Robot Olympics, Google Artificial Intelligence, Hilton Hotel Mechanical Concierges, iPhone 7 rumors and more news …
Foreword
Nothing is permanent in our world. Every second something happens in him and something changes. Sometimes these changes are immediately noticeable, but more often they go almost unnoticed. Most of the eyewitnesses just shrug their shoulders in bewilderment and immediately throw them out of their heads. And only then, many years later, it becomes clear that this awkward and awkward prototype and this at first glance absolutely trifling event became the very snowball that provoked a whole mountain avalanche.
I do not think that the monkey, who first picked up a stick, made a special impression on its relatives. If her fellow tribesmen paid attention to this, they rather considered it a sign of weakness and backwardness, and not something else. All self-respecting monkeys all their lives climbed for bananas themselves, and this abnormal for this some kind of stick was required. Eh, the nation is completely degenerating …
And I doubt that this very monkey had a long and happy life. Anyone who stands out from the pack puts themselves in jeopardy. And first of all, under the blow of fellow tribesmen. They do not like those who are unlike others, and surely on the neighboring trees there were a lot of people who wanted to reasonably prove to a particularly smart monkey how much she was wrong. And since she had not yet learned how to use (or rather, fight) a stick normally by this time, she had no chance to defend her opinion in the ensuing discussion.
Of course, all this did not prevent some viewers from thinking about the benefits of waving a stick and repeating this feat themselves after a few years. And then even found your own tribe, go to live in caves and, after some thousands of years, turn into people. But the skeptics from the neighboring trees remained convinced until the end of their lives that all these sticks were heresy and complete nonsense.
If in our time this situation has somehow changed, then certainly not for the better. We live in an era of information noise, a whole ocean of facts, gossip, events and news splashes around each of us. Surprise at the sight of an unusual event or unknown invention has long given way to skepticism, this is a kind of protective reaction of the body.
But the world does not care about our opinion, it still continues to change, develop and evolve. And the world of technology is no exception.
Computer mind
As a result of the multi-hour tournament, the artificial intelligence of Google almost completely beat the world champion in the game of go Sedol Li. At first glance, this event does not seem particularly interesting, because back in 1994 Garry Kasparov lost a chess tournament blitz game to a computer. And although everyone praised this computer program then, no one thought to announce the creation of artificial intelligence.
But in fact, the difference between playing chess and playing Go for a computer is fundamental. If in chess there are on average about two dozen moves from each position, then in Go there are about two hundred. Thus, there are more theoretically possible configurations of chips on the game board during one game than there are atoms in the universe.
But it's not just quantity – it's quality. Chess relies exclusively on logic, combination. And intuition plays a big role in go. There are times when the player himself cannot clearly and clearly answer the question of why he decided to be like that. This move was suggested to him not only by naked logic, but by experience, intuition, and a sense of the game. The computer, on the other hand, lacks intuition, and is physically incapable of calculating all possible variants of moves using dry algorithms.
Ai Google is unique in that it tries not only to calculate a winning combination of moves, but to predict human actions. And during the game it also learns itself based on the opponent's playing style. Initially, Sedol Li believed that he could cope with any computer program without problems, but in the end he was able to take only one out of five matches. He tried to play carefully, then aggressively, tried to find some patterns in the actions of the artificial intelligence of AlphaGo, but all this did not lead to anything.
Google's program has already set a world record, but this is just the beginning. In fact, the entire last tournament for AlphaGo was just another training stage.
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Humans and robots
The first robot joined the Hilton hotel chain. It was named Connie (apparently in honor of the founder of Conrad Hilton) and is a close relative of the Nao robots that can be found in a number of Japanese banks and other institutions. A distinctive feature of Connie is its software, which is based on the Watson platform from IBM. It is thanks to this system that the robot is able to perfectly understand spoken language in different languages.
All visitors to the Virginia Hilton McLean can communicate with the robot. He will not only answer questions about the operation of the hotel, but also tell you where the main city attractions are located (the WayBlazer service is taken as a base) or where the store you are interested in is located. And if you talk to him a little longer, you can even get some personal recommendations.
The main interest in this story is not the robot itself. There is nothing truly unique about it, the existing solution was just a little 'sharpened' for working with tourists. Much more interesting is the fact that such mechanical assistants are increasingly appearing in a variety of companies, this is no longer just a funny curiosity, but a process that is now unlikely to be stopped. Now they are still weakly competing with human personnel, but this is only the beginning. The first cars, after all, were also not capable of fully replacing horses, and some even considered all this technique to be just a funny misunderstanding. But time has shown that the skeptics were very wrong.
The future is already actively knocking on the door, but it’s safer for us not to notice it. But it will take another two decades at most, and you will inevitably have to reckon with him.
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The other day in Dubai, the World Drone Prix drone race finished, which I wrote about in one of the previous issues of the digest. Apparently, there was clearly something to see.
But for the organizers, this event is just the first step, and in 2017 the Olympic Games for robots will be added to drone races. They will compete in several disciplines at once, including running, swimming and freestyle wrestling. What will come of this venture is not yet clear, but the organizers are full of optimism.
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It's a Sony
Sony decided to go for a rather daring (if not a kind) experiment. While most companies try to keep the work on prototypes of unusual devices in secret, the Japanese decided to tell the public about the most interesting developments in advance. Information on the development of each submitted project will be regularly updated, and depending on the reaction of users, a decision will be made on its further financing or closure.
To be honest, I doubt that a good artist will arrange an online show from working on a painting. And even more so that the engineer will consult with passers-by how exactly he should design this or that device, and the doctor – how he should treat people. Maybe Sony wants to do something like a Google X lab, but in reality it still looks more like Kickstarter. Moreover, with very dubious projects – so far Sony has demonstrated a mixture of headphones with speakers that form sound around the head and allow you to listen to the interlocutor without being distracted from the surrounding sounds, headphones with a hole in the center, created for about the same purpose, and an experimental projector.
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Apple
A presentation Apple will take place on March 21, the corresponding invitations have already been sent to the press. It must be said right away that the announcement iPhone 7 should definitely not be expected on this day, although the budget iPhone or new Apple Watch may well show.
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There is no particular excitement in connection with the upcoming announcement on the network, but connoisseurs of the brand began to guess with a vengeance about what iPhone 7 would be like.
So, judging by the screenshot leaked to the network, the body of the smartphone will lose its plastic inserts. We can assume that this means a change in case materials. In addition, the hole for the camera lens is slightly larger than usual, which suggests a revised photographic part of the device.
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It is possible that we are talking about a patent for an original optical stabilization system. Usually it is used to compensate for hand shake and slight tilt of the smartphone, but Apple have come up with a new application for this system.
Judging by the published patent, the smartphone will learn to automatically create panoramas by 'twisting' the camera around. One click and the panorama is ready.
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Changes may also affect the corporate home key. First, it can be made of liquid metal. And secondly, to support some analogue of ForceTouch. It can be assumed that the key will work similar to the Home button in smartphones Meizu.
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The latest patent concerns Apple Watch. With a strong drop in heart rate, the watch will be able to automatically notify the ambulance and the police about the condition of its owner. Something similar can be found in many science fiction novels and films, but how this can all be implemented in practice is an open question. After all, the measurement of the pulse itself is not nearly the most difficult question here.
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