Volkswagen and NVIDIA want to help humans and robots work together

After just confirming its plans to help Volvo create self-driving cars, NVIDIA has now revealed that it’s also working with another leading car manufacturer. Announcing a partnership with Volkswagen, the tech company states its artificial intelligence and deep learning tech will be used to help VW expand its AI business beyond just autonomous vehicles.

While this collaboration may sound surprising, the move actually looks to help expand Volkswagen’s existing AI-focused research division – The VW Data Lab. The two companies have suggested that this sharing of tech could be used to help the pair optimize traffic flow in cities and even to devise solutions that make human and robot collaboration easier.

In a statement, Volkswagen’s CIO Dr. Martin Hofmann says that AI is “the key to the digital future of the Volkswagen Group” describing its collaboration with NVIDIA as “a major step” in expanding the company’s proficiency in the field. This deal won’t just benefit VW’s Data Lab, however. The tech company and the car manufacturer have also announced a startup support program beginning this fall, where The Data Lab and NVIDIA will be assisting five small business who specialize in machine learning. The two companies are also offering to share their expertise with students too, launching a Summer of Code camp that will be kicking off shortly.

While NVIDIA is primarily known for manufacturing graphics cards, this is far from the company’s first expansion into the motor industry. With the tech giant now powering cars made by Toyota, Volvo, and the VW-owned Audi, NVIDIA is quietly becoming one of the leading names in autonomous vehicle AI. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see AMD making the fighter jets of tomorrow.

Via: Tech Crunch

Source: Volkswagen

The high-tech war on Tibetan communication

Each year, March 10th in Tibet brings more police onto the streets, closer online censorship of terms like “Free Tibet” and “Dalai Lama” and a spate of cyberattacks.

“Every March 10th, almost all major Tibetan organizations in Dharamsala are targeted with Distributed Denial of Service and other cyber attacks,” said Tenzin Dalha, a researcher at the Tibet Policy Institute, part of the Central Tibetan Administration. Four years ago, that happened to the Voice of Tibet (VOT), a nonprofit media outlet run out of the Indian hill town of Dharamsala, bringing its website down for several days.

The reason for the crackdown is that the date commemorates March 10th, 1959. On that day, rumors spread in the Tibetan capital Lhasa about the impending arrest of Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, by the Chinese, who had invaded the territory in 1950. Tibetans rallied to support their spiritual leader and the mass protests led to a violent crackdown. The Dalai Lama and his entourage escaped to India, where he and the Tibetan government-in-exile remain.

When VOT started in 1996, it was one of the few channels of communication between Tibetans and their government-in-exile across the border, as all newspapers, television and other print materials were heavily censored. Using shortwave radio, it transmitted its news service across the border into Chinese-occupied Tibet, both in Tibetan and Mandarin Chinese.

“Of course the Chinese Government tries to jam our program consistently, and we try to fight with them by broadcasting our programs on different frequencies, at different times.”

“We are a news organization, and we spend [our time] making stories,” said Tenzin Peldon, editor at VOT. “Of course, the Chinese government tries to jam our program consistently, and we try to fight with them by broadcasting our programs on different frequencies, at different times, so if one program is jammed, other ones get through.”

China’s control of information is key to its control over Tibet. Propaganda has been key in pushing its own version of history — that the 1959 invasion was a “liberation” and that Chinese rule has been a boon to Tibet — both at home to the global community. In the following decades, most of the country’s Buddhist monasteries and temples were destroyed, while many Tibetans were put into forced labor camps or, in many cases, killed.

Vast mining operations and dams run by Chinese companies are strewn across the plateau but have not benefited Tibetans. Lhasa, once a forbidden, holy city where foreigners could enter only in very limited instances, is now a Chinese-majority city that Tibetans from outlying regions have to get special permissions to enter. Yet as development spread across the plateau and China opened during the economic boom of the 1990s, Tibet appeared seemingly docile and increasingly integrated with the mainland.

This image fell apart in early 2008. It was, again, March 10th. This time, just a few months before China was to welcome the world to the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, decades of discontent erupted into protests in Lhasa, which quickly spread across the occupied country. Tibetan exiles helped to spread images of monks protesting spread online, which, together with a powerful human-rights documentary, triggered protests across the world, and calls for countries to boycott the Olympics.

It was a huge embarrassment for the Chinese government. Martial law was quickly declared, and the years since have seen an even greater clampdown on free expression through the pervasive monitoring of Tibetans, both those inside Tibet and out.

What was once a low-tech information battle over radio waves has now being reshaped by the internet and smartphone access that have spread into Tibet. Yet while China operates the world’s most powerful digital-security apparatus, there are only around 6 million-7 million Tibetans in Tibet, and about 150,000 exiles scattered around the world. For the small Tibetan community with limited resources, to face off with Beijing is a David and Goliath situation.

Pro-Tibet demonstrators near the European Union-China summit in Brussels earlier this month.

Reuters/PA Images

The attack on Voice of Tibet four years ago was a common distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, but others have been far more sophisticated.

The scale of China’s operation was not clear until a report released by the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab in 2009, titled “Tracking Ghostnet.” This clearly showed, for the first time, the extent of cyber espionage and how deeply it had infiltrated the Tibetan movement, including the office of the Dalai Lama. For Lobsang Gyatso, this was a major wakeup call.

“The report was a huge eye-opener … until then, we didn’t have proof or an understanding,” said Lobsang, the digital-security-programs manager with the Tibet Action Institute. “This made it very concrete and showed it was state-sponsored … it was pretty clear to us who was behind it.”

“Every single organization affiliated with the CTA or with the Tibetan freedom movement in India has been targeted with severe cyber attacks.”

Citizen Lab uncovered 1,295 infected hosts in 103 countries across the entire Tibetan spectrum. Signs all pointed to China as the culprit.

