James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
With ‘Daydream’ headset, Google looks to woo virtual reality neophytes
If Google Inc. reveals its new virtual reality headset at an event in San Francisco Tuesday, as it’s expected to do, one thing will be apparent: This machine won’t be aimed at current VR fanatics. Early reports suggest that theDaydream VR will be considerably cheaper than its competitor, the Samsung Gear VR, priced at just $79 if ...
Is that a Beatles song? No, it was created by artificial intelligence
Musicians have for some time been lamenting the end of musical purity, as technology such as drum software occasionally usurps members of the band. Those same folks might believe they have a bit more to worry about now in view of a recent song released by Sony CSL research laboratory, a Beatles-esque number that was created by ...
Tech giants form partnership to promote ethical AI development
Some of the world’s largest tech companies are coming together to form a partnership aimed at educating the public about the advancements of artificial intelligence and ensure they meet ethical standards. The group appears to be the one revealed in a New York Times story in early September. Interestingly, two big names are missing from the group, those ...
Google says it has almost cracked language translation
When Google launched its Translate service a decade ago, the Internet was pretty much devoid of digital language translation tools. Google Translate became more useful over time, but it could also be catastrophic if one had serious work to do, leading many people to doubt these tools would ever work well. That was then. On ...
Anarchy on the Internet: Can AI be judge and jury for online content?
Artificial intelligence is here to save the day, we are told, tackling or nearly ready to tackle seemingly intractable problems. Microsoft plans to cure cancer using AI. Vehicle congestion and its attendant pollution could soon become a thing of the past once fleets of self-driving cars take to the streets. And now Google, via its ...
Windows 10 hits 400 million users as Microsoft announces enterprise security features
When Microsoft said that it hoped its new operating system, Windows 10, would be running on one billion machines just three years after its release people may have reasoned that this number was fairly ambitious. When Microsoft recently recanted the one billion mark, explaining that such a goal is very likely unattainable, most people probably ...
Sex cam site uses facial recognition to help people find a ‘model’ that looks like someone they know
Imagine this: There’s a friend of yours you’ve had a crush on for some time but kept it a secret, or perhaps even a Facebook acquaintance you fancy. Sex cam site MegaCams wants to make it possible for you both to hook up, in the virtual sense. The Belgian site hasn’t said what facial recognition technology it ...
LinkedIn looking at bots and online schooling as the next frontier
LinkedIn Corp. wants to go to the next phase of networking by introducing bots to help make connections easier for both individuals and enterprises. The company announced yesterday three big updates: a new desktop design, an Interest Feed for relevant news pertaining to a user’s industry and a smart messaging facility. The company has also ...
We just can’t stream enough: How Netflix is killing traditional television
To think Netflix started off as a DVD mail order business, a bright idea catalyzed in co-founder Reed Hastings’ mind after apparently amassing a $40 late fine at the video store from misplacing Apollo 13. As we pointed out here not so long ago, Americans watch a lot of TV, but that’s charted water. It’s ...
Microsoft, Google, Yahoo agree to block sex-selective abortion ads in India
In India aborting a fetus due to its gender has for a long time now been practiced, and while anomalous, it was widespread enough for the Indian government in 1994 to create the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PCPNDT). The act banned all forms of prenatal sex screening in India and held that anyone ...