Microsoft will offer its AI smarts to benefit the environment

Microsoft just announced a new initiative called AI for Earth. Headed by Microsoft Research’s computational ecologist Lucas Joppa, the program will help researchers and organizations use AI to solve the major environmental issues we face today. Leaders of projects focusing on water, agriculture, biodiversity and climate change can apply for access to Microsoft’s cloud and AI computing resources and it’s putting down $2 million towards the initiative this year.

In a statement, Microsoft President Brad Smith said, “Our goal is to empower others in new and more impactful ways to help create a more sustainable future. This program expands our commitments to democratizing AI and advancing sustainability around the globe.”

Computing access includes use of Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and grantees will get free use for a year with up to 180,000 hours of computing time and 20 terabytes of storage. The company will also provide training so researchers know what AI tools are available and how to make the best use of them. And to encourage others to begin taking advantage of what AI has to offer, Microsoft will partner with other groups on projects that display the benefits of AI. The company has already been working on three such partnerships. The first is with a sustainability group working to protect the Chesapeake Bay area and with Microsoft’s tools, it was able to update and create far more detailed land cover maps to aid conservation. Another project works to improve agriculture with smart technology and the third, called Project Premonition, uses drones to collect mosquitoes and analyzes the biological material collected by them to track potential emerging infectious diseases.

Those interested in applying for one of AI for Earth’s grants can do so here. Applications are due by August 15th. “There is no shortage of work to be done to chart a healthier, more sustainable future for our planet. Time is not our friend on this endeavor, and the stakes are high. We know that AI for Earth is just a first step in a longer journey. But what we’ve seen so far gives us optimism for the future. We’re looking forward to working with our current and future partners to deliver on that belief,” said Smith.

Source: Microsoft

Amazon’s ‘The Tick’ trailer keeps the comic’s oddball humor

It’s been over two decades since the idiosyncratic comic The Tick was successfully adapted into three seasons of a Saturday morning cartoon, but its first live-action TV version a few years later was tragically cancelled after nine episodes. Amazon decided to give the idea another go by greenlighting a new take on The Tick last fall after its first trial episode survived the platform’s viewer voting pilot period. The first trailer for the bizarre blue bug’s new show dropped — along with a release date, August 25th, when it will be available to Amazon Prime members.

The show will focus on mild-mannered Arthur Dent, a reluctant hero who dons a winged costume to pair up with the clueless yet indestructible Tick and fight crime. Amazon’s version looks to lean into the weird humor of its predecessors with a cast of violent villains opposite the Odd Couple protagonists; Whether it reaches for the zany heights of the cartoon or the surreal comedy of the first live-action version is anyone’s guess. It’s too early to tell how the show will flesh out, but the first six episodes will drop on August 25th, with the second half of the season arriving in early 2018.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Microsoft improves conversations and searches in its Outlook apps

Microsoft’s mobile Outlook app can be helpful if you want an alternative to your phone’s built-in email client, but it doesn’t always nail the tasks you handle every day — say, following an email thread. Thankfully, Microsoft knows it. The company just unveiled updated Android and iOS apps that tackle some of Outlook’s navigational issues. It’s decidedly better for back-and-forth conversations, for starters. You’ll see more of the conversation at once, and tapping on a conversation will jump to the first unread message to help show what you missed. Also, you only need to tap a quick reply box to start a message to everyone in the thread without losing track of the previous conversation.

Outlook should also be considerably more convenient if you use it for more than one account, or just like to nest messages in folders. The account and folder sidebar has been reworked for faster access to both your additional accounts and key folders like the inbox or your drafts.

Both tweaks are available now, but the biggest change may be the one still in the pipeline. Microsoft is prepping an always-available search bar that uses intelligence to display what you’re likely looking for. It’ll automatically display your most frequently-used contacts, your schedule and recent attachments, so you may not need to type much at all to find what you need. When you do, Outlook will also suggest people based on frequency. If you don’t like having to wade through messages to find a flight schedule, you might not have to before long.