“Every single organization affiliated with the CTA or with the Tibetan freedom movement in India has been targeted with severe cyber attacks,” said Dalha. “The website of CTA, [in particular] the Chinese website, has been hacked several times.”

The most common method of spreading malware was simple –- email attachments. Citizen Lab documented the use of suspicious emails with links to complex malware in a 2013 follow up report on what they called APT1’s Glasses, which it sourced directly to the People’s Liberation Army in China. Tibetans switched strategies, from sending attachments to using more-secure services such as Google Drive and Dropbox to share files.

“Most NGOs by then had developed this practice of sharing everything with Google Drive,” said Tenzin Jidgal with the International Campaign for Tibet. Not too long thereafter, some organizations noticed some of the emails they were getting with Google Drive attachments were being sent from malicious servers including links that led to malware.

This time, however, they were prepared. They shared data with outsiders, such as Citizen Lab, to better understand the problem. It was no accident, but a meaningful, organized response to a genuine threat.

‘Free Tibet’ banner outside the Beijing National Stadium at the 2008 Olympics.

Leading the fight to protect NGOs from digital threats is the Tibet Action Institute (TAI) founded in 2009.

“We fill a supporting role for others doing advocacy,” said Lobsang. “How to make their work more effective, so that there are not attacked, and they are protected.”

TAI does not focus on getting users to select the best or safest tools. Instead, it wants people to understand the Chinese threat and make small changes. It models its campaigns after those in the public-health sector, and works both with the exile community and Tibetans in Tibet, making sure they understand how to send information outside the country safely.

“Tibetans in Tibet tend to have this idea: ‘If the information gets out, I don’t care what happens to me.’ It’s very courageous,” said Lobsang. “But we want to help them get over that mentality, making them understand that [their well-being] is very important to the movement.” That often means teaching simple tasks — helping them understand how mobile networks and SIM cards work — so that they can use low-risk communication methods.

This behavior change is key to TAI’s mission, as a system is only as secure as its weakest link. If regular Tibetans are not secure, then potentially no one is.

“It’s more about behavior and understanding security, and making sure you understand once you install an app, what those permissions mean, so you’re better informed before doing anything.”

“Our focus has been on what tools people are using already, and then what practices that can actually support that to be more secure,” said Lobsang. “It’s more about behavior and understanding security, and making sure you understand once you install an app, what those permissions mean, so you’re better informed before doing anything.”

Also key to the effort are partnerships with institutes such as Citizen Lab or other NGOs facing similar threats from Chinese state actors. Since that 2009 report, Citizen Lab has been releasing regular updates on the latest tactics being used by hackers to try to access Tibetans’ and Tibet organizations’ data, which directly inform TAI’s training tactics.

It is a nonstop game of cat-and-mouse. As the Tibet movement’s digital-security abilities and training improve, the Chinese government implements more-sophisticated hacking techniques. Members of the Tibet movement credit the integration of digital-security thinking for allowing it to keep pace with threats. According to Bhuchung K. Tsering, Vice President at the International Campaign for Tibet, the everyday use of digital tools requires people and organizations to make security second nature.

“The best thing that we can do is be mindful of what we do all the time,” said Tsering. “If we are mindful, then we will be more prepared to take those steps that might prevent the … Chinese, or anyone else, from getting into our system.”

A Tibet Action Institute workshop.

No one really knows what Chinese hackers will attempt next — it was only a few years ago that China even admitted to having a cyber army. But one thing that worries many is that the most ubiquitous app used in China is also commonly used among the exile community — WeChat.

At core an instant messenger, WeChat was initially popular with many Tibetans as it allowed, for the first time, regular communication between those still in Tibet and those in exile.

“In Dharamsala, a lot of Tibetans use WeChat to just talk to their friends in groups,” said an expert at Free Tibet, a UK-based NGO who preferred to remain anonymous. “By using WeChat outside of China, Tibetans are willingly giving up their security and privacy.”

WeChat has serious security issues, and many believe it is readily sharing data with the Chinese government. Citizen Lab found line by line censorship of content when analyzing information flows between India and Tibet earlier this year around the Kalachakra teaching, which China deemed “illegal,” held by the Dalai Lama in Bodh Gaya, India.

In China, several Tibetans have been arrested for sharing content deemed politically sensitive on WeChat. While more and more members of the community understand that discussing political topics or sharing images of, for example, the Dalai Lama, can put people at risk of being arrested, Lobsang is worried about something else entirely.

“Information is key. They want to know how the exile community thinks, and from a political perspective, that’s a huge plus for them.”

“Instead of them coming to hack us, we are going to a platform that is run by [China] in some ways, and sharing all of that information there,” said Lobsang. “Information is key. They want to know how the exile community thinks, and from a political perspective, that’s a huge plus for them.”

Moving Tibetans to a more-secure chat app, such as Signal or Telegram, is a nonstarter due to the challenge of getting enough people to switch simultaneously. So TAI focuses instead on ensuring users understand what types of information WeChat can access, and, if possible, use the app on a separate dedicated phone when communicating with those inside Tibet. But getting users to understand how China could use even the simple, daily, nonpolitical communication to their benefit is a major challenge.

“There’s a line that needs to be drawn, but it’s hard to get people to understand how the concept of big data actually works,” said Lobsang.

Chinese military march in front of the traditional residence of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa, Tibet.

Getty Images

Tibetans are, of course, not the only targets of Chinese government hackers. While their unique situation puts them in line for scrutiny, more recent targets have included the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong and US corporations. China’s digital state could even, soon, include Facebook, which has been making overtures to enter the country and is creating censorship software that could make it more amenable to Chinese authorities.

While, at first, for small exile community to face off against a massive digital-security apparatus may seem insurmountable, size actually plays to Tibetans’ advantage. The exile community is closely knit, and the near-constant threat of hacking since the 2008 uprising has helped create a culture of security throughout the movement.

