Japanese AI abandons its Tokyo University dreams

A team of scientists from the National Institute of Informatics in Japan have given up on making their AI smart enough to get into the University of Tokyo. The Todai Project — Tokyo University’s local nickname is “Todai” — began in 2011, so we’re sure at least some of them were disappointed by the decision. But, hey, this means robots aren’t as smart as humans yet, and we don’t have to fear an uprising in the near future. The researchers were hoping that the AI would score much higher than the 511 out of 950 it got last year when it took a standardized entrance exam in the country. Unfortunately, its overall results were pretty much the same for 2016.

The University of Tokyo, considered one of the best educational institutions in Japan, requires results much higher than what the AI got. Todai Robot’s creators have concluded that since they failed to meet their goal this year, the AI can’t become smart enough to get into Tokyo U by their March 2022 target date. What exactly held it back? Team member Noriko Arai said AIs just aren’t “good at answering a type of question that requires the ability to grasp meaning in a broad spectrum.” They still don’t have the critical thinking and problem solving skills that we do, so they won’t be taking over all our jobs anytime soon.

Source: Japan Times

Todoist Introduces AI-Learning ‘Smart Schedule’ to Increase Productivity

Popular task-managing app Todoist today announced a new AI-powered feature called “Smart Schedule,” which intelligently takes into account user habits and pre-existing tasks to organize and schedule tasks on its own. The company said that it created the feature because so many of its users — 70 percent in total — face unfinished tasks each day.

With Smart Schedule, Todoist hopes that percentage will begin dropping as the new feature begins learning and adapting to the following factors: your habits, task urgency, weekdays versus weekends, upcoming tasks, daily and weekly goals, and more. On a personal level, Smart Schedule will be able to figure out things like what time of day each user checks their email, which day they read most, and suggest tasks accordingly.

The feature will also accumulate anonymous data from all Todoist users to figure out how urgent generic tasks are, as well as when more users do tasks during the week (“check email”) instead of the weekend. The company said that users will still have full control over their schedule, and can edit and delete Smart Schedule’s suggestions as they see fit. Due to its AI-learning, Todoist also mentioned that the feature will only get smarter the more it’s used.

Smart Schedule uses predictive modeling to help you easily plan out your tasks for the day and week to come. It learns your personal productive habits, and takes into account patterns across all Todoist users, to predict the best possible due dates for your tasks.

That means those 50+ overdue tasks you have hanging around can be quickly rescheduled en masse, while new and unscheduled tasks can be easily assigned to the best due dates. In this way, Smart Schedule makes it much easier to stay on top of your to-do list and roll with the punches when your day doesn’t go as planned.

Todoist also confirmed that Smart Schedule is “completely private and completely yours,” with the feature’s accumulating personal data never accessed by a Todoist employee or any outside service.

Todoist is available to download for free from the iOS App Store [Direct Link] and the macOS App Store [Direct Link]. Users can subscribe to Todoist Premium for $28.99/year for access to more features, including location-based notifications, automatic backups, Apple Calendar syncing, and more.

Tag: Todoist
Discuss this article in our forums

Audi, Genesis, and Kia Debut New CarPlay Vehicles at LA Auto Show

A number of new CarPlay-enabled vehicles are making their North American debuts ahead of the 2016 Los Angeles Auto Show this week, including models from Audi, Kia, and Hyundai’s luxury brand Genesis.

Interior of all-new 2018 Audi Q5 (European model shown)
Audi introduced a trio of CarPlay vehicles, including the all-new 2018 A5 and S5 cars and Q5 SUV. Audi’s standard smartphone interface provides CarPlay and Android Auto integration via USB connection. The vehicles will arrive at U.S. dealerships in spring 2017. Pricing has yet to be announced.

Kia’s latest CarPlay vehicle is the 2017 Soul Exclaim, its all-new five-door crossover with a 201-horsepower turbocharged engine. CarPlay and Android Auto come standard with the vehicle’s UVO3 infotainment system. The non-turbo 2017 Kia Soul also features CarPlay support. Pricing and availability was not disclosed.

Genesis, which Hyundai spun into a standalone luxury car brand in 2015, followed suit with the introduction of its all-new 2018 Genesis G80 3.3T Sport trim with CarPlay and Android Auto integration via USB connection. The luxury sedan, available spring 2017, is equipped with a 9.2-inch touchscreen navigation system.

This article will be updated to reflect other new CarPlay vehicles as they are announced at the auto show over the next few days.

