AI draws parallels between fields you never knew were connected

Why it matters to you

Teaching AI to understand analogies could help solve problems in new and innovative ways.

Analogies are the comparison of one thing with another, most commonly with the goal of explaining or clarifying a certain concept. Like a well-chosen metaphor, a good analogy can be a great tool for people such as writers. However, it can also be crucial for problem-solving, since comparing separate problems or methods in this way can be used to highlight underlying — often times useful — similarities. For instance, a few years ago a car mechanic was watching a YouTube video showing how to extract a cork from a wine bottle when he struck upon using the same approximate method for helping babies stuck in the birth canal.

Unfortunately, analogies are not the most straightforward idea for a computer to understand. As we turn to artificial intelligence to solve more and more of our problems, the need for software that can understand analogies, therefore, becomes more important. That is where a new deep-learning project from Carnegie Mellon University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem comes into play. AI researchers there have created a means by which smart agents can analyze databases of patents, inventions, and research papers, and identify ideas which could be useful for solving new problems or creating innovative products.

“Finding useful analogies automatically is very hard for computers,” Dafna Shahaf, a CMU alumnus and a computer scientist at Hebrew University, told Digital Trends. “Previous work relies heavily on hand-created databases, taking thousands of person-hours to create. Instead, we decided to try the data-driven approach. There are lots of idea repositories online, with millions of problems and solutions. We took advantage of recent advances in deep learning and AI, and found a lightweight way to learn, given a product description, a representation for what the product does, and how it does it. This allows us to ask questions such as ‘find me another product in the dataset that solves a similar problem in a completely different way’ and ‘find me another use for this product.’”

This is not necessarily about handing over yet another sphere of human endeavor, though. In a test of the work, Shahaf said that human participants were tasked with problems in need of solving — such as extending the battery of a cell phone. “[The] people who were exposed to inspirations from our algorithm came up with significantly more creative ideas,” she said. “We could even see in some cases how the algorithm helped people explore more diverse parts of the design space — things they would not have thought of on their own.”

The researchers will present their work this week at KDD 2017, the Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Sprint’s 1Million Project connects 180,000 students to a free device and service

Why it matters to you

The 1Million Project is providing students across the country with technological resources to help pave their way for a successful future.

In October, Sprint announced the 1Million Project — an initiative to provide smartphones, laptops, and tablets to students in low-income families. Starting out as a pilot project in January, the program will roll out nationally on Tuesday. The Sprint Foundation — with support from Sprint — will connect more than 180,000 high school students across 32 states with a free device and free wireless service in the first year of the program.

While more than 70 percent of the country’s high school teachers assign homework that requires the internet, 5 million families with children in school do not have internet connectivity at home to complete it. The 1Million Project sets out to eliminate this issue — also known as the “homework gap” — by providing students with the correct technological resources to pave the way for a successful future.

To start, Sprint pieced together research from school districts and other experts in the field in order to learn more about what students are lacking as well as what they need to succeed academically, Doug Michelman, president of the 1Million Project told Digital Trends. As for connectivity, the company also worked with its IT department to execute an efficient plan where the network identifies a new device being activated by a 1Million Project student in particular.

To find participants, Michelman explained that schools and school districts were instructed to apply for the program. In terms of criteria, a population of students who could be served by the need for internet and devices at home was essential. They also had to show a strong commitment to the project, along with devoted manpower to activate and execute the program in their school. Lastly, whether or not the Sprint network would provide a great experience from wherever the school may be was also taken highly into consideration.

The finalized list of participating schools includes some of the country’s largest school districts such as New York, Florida, and California, among others. Each student receives either a free smartphone, tablet or hotspot device, along with 3GB of high-speed LTE data per month, for up to four years while they are still attending a participating high school. Unlimited data is available at 2G speeds if the usage goes beyond 3GB per month, and those who receive a smartphone can also use it as a hotspot.

“The approach in our community school strategy is to remove barriers for learning. We know that students in low-income neighborhoods [or] students that are suffering [from] effects of poverty, have [less] access to resources and learning opportunities. One of the big divides there is the digital divide, and so we really saw this partnership with Sprint as a way to overcome that,” Chris Caruso, executive director of New York City Community Schools, told Digital Trends.