“We have become more aware, more informed, and more literate … about digital security and online security,” said Jigdal. “We may be smaller, but if we were able to develop this practice on a day-to-day basis, it spreads faster, and therefore it’s more doable.”

For VOT, this meant hiring an IT consultant after the initial DDoS attack, conducting in-house training, and working with TAI to improve its own security culture. While its shortwave broadcasts still face jamming, its website has remained online, and information is, against all odds, getting through.

“No matter how much the Chinese repress Tibetans, they can’t stop the flow of information.”

“No matter how much the Chinese repress Tibetans, they can’t stop [the flow] of information,” said Peldon. “So even though the Chinese government constantly jam our programs and send attacks to our website, I’m surprised how Tibetans inside Tibet find different ways to bypass the censorship wall and hear us.”

Tibetans in exile are more prepared digitally than ever before.

“Tibet Action Institute’s awareness-raising work with Tibetans played a big role in making sure that it wasn’t worth China’s while to continue to spread malware the ‘old way,’” said an expert at Free Tibet, who preferred to remain anonymous.

But the big picture still looks dire. Today, the situation in Tibet is deteriorating even more, with Freedom House ranking it the least-free country in the world. Tibetans are facing increased travel restrictions, fewer cultural rights and more arrests for even simple online transgressions.

“A risk from a … different angle is Chinese online propaganda campaigns that attempt to normalize the current situation in Tibet or drown out social media posts about Tibet that criticize the occupation or attempt to publicize human-rights abuses,” said John Jones, campaigns and communications manager at Free Tibet.

The 60th anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan Uprising is approaching. China is expected to ramp up measures, online and offline, and do all it can to ensure that no protests, either like the ones in 1959 or 2008, or the recent spate of self-immolations, take place in Tibet — and if they do happen, that the rest of the world won’t hear about it. After years of digital fortification, this may be the greatest test of the exile community’s ability to go toe-to-toe with a Goliath in cybersecurity.

Image credits: Balint Porneczi/AFP/Getty Images (Chinese and Tibetan flags); Reuters/Press Association (Pro-tibet demonstrations); Wikimedia (‘Free Tibet’ banner); Tibet Action Institute (TAI workshop); Bernardo De Niz/MCT/Getty Images (Potala Palace).

UK copyright body throws idle threats at Kodi box owners

Audio-visual enthusiasts know and recognise that Kodi is the swiss-army knife of media centres. But for lots of people around the world, the software is synonymous with movie and TV show piracy. “Fully-loaded” Kodi boxes have made the open-source platform a huge target for copyright authorities and rights holders, who are now using the courts to punish people who sell ready-made illegal streaming solutions. The end user has typically escaped punishment, but the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) is now warning UK owners that they too could see the long arm of the law tap them on the shoulder.

The warning comes by way of The Independent. It includes lots of scare quotes, but none that should get Kodi box owners too worried, at least at the moment. According to Kieron Sharp, the chief executive at FACT, investigators could begin tracing the buyers of fully-loaded Kodi boxes by using the customer lists of sellers they’ve already raided.

“What we’ve been looking at in conjunction with many of our clients and members are the different levels of crime being committed,” Sharp told the Independent. “There’s the manufacture and importation of devices, and then the distribution and selling of those. We’re also looking at the people who are providing the apps and add-ons, the developers. And then we’ll also be looking at, at some point, the end user. The reason for end users to come into this is that they are committing criminal offences.”

Kodi remains a free and open software that can be installed on an array of devices. Sharp’s comments appear to single out users who neglected to build their own media centre and instead opted to acquire theirs via more questionable means. There’s nothing to say that if someone has modified their own Raspberry Pi or Amazon Fire Stick to run Kodi that they’ll be tracked.

In April, the Europe’s highest court ruled that selling pre-configured pirate streaming boxes is illegal, giving domestic courts across the EU the power to convict and penalise the people that operate such services. In the UK, a landmark court case involving a Middlesbrough resident will soon decide whether sellers of illegal streaming boxes can be punished.

“It’s part of the work that we do with the police that we have to look at the whole business there, and start investigating those that have been buying these devices.” Sharp also noted. “At the moment, where that will lead we don’t know. We have a number of cases coming before the courts in terms of those people who have been providing, selling and distributing illicit streaming devices. It’s something for the very near future, when we’ll consider whether we go any further than that, in terms of customers.”

While FACT’s position on users of fully-loaded Kodi boxes is warranted — using piracy add-ons is illegal — its main focus is still those who profit from the sale of such devices. If Sharp’s words deter people from buying one then it’s a bonus, but those who have built their own device or have bought a fully-loaded box simply to complete their own media centre will likely fall outside of those investigations (for now).

Via: Gizmodo UK

Source: The Independent

Greenpeace Combats Planned Obsolescence in New Repairability Campaign, iPad and MacBook Score Low

A new campaign by Greenpeace today has rated the repairability of six Apple devices against the smartphone, tablet, and laptop market at large, the purpose of which is to highlight planned obsolescence in the technology industry. Greenpeace partnered with iFixit to assess over forty different devices that debuted between 2015 and 2017, with iFixit’s teardown repairability scores serving as the basis for the data.

Apple’s products looked at in the campaign included the iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, iPad (fifth generation), 13-inch MacBook Pro, and 12-inch MacBook (refreshed in 2017). All products were rated in the following categories: battery replaceability, display replaceability, no special tools needed, and spare parts available.

Scoring worst on the list were the two MacBooks, which each got a 1/10, and the two iPads didn’t fare much better, both getting 2/10 marks in the campaign. The new iPhone 7 models were much higher, both receiving a 7/10 with positive check marks in display replaceability but red x’s in all other categories.

