A Learning Advance in Artificial Intelligence Rivals Human Abilities

Artificial Intelligence Surpassed Human Competences

Computer researchers had recently reported that artificial intelligence had surpassed human competences for a narrow set of vision related task. These developments are remarkable since the so-called machine vision methods are being a commonplace in various characteristics of life comprising of car-safety methods which tend to identify pedestrians and bicyclists and in video game controls, Internet search as well as factory robots.

 Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University together with the University of Toronto have recently reported a new kind of `one shot’ machine learning in the journal Science, wherein a computer vision program seemed to beat a group of humans in identifying handwritten characters founded on a single example. The program seems to have the ability of learning quickly the characters in a variety of languages as well as in generalizing from what it has learned.

The authors recommend that this ability is the same wherein humans tend to learn and understand perceptions. Bayesian Program Learning or B.P. L as the new approach is known is unlike the present machine learning technologies known as deep neural networks. Neural networks can be trained in recognizing human speech, identify objects in images or detect types of behaviour on being exposed to large sets of examples

Bayesian Approach

Though these networks may have been modelled on the behaviour of biological neurons, they have not yet learned the way human tend to do, in quickly acquiring new concepts. In comparison, the new software program defined in the Science article has the capabilities of recognizing handwritten characters on `seeing’ only a few or a single example.

The researchers had compared the capabilities of their Bayesian approach as well as other programming models utilising five separate learning tasks which involved a set of characters from a research set. This was known as Onmiglot which comprised of 1,623 handwritten characters sets from 50 languages.

 The images as well as the pen stokes that were need to create characters were taken. Joshua B, Tenenbaum, professor of cognitive science and computation at M.I.T. together with one of the authors of the Science paper had commented that `with all the progress in machine learning, it is amazing what one can do with lots of data and faster computers. But when one looks at children, it is amazing what they can learn from very little data and some come from prior knowledge and some is built in the brain’.

Imagenet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge

Moreover, the organizers of an annual academic machine vision competition also reported gains in lowering the error rate in software for locating and classifying objects in digital images. Alexander Berg, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill had stated that he was amazed by the rate of progress in the field.

The competition which is known as the Imagenet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge pits the teams of researchers at government, academic as well as corporate laboratories against one another in designing programs in classifying as well as detecting objects. The same was won by a group of researchers at the Microsoft Research laboratory in Beijing, this year.

Microsoft Lumia 950

Lumia 950 – First Phone of New Microsoft Windows 10 Software

The first top of the range Lumia after the Lumia 930 and the first phone of the new Microsoft Windows 10softwarehave finally arrived. The Microsoft Lumia 950 with its bigger screened sibling, - 950 XL has showed up. With the purchase of Nokia by Microsoft, it acquired a company with the strongest industrial design team in Europe possibly as effective as Apple with regards to visionaries like Marko Ahtisaari.

It also purchased a company with astounding reputation for invention and hence this new phone seems to be amazing. Microsoft seems to have discarded the day-glo colours of the 930 and others for a quieter design and the metal edging together with the coloured back of the 830 and 930 have been replaced with a monochrome plastic back and edge.

The only visible features are the silver Windows logo along with the matching ring which seems to surround the camera lens. The plastic back can be removed and third party manufacturers are intending to come up with more colourful and striking colours.There is an iris recognition system to unlock the screen.When one tends to stare at it, it opens automatically and the message onscreen says `Hello’.

Slower Than Fingerprint Sensors

It is much slower than the fingerprint sensors on the iPhone 6s and Sony Xperia Z5 and works most of the time without any difficulties. There is no double tap-to-wake system on the phone.

This method has been pioneered by Nokiaon its heavily underrated affordable Asha phone series and was then moved to some Lumia phone. It has now been taken up by several Android phone manufacturers though not on the latest phone. Another wonderful invention of Nokia was the way some of the Lumia handset reacted to touch inspite of wearing gloves which is useful in cold climates.

Things tend to get familiar once the user gets started with the phone with the Windows Phone system now known as Windows 10. The same set of apps covers the screen in an alphabetical list when swiped to the left. Windows universal apps provide a wide range of apps designed which tend to look the same on the phone as on a Windows 10 PC, which is one of the main features that Microsoft seems to be banking on in order to generate more approvals.