Source: Office Blog, App Store, Google Play

Audi’s AI future tackles autonomous driving one solution at a time

If you want a self-driving car, you need artificial intelligence. At its first Audi Tech Summit, the automaker unveiled Audi AI, its long-term plans to stay ahead of — or at least keep pace with — its competitors.

To help understand where the company is right now and where it intends to go (and when), we spoke with Dr. Miklos Kiss, head of predevelopment and driver assistance systems at Audi. The automaker is tackling the tough problems by taking on simpler solutions for the various levels of autonomy (Level 0 is basically manual driving, Level 5 is full autonomy).

What is the state of AI within Audi?

“AI within Audi means Audi intelligence. That means we present more functionality than the customer would expect. That differs very much from the AI topic that is just machine learning. What we are presenting right now is that Audi has the first passenger car that is ready for Level 3 driving, an automation level where, for the first time, we take over the whole responsibility of the driving task.

So the driver no longer has to monitor the driving task in a traffic jam up to 60 kilometers per hour (37 miles per hour); you just sit back and relax. That’s new. Therefore we needed a new architecture. We now have a central computing unit for drivers’ assistant systems that gathers all the sensor data in one unit.”

How is that different from what Audi’s been doing before?

“It differs very much from what we did before where certain systems didn’t talk to each other. So we had a system responsible for the longitudinal under control. We had the Audi Lane Assist responsible for lateral control and these were two completely independent systems. Now we brought them together into an integrated system. That does longitudinal and lateral and lack of control. This gives us much more possibilities to new scenarios in traffic.”

Right now you have Level 3. What do you see for the future? Is Level 4 just around the corner?

“Well the first thing is the levels of automotive driving. The second thing is the scenarios of automated driving. For the highway scenario, we see Level 3 for the next couple of years. It’s very hard to get to Level 4 because we would have to come up with any conceivable situation on any highway in any country. That’s quite a hard one. On the other hand, a Level 3 system on the highway is very comfortable for the driver. So it’s a valuable system.

When you think about the automotive parking garage pilots, a Level 3 system wouldn’t help very much because the driver would have to go to the store and then walk out to their car just as before. But a Level 4 system in the parking garage would be the comfort system. Exit the car at the entrance, go on your way and the car would park itself. That would be nice. So this is a limited-use case for low speeds that we can think of for a Level 4 system that’ll come much earlier than driving on a highway.

So the important thing is to separate the levels from the functions.”

How do you train these systems?

“Well, they’re two different things. We have object detection algorithms and we train them with pictures and video streams we have from all over the world. Lots of data. The second thing is the algorithm for the maneuvering itself. This is physical. We have no trained algorithms in the car right now because we describe them in physical algorithms that come from engineers. So this is the big difference. There’s no self-learning car that drives on AI data.”

Is the goal to have a self-learning car that learns and it uploads to the cloud in the cloud shares it with other cars?

“We call it a vision, not an actual goal.”

What is the vision for the next five to 10 years?

“The vision is more complex scenarios. When we envision a future research project of driving in the city, we’re facing complex intersections where there are pedestrians, cyclists, cars and trucks, and distinguishing all the possible situations and do the right hypothesis. I think this is the big thing we can do with AI.

At the moment, there are much more simpler things. For example, describing a parking lot. What is a parking lot? What’s not? That’s very hard to describe to an algorithm. But for a self-learning algorithm we could feed millions of pictures from all the world. That’s a possible solution. So we’re testing simple scenarios and coming to the more complex ones.”

The Audi A8 with Level 3 autonomy will launch sometime in 2018. Check our more of other coverage from the Audi Tech Summit in Barcelona.

Samsung’s latest acquisition could give Bixby its voice

Despite unveiling Bixby in March, Samsung’s digital assistant remains an elusive beast. An ETA was predicted for June, but we’re now in the throes of summer and Bixby is still in hiding. However, the Korean manufacturer’s latest acquisition sounds like it’s tailor-made for the voice assistant — and any other Bixby-powered devices it may have in the pipeline.