Microsoft had trouble in the ratings as well, with its Surface Pro 5 and Surface Book both rated at 1/10. Conversely, the brands abiding by Greenpeace’s repairability mantra included Fairphone, Dell, and HP, which all had products rated at 10/10 on the campaign’s scale.

Ultimately, Greenpeace wants to bring awareness to the phenomenon of planned obsolescence, which the company’s IT sector analyst, Gary Cook, said “adds to growing stockpiles of e-waste,” due to difficult repairability shortening device lifespan. Cook noted that, “improving the repairability of electronic products is technically achievable and brands should be prioritizing this in their product design.”

“Electronics take a massive amount of energy, human effort, and natural resources to make,” said iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens. “And yet, manufacturers produce billions more of them every year—while consumers keep them for just a few years before tossing them away. E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the world. We should be able to make electronics a more sustainable part of our lives.”

In an environmental report earlier this year, Greenpeace awarded Apple with an “A” rating, calling it the most environmentally friendly technology company in the world, for the third year in a row. That report looked specifically at energy transparency, renewable energy commitment, energy efficiency and mitigation, renewable procurement, and advocacy.

Tags: iFixit, Greenpeace
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30 most Instagrammed landmarks from around the world

Everyone loves travelling and in a world with high-quality cameras tucked into our pockets in the form of smartphones, it’s remarkably quick and easy to take photos of our adventures.

You only need to take a quick look at Instagram to see how popular the famous landmarks are from around the world. People everywhere are happily snapping and uploading for all to see. 

Noticing a trend, Sony’s Mobile division set about carrying out some research to see just which places people loved the most. Its aim being to help show that you don’t just have to take the same boring clichéd snaps that everyone else does – whether that’s meditating at the Taj Mahal or pushing the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The data also shows that people tend to take photos from the three same angles of most of the landmarks. So we’ve run through Sony’s list, to show you the most popular places in order of most Instagrammed images. Just try to get pics from other angles too.

The Eiffel Tower, Paris (France)

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Topping the list with no less that 4 million images is France’s Eiffel Tower. Interestingly, people tend to take photos of the tower from multiple locations which goes against the trend of other landmarks where people mostly snap the same three angles. 

The Eiffel Tower itself opened in 1889, so it’s reasonable to assume there have been a lot more photographs than that over the last century and a bit. Originally intended as the entrance to the World’s Fair, it initially met with criticism over its design but has since become one of the most recognisable landmarks on the list. 

Big Ben, London (United Kingdom)

bengreenphotography

Second on the list is perhaps one of the other most recognisable landmarks in the form of Big Ben, the Great Bell and clock tower at the end of the Palace of Westminster. When it was originally completed in 1859, the clock was said to be the most accurate chiming clock in the world, it’s unlikely to have retained that title, but no doubt it is now the most photographed. 

With almost 2.5 million photos on Instagram, half of which from the same three angles, Big Ben (or, more accurately, the clock tower) certainly gets a lot of love from adoring world travellers. 

The Louvre, Paris (France)

merveillesdeparis

Despite being established in 1793, the Louvre is surprisingly not the oldest of the man-made landmarks on the list, but it might be one of the most recognisable.

Located in Paris, France, it’s said to be the world’s largest museum and historic monument. As well as having the title of third most Instagrammed, with over 1.7 million photos uploaded, the Louvre also ranks as the world’s second most visited museum with 7.4 million visitors in 2016 alone.

The Empire State Building, New York City (USA)

barreradm1975

Perhaps one of the most iconic and well-known skyscrapers in the world, the Empire State Building was also the world’s tallest building for at least 40 years until it was beaten to the title by the World Trade Center (since sadly and famously destroyed in one of the worst terrorist atrocities ever).

The Empire State, however, can at least boast the crown of most Instragrammed skyscraper with at least a million and a half snaps being uploaded so far.  

Burj Khalifa, Dubai (United Arab Emirates)

millionaireswealth

The Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai now holds the title of world’s tallest building and has done since its opening in 2008. Reaching a staggering 829.8 metres of total height (almost twice that of the Empire State Building). It’s also a popular tourist spot and a strong favourite with Instagram users. 

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris (France)

paris_tourisme

Towering over the Paris skyline is one of most well-known and most Instagrammed church buildings in the world. The Notra-Dame de Paris (which translated means “Our Lady of Paris”) is said to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture in the modern world and is likely to be one of the oldest man-made structures too.

Originally ground-breaking as the building work was carried out in 1163 with final touches being completed in 1345. It’s reasonable to assume that plenty of people have visited the site since its original construction. 

The cathedral is certainly a strong favourite with Instagram users with more than 1.3 million photos snapped and uploaded so far. Over half of those photos were taken from the three most popular angles too, which shows that travellers have a fondness for certain sides of this monument. 

St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City (Rome)

heiko_bormann

Another of the oldest church buildings on the list,  St Peter’s Basilica dates back to 1506 and has pride of place in Vatican City as one of the world’s largest religious landmarks. The church is in seventh place when it comes to most snapped, a number that’s no doubt set to progress as the years pass by.

The renowned Renaissance architecture of the building probably goes some way to explaining why Instagrammers love snapping this building from every angle. 

Times Square, New York City, (USA)

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Times Square is a hub and major intersection of Midtown Manhattan in New York City and a major centre of the world’s entertainment industry with the Broadway Theater District located close by. It’s no surprise then that this great crossroad is in the top 10 of the most Instagrammed locations from around the globe and the last on our list to top over a million images.

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona (Spain)

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Sagrada Familia, also known as Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família – Basilica and Expiatory Church of the Holy Family – is a large Roman Catholic church which resides in Barcelona, Spain.

Construction of the Sagrada Familia began in 1882 but has yet to be finished and continuing development is expected to continue to at least 2028. 

Despite its unfinished state, the church still sees flocks of visitors every year, which is why it appears as ninth in the list of most Instagrammed monuments. 

