Pixar is giving away rendering software used to make movies such as Toy Story. It will be free to use for non-commercial projects. The RenderMan software is not only used for Pixar’s own movies but has been licensed to other studios for movies such as the Harry Potter series. The software is designed for ray […]
Confused about Net Neutrality? Watch this. Know someone confused by Net Neutrality? Watch this. (Contains some language.) [via HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver]
Microsoft has demonstrated Skype carrying out voice translation almost instantaneously. It plans to roll out the feature to the public starting later this year. Voice translation has been around for several years, with varying degrees of success. In 2010, Google unveiled a voice feature in Google Translate that — in theory at least — allowed […]
Last week, I brought you video of a T-Rex throwing the first pitch a Major League Baseball game. This week, I bring you a robot. Students in the S.T.E.M. program at Paradise Valley High School in Phoenix, Arizona, created this robot that threw out the first pitch at an Arizona Diamondbacks game on May 14. [via Arizona Sports]
NASA has unveiled the public’s choice for the next prototype design for a suit to be used if and when man lands on Mars. Nearly 400,000 website visitors chose among a range of designs for the Z-2 spacesuit, with 63 percent opting for the “Technology” option. It’s eerily reminiscent of the design of the suit […]
If physicist Stephen Hawking is taking pause with the future of AI technology, maybe we should take pause, too. Or at least, you know, think about all the paths it could potentially take first. Hawking, along with physicists Max Tegmark and Frank Wilczek and computer scientist Stuart Allen, wrote in The Guardian that AI could absolutely change […]
Google has agreed to stop scanning emails on around 30 million accounts used by students and teachers. It follows Microsoft offering a special version of Bing for schools that cuts out ads and other commercial results. The new policy will affect any emails on accounts using Google Apps for Education. That’s a free service but, […]
If you’re starting as an undergraduate at MIT this year, there’s $100 coming your way. The catch — if you consider it one — is that it will be paid in Bitcoins. It’s part of an experiment by two existing students, sophomore Jeremy Rubin and MBA candidate Dan Elitzer. They want to discover whether having […]
Google may be expanding its provision of public Wi-Fi according to planning documents for its high-speed broadband service. There’s even speculation it could get into cellphone services. The revelation comes in a planning document sent to officials in 34 cities which have shown an interest in getting Google Fiber. That’s a program in which Google […]
Google has developed an algorithm that can decipher house numbers from Street View images with impressive accuracy. The problem is that the algorithm can match or even outperform humans when confronted with Google’s own use of CAPTCHA tests. Because so much of the data collection for Google Maps is automated, the first drafts of the […]