Sprint is donating more than $2 billion in wireless service, technical support, and staff, to manage the 1Million Project for the next five years. Most of the devices have been donated to the Sprint Foundation by vendors including LG Electronics, Motorola, TCL-owned Alcatel, and more.

Bad reviews could help battle drug dealers on the darknet

Why it matters to you

Law enforcement can’t always move fast enough to fight wrongdoers on the darknet. But bad reviews could help keep them at bay.

Some parts of the darknet operate like an eBay or Amazon for illegal goods or services, ranging from the illicit to the abhorrent. And while law enforcement is proactively engaged with the problem, criminal investigations can take a long time to pursue, which is why experts are helping to come up with new ways to pour cold water on the darknet marketplace. One such researcher is Scott Duxbury, a sociology doctoral student at Ohio State University. Duxbury’s idea for cracking down on darknet drug sales is strikingly simple: leave bad reviews.

“There’s been a surge in darknet market purchasing over the past few years, some of the larger markets are bringing in over $500,000 per month,” Duxbury told Digital Trends. “We wanted to figure out how these markets behave, instead of just documenting the extent of trafficking. We wanted to examine the market as a complex system. So, how does it grow, where is it vulnerable, [and] what purchasing patterns sustain the market? We found that the biggest factor in market growth is trust. Contrary to what we’d expect, pricing has very little influence in how people decide to purchase drugs from the darknet. In another related study that we just presented at the American Sociological Association, we also found that the darknet drug market is more resilient to disruption attempts than real-world drug distribution rings.”

As part of Duxbury’s research, he analyzed transactions between 57 sellers and 706 buyers in opioid-related darknet transactions. He concluded that 82 percent of users during the period valued trustworthiness over cost. His idea, therefore, is to flood sellers’ pages with negative reviews, thereby rendering buyers unsure of who they can trust.

“Our evidence suggests that reviews count for more than on Clearnet markets or services, mainly because drug purchasing is high risk,” he continued. “Even without the threat of violence, drugs can be misidentified or contaminated with other substances, buyers have little recourse for fraud, and if a seller isn’t subtle in how they package drugs, buyers could be at risk for being identified by law enforcement.”

Duxbury and his colleagues have received a two-year grant from the National Science Foundation to extend their study. Currently they are in the process of collecting additional data to see how the market grows and responds to interventions or external shocks. If all goes according to plan, maybe it won’t be too long before a team of FBI agents — or maybe some smart bots — begin busting illegal drug rings.

A research paper was published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology.

Bad reviews could help battle drug dealers on the darknet

Why it matters to you

Law enforcement can’t always move fast enough to fight wrongdoers on the darknet. But bad reviews could help keep them at bay.

Some parts of the darknet operate like an eBay or Amazon for illegal goods or services, ranging from the illicit to the abhorrent. And while law enforcement is proactively engaged with the problem, criminal investigations can take a long time to pursue, which is why experts are helping to come up with new ways to pour cold water on the darknet marketplace. One such researcher is Scott Duxbury, a sociology doctoral student at Ohio State University. Duxbury’s idea for cracking down on darknet drug sales is strikingly simple: leave bad reviews.

“There’s been a surge in darknet market purchasing over the past few years, some of the larger markets are bringing in over $500,000 per month,” Duxbury told Digital Trends. “We wanted to figure out how these markets behave, instead of just documenting the extent of trafficking. We wanted to examine the market as a complex system. So, how does it grow, where is it vulnerable, [and] what purchasing patterns sustain the market? We found that the biggest factor in market growth is trust. Contrary to what we’d expect, pricing has very little influence in how people decide to purchase drugs from the darknet. In another related study that we just presented at the American Sociological Association, we also found that the darknet drug market is more resilient to disruption attempts than real-world drug distribution rings.”

As part of Duxbury’s research, he analyzed transactions between 57 sellers and 706 buyers in opioid-related darknet transactions. He concluded that 82 percent of users during the period valued trustworthiness over cost. His idea, therefore, is to flood sellers’ pages with negative reviews, thereby rendering buyers unsure of who they can trust.