The Colosseum, Rome (Italy)

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Perhaps the most well-known of all Roman landmarks is the Colosseum – the oval amphitheatre built by the Romans to host gladiatorial contests and spectacles to entertain the people of Rome. It’s estimated that the Colosseum could hold up to 80,000 spectators in its day. Since then, the area has seen many visitors flock from all over the world to marvel at its spectacular design and history. 

Over 860,000 photos of the Colosseum have been taken and shared on Instagram with the majority of the images snapped from the same three popular angles.

Statue of Liberty, New York City (USA)

bklynborn81

Another popular landmark from New York City is the Lady of Liberty, a copper statue that was originally a gift from the people of France to celebrate the date of the Declaration of Independence on 4 July 1776.

The Statue of Liberty is certainly a firm favourite amongst travellers with over four million people visiting her each year. With that in mind, it’s perhaps surprising that she’s only 11th on the list of most Instagrammed monuments with around 814,000 snaps taken so far. 

Machu Picchu (Peru)

canelarodal

Machu Picchu is a Inca citadel located on a mountain ridge in Latin America. Thought to be an estate for an Incan emperor, Machu Picchu is perhaps the most well-known location of Incan civilisation. It was abandoned in the 1500s around the time of the Spanish Conquest but was later restored. Restoration continues to this day.  

As well as appearing on the list of most Instagrammed landmarks, Machu Picchu also has the title of “New Seven Wonders of the World” after being voted for in 2007 from a selection of 200 existing landmarks and monuments. Machu Picchu is most often snapped from the same three angles, probably due to the nature of the views across it from the surrounding hills and mountain tops. 

Alhambra, Granada (Spain)

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Alhambra is a palace and fortress located in Granada, Spain. Dating back to 889 AD, its one of the oldest Spanish landmarks on our list and a popular palace for Spanish Royalty since that time. Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a vast and interesting history, not just in the palace building itself, but in the surrounding woodland which sprung up from English elm trees brought to the location by the Duke of Wellington. 

Alhambra is 13th on the list of most Instagrammed with almost 750,000 photos and counting. 

Borobudur, Magelang (Indonesia)

jksphotolog

Borobudur is the world’s largest Buddhist temple, boasting impressive decorations and over 500 Buddha statues. The temple was originally constructed as a shrine to Lord Buddha as well as a place for Buddhist pilgrimage, which begins at the foot of the temple and continues through to the top via stairways and corridors. 

Borobudur is also a popular destination for Instagram travellers from across the world and comes in at 14th place on our list. 

Red Square, Moscow (Russia)

vitaliyakudi

Red Square is probably one of the most well-known locations in the former Soviet Union. It’s the location of the Kremlin and the official residence of the President of Russia. It’s also considered by most to be the most central point of Moscow. Red Square has its name because of the red bricks surrounding the square, not the link to communism as you might expect. 

A strong favourite with the Instagram crowd, Red Square comes in at almost 600,000 snaps to date. 

Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janiro (Brazil)

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At the summit of Mount Corcovado, in Rio de Janiro, stands the largest statue of Jesus Christ in the known world. Credited with being the biggest Art Deco-style sculpture to be erected in any country, it’s instantly recognisable and known worldwide.

With spectacular surroundings and an awe-inspiring view, it’s no surprise that Christ the Redeemer hits the list at 16th place. 

Taj Mahal, Agra (India)

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With the exception of perhaps the Great Pyramids, the Taj Mahal is probably the grandest mausoleum in the world. Originally built in 1653, it is estimated to have cost around 32 million rupees which is equal to around $827 million in today’s money. 

The Taj Mahal is another landmark on our list to be designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and has been described as the “…one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage.”

Somewhere around eight million people visit the Taj Mahal every year with over 570,000 Instagrams being snapped so far. 

Burj Al Arab, Dubai (United Arab Emirates)

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Burj Al Arab represents another striking landmark from Dubai. This luxury hotel is unusual because it stands on an artificial island which is connected to the mainland by a private bridge. Visitors will note the unique shape of the tower which was originally designed to look like the sail of a ship. 

As well as being the third tallest hotel in the world, Burj Al Arab is also one of only four skyscrapers to appear on the list of most Instagrammed. 

Mount Fuji, Honshu Island (Japan)

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Mount Fuji is the tallest Japanese mountain and among one of the most well-known mountains worldwide. Standing at 3,776 metres, it’s far from the tallest mountain in the world (Mount Everest is 8,848 metres) but it certainly ranks as one of the most popular. 

Said to be at least 100,000 years old, Mount Fuji is certainly one of the oldest landmarks on our list and one of the most photographed too. Over 530,000 snaps have been Instagrammed so far and the majority of them from the same three popular angles. 

Buckingham Palace, London (United Kingdom)

ridedivide

Back to the UK for the 20th landmark on our list. Buckingham Palace is the residence of the Queen when she’s in London and the main location for occasions of state.

With 775 rooms and the largest private gardens in London, the Palace is certainly one of the most impressive Royal buildings in the world, but it might be the pomp and ceremony that keeps people visiting. With the changing of the guard ceremony and tours of the grounds that include an audio tour by Prince Charles, it’s a real regal experience.

Just under half a million people have uploaded photos of Buckingham Palace to Instagram and that number is steadily climbing. With 30 million people visiting London each year, we’ll no doubt see more of the same photos appearing in future. 

Tokyo Tower, Tokyo (Japan)

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Tokyo Toweris the second tallest in the capital city, towering over the skylines of Japan and a landmark that bares a striking resemblance to another on the list. With an Eiffel Tower inspired design and a familiar lattice work, it stands out as a magnificent sight with striking bold “international orange” and white colour scheme designed to comply with air safety regulations. 