Related Roundup: CarPlay
Tags: Kia, Audi
Discuss this article in our forums

DJI Phantom 4 Pro preview: Smarter, longer-lasting pro-level drone

It wasn’t that long ago that DJI wowed us with its first collapsable, ultra-portable but high-end Mavic Pro drone. For the first time, very high end technology was available in a product that cost less than £1000. It could have spelled the end for the more expensive Phantom 4 lineup, at least, until the company announced the Phantom 4 Pro. 

While it may look the same as the older model, the Phantom 4 Pro has been equipped with technology that outsmarts its predecessor and the Mavic. It’s got a beefier battery, much better camera and obstacle avoidance from all sides. 

DJI Phantom 4 Pro preview: Design

In the looks department, there’s very little different about the Phantom 4 Pro, when compared to the original Phantom 4. It’s a big, white plastic quad-copter that rests on some sturdy-looking legs.

Right at the top of these legs, on the front and the back, is where you’ll find two pairs of sensors. There’s a handful of others on the sides and underneath, along with the cameras that record video footage as you take off so that it can find its homing position when you tell it to come home after flying.

Pocket-lint

Unlike the Mavic, the camera system hangs beneath the drone on a 3-axis gimbal designed to keep the camera steady even in the roughest conditions. Each of the arms has either a red or white light at the ends which flash to make it easy to spot in the air.

Inside this familiar plastic shell is a high density 5,870mAh battery which can cope with up to 30 minutes of flight time. That’s up from 5,350mAh found in the Phantom 4. Because of it’s higher density, DJI was able to fit a more powerful battery into the same space as the original Phantom 4.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro preview: New Camera

While the drone’s shape is familiar, the camera system has been upgraded to take more professional quality images and video.

Behind the new eight element lens system is a huge one inch 20-megapixel sensor which features twelve stops of dynamic range to ensure images retain detail, contrast and colour even under intense lighting conditions. That means low light performance is improved from the original Phantom 4 quite significantly. It also means the sensor is almost four times bigger than the one built into its predecessor.

Pocket-lint

It’s also been given a new mechanical shutter to kill the rolling shutter distortion – a kind of stutter that appears some times when panning across scenes – to produce smoother, more fluid footage. This is, of course, helped by its ability to shoot 4K video at up to 60 frames per second. That’s twice the frame-rate available on the DJI Mavic Pro.

For the video codec nerds out there, you’ll be pleased to know the camera supports H.264 4K at 60fps and H.265 4K at 30fps, both with 100Mbps bitrate.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro preview: Autonomous flying

Part of what we loved about the less expensive and more compact DJI Mavic Pro was its autonomous flying and tracking capabilities. Those have been included in the Phantom 4 Pro, along with some new modes.

One new feature is Draw, which lets you just draw a simple line on the screen and the drone flies in that direction, sticking to its altitude. You can either have it do so and keep the camera locked into forward-facing position, or have the camera free to move in any direction.

Pocket-lint

Like the Mavic, it can recognise objects like bikes, people and cars, and follow them. You can choose Trace mode to follow behind or in front of an object, Profile mode to fly alongside the subject, or Spotlight, which keeps the camera locked to the subject while it flies around freely.

One really interesting feature is TapFly, which lets you just tap on the screen, then the drone flies in that direction or – with TapFly Backward – fly in the opposite direction. With both of those modes, the obstacle avoidance system works to ensure it doesn’t find itself caught in a tree or smashed into a cliff.

Return to Home has existed in previous drones, but it’s been upgraded in the Phantom 4 Pro. It can automatically choose the best route home based on the environmental conditions. It also records its route as you’re flying it and can trace its steps back to where it took off from.

When it returns, it can land in exactly the same place it originally set off from.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro preview: Obstacles, what obstacles?

Part of the appeal of DJI’s high performance drones is their built-in obstacle avoidance. While the £999 Mavic Pro has sensors built into the front and underside of the drone to avoid trees and other objects, the Phantom 4 Pro can detect obstacles from anywhere.

Pocket-lint

It has sensors built into the front and back as well as both sides, and can detect obstacles up to 98 feet in front or behind. It even has sensors built in to the bottom. In short, that means you don’t need to worry if you’re flying sideways, backwards, forwards or downwards, it’ll be able to detect anything coming up and avoid hitting it. You’ll be able to fly it through a narrow door way without banging in to the door frame.

What’s pretty amazing is that it can fly up to speeds of up to 31 mph and still have its obstacle avoidance system working. In Sport mode, however, the sensors switch off as the speed ramps up to 40 mph.