“Our evidence suggests that reviews count for more than on Clearnet markets or services, mainly because drug purchasing is high risk,” he continued. “Even without the threat of violence, drugs can be misidentified or contaminated with other substances, buyers have little recourse for fraud, and if a seller isn’t subtle in how they package drugs, buyers could be at risk for being identified by law enforcement.”

Duxbury and his colleagues have received a two-year grant from the National Science Foundation to extend their study. Currently they are in the process of collecting additional data to see how the market grows and responds to interventions or external shocks. If all goes according to plan, maybe it won’t be too long before a team of FBI agents — or maybe some smart bots — begin busting illegal drug rings.

A research paper was published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology.

For a laptop that lasts, these are the brands to buy

When looking for a new laptop, you want a machine that you won’t have to drag back in for repairs for at least several years. Reliability and dependable performance rank high on buyer’s lists, but which brands are the best? Which manufacturer offers the most reliable laptops? To find out, we’ve scanned the pages of Consumer Reports, considered reader’s choice selections, analyzed crowd-sourced voting, and consulted the studies of our peers. Combining all of that with our own experience in laptop testing, we’ve pieced together a consensus on the most reliable brands out there today. Read on to find out which brand is the most dependable.

Type of laptop

Before we start naming names, we’re going to point out a general rule: The smaller the laptop, the higher the failure rate appears to be.

There are several reasons for this. Small laptops are harder to take apart and repair yourself, so official repairs may be more common. They are also more portable, and therefore more likely to be dropped or banged around. So before considering specific brands, take note that if you want a more durable laptop, opt for the larger models.

Most reliable: Apple

MacBook Pro 13 with Retina

If there’s one thing that nearly everyone agrees on, it’s that Apple laptops are the most reliable of the bunch. When you buy a MacBook Pro, you know what to expect, and that rarely involves failures or returns. Part of this is due to Apple’s solid design philosophy. MacBooks, Airs, and Pros are consistently growing thinner and more powerful, but the overall design style remains the same.

The aluminum frame and tightly packed electronics also help reduce damage and failure rates. In fact, Apple’s devices tend to get more reliable with later generations, as design becomes tighter.

Removing ports, for example, is not a popular move — but it does decrease what can break.

It’s also worth noting that Apple does many of the smaller things well. The keyboards are snappy, pleasant to use, and nigh unbreakable under usual circumstances. The battery life of MacBooks tends to be high, too, and doesn’t suffer from swift performance drop-offs or fluctuation. Displays issues tend to be rare, and in Consumer Reports studies, Apple beat out nine other laptop brands when it came to needing repairs within the first three years of ownership.

On the other hand, MacBooks are a definite blow to your wallet, ranging from $1,000 to $1,800 for the most popular models. That’s a lot of money for the average laptop buyer. Despite the high price, the default warranty lasts only a year, as with other more affordable brands. But Apple has on multiple occasions offered free warranty extensions for common manufacturing issues, a practice other brands rarely emulate.

Buy one now from:

Apple  Best Buy

Second pick: Dell

Dell’s work, particularly in the ultrabook field, has yielded an incredible new crop of ultraportable laptops that work great, have powerful specs, and don’t give up the ghost without a fight. If you need a PC for work or school and want it to last for as long as possible, Dell’s machines are a great choice.

This is especially true with its latest XPS models, which do a little of everything and do it anywhere. This includes the latest screen resolutions, connections, and software. In a recent review of ours, the Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1 really impressed us, blending its typical reliability and somewhat flashy looks, with solid internal hardware for its price point.

Another important reason Dell gets such high marks for reliability is that Dell’s customer support is easily the best you’ll find outside of Apple. If something goes wrong, a quick customer service call with Dell is more likely to yield a solution, or at least a repair plan, than with other brands. Sometimes the most important factor in reliability isn’t the computer itself, but the company you are dealing with.

Buy one now from:

Dell Microsoft

Third pick: Asus

Asus ZenBook UX305UA

If you want an extra-reliable computer, but don’t want to pay too much for it, then you’ll be pleased to see that Asus also makes it on our list of the most reliable laptop brands. The company has consistently scored well in surveys, though it usually doesn’t take top marks.