Tokyo Tower is also interesting as it has to be repainted every five years and takes an entire year to complete. Of the 485,000 plus photos of the tower, many include breath-taking shots of it dominating the skyline above Tokyo. 

Ha Long Bay (Vietnam)

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Photographs of Ha Long Bay may strike you as immediately familiar and for good reason, as it was featured in the James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies”. Besides that fame, Ha Long Bay is a spectacular scatter of islands, a vision of beauty and one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations. 

Ha Long Bay is another landmark on our list which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one with a fascinating history that includes the discovery of evidence that prehistorical human beings existed in the area tens of thousands of years ago, as far back as 18,000 BC.  

Arc de Triomphe, Paris (France)

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The Arc de Triomphe stands as a grand monument to honour and remember those who fought for France in various wars, including the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars and more recently the first World War (the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier lies beneath it). It is also at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle where 12 roads radiate out from its centre.

Construction of the Arc de Triomphe finished in 1836 and it has seen a lot of history since then, including parades through and around it during World War II by both German occupation forces and the Free French army when the war ended. In modern times, it is a great attraction for tourists and Instagram lovers from around the globe. As 23rd on the list of most Instagrammed landmarks, it has just under 450,000 photos snapped.   

Berlin Wall, Berlin (Germany)

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The Berlin Wall stood as a concrete symbol of oppression, cutting off and creating a divide between East and West Germany. Essentially a hangover from World War II, it was erected in 1961 to prevent emigration and defection from East Germany. After many years, the wall was opened again in 1989 and its destruction began shortly afterwards. 

Parts of the wall were left in place to mark its historic significance and visitors to Germany flock to see it in their droves every year, glad the guard towers are no longer manned, preventing them from crossing and leaving. 

Trevi Fountain, Rome (Italy)

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The Trevi Fountain is quite possibly one of the most famous fountains in the world and not just because of how heavily it features on Instagram. The fountain has appeared in multiple films and has a long history that stretches back to ancient Rome where it served as a terminal for the aqueducts that supplied water to the Romans. 

Now the Trevi Fountain acts an attraction for tourists where they gather to admire and throw coins into it.  Tradition dictates that coins should be tossed by the right hand over the left shoulder and with the mass of people visiting, it is estimated that there are around €3,000 thrown into it each and every day. That’s a staggering $1.5 million a year! 

Interestingly, 75 per cent of people taking photos of the fountain snap it from the same three angles. 

Great Wall of China, Huairou (China) 

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The Great Wall of China was a form of border protection built East-to-West along the old Northern borders of China somewhere in 700 BC. The wall spans 13,171 miles and has been re-built and heavily maintained since its first construction but, despite this, many sections of the wall have since collapsed or wasted away. 

People visit the wall every year to see the sites and take day tours along the magnificent sections that do still exist. As 26th on our list of most Instagrammed landmarks, the Great Wall of China has over 410,000 photographs on Instagram. 

Sydney Opera House, Sydney (Australia)

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Perhaps the grandest of the modern opera houses, the Sydney Opera House is probably one of the most instantly recognisable of all our landmarks. The building is likely to be one of the youngest too, with construction only being completed in 1973. 

The size and popularity of the Sydney Opera House means that it hosts 1,500 performances a year and is said to be visited by well over a million people as well. The magnificence of the Opera House and its locale make it extremely photogenic and result in a wonderful collection of Instagram images. 

Table Mountain, Cape Town (South Africa)

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The second and final mountain on our list of most Instagrammed landmarks is located on the coast of South Africa and is an unusually flat-topped mountain that overlooks Cape Town. Impressive cliff faces, magnificent views and the dramatic backdrop of Cape Town encourage thousands of visitors and hikers every year. 

Park Güell, Barcelona (Spain)

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Park Güell is a public park with gardens and artistically pleasing architecture. Established in 1914, it wasn’t declared a World Heritage Site until 1986 when UNESCO recognised it as an important work of Antoni Guadi. The artist used organic shapes and geometric designs which give the buildings in the park a distinctive style. 

As well as wonderful architecture, the park is host to a range of wildlife including parrots that aren’t native to the area. At one point, over nine million people a year visited the park and it became incredibly over-crowded to the point where authorities had to restrict access to protect the monuments and help sustain the park. 

Nevertheless, it still appears on our list of most Instagrammed landmarks at number 29. 

Sacré-Cœur Basilica, Paris (France)

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The final landmark on our list is yet another one from Paris. Sacré-Cœur Basilica (also known as Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris) is another Roman Catholic church of monumental magnificence. Sitting at the highest point of Paris, it offers spectacular views of the city and the building itself. 

Use of cameras is forbidden inside the church, which is why most of the photographs on Instagram are of the outside of the building. But there is also a garden for meditation and the top of the dome is open to tourists to give an even better view of the surroundings. 

Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, might be last on our list of the top 30 most Instagrammed landmarks, but it still has over 375,000 photos taken so far. 

The Honor 9 is a cheaper, smaller flagship

Slowly, Honor is making a name for itself producing cut-price phones with seriously competitive specs. An offshoot of Huawei, the experimental brand repackages the parts — hardware and software — refined by its corporate sibling, before assessing and undercutting its rivals significantly. For the budget-conscious customer, it’s a tempting offer. Today, Honor is revealing its latest handset for Europe, the Honor 9, which continues that trend. It’s a replacement for the Honor 8 and boasts a spec sheet similar to the Honor 8 Pro, which my colleague Jamie Rigg was smitten by earlier this year. The phone differs in two key areas, however: size and price.

Whereas the Honor 8 Pro had a 5.7-inch, Quad HD display, the Honor 9 comes with a 5.15-inch, 1080p panel. It’s plenty sharp, but doesn’t have the resolution to compete with an LG G6 or Samsung Galaxy S8. On a screen this size, however, the pixel count isn’t much of an issue and the trade-off should mean superior battery life, which is always welcome. Inside, the Honor 9 rocks a Kirin 960 processor, with four 2.4GHz cores and four 1.8GHz cores — like the Honor 8 Pro — 4GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage, which can be boosted by up to 256GB with a microSD card.