DJI Phantom 4 Pro preview: New Remote

For the first time with a Phantom, you’ll no longer need a smartphone to get a clear view of the live camera feed. At least, if you go for the more expensive “+” model. The Phantom 4 Pro+ remote has a built in 5.5-inch 1080p display which DJI claims is more than twice as bright as a smartphone screen.

It has uses an optimised version of the DJI GO app that you’d usually need to download an install on your iOS or Android phone. Because it’s optimised, there’s a lot less lag, meaning real-time video feed is much closer to actual real-time and isn’t subject to the usual delay.

DJI

Like the Mavic’s remote, the new Phantom 4 Pro controller uses the company’s Lightbridge connection technology to give the remote a range up to 4.3 miles. What’s more, it can stream video up to full HD right to the display. Even better: the remote’s battery lasts up to five hours before needing to be plugged in to recharge.

Otherwise, the remote is a large, white plastic affair with the usual two-joystick setup. The two other buttons on the top are the power button and the “Return to Home” button which tells the drone to come back to its starting point. 

First Impressions

When the Mavic Pro launched, it seemed the Phantom line’s days were numbered. Then came this Phantom 4 Pro with its improved camera, battery life, brand new controller, flight modes and high-end obstacle avoidance.

Although it’s nowhere near as portable as the Mavic, the Phantom 4 Pro will undoubtedly attract those wanting more professional features and camera results.

With a price of £1589, it’s clearly more expensive than the Mavic Pro, but still good value for money considering the amount of drone you get for that cash.

Immerse yourself in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story with VR viewers

WOW! Stuff has unveiled two new VR viewers to coincide with the launch of the new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story film. The VR viewers are based on Google Cardboard but have been made to resemble an Imperial Death Trooper and K-2SO, characters from the movie.

• Star Wars-themed VR experience for Google Cardboard is now out

The viewers are compatible with both Android and iPhone and there’s a companion Star Wars app in both App Stores to download and load up immersive virtual reality content.

The viewers are also Works With Google Cardboard accredited, so will work with the Cardboard app too, for when you want a break from all things Star Wars. Because the viewers are WWGC accredited, there’s a button on top of them that lets you interact with content you’re viewing.

There’s a QR code included to to calibrate the viewer with your phone to ensure you get the best possible virtual experience.

Both Rogue One VR viewers will be available from Tesco in mid-December for £15.99 each.

• Star Wars: The Force Awakens VR experience coming to Google Cardboard in a galaxy not so far far away
• Stunning Magic Leap Star Wars team-up brings R2-D2 and C-3PO into augmented reality

Disney did a similar promotion for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, by releasing viewers based on C-3PO, R2-D2, BB-8, Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper. Disney also released Jakku Spy, a VR experience accessible within the Star Wars app. 

Humans have unique brain ‘fingerprints,’ scientists confirm

People say “our brains are wired differently,” and now a team of scientists led by Carnegie Mellon researchers have proven that’s literally the case. The group developed a way to “fingerprint” the human brain using diffusion MRI and found that its structural connections are so unique, they can be used to identify individuals. According to the team’s paper published in PLOS, they used the diffusion MRI results of 699 subjects’ brains. Diffusion MRI is called as such, because it uses the diffusion process of water molecules in biological tissues to generate contrast in images.

They then took those results and calculated the distribution of water in the point-by-point connections (called local connectome) of the brains’ white matter pathways. What they found was that each person has a unique local connectome, sort of like a fingerprint. Even twins’ local connectomes are only 12 percent similar to each other. To ensure that their conclusion is correct, they ran 17,000 identification tests and found that they could tell subjects from each other with nearly 100 percent accuracy.

That’s not all the team confirmed, though. They also found that a person’s life experiences, such as going through poverty or an illness, affects the brain structure. As such, researchers could use the method to understand how environments and experiences shape people’s brains. Whether it could eventually be used as a means of identification, who knows — for now, the researchers are focusing on its potential medical applications.

As Timothy Verstynen, one of the researchers from Carnegie Mellon, said:

“This confirms something that we’ve always assumed in neuroscience — that connectivity patterns in your brain are unique to you. This means that many of your life experiences are somehow reflected in the connectivity of your brain. Thus we can start to look at how shared experiences, for example poverty or people who have the same pathological disease, are reflected in your brain connections, opening the door for potential new medical biomarkers for certain health concerns.”

Source: Carnegie Mellon University, PLOS