While you might want to avoid some of its higher-end, gaming laptops, Asus computers tend to be sleeker and lighter than a lot of brands on the market. If you are less interested in a desktop replacement and more interested in a portable option, this is the path to follow. Asus also tends to lean toward extremes, with laptops of many varying sizes. There’s a good deal of experimentation and joint ventures in this brand, which makes it an interesting option to explore.

The downside to Asus is its customer support, which is hit-or-miss. The company receives average to below-average marks in customer service surveys we’ve seen. Web support is a particular sore spot. Navigating the Asus website can be confusing, even if the company is not the worst in this regard.

Buy one now from:

Amazon Asus Newegg

Runner-up: Samsung

Samsung is a newcomer to our list, and though its Notebook 9 15-inch didn’t fair too well in our review, the company has been producing quality laptops for a number of years. It came in second place during the latest Consumer Reports customer survey for reliability, and the Samsung Chromebook Plus ended up earning out Best in Show award at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.

Samsung’s current lineup ranges from mid-range, more affordable offerings with Intel Core i5 processors, right up to powerful Core i7 systems with 4K displays. The bodies of its new Notebook 9 models utilize a magnesium alloy, which provides durability and a lightweight frame, making the units less likely to be dropped. If you do manage to drop your machine, though, it’s also more likely to survive.

Unlike higher entries on our list, Samsung’s customer support leaves something to be desired. In LaptopMag’s support testing, it won a respectable, but less than stellar 67/100, falling well behind Apple and Dell and just behind Asus. And although Samsung does offer a standard one-year warranty with options for up to 36 months of coverage, it does not currently offer first-party extended warranties.

Buy one now from:

Samsung Amazon

Final note: Extended warranties

When it comes to repairs and malfunctions, one of the most important computer components is that warranty document. So what’s the deal with warranties today? Basically, don’t worry too much.

Extended warranties, as a general rule, exist to make extra money for companies. Buying one doesn’t tend to do much good — only about 8 percent of people who have extended warranties ever use them, according to Consumer Reports.

Additionally, the normal warranty that comes with a new machine is likely to cover around 75 percent of common repairs or problems anyway. Yes, it will suck if you don’t buy the warranty and you happen to have a problem, but, over the long haul, the extended warranty tends to cost more than it’s worth.

Update: Replaced Toshiba with Samsung in the runner-up position.

Pandora appoints Sling TV’s Roger Lynch as CEO

It’s been a rough year for Pandora. The service followed its relaunch as an on-demand streaming service by looking to get bought, but soon closed shop in Australia and New Zealand and got sued by PayPal to boot. Finally, CEO Tim Westergren stepped down, leaving the company he co-founded in 2000. But Pandora has found his successor in Roger Lynch, the founding chief executive of Sling TV.

While Pandora certainly trails competitors Spotify and Apple Music, Lynch is no stranger to carving out a niche for his company amid colossal rivals. Sling TV launched soon after winning Best of CES 2015, and by the awards ceremony the following year Lynch was still confident his service would disrupt television carriers despite some growing pains.

In short, Lynch knows a bit about how to attract and retain users, which Pandora will desperately need, as its premium subscription service had only secured about 400,000 users total by June, while Spotify claimed 50 million paid subscribers back in March. But Lynch won’t be the only new face at the company: Former Sony Entertainment CEO and current Snap, Inc chairman Michael Lynton will be joining Pandora’s board at the same time.

Source: Pandora

Gaming chat app Discord starts shutting down racist accounts

Google and GoDaddy aren’t the only internet companies dumping racists in light of the violence in Charlottesville. The team behind the gaming chat app Discord has shut down both accounts “associated with the events in Charlottesville” and the altright.com chat server. As the company explains, it plans to take action against “all forms of hate,” and that its mission is “positivity and inclusivity” — it doesn’t believe gamers will feel welcome if racists have a home in the app.

The move has already drawn criticism from users who believe it’s an attack on free speech and claim that Discord is playing favorites. However, the company maintains that it will take action against anyone who violates its guidelines and terms of service — racists who condone or participate in violence happen to be part of that group. It’s aware that censorship is a “slippery slope,” but it clearly believes that freedom of expression ends when threats begin.

