Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists from ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia have enabled the longer distance (250 Kilos) of secured data transmission occur via Quantum. Nice; and should be a wake up call to the US as well on advancing their efforts more.

A group of scientists from ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia has developed a novel approach to the construction of quantum communication systems for secure data exchange. The experimental device based on the results of the research is capable of transmitting single-photon quantum signals across distances of 250 kilometers or more, which is on par with other cutting edge analogues. The research paper was published in the Optics Express journal.

Information security is becoming more and more of a critical issue not only for large companies, banks and defense enterprises, but even for small businesses and individual users. However, the data encryption algorithms we currently use for protecting our data are imperfect — in the long-term, their logic can be cracked. Regardless of how complex and intricate the algorithm is, getting round it is just the matter of time.

Continue reading “Long-range secure quantum communication system developed” »

Hmm… That would explain Alzheimer disease — It’d be like some sort of unabashedly evil version of a smart phone data caps!

Or not.

Continue reading “Is the Universe a Simulation? Scientists Debate” »

Good question? Answer as of to date — depends on the “AI creator.” AI today is all dependent upon architects, engineers, etc. design and development and the algorithms & information exposed in AI. Granted we have advanced this technology; however, it is still based on logical design and principles; nothing more.

BTW — here is an example to consider in this argument. If a bank buys a fully functional and autonomous AI; and through audits (such as SOX) it is uncovered that embezzling was done by this AI solution (like in another report 2 weeks ago showing where an AI solution stole money out of customer accounts) who is at fault? Who gets prosecuted? who gets sued? The bank, or the AI technology company; or both? We must be ready to address these types of situations soon and legislation and the courts are going to face some very interesting times in the near future; and consumers will probably take the brunt of the chaos.

A recent experiment in which an artificially intelligent chatbot became virulently racist highlights the challenges we could face if machines ever become superintelligent. As difficult as developing artificial intelligence might be, teaching our creations to be ethical is likely to be even more daunting.

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I imagine that Alphabet has been already exploring the whole online bot technology with its cloud as well as other AI technology. However, one real opportunity in the online cloud services is the “personable” experiences for consumers and businesses. Granted big data & analytics in the cloud is proving to be exceptional for researchers and industry; however, how do we now make the leap to make things more of a personable experience as well as make it available/ attractive for individual consumers & small business especially we look at connected AI & singularity. Personally, I have not seen any viable and good answers at the moment to my question. Security & privacy still is a huge hurdle that must be addressed properly to ensure adoption by consumers from a personable experience perspective.

The market for cloud services is expected to skyrocket in the years ahead. With hundreds of billions of dollars at stake, industry leaders including Microsoft, IBM, and Alphabet are going all-in to capture their fair share of the cloud revenue pie. Alphabet has taken a different path than its tech brethren in the cloud market, but it appears that’s about to change.

Until recently, Alphabet seemed content to focus its cloud efforts on data hosting, or Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). Not a bad plan given that the amount of data amassed in today’s digital world is unparalleled and is expected to continue growing as consumers become more connected. But even at this early stage of the cloud, data hosting has become a commodity. The real opportunity lies in cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and data analytics solutions, which Alphabet is beginning to address.

Continue reading “Alphabet Inc Uses Its Head in AI” »

A new Rembrandt painting has been unveiled in Amsterdam on Tuesday, and we’re not talking about a newly discovered work. No, this one called The Next Rembrandt is truly brand new, created using data, algorithms and a 3D printer within the span of 18 months. A team of data scientists, engineers and scientists from various institutions, including Microsoft and the Rembrandt House Museum, joined forces to create this homage to the great painter. The team examined all the Dutch master’s known paintings to come up with the perfect project: a portrait of a 30 to 40-year-old Caucasian male with facial hair, wearing dark clothes with a collar and a hat on his head, facing to the right.

They then developed algorithms to extract what features make a painting a Rembrandt, such as the face’s shape and proportions. Ron Augustus, Microsoft’s SMB Markets Director, said: “You could say that we used technology and data like Rembrandt used his paints and his brushes to create something new.” To give their work a real painting’s texture, they used 3D printing techniques to print oil paint in layers. As a result, the portrait feels like it was actually painted by a human artist.

The project, which the Netherlands’ ING Bank commissioned ad agency J Walter Thompson to develop, most likely began as a promotional undertaking. As you can see, though, the final product turned out so good that the same technique could be used to make more affordable replicas (maybe even forgeries) of masterpieces.

Continue reading “‘The Next Rembrandt’ is a 3D-printed take on the painter’s style” »

Interesting; especially since things have been very quite around IARPA and DARPA on their BMI efforts lately.

The Microns project aims to decipher the brain’s algorithms in an effort to revolutionize machine learning.

Like this article highlights; we will see a day soon when all techies will need some level of bio-science and/ or medical background especially as we move closer to Singularity which is what we have seen predicted by Ray Kurzweil and others. In the coming decade/s we will no longer see tech credentials relying strictly on math/ algorithms, code, etc, Techies will need some deeper knowledge around the natural sciences.

If you are majoring in biology right now, I say to you: that was a good call. The mounting evidence suggests that you placed your bet on the right degree. With emergent genetic recombination technologies improving at breakneck speed alongside a much deepened understanding of biological circuitry in simple, “home grown” metabolic systems, this field is shaping up to be a tinkerer’s paradise.

Many compare this stage of synthetic biology to the early days of microprocessing (the precursor to computers) when Silicon Valley was a place for young entrepreneurs to go if they needed a cheap place to begin their research or tech business. One such tech entrepreneur, the founder of O’Reilly media, Tim O’Reilly — who also coined the term “open source” — made this comparison in an interview with Wired magazine., O’Reilly further commented on synthetic biology saying, “It’s still in the fun stage.”

Continue reading “Introduction: Explaining the Future of Synthetic Biology with Computer Programming’s Past” »

Big day for Nvidia with announcements on AI and VR.

The first day of the company’s GPU Technology Conference was chock full of self-driving cars, trips to Mars, and more.

Ask a member of Facebook’s growth team what feature played the biggest role in getting the company to a billion daily users, and they’ll likely tell you it was photos. The endless stream of pictures, which users have been able to upload since 2005, a year after Facebook’s launch, makes the social network irresistible to a global audience. It’s difficult to imagine Facebook without photos. Yet for millions of blind and visually impaired people, that’s been the reality for over a decade.

Not anymore. Today Facebook will begin automatically describing the content of photos to blind and visually impaired users. Called “automatic alternative text,” the feature was created by Facebook’s 5-year-old accessibility team. Led by Jeff Wieland, a former user researcher in Facebook’s product group, the team previously built closed captioning for videos and implemented an option to increase the default font size on Facebook for iOS, a feature 10 percent of Facebook users take advantage of.

Automatic alt text, which is coming to iOS today and later to Android and the web, recognizes objects in photos using machine learning. Machine learning helps to build artificial intelligences by using algorithms to make predictions. If you show a piece of software enough pictures of a dog, for example, in time it will be able to identify a dog in a photograph. Automatic alt text identifies things in Facebook photos, then uses the iPhone’s VoiceOver feature to read descriptions of the photos out loud to users. While still in its early stages, the technology can reliably identify concepts in categories including transportation (“car,” “boat,” “airplane”), nature (“snow,” “ocean,” “sunset”), sports (“basketball court”), and food (“sushi”). The technology can also describe people (“baby,” “smiling,” beard”), and identify a selfie.

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