Both phones charge over USB Type-C and have a fingerprint sensor, although the Honor 9 has its scanner round the front, rather than on the rear-side. Positioning the sensor on the front does make the device a little taller than it might otherwise need to be, but given the display size, it’s still perfectly manageable in one hand. That is, provided the phone isn’t squirming around. The metal frame and so-called “3D curved glass back” is startling, especially in the “Sapphire Blue” I’ve been testing recently. The glass makes it slippery, however, so I highly recommend picking up a case.

It is, at first blush, an attractive phone. But like all Honor hardware, it feels uninspired and unoriginal. The design resembles an early prototype — the first draft of something more ambitious — or the rough amalgamation of everything else that’s come out this year. There are no obvious blemishes or branding that will make you embarrassed to take a call in public. But the design doesn’t say anything either. It’s fine, pretty even, but has little in the way of personality or ideas. Whereas Samsung and even Huawei are pushing for original, distinctive designs, Honor seems happy to play it safe.

There’s also the camera. The Honor 9 offers a dual-shooter system on the back, similar to Huawei’s more expensive P10 smartphone. Both have a 12-megapixel RGB sensor paired with a 20-megapixel monochrome equivalent for improved detail and, if you’re the artsy type, superior black and white shots. The P10 uses Leica-endorsed lenses, however, while the Honor 9 has some nondescript glass at the back. It seems to make a difference; the few shots I’ve taken with the Honor 9 have been lacking, with washed out colors and aggressive sharpening. That’s outside, in glorious sunshine too, which doesn’t bode well for low-light shooting. Hopefully this can be improved with a post-launch software update.

The phone runs Android 7.0 with Huawei’s Emotion UI 5.1 skin lathered on top. In the past, “EMUI” was a pain, obscuring or removing Android fundamentals such as the app drawer. But the company has come a long way in recent years, refining its own ideas and re-introducing parts of the “stock” experience that Android enthusiasts love. It’s no longer garish to look at, or a strange iOS imposter. Of course, some will prefer the untouched Android experience, but that’s now harder to come by at cheaper price points. The Nexus line is no more, replaced by the high-end Pixel line, and the latest OnePlus smartphone starts at £449 off contract.

At £380 SIM-free (roughly $485), the Honor 9 looks to be a bargain. The design is unimaginative but the sheer performance is hard to beat. The closest Motorola phone, for instance, is the £370 Moto Z Play, which comes with a 5.5-inch display and a 3510 mAh battery, but a Snapdragon 625 processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. It’s also £95 cheaper than the Honor 8 Pro and £169 less than the Huawei P10, which, Leica cameras aside, is near identical to the Honor 9 internally. The phone is available to pre-order today at Amazon and Vmall in “Sapphire Blue” exclusively (hope you like the color) ahead of its launch in Three stores next month.

(A spokesperson for Honor says there is “no word yet” on US pricing and availability. If and when that changes, we’ll be sure to let you know.)

MIT already has your flying car in miniature form

Some drones fly, others drive. Those that can do both, however, can reach places other machines can’t, making them ideal for search and rescue — or package delivery. That’s why a team from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a fleet of autonomous drones that have rotors and wheels, giving them the capability avoid obstacles on the ground and to go underneath overhead obstructions. Just imagine a machine that can fly to a disaster zone and then drive in the gaps of collapsed buildings to search for survivors.

The team based these new drones on a previous “flying monkey” robot one of them developed. That one can fly, grasp surfaces and crawl/hop around. These new machines, however, are autonomous, loaded with “path-planning” algorithms to ensure the eight drones in the fleet don’t bump into each other and into other objects. Further, the team attached two small motors with wheels to the bottom of each drone. During their tests, they found that adding those driving components decreased their drones’ max flying distance by 14 percent due to the extra weight. That said, the machines are still capable of flying up to 300 feet, and the loss is offset by the gain in efficiency from driving, which uses less power.

The team’s drones work so well, in fact, that the researchers believe they present another approach to designing flying cars. CSAIL Director Daniela Rus said in a statement:

“As we begin to develop planning and control algorithms for flying cars, we are encouraged by the possibility of creating robots with these capabilities at small scale. While there are obviously still big challenges to scaling up to vehicles that could actually transport humans, we are inspired by the potential of a future in which flying cars could offer us fast, traffic-free transportation.”

You can watch the drones and their path-planning algorithms at work in the video below as they navigate a small makeshift neighborhood with cardboard boxes for buildings:

Source: MIT

Amazon is selling Nokia 6 and Moto E4 with lock-screen ads

Amazon seems to be keen on growing its ad-subsidized “Prime Exclusive” lineup, because the tech titan has added five more unlocked smartphones to the list. One of them is the Nokia 6, HMD Global’s first Android device in the US, which you can get for $180 instead of $229 if you’re a Prime member. Moto E4, which is already incredibly cheap at $130, has also joined its Moto G siblings in the lineup for $30 less its original price. The Alcatel IDOL 5S, A50 and A30 Plus make up the rest of the five new devices and will set you back $200 ($80 lower than retail), $100 ($50 lower) and $80 ($50 lower), respectively.

The e-commerce website launched the Prime Exclusive lineup in 2016 to give its membership program’s subscribers the option to get affordable smartphones for even lower prices. Sure, they’re not top-shelf models, but since they’re unlocked, they’re perfect for those who don’t want to be tied to a two-year contract with carriers. Amazon can sell them for as much as $80 off, because they’re subsidized by ads and offers on the lock screen, though. If that doesn’t bother you in the least, check out the lineup’s official page where the five newest devices are already available for pre-order. The Moto E4 will begin shipping as soon as June 30th, while the other four will start shipping on July 10th.