Samsung has quietly snapped up Innoetics, a Greek text-to-speech startup. Among Innoetic’s software is a voice-to-speech system that can pick up a speaking voice and then mimic it to recite a completely different text. The startup’s library of 29 synthetic voices in 15 languages (including Hindi and German) should come in handy for Bixby’s inevitable global rollout. In particular, Samsung will be eyeing Innoetics’ “English US” voice program, a crucial vernacular that the company is still busy tinkering with.

Until now, Innoetics has mainly been gearing its tech APIs toward the B2B market, including telcos. Financial details are hard to come by, but TechCrunch estimates the deal at below $50 million. Samsung will reportedly retain Innoetics’ small team of employees, while the startup’s website says that it is discontinuing both its commercial and B2B services. This should free it up to devote it its time to Samsung’s products instead.

Source: TechCrunch

Disturbing, fake YouTube shows fool kids for more clicks

We want our kids to use the internet, sure, but we want them to do it safely. No one wants young children to deal with inappropriate content, like fake Peppa Pig or Doc McStuffins videos. Unfortunately, it’s increasingly difficult to police all of the various services and apps that our children use, including YouTube. A new study performed by researchers from the US, UK and Brazil analyzed YouTube videos from all three regions that had been viewed more than 37 billion times. They found that children are increasingly exposed to videos containing advertising and disturbing images that are indistinguishable from regular kids’ programming. The study also found that children younger than the “allowed” ages around the globe are accessing YouTube, many through their parents’ accounts.

The researchers wanted to know more about how YouTube channels were targeting children, as well as how kids interact with channels and videos, via comments. The team was looking for patterns in content from the most recurrent videos, the types of kids watching the videos and what kinds of products were marketed to specific genders, ages and ethnicities of children. If we can figure out what’s happening in the YouTube space around targeted kids advertising, then we can possibly combat it. The scientists collected data from 12,848 videos from 17 channels across the US and UK, along with 24 channels from Brazil. The English-language channels had been viewed more than 37 billion times. The team also analyzed more than 14 million user comments from the videos.

The authors of the study conclude with a discussion of Google’s age requirements, which restricts use of YouTube to those 13 and older in the US, 14 or older in Spain and South Korea and 16 or older in Netherlands. Brazil restricts YouTube to those 18 and older. According to this study, kids younger than these ages are using YouTube; Google needs to deal with this issue of compliance.

A Google spokesperson responded to our request for comment. “In order for YouTube to be available for free, and accessible to everyone, and also to ensure that creators are paid for their content, we show ads,” they said in an email. “Users under 13 should use YouTube Kids – a free app built for families – which excludes certain categories of ads to ensure an age-appropriate experience. All adverts in the UK are also regulated by the ASA and we work closely with the advertising industry to ensure young people understand the nature of advertisements.”

Via: Daily Mail

Source: Cornell University Library

Amazon may give developers your private Alexa transcripts

With new rivals on the market, Amazon has to do something to help its Alexa devices compete. Until now, Amazon has not given third-party developers access to what you say to the voice assistant. Google Home, though, does. According to sources reported by The Information, Amazon is currently looking at opening up this private transcript data to its developers, which could help them build better voice apps for Alexa. It would also raise serious privacy concerns for users. It’s a delicate balancing act between user privacy and developer access, of course, but with rivals like Google and Apple getting into the smart speaker game, Amazon needs to keep its early lead.

So far, Alexa developers can only see non-identifying information, like the number of times you use a specific skill, how many times you talk to your Echo device and your location data. The Information reports that some developers have heard from Amazon representatives about more access to actual transcripts, though how and how much wasn’t discovered. We’ve reached out to Amazon for more information and will update this post when we hear back.

If developers knew what exactly is being said to their skills, they could make adjustments based on specific information. Skill developer Ahmed Bouzid, who used to be a product head on the Alexa team at Amazon, says that current access only gives developers “70 percent of what they need to know.” The Information reports that some teams already have access to the full data, though it’s not clear how anyone is included on such a white list.

