04 Jul

Posted at 00:25h in Scoop.it

Last Friday, it was reported that Canadian smart glasses startup North was on the verge of being snapped up by Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Today, it’s official.

North announced the acquisition on both Twitter and in an official blog. Details regarding the terms of the sale were scant, though a Globe and Mail scoop from Friday put the number at around $180 million. North’s remaining staff will, however, be staying in Kitchener-Waterloo, Canada and joining a Google team also based there.

 

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

 

https://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-innovative-technologies-and-developments/?&tag=Acquisitions

 

Sourced through Scoop.it from: gizmodo.com

04 Jul

Posted at 00:24h in Scoop.it

Bas Uterwijk, an Amsterdam-based artist, is using AI to create extremely lifelike photographs of historical figures and monuments such as the Statue of Liberty, artist Vincent van Gogh, George Washington and Queen Elizabeth I.

 

 

Using a program called Artbreeder, which is described as “deep learning software,” Uterwijk builds his photographs based on a compilation of portraits, reports the Daily Mail. The program pinpoints common facial features and photograph qualities to produce an image.

 

“I try to guide the software to a credible outcome. I think of my work more as artistic interpretations than scientifically or historically accurate,” the artist tells the outlet. On Instagram, he details the many variations that go into creating his work. So far, he’s created more than 50 of these images.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: nypost.com

26 Jun

Posted at 19:10h in Scoop.it

In the ever-evolving quest to never have to take our VR headsets off, Valve recently released a new feature for Index users that can accurately project the room around you in 3D space.The goal of the feature, called Room View 3D, is to give a more precise representation of the user’s environment for moments when you’d otherwise need to take the headset off. Valve’s announcement post doesn’t go into detail about how it works, but people who have tried it speculate that it’s using the Index’s multiple cameras to build a live 3D environment.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.pcgamer.com

26 Jun

Posted at 19:09h in Scoop.it

Start building your future workforce today through DigitalWorkforce.ai, the one-stop online marketplace where users can browse, interview and onboard Digital Employees™ powered by Amelia®, the industry-leading cognitive AI solution.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.ipsoft.com

19 Jun

Posted at 19:23h in Scoop.it

Researchers at the Dutch Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography (ARCNL) and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), developed an advanced microscope capable of super-resolution microscopy trough an ultra-thin fiber. 

 

Up until now, it was generally the case that the higher the resolution of a microscope, the larger the device needed to be, making it virtually impossible to look inside the human body in real-time. Although some methods that enable researchers to look inside living animals already exist, their resolution is very limited, and it takes a long time to generate an acceptable image. 

 

With the use of smart signal processing, the researchers are able to beat the theoretical limits of resolution and speed. With this newly developed compact setup, scientists are finally able to, for example, look inside the brain in real-time and high resolution, using an ultra-thin fiber. Because the method does not require any unique fluorescent labeling, it is promising for both medical uses and characterization of 3D structures in nano-lithography! 

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.universal-sci.com

19 Jun

Posted at 19:20h in Scoop.it

The head of the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos published a lengthy op-ed expressing mixed feelings about the recent SpaceX Demo-2 launch to the International Space Station (ISS).   Dmitry Rogozin’s op-ed, which is available on the Rocosmos website and was previously published in Forbes, points toward Russia’s future plans in space as the United States moves most of its crewed opportunities back to American soil.

 

 

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.space.com

19 Jun

Posted at 19:19h in Scoop.it

Are we alone? New estimations of life in the Milky Way suggest life in our neighborhood is incredibly rare.

 

Eight. That’s the minimum number of intelligent, communicating alien civilizations two astronomers at the University of Nottingham believe could exist in the Milky Way, our home galaxy.  A new study, published in The Astrophysical Journal on Monday, provides an updated estimate of the likely number of alien civilizations that could exist in the Milky Way. The analysis, performed by astronomers Tom Westby and Christopher Conselice, starts with revising the Drake equation, a formula proposed by Frank Drake in 1962 to estimate how many worlds are likely to harbor intelligent life in our galaxy. The equation relies on a variety of factors, including how often sun-like stars form in the galaxy, how many stars are orbited by planets and how often life evolves and becomes intelligent enough for us to detect it.

 

 

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.cnet.com

19 Jun

Posted at 19:18h in Scoop.it

This new finding makes squid skin a potentially valuable medical product, and could reduce waste from commercial fisheries.

 

Many types of squid have the ability to alter the color of skin cells called chromatophores, in order to blend in with their environment. This allows them to hide from predators, and is often triggered when the squid feels threatened. These same squids, including the Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas), are commercially fished in parts of North and South America.

 

 

Sourced through Scoop.it from: massivesci.com