly political agency micromanaging the internet ecosystem.”
US Telecom, the telecommunications industry trade association that led the legal challenge, said the court failed to recognize “the significant legal failings” of the FCC rules that “we believe will replace a consumer-driven internet with a government-run internet, threatening innovation and investment in years to come.”
But FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler called the ruling “a victory for consumers and innovators who deserve unfettered access to the entire web” and claimed that it would ensure the internet remained “a platform for unparalleled innovation, free expression and economic growth.”
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
Tags: net neutrality, FCC
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Apple Steps up Procurement for New Apple Watch, Targets Late 2016 Debut
Apple has stepped up procurement of chips and components for the second-generation Apple Watch, according to sources from the supply chain (via DigiTimes).
Shipments of chips and components for the second-gen Apple Watch are reportedly set to begin in the third quarter, indicating a launch later this year.
Orders for the upcoming Apple Watch have been higher-than-expected, according to the sources, after what they called “disappointing sales” of the first-gen smartwatch. Despite that, Apple’s pull-in of orders is said to be “rather aggressive”, and the sources estimated that about two million units of the new Apple Watch could be shipped monthly.
Taiwan-based website DigiTimes has a mixed track record at reporting on Apple’s upcoming product plans, but its sources within the upstream supply chain have proven reliable in the past.
Rumors had initially suggested Apple would introduce the second-generation Apple Watch in March 2016 with shipments of the device set to begin in April 2016, but a conflicting report confirmed the Apple Watch 2 would not be ready for a spring launch.
A rumor out of the Asian supply chain in January suggested work on the next-generation Apple Watch was already underway, with Quanta working with Apple on the development of the device. Trial production on Apple Watch 2 was rumored to have started in January, with full production beginning in mid-2016 in preparation for a fall launch alongside the iPhone 7.
Apple is said to be working on implementing cellular network connectivity and a faster processor. Built-in cellular capabilities would allow the Apple Watch to place calls, send messages, and access data without the need for an iPhone, while a faster processor would result in speed improvements when accessing apps.
Related Roundups: Apple Watch, watchOS 2, watchOS 3
Tag: Apple Watch 2
Buyer’s Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)
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Confirmed: The Xbox One S is a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player and upscales games too
Ever since Microsoft announced the Xbox One S, its smaller, more capable console for this year, there has been a lot of confusion over what it will be capable in a home cinema sense.
We had mentioned that it would support 4K Ultra HD Blu-rays in our round-up feature, but out at E3 there was still talk that it would only have 4K output for streaming services, such as Netflix and Amazon Video,
Pocket-lint can confirm that it does indeed have a 4K Blu-ray optical disc drive built-in. We can also confirm that it upscales conventional video and gaming outputs to 4K if you have an Ultra HD television.
READ: Xbox One S: Release date, specs and everything you need to know
It also offers HDR support across the board, for 4K Blu-rays and games that support the high contrast and wider colour gamut afforded by the image tech.
In essence, this information means that, as well as a better version of the Xbox One, starting at $299 (£212) means the new machine undercuts existing 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray players on the market significantly.
Some have been wondering whether, with Project Scorpio also announced for next year, people will invest in an Xbox One S this. In its 4K Blu-ray capabilities, we think we have the answer.
10 gaming sequels absent from E3 2016: Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077 and more make our wishlist
It’s not that we’re ungrateful. E3 has delivered a bumper crop of exciting games that we’ll get to play in 2016 and beyond. It even lifted the lid on Microsoft’s new 4K-capable Xbox consoles, the Slim and Project Scorpio, and set a release date for PlayStation VR.
We’re simply greedy. Ahead of the show there was lots of talk about various titles – from Red Dead Redemption 2, to a Wolfenstein sequel, with even a titter of The Last of Us 2 – that didn’t show face, some of which we really expected to see.
Sure, we can’t live in a world of perpetual sequels with no room for true creativity. Games like Days Gone, Steep, Scalebound and other reimaginations such as God of War (ok, so that is a sequel, but it’s a different take) have excited.
Even so, here’s our list of sequels and games that we had hoped to see at E3 2016. Including some that might seem fairly far-fetched.
Red Dead Redemption 2
There’s been talk of Red Dead 2 for some time, but for good reason: a leaked map seemingly suggested that the game was deep in production and about to be shown. Some have even suggested it was pulled from Sony’s pre-E3 conference at the last minute. We’re not sure that’s true, but we do think the game will show face in the coming years. Here’s hoping, as it’s one of Rockstar’s true classics – and with the power on hand from the current-gen of consoles we suspect it’ll look amazing too.
Wolfenstein
Another that was largely expected to be shown at Bethesda’s pre-E3 conference, in particular because the pre-Quake presentation had an apparent MSDOS style reference to the game. How cryptic. Given that id software has had success with revamped Doom and the just-announced Quake Champions looks set to please battle arena players, timing looks good for a Wolfenstein revamp – particularly given how under-rated the last game was.
The Evil Within 2
Love it or loathe it, The Evil Within’s dark horror captured a fanbase in little time. Just two years on from the game’s release seems rather soon to be talking about a sequel, but it was high up the suggestions list ahead of this year’s E3.
The Last of Us 2
Pocket-lint
Sat in Sony’s pre-E3 conference we were thinking this would be Sony’s “one more thing” moment (ok, so we said that last year too). But it wasn’t to be: instead the new Days Gone was shown in playable gameplay depth – which looks both terrifying and incredible by the way – rather than the return of Ellie. One not to be rushed, we suspect, given how picture perfect the original game was.
