Month: April 2020

Lenovo made a new ThinkPad keyboard for your desktop – mouse nub and all


It’s no secret that ThinkPad laptops have historically had some of the best keyboards on the market – better than many desktop ones. If you’ve ever wished you could just chop the keyboard off your ThinkPad and use it on for your desktop setup, Lenovo’s new $99 ThinkPad TrackPoint Keyboard II has you covered. The keyboard was first announced at CES, and it even has the little red nub (that’s the ‘TrackPoint’ part) that ThinkPads are famous for. It might especially come in handy if you ever need to control your PC from a distance without wanting to use a separate…

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The next Assassin’s Creed game is a Viking adventure called Valhalla


Ubisoft is taking advantage of a captive audience to give a tantalizing glimpse of the next game in the Assassin’s Creed series. In a reveal that dovetails with leaked details from months ago, we now know that the next adventure in gaming’s own historical Magic School Bus series will be set in the Viking era, and it’ll be called Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Watch the World Premiere of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla April 30th at 8am PDT / 5pm CEST. #AssassinsCreed — Assassin’s Creed (@assassinscreed) April 29, 2020 The company teased the reveal with an art stream. The person streaming is artist BossLogic, who’s…

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Facebook’s teaching AI to lie like a human


Facebook AI researchers today announced Blender, a set of state-of-the-art open-source chatbot models. These new models are supposed to be “more human” than previous iterations and provide more robust conversations. Based on early indications it appears to be as good as or better than competing bots from Google and Microsoft. But we’re not talking leaps and bounds by any measure. Because, essentially, what Facebook‘s done is taught Blender’s chatbots to lie moderately better than everyone else’s. Today we’re announcing that Facebook AI has built and open-sourced Blender, the largest-ever open-domain chatbot. It outperforms others in terms of engagement and also…

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Streaming-only films now eligible for Academy Awards (sort of)


The Academy of Arts and Sciences is this week making a painful concession to modernity. It’s finally allowing streaming-based movies the chance at an Oscar — though only because the coronavirus is seriously screwing with the traditional film release cycle. Specifically, the Academy decided during a meeting Tuesday to suspend its traditional rules governing which films are eligible. If you aren’t aware of the ins and outs of Hollywood‘s relationship with streaming-based services, the Academy has a rule that means a movie must be available to watch in a theater. Specifically, the rule was a film must be available “for paid admission…

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AI model predicts the coronavirus pandemic will end in December


Data scientists have attempted to answer the question on everyone’s mind: When will the coronavirus pandemic end? Their predictions use a mathematical model known as SIR (susceptible, infected, recovered), which calculates the spread and recovery of diseases. Researchers from Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) fed the model data on confirmed infections, tests conducted, and deaths recorded, to estimate the life cycle of COVID-19. Globally, their system predicts the pandemic will end this December. But the end date is estimated to vary immensely among nations, from June in Australia to October in Italy. [Read: AI predicts where coronavirus cases will spike next] The…

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Amazon spent $10 million on blacklisted surveillance tech from China


Amazon bought $10 million worth of temperature-checking cameras from a blacklisted company accused of assisting China in its human rights abuses against Muslim minorities, Reuters reports citing sources familiar with the matter. The ecommerce giant reportedly purchased 1,500 cameras from China’s Zhejiang Dahua earlier this month to curb the spread of COVID-19 through its warehouses. [Read: Amazon warehouse worker tests positive for coronavirus day after Bezos visit] At least one third of those cameras were said to be destined for use in Amazon facilities across the US. Dahua is one of the largest makers of surveillance camera tech in the world, and its…

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Uber’s longest-serving exec quits, while coronavirus threatens 5,000 jobs


According to an SEC filing earlier this week, Uber‘s chief technology officer is stepping down. The rest of the executive board is reportedly discussing further measures to help the company weather the financial challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic. [Read: Global e-scooter numbers could quadruple once lockdown measures lift, analysts say] The Information reports that more than 5,400 jobs could be at risk as Uber‘s management looks to cut costs. This would represent a loss of about one fifth of Uber‘s workforce. Details of the cuts are sparse. The layoffs are yet to be finalized and could be made in…

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Google’s decision to make Meet free for all isn’t charity — it’s effective marketing


Google surely knows how to capitalize on the string of security nightmares Zoom has been dealing with and the recent coronavirus-induced work-from-home situation. The Mountain View giant announced it’s making its video conferencing service Google Meet free for everyone for the time being. The video call tool will gradually become available over the next few days, the company says. “Starting in early May, anyone with an email address can sign up for Meet and enjoy many of the same features available to our business and education users, such as simple scheduling and screen sharing, real-time captions, and layouts that adapt…

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Good design should be inclusive and accessible — but what’s the difference?


Did you know TNW Conference has a track fully dedicated to exploring new design trends this year? Check out the full ‘Sprint’ program here. What does someone who’s hard of hearing, someone with a severe ear infection, and a commuter on a packed subway who forgot their earphones have in common? They would all struggle to interact with audio content in a digital interface. There are two primary ways to approach design that can solve problems such as this: accessible design and inclusive design. Accessible design has guidelines in place to assist people who are hard of hearing. But UX designers following those…

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This AI-driven meme generator delivers the avant-garde content you need


I’m going to solve some pretty big things here for you. First off, memes are art. Secondly, computers are capable of creating art. How do I know this? Easy — because of this AI-driven meme generator. God, that was smooth. Anyway, the folks over at Imgflip created something called This Meme Does Not Exist, a meme generator powered by a deep artificial neural network. I was alerted to its existence when one of my friends (shout out you, Ruby) sent me this magnificent Tweet by K. Thor Jensen: there’s an AI meme generator now and it’s everything you could have wanted. https://t.co/MqXConOPWo pic.twitter.com/yKEHfgBPUE —…

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