As it stands, services like Discord have pragmatic business reasons to ditch absolute neutrality. As Reddit found out first-hand, racists and other corrosive members tend to scare away fellow users, advertisers and other business opportunities. To an extent, Discord needs a cleaner chat environment if it wants to keep attracting new users and the money that follows.

Love. Not hate. pic.twitter.com/5xFpvHTuI2

— Discord (@discordapp) August 14, 2017

Source: Discord (Twitter 1), (2), (3)

Snapchat can stitch multiple Snaps into one concert video

If you aren’t able to see your favorite performer on stage, don’t worry — random Snapchat users will help you out. The app’s newest feature, Crowd Surf, stitches together snaps of the same event to make a cohesive, seamless video from multiple perspectives.

Certain stories in the Our Stories section are already using Crowd Surf, like the featured video of Lorde’s performance at last weekend’s Outside Lands. As advertised, a button in the bottom-right corner lets you flip between different users’ perspectives while the audio remains playing, and it works well. Obviously, coverage will be limited by how many users are snapping the same event (and at what quality), but get enough people watching and enough are bound to pull out their phones to start snapping.

Snapchat built its own proprietary machine learning tech to automatically recognize the audio among user snaps in order to stitch it into Crowd Surf videos, according to Mashable. The feature will be available for select events; We’ve reached out to Snapchat to elaborate which will get the seamless-video treatment.

While it’s unclear how widespread the feature will become, it’s yet another dynamic addition to Snapchat’s lineup, like custom Stories, that sets it apart from Facebook and Instagram. And it’s clear that the company wants to maintain its lead without competitors copying its advances: Last month, it acquired a team that specifically protects code from reverse engineering.

Source: Mashable

Samsung’s next Gear Fit will track your swimming

We liked Samsung’s Gear Fit 2, but it had its limits. You couldn’t use it to track your swimming, for starters. It’s a good thing, then, that well-known leaker Evan Blass claims to have a training deck detailing a sequel that should be unveiled at Samsung’s August 23rd event. The Gear Fit 2 Pro would look much like its predecessor, complete with that tall, curved display, but would include some big design upgrades. Most notably, it would add 5 ATM water resistance and that hoped-for swim tracking — it’ll sync up with the Speedo On app. Accordingly, the Pro switches from a snap-on strap to a watch-like buckle to prevent it from falling off in mid-backstroke.

The full extent of the software upgrades isn’t available, but the new wristwear should also support offline Spotify playback. So long as you have a pair of Bluetooth headphones, you won’t need to bring your phone to get a soundtrack for your gym sessions. GPS tracking was already included in the Fit 2 and should carry over here.

There’s no mention of pricing, not to mention whether this will replace or complement the Fit 2. The Pro badge suggests that it could be sold alongside the earlier wristwear, but nothing mentioned so far would explicitly justify a price hike. There’s only a few days until the reported launch, though, so it won’t take long to learn whether or not the new model is within your budget.

Source: VentureBeat

Facebook adds a link to Trending News in the app’s main menu

The redesigned Trending Topics section of Facebook is now called Trending News and the updates to this feature — which were announced in May — are now available to most US users on both iOS and Android devices. For iPhone users, Trending News also has its own direct link in the Facebook app’s main navigation menu — a feature that’s in testing for Android, according to TechCrunch.

In May, Facebook announced an overhaul of its Trending Topics feature, which it was beginning to roll out to iPhone users. With that update, clicking a topic would bring you to a carousel of publications that had written about that particular subject rather that just one news source. In a statement, Facebook said, “By making it easier to see what other news outlets are saying about each topic, we hope that people will feel more informed about the news in their region.” And the update was meant to get around the news “filter bubble” effect wherein feeds are sometimes limited in scope due to having Facebook friends that all have similar interests.

Along with the news source carousel, Trending News also features actual headlines rather than just a topic — which was hinted at in the May announcement, but not described in detail. With the headlines come a photo, the name of the outlet that published the headline and how many other sources have written on the subject. Each story is also ranked. For example, while writing this, the 17th headline in my Trending News section was this article of ours and the tab noted that 26 other sources had written on the topic.

The revamped Trending section is now available for most US Facebook users on mobile and the direct navigational tab should be coming to Android users sometime soon.

Source: TechCrunch