A computer has created a new Rembrandt-style portrait from scratch using an algorithm and a 3D printer. It’s the conclusion of a two year project titled The Next Rembrandt, produced with the help of two art museums in the Netherlands, a technology university, ING and Microsoft. The first step in the project was to scan […]
Facebook has launched a tool that describes photographs to visually impaired users. However, it seems to be keeping expectations low. The tool is the work of Facebook engineer Matt King, who lost his sight through a medical condition. He wanted to deal with the way screen readers currently “speak” the name of the person who […]
The Associated Press has decided to switch from “the Internet” and “the Web” to “the internet” and “the web” from June 1. It’s provoked a mix of politeness, pedantry and philosophy. The changes will come in the AP stylebook. Not only does that determine the “correct” usage in the AP’s reports, but it’s also used […]
It’s April Fools’ Day and once again the tech world has provided many of the spoof stories. Perennial pranksters Google have got a weird one: a bogus addition to a genuine service that itself started out as a prank. Several years ago the company made a joke post on April 1 about Gmail being able […]
The FBI has agreed to share details of how it unlocked an iPhone — but with local police rather than Apple. The bureau’s court battle to force Apple to disable a security feature on the iPhone of the San Bernadino shooter came to an abrupt end this week when officials confirmed they had found a […]
Sony is to charge $30 a movie to stream 4K titles directly to its smart TV sets. The service launches next week and is for outright purchases only. The ULTRA service will initially offer around 40 to 50 movies at $30. There’ll also be some TV shows but pricing hasn’t been revealed yet. It sounds […]
A New Jersey politician says people who text while walking should face up to 15 days in jail. Pamela Lampitt has proposed a bill making “distracted walking” an offense equivalent to jaywalking. The state bill “Establishes [the] motor vehicle offense of unlawful use of hand-held wireless telephone by pedestrians on roadways.” According to the Guardian, […]
Netflix has revealed that it has intentionally varied mobile streaming bitrates based on the user’s cellphone service provider. It’s now dropping the policy amid claims of hypocrisy. The revelation came in a blog post that explained that its default bitrate for mobile viewing has been capped at a somewhat low-sounding 600 kilobits per second, something Netflix […]
Yesterday Microsoft released a sweet, innocent chatbot designed to speak like a “millennial.” Today that chatbot is a corrupt foul-mouthed racist that has to be censored. The experiment and the outcome are perhaps a perfect example of how any attempt to give human elements to machines and software are undermined by the fact that some […]
A Japanese newspaper claims Nintendo will drop production of the Wii U this year. Nintendo has responded with what may be a denial. The report in Nikkei appears to be based on getting word from component manufacturers that they’ve stopped producing some of the parts used in the console. The plan seems to be to […]