Cyberpunk 2077
CD Project Red is at E3 2016, behind closed doors, and was taking appointments ahead of time to show off a new game. We know Cyberpunk 2077 is coming, so we though this might well be the stage for it. But, nope, the Gwent card game from Witcher 3 has been expanded upon and made into a game of its own right instead. Which is kind of cool, but we want to see more badass female androids and machine guns right about now. Here’s to next year on this one. Maybe?
Shenmue III
Ys Net
Ok, so we’re probably clutching at straws here. But after successful crowdfunding for Yu Suzuki’s third chapter to the Shenmue series we though we might get a tease of how the upcoming title might look. Given the stage Sony gave this game at last year’s E3, to go dead silent on the progress of the game perhaps seems odd.
Final Fantasy 7 remake
Similar to above here: we know that FFVII is getting reworked, as confirmed at E3 2015, but that’s as far as it goes right about now. Perhaps Square Enix leaving breathing space for Final Fantasy 15 (FFXV)’s imminent launch is the sensible priority for 2016.
Portal 3
Valve / Portal 2
The first-person puzzle game to beat all others, Portal 2 was one of our favourite gaming moments ever. Rarely is something so genius, so accessible, and yet so different to anything else ever made.
That was five years ago. And given that title’s success, surely publisher Valve has the incentive to be working on the follow-up, perhaps even in an HTC Vive-compatible VR form?
We’ve seen no suggestion of this game existing, of course, we just have wishful thinking.
Half-Life 3
Valve
Ok, so our suggestions are getting ever more “just because”, and this is yet another one angled at Valve, but Half-Life 2 was one of the best first-person shooters ever.
It’s been years since the last title, plus there was even a moment when a follow-up was in early production (collaboratively with Arkane Studios, which has since been canned). Wishful thinking for the time being, then, but here’s hoping for the future.
New Nintendo Mario title
Nintendo
For Nintendo to dedicate its entire E3 floor space to Zelda was brave. It was also quite amazing – in a positive way – given the tranquility and setup of the stand.
Anyway, it also goes right in the face of the already-announced Nintendo NX console, which is due in 2017. Other than Zelda what’s going to launch with that? We don’t know. But we thought Ninty might be pushing a new Mario or Donkey Kong title already.
Celebrate E3 and new ‘Zelda’ with this lavish Nintendo sale
E3 2016 is in full swing, and there’s already a bevy of titles being shown off that we can’t wait to get our hands on, particularly The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and the upcoming Pokémon Sun and Moon. Nintendo know this very well, and thus is running a special E3 sale from now through June 21 with up to 40% select digital games.
With an additional 10% off certain games for My Nintendo members, there are some real bargains here for digital copies of favorites like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for $4.79 and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD for $29.99. The Zelda franchise isn’t the only one to get in on the savings, with the Game Boy hits Pokémon Trading Card Game and Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire available for $3.59 and $4.79 respectively.
If neither Zelda or Pokémon are on your radar, there are some decent savings on 3DS games like Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Story of Seasons and Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward as well as scores of other titles. Wii U fans can pick up Splatoon, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and more for a discount as well.
Time to pick up some titles to expand your collection while finishing off that backlog. The wait for the new Zelda isn’t that far off, after all.
Harley-Davidson will make an electric motorcycle in 5 years
Harley-Davidson wasn’t just fooling around when it showed off its electric Project LiveWire motorcycle. In a chat with the Milwaukee Business Journal, the bike maker’s Sean Cummings says that there will be an electric Harley within the next 5 years. That’s 2021, if you want to mark your calendar. He’s not giving any clues as to what this e-bike will entail, but it probably won’t resemble the 2014-era LiveWire.
As our Autoblog colleagues point out, the biggest challenge is maximizing range. The LiveWire concept only got 60 miles on a charge at best, which just won’t cut it when you’re riding to Sturgis. Harley doesn’t have the luxury of a large car floor to hold its battery packs — it has to cram a lot of cells into a narrow space without making the bike ugly or unmaneuverable. A cruiser may make more sense than a street bike.
Having said this, the very fact that Harley is planning a production e-bike is noteworthy. This is a brand that’s virtually synonymous with loud, roaring gas engines. Clearly, it believes there’s enough interest in the idea (or at least, enough pressure from an eco-conscious society) that it’s worth bucking expectations.
Via: Autoblog
Source: Milwaukee Business Journal (sub. required)
Former IBM employee accused of economic espionage
A former IBM software engineer working in China has been charged with six counts of economic espionage and theft of trade secrets, Reuters reports today. The employee, 30-year-old Xu Jiaqiang, is accused of using his access as a developer to steal and subsequently sell IBM’s proprietary source code.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Xu resigned from IBM in May of 2014, but he allegedly took the code for a clustered file system with him. The system is meant to facilitate “faster computer performance by coordinating work among multiple servers,” and is only valuable to IBM if the code is kept in-house. After leaving IBM, however, Xu tried to sell the code to two undercover law enforcement agents posing as an investor and a project manager who were trying to launch a data storage company.
Over the course of about six months in 2015, Xu demonstrated the code to the two undercover officers, who confirmed it was a “functioning copy” of IBM’s own software. Xu was finally arrested at a hotel in White Plains, New York last December after he openly admitted to the undercover agents that he used the code to build his own version of IBM’s software that he could sell to clients. In his discussions with the law enforcement officers, he even stated that he had concealed a block of code identifying it as copyrighted worked owned by IBM.
AIVAnet 