Source: The Information

Moon Express details plans to mine the moon with robots by 2020

Spaceflight company Moon Express has released its plans to mine the moon with robots and it aims to get started by 2020. The company was founded in 2010 with the aim of winning the Google Lunar Xprize — a competition to get privately funded spacecraft on the moon. And while it still has its sights on that prize, Moon Express has planned beyond that and has laid out a strategy for establishing its lunar outpost in just a few years.

The company’s first moon mission, dubbed Lunar Scout, will use Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket to send its MX-1E robotic explorer to land on and deliver several payloads — including the International Lunar Observatory — to the moon. If completed by the end of this year and before the four other finalists for the Lunar Xprize, this mission could win Moon Express the competition’s $20 million prize. Lunar Outpost, the second planned mission, will establish Moon Express’ commercial presence on the moon’s South Pole using its MX-2 system. Once set up, the robots will prospect for water and minerals. Finally, the third mission, Harvest Moon, will bring samples from the moon back to Earth and Moon Express hopes to complete this leg by 2020.

The MX-1E lander hasn’t yet been completed and Rocket Lab is still working on the Electron rocket, which has only flown once so far with two more test launches planned for this year. However, Moon Express does have coveted FAA clearance to land on the moon and it was the first private company to be granted such approval.

Mining for water and rocks on the moon has both commercial and research value. Water and ice at the lunar poles can be used as rocket propellant and Moon Express says on its website, “The discovery of water on the Moon is a game changer, not just for the economic viability of lunar resources, but for the economics of reaching Mars and other deep space destinations. Water is the oil of the solar system, and the Moon will become a gas station in the sky.” As for moon rocks, harvesting them and bringing them back to Earth could be a lucrative business for the company. As Ars Technica reports, NASA never sold any of its Apollo mission lunar haul, but three rocks from the Soviet moon mission weighing just 0.2 grams sold for $442,500 in 1993. Moon Express says its lunar samples will also be used to benefit science.

The plan is pretty ambitious and there’s still plenty Moon Express has to do before completing it or nabbing the Lunar Xprize championship, but we’re in for an exciting few years if the company can pull it off.

Via: The Verge

Source: Moon Express

Google Drive is ready to back up all the files on your PC

Google Drive just became more useful as a means of protecting those files you can’t afford to lose. A few weeks later than promised, Google has released its Backup & Sync app for Macs and Windows PCs. As before, this is a simpler option for safeguarding your data in the cloud — it merges the photo backup of the desktop Google Photos app with Drive functionality that lets you back up the folders of your choice. You don’t have to wonder whether or not your pictures will survive a system crash as well as your must-have documents. The app is free, although you’ll need a lot of Google Drive space if you’re determined to upload more than a modest amount of content.

Source: Google Drive

Microsoft upgrades Paint 3D’s drawing and magic select tools

Microsoft’s Paint 3D was introduced as part of the Windows 10 Creators update last October. The company wants to make 3D modeling as easy and accessible as using a 2D drawing program. The free Windows 10 app gives you the power to create, share and print anything you can think of in three dimensions. Now, the Microsoft team has two new updates for Paint 3D, available now, that should improve the experience of 3d modeling.

The first update is an improved magic select tool, which lets you crop out the background of any image. This lets you turn the resulting content into a sticker or use as a skin to wrap onto a 3D object. “As of today, you can now magic select content directly into a scene,” Paint 3D studio head Lee Shuneman writes in a blog post, “even after the scene has been partially composed so there is no need to move the object off canvas first.”

The second improvement comes from the original MS Paint. You now have the option to draw and create shapes with a straight line and curve tool. This should help make smooth edges and curves on your objects without having to be a steady-handed mouse master. “When you use these tools across 3D shapes, the line and curve tools act just like other stickers, which means that they can be seamlessly applied to both the canvas and 3D objects,” writes Shuneman.

Finally, Paint 3D now supports the new open standard for 3D file sharing, called GLB, which makes 3D asset transfers quicker and more efficient. According to Shuneman, this works by putting all the assets into one container, which helps minimize the file size while standardizing the format for all other programs that might need to use the 3D file itself.

Source: Microsoft