Wondering which phone to get? HMD’s Nokia 6 runs Android Nougat and has a 5.5-inch HD display and an aluminum body. Inside, you’ll find a Snapdragon 430 processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB storage with microSD support. The Moto E4, which we recently got the chance to try out, is pretty basic with its 5-inch display, quad-core Snapdragon 425, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage space. You can use the Nokia phone with an AT&T or a T-Mobile plan, while the Moto E4 works with any of the four big carriers.

Alcatel’s A50 and A30 Plus both have 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage space, 13MP rear-facing camera and 5MP front camera. The latter has a 5.5-inch display that’s slightly bigger than the former’s, though A50 has a few more bells and whistles that command a higher price. Finally, Alcatel’s IDOL 5S, the most expensive of the three, is a bit fancier with its curved glass and metal design, 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage.

Source: Amazon Prime Exclusive Phones

Sony’s unorthodox take on AI is now open source

When it comes to AI, Sony isn’t mentioned in the conversation like Google, Amazon and Apple are. However, let’s remember that it was on the forefront of deep learning with products like the Aibo robot dog, and has used it recently in the Echo-like Xperia Agent (above) and Xperia Ear. Sony is finally ready to share its AI technology with developers and engineers to incorporate them into their products and services, it has revealed.

Sony joins its rivals Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and others in making its AI open source. On one hand, it will help developers build smarts into products, and on the other, Sony is hoping that developers will “further build on the core libraries’ programs,” it writes. That will in turn make its AI more useful to everyone.

We gladly give props to Sony as an AI pioneer, but its current products like the aforementioned Xperia Ear, which uses the Siri-like Xperia Agent, are pretty rough compared to the Echo or Google Assistant. Specifically, we noted in our review that Sony’s assistant doesn’t have a very natural speaking voice compared to rivals, and isn’t, well, very smart.

However, Sony’s AI offerings are certainly unique. Unlike the typical machine vision, voice recognition and other functions available from others, Sony offers augmented reality AI, the Lifelog activity tracker app with action recognition tech and, of all things, a real estate “price estimation engine.” That type of specialized AI might help it carve out a certain niche.

And despite being behind others, we wouldn’t write off Sony just yet. It recently purchased an AI firm called Cogitai to jump-start its deep learning work, and has extensive robotics experience plus more types of consumer products than just about any other company. As such, we could see its AI appear in surprising places like VR gaming and cameras.

Source: Sony

How Troy Baker’s Naughty Dog work influenced ‘Shadow of War’

Troy Baker has lent his voice and performances to some of the biggest games of the past decade. From six roles across Darksiders 2 to playing Booker DeWitt in BioShock Infinite or stepping into The Joker’s shoes in Batman: Arkham Origins, you might not realize it’s actually him delivering the lines until you see the credits. That’s because he approaches each performance incredibly differently.

With Middle-earth: Shadow of War his job was particularly complex: In addition to reprising his role as Talion, a Ranger of Gondor who’s more or less possessed by an undead prince, Baker served as the director for all of the game’s performance-capture story sequences.

For that task, Baker relied on his experience with director Neil Druckmann from Naughty Dog and his roles in the studio’s The Last of Us (TLoU) and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Naughty Dog is widely regarded as having some of the best performances and shot composition in video game story sequences — there are definitely worse places to look to for inspiration.

Based on our time with Shadow of War, there are definite parallels between Baker’s direction and Druckmann’s. Character positioning definitely feels more cinematic than in its predecessor, but the early PC build we played (it’s also coming out for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) lacked a bit of the visual fidelity Naughty Dog is known for eking out of Sony’s hardware. Not everything is going to be a 1:1 transference from project to project.

“You think you’re gonna get this job and it’s gonna be awesome,” Baker said during an interview earlier this month. “And then the reality and the weight starts sinking in and I go, ‘Maybe I bit off more than I can chew.’

“You sit onstage for the first time and everybody’s looking to you: ‘What are we doing?’”

To answer that question, he went back to a simple direction he picked up working with Naughty Dog: “I don’t know, what do you think?” Baker said it’s something his friend and mentor Druckmann would sometimes respond with whenever he had a question while playing Joel in TLoU or Sam Drake in Uncharted 4. “I’ve learned a lot from Naughty Dog; I’ve learned a lot from other people I’ve worked with so we can incorporate all the good tenements and good principles of what it takes to bring in good performances into games.”

Timothy J. Seppala, Engadget

It’s a simple, perhaps unexpected, way to coax a different kind of a performance from an actor. “I have an answer in my back pocket [as a director], but it’s probably not going to be as connected to you as the one you [the actor] have right here. So tell me what you think.”

Baker said that that sort of question requires a lot of trust: trust from the director in his or her actors, and for an actor to trust themselves to come up with a character-appropriate response. It also takes humility on the director’s part, knowing they won’t always have the best ideas on-set.

“For me it’s asking questions, being open to the answer and not just trying to lead people to your answer,” Baker said.

But that gets tricky when you’re playing a principal role both onscreen and behind the camera. Baker admitted he needed a lot of direction with the Talion we’re seeing in Shadow of War. He couldn’t quite call Druckmann for help on that, so Baker relied on writer Tony Elias to keep him on task and his performance true to the script. That was in addition to regular consultations with Ethan Walker and Nate Hendrickson, from Monolith’s cutscene team, watching a take after take from a monitor right after yelling, “Cut!”

“The hard part was not viewing my performance [as an actor], but as a director, just seeing Talion,” Baker recalled. “It’s super easy to nitpick and say, ‘I want myself to do something differently or better’ as opposed to a director being objective and going, ‘No, it works. Get over yourself. It’s not about you, it’s about this scene.’”