SURVIVING AS AN OLD IN THE TECH WORLD
Let the young people do it: I understood immediately. In this moment, she and I were mature stewards (she’s about 15 years younger, by the way) looking across a verdant landscape of young employees. We two could share a grown-up understanding that the way forward was to give these up-and-comers every chance to learn and grow. As I recall, my reaction at the time was a mental shrug: Yep, that’s how it is.
I’ve thought about that brief exchange a lot since—and it was in no way particular to Google.
See the full story with advise bullets here: https://www.wired.com/story/surviving-as-an-old-in-the-tech-world/
Stanford AI researchers make ‘socially inclusive’ NLP using Urban Dictionary and Twitter
Stanford University AI researchers have created a “socially equitable” natural language processing (NLP) tool they say improves upon off-the-shelf AI solutions used today that fail to account for things like regional dialects, slang, or the natural way people talk when they regularly speak more than one language.
In a paper published late last week, researchers found Equilid to be more accurate than commonly used identification tools like langid.py and Google’s CLD2. Popular language identification tools, the paper argues, draw on a “European-centric corpora” of the written word, as well as websites, Wikipedia, and newswires, methods that may not best represent the way people actually talk.
The report finds that more effective identification of language in underrepresented dialects could “help reveal dangerous trends in infectious diseases in the areas that need it most.”
“Flu tracking, election predictions, anytime you’re trying to do social sensing or you want to use social media to predict outcomes, that’s kind of where we see our application having the biggest impact,” lead author David Jurgens told VentureBeat in a phone interview.
AI trained with slang
To make Equilid work, language and text were drawn a variety of sources, like European legislation and Wikipedia, but also Urban Dictionary, conversations about articles in the Talk section of the Wikipedia website, and African American Vernacular English, also known as ebonics. Interpretations of the Bible and Quran were also used; the Watchtower magazine from Jehovah’s Witnesses, which is translated into hundreds of languages, was also a rich resource.
By far, Jurgens said, the majority of language used to train Equilid and strengthen its ability to recognize specific geographic regions came from Twitter. Equilid draws upon language from nearly 98 million tweets from 1.5 million users in 53 languages.
Equality through accuracy
The goal with Equilid, Jurgens said, was not just to make a more socially equitable product, but to improve the accuracy and overall quality of NLP.
See the full story here: https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/08/stanford-ai-researchers-make-socially-inclusive-nlp-using-urban-dictionary-and-twitter/
USC gets inside Sam Darnold’s head with virtual reality film study
At each practice this season, a student trails the quarterbacks holding a long boom topped with cameras pointing forward and back. The student holds the boom a few feet above the quarterback’s head. Within an hour after practice, the quarterbacks can don the headset (or watch on an iPad), cue up each play and look around in 360 degrees as if they were back out on the field.
The Trojans have joined a growing number of teams chasing a technological advantage. Stanford, with the company STRIVR, pioneered virtual-reality film study three seasons ago. XOS Digital, USC’s vendor for all video, said it counted 25 virtual-reality clients in college and professional football and basketball.
See the full story here: http://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/la-sp-usc-football-20170807-story.html
Augmented reality may revolutionize Army training
A joint effort between the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and several entities -- University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies, Combined Arms Center-Training and Program Executive Office for Simulation, Training and Instrumentation -- are working to research, prototype and eventually deliver the Synthetic Training Environment, otherwise known as STE.
See the full story here: https://www.army.mil/article/191942
The AFI FEST Interview: Wevr’s James Kaelan on Virtual Reality Storytelling
...artists from theater, from the gallery and museum installation world, come to VR almost naturally. They think about physical navigation and multi-sensory experience. They think about how things feel to the touch. They think about how things smell. They think about how the viewer moves, most importantly. That’s an invaluable perspective to have at this still-early stage in VR.
See the full story here: http://blog.afi.com/the-afi-fest-interview-wevrs-james-kaelan-on-virtual-reality-storytelling/
This ARKit App Locates Items In A Supermarket For You
This new ARKit app from AR designer Bruce Vang shows you exactly how the tech could do just that. Using an iPhone, shoppers are directed towards the item they’re looking for, right down to its location of a shelf. Not only that but the user is able to load up their own shopping list, so the app could seamlessly transition from one item to the next.
See the full story with video here: https://uploadvr.com/arkit-app-locates-items-supermarket/
Disney to Pull Movies From Netflix, Launch Streaming Service
Disney said it will be pulling its movies from Netflix, will launch an ESPN streaming service early next year and will launch a Disney streaming service the year after that.
To help do all that, Disney will acquire a majority of BAMTech, the streaming technology company owned MLBAM, the internet company owned by Major League Baseball.
Disney CEO Bob Iger called the initiatives "a strategic shift in the way we distribute our content."
See the full story here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-pull-movies-netflix-launch-streaming-service-1027793