Features USB-C Connector

The battery life on the Lumia 950 seems good to get the user through a full day though not more and intensive usage of the phone as a laptop standby could reduce this. The 950 is one of the first phones featuring a USB-C connector and hence none of the old chargers would be of any use. Besides this, there is also a wireless charging if one has a compatible charging pad and unlike the Samsung’s new phones that work with two charging standard, this one seems to be restricted to Qi.

The phone feels a real break away from the Nokia-centric past for Microsoft and with the Windows 10 on various platforms together with the potential of using this phone as a decent computer, it would be appealing to several users. The camera seems great with good sensor, dedicated shutter button together with fast launch where the display is eye-catching.

Mota JetJat Nano Puddle Jumper

Mota JetJat Nano Quadcopter – Smallest of its Kind

The latest JetJat Nano quadcopter from Moto is not what several of the people are speculating with regards to drone.It is small at less than one square inch and a working quadcopter though small enough can crash land in the coffee cup if one is not careful.

Besides its size the JetJat is interesting with regards to its price at $40 and one can get a drone for even less if one intends to go with one of the several nearly identical models that are made available across the web. Flying a JetJat means one can also fly a big drone. There is sharp learning curve in flying a drone and hence it is not worth taking a risk crashing a $1,600 item of pro gear when a cheaper one is available.

 Flight dynamics does not seem to translate well between a small craft and a big one, though the basics seems to be the same. The Nano and its type such as the Proto’s Proto-X seems to be harder to fly than the bigger ones provided from DJI or Yuneec. From the positive side, the Nano is simple to begin with.

Nano’s Controls – `Pro-Grade’

There are no propellers to assemble, no GPS satellites to sync to, no Wi-Fi to pair with and no apps to download. With just flipping a switch on the drone and another on the remote one needs to wait for the beep and then go.Moto has called the Nano’s control `pro-grade’ and touts the `ultra-high power to weight ratio’.

One controller stick tends to handle throttle that controls the altitude while a second joystick controls turns. This mirrors the controllers of larger drone which is one reason the Nano is accessible for practicing. The absence of altitude stabilization could be the most interesting thing regarding the Nano and unlike the larger drones, it does not tend to hover when one eases off the throttle, it crashes which is one purpose to be a better pilot.

It compels one to think about everything till one adopts it and flying tends to become second nature. Generally a week of practice should be adequate. A big reason for the longer timeframe is that the Nano seems to have only sufficient battery capacity for maximum eight minutes of flight and the craft is about the size of the thumbnail.

Portable & Compact

Considering the size constraints, the flight time of Nano is impressive. It also tends to charge quickly through an included USB cable. The Nano seems to have a range of 75 foot and is essentially invisible beyond 50 feet or so.

The body is bright red and hence it is difficult in spotting when it goes down. Nano seems to be a great way of practice if one intends to look out for option of becoming a better drone pilot without flying a $1,600 drone and colliding into a tree. Mota JetJat Nano is one of the smallest, lightest drone in the world weighing around 4oz and measures only 20mm in height. It flies like an eagle, performing flips and other aerial manoeuvres

It is economical enough for a fleet of drones and is simple for learners, pro feature for experienced drone pilots. It is portable and compact adequately to be taken anywhere and can be accommodated comfortably in purses, as well as small backpacks.

Its tough construction has the potential of withstanding multiple bumps and bruises and its swift and responsive controls provides an enjoyable experience for the entire family

Crowdfunding a Drone That Takes Selfies

World’s Safest Drone by Fleye

The world’s safest drone by Fleye is made by two Belgian founders wherein the drone is the size of a soccer ball with its propellers on the inner side which is encased by a shell. Most of the drones in the market tend to have their propellers exposed. The CEO of Fleye, Laurent Eschenauer, had informed CNBC at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in London, recently that if they were going to have autonomous flying robots around, they need to make them safe’.

The company had raised around half of its 175,000 euro so far, funding goal on Kickstarter with 38 days left. The starting price is 599 euros for one of the drones. Co-founders are now opening up the operating system of Linus for the drone to run on it, so that the developers may develop apps for it and are expecting to launch the device by April 2016.

The drone is controlled through an Android or iOS smartphone and is equipped with some pre-programmed functions like when a user tends to click the selfie control; the drone autonomously tends to move to position itself to take a picture of the user.

Supports Computer Vision Library OpenCV

The main invention of Fleye is its exceptional spherical design where all the moving parts seems to be sheltered which means that one can be hold, touch, push and bump into Fleye without much trouble of being injured. It also means that while bumping into something, Fleye could be more robust.

One does not need piloting skill to control the drone but just select a flying camera mode, - selfie, panorama, virtual tripod etc. andwatch the live video stream focusing on capturing photos and videos. If one intends to be in manual control, you could use the virtual gamepad or hook a Bluetooth gamepad to the smartphone. Fleye tends to have a powerful on-board computer like the latest smartphone which is dual-core ARM A9, with hardware accelerated video encoding, together with two GPUs, 512MB of RAM and runs on Linux.

Moreover it also supports Computer vision library OpenCV which means that Fleye has the capacity of being programmed to execute mission autonomously, responding to what it tends to see in the environment.

Operating from Logistic to Disaster Recovery

The main anxiety for regulators looking at drones after various high profile occurrences, is safety. A drone had crashed on the lawn of the White House, earlier this year and at a music concert, pop star Enrique Iglesias had reached out to grab a drone which was filming and had sliced open his finger.

 Eschenauer has been betting on a world wherein drone would become universal, operating in areas from logistics to disaster recovery as well as roaming around the office. A camera has been attached on the top for the drones to recognize the world around and to take decisions and also for the people to take videos and photos. However, the company tends to find itself in a competitive space against bigger manufacturers with deeper pockets.

The Chinese drone maker DJI had raised around $75 million this year which was reportedly valued at $10 billion, offering drones for professional filmmakers and hobbyists. Eschenauer has admitted that Fleye will not be able of taking on the recognized players but has stated that the company has made its own niche. He has commented that that they have been carving out their own niche which is proximity. If one desires to capture a film at a wedding or in an industrial plant, one would not use the big drone with big propellers, especially if it tends to becomes autonomous’.

Gmail be Replaced By Inbox Smart Email Tool As Main Google Email System

Gmail Rolled out New Tabbed Interface for Inbox on Mobile/Desktop

Gmail has rolled out a new tabbed interface for inbox on mobile as well as desktop. On first glance it seems good for email organization but on further inspection, these latest tabs seem to be confusing. According to the official Gmail blog, one can select which categories can be enabled as tabs that will show you how many new emails one may have for each category offering another option in organizing the inbox.

One can drag and drop messages between tabs and set certain senders to appear always on certain tabs. This feature is rolling on the desktop gradually and will soon be coming to Android as well as iOS apps shortly.

The tabs will slide in from the side in the case of mobile. Google has added the unsubscribed button to Android version of Gmail also and the feature that had been offered on the web enables users to get rid of newsletter together with other subscriptions which the users do not read or could have never intentionally signed up. Both the options are available in the same dropdown menu which is utilised in the selection of `Reply’ or `Forward’ options. Updates of the web are available already and the Android ones would be available very soon.

Beginning of the End for Gmail

Users have been encouraged to utilise its `Inbox by Gmail’ service by the company, in the intention which some have stated could be the `beginning of the end’, for Gmail. Inbox had been introduced last year, though Google had been focusing its interest on the app, analysing emails to group one which could be interesting together with other features that smartly organises emails. Google has described it as `the inbox which works for you’. Users of the app on their phone are now being redirected to Inbox instead of the normal Gmail.

When a user tends to click through on Gmail, they are greeted by a pop-up informing them that they may want to use Inbox instead. When the user logs in, a message pops up stating `Thanks for trying Inbox. To make it easier, we have updated Gmail to redirect you here’. The tool also provides the choice of heading back to the normal Gmail screen with a large button stating `turn it off’. Moreover it also enables user to turn it off at any point of time in the future through its settings.

Gmail Alive & Well

However, some users have recommended that the change could signal the beginning of the end for Gmail in its present form and the inbox could eventually be the default way of reading emails. Google has stated that Gmail was very much alive and it was simply making it easy to get Inbox as a default. A spokesperson had commented that `Gmail is alive and well and that they want to provide a seamless way for Inbox users to reach the Inbox site from Gmail.com without memorizing a new URL.

The possible redirect makes it easy to access Inbox often, according to the user and it could be turned off with a single click under `settings’. Inbox has been considered to complement the old Gmail view, enabling users to keep their old Gmail address. However the old way of organizing email, like long list of subject lines and senders, ordered by date, seems to be mostly unaltered since Gmail had first introduced it around eleven years back.