Category Archives: Technology

#3D ‘unwrapping’ tools let scientists read an ancient Hebrew scroll | Mashable #archives #manuscripts #digitization #science

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Source: Seales et. al, Science Advances 21 Sep 2016: Vol. 2, no. 9, e1601247, Fig. 2 Completed virtual unwrapping for the En-Gedi scroll.

Source: Seales et. al, Science Advances 21 Sep 2016: Vol. 2, no. 9, e1601247, Fig. 2 Completed virtual unwrapping for the En-Gedi scroll.

New software tools have enabled scientists to read an ancient, damaged Hebrew scroll without ever unfurling the fragile, disintegrating parchment.

The digitization techniques, known as “volume cartography,” transformed what were the charred remains of the nearly 2,000-year-old En-Gedi scroll into legible columns of handwritten text from the book of Leviticus, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

“We are reading a real scroll that hasn’t been read for millennia,” said Brent Seales, who helped develop the cartography techniques and is a computer sciences professor at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

READ MORE: 3D ‘unwrapping’ tools let scientists read an ancient Hebrew scroll | Mashable

 

 

 

Sex and sexuality: The Jane Austen game breaking the MMO rules | engadget #Austen #MMOG #gaming #RPG #transmedia

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Ever, Jane is an online role-playing game set in the dramatic, romantic worlds of Jane Austen. It invites players to attend sophisticated dinner parties and fancy balls, share gossip, keep secrets, fall in love, get married and climb the ribbon-lined social ladder of Regency-era England. It is definitely not a sex game, though sometimes players get wrapped up in this universe of exquisite gowns and forbidden desire, and they simply can’t help themselves.

“Let’s just say that we had to put in private chat,” Ever, Jane creator Judy Tyrer says with a laugh. READ MORE: Sex and sexuality: The Jane Austen game breaking the MMO rules | engadget

 

Post Disclosure: I supported the Ever, Jane Kickstarter campaign by giving a small donation. Downloaded the beta version but unable to run software properly yet on my 2010 MacBook Pro Intel OS X Yosemite. Note to self: Buy new computer so I can play Ever, Jane.

MIT uses #radiation to read closed books | engadget #books #tech #imaging #manuscripts #archives

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There are some books that are simply too delicate to crack open — the last thing you want to do is destroy an ornate medieval Bible simply because you’re curious about its contents. If MIT has its way, though, you won’t have to stay away. Its scientists have crafted a computational imaging system that can read the individual pages of a book while it’s closed. Their technology scans a book using terahertz radiation, and relies on the tiny, 20-micrometer air gaps between pages to identify and scan those pages one by one. A letter interpretation algorithm (of the sort that can defeat captchas) helps make sense of any distorted or incomplete text. READ MORE: MIT uses radiation to read closed books | engadget

Watson helped make a trailer for a horror movie about AI | engadget #AI #film #IBMWatson

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IBM Watson can add yet another skill to its resume: the ability to make movie trailers. 20th Century Fox has tapped into the supercomputer’s powers to create the first AI-made trailer for its upcoming thriller film Morgan. It’s a fitting start for Watson’s trailer-making career. Morgan is, after all, a sci-fi flick about a group of scientists who created a humanoid machine that rapidly gained capabilities and went out of control. READ MORE: Watson helped make a trailer for a horror movie about AI | engadget

18 Resources to Learn Data Science Online | Simplilearn #courses #datascience #careers #resources

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It’s been called the ‘sexiest job of the 21st century’, the ‘hottest job of the decade’, and is the fastest-growing field in tech at the moment – the impact of Data Science in today’s world cannot be overstated.

A recent study by McKinsey indicates that the demand for Data Scientists is on the rise, with an estimated 50% demand-supply gap by 2018.

With this in mind, we have put together a comprehensive list of Data Science courses, online tutorials, and resources to help you become a certified data scientist and build a career in the field.  READ MORE: 18 Resources to Learn Data Science Online | Simplilearn

Top 10 #Emerging #Tech of 2016 | KurzweilAI #trends #nano #solar #blockchain #OpenAI #syntheticbio #optogenetics #organs #selfdriving #graphene #energystorage

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The World Economic Forum’s annual list of this year’s breakthrough technologies, published today, includes “socially aware” openAI, grid-scale energy storage, perovskite solar cells, and other technologies with the potential to “transform industries, improve lives, and safeguard the planet.” READ MORE: The top 10 emerging technologies of 2016 | KurzweilAI

Prisma uses #AI to turn your photos into graphic novel fodder | TechCrunch #art #artwork #images #deeplearning #socialmedia

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Image Source: TechCrunch

Artists beware! AI is coming for your paintbrush too… A new iOS app, called Prisma, is using deep learning algorithms to turn smartphone photos into stylized artworks based on different artwork/graphical styles.

Snap or choose your photo, select an ‘art filter’ to be applied and then wait as the app works its algorithmic magic — returning your stylized image in a matter of seconds, along with options to share it to your social networks. READ MORE: Prisma uses AI to turn your photos into graphic novel fodder double quick | TechCrunch

Mary Meeker’s essential 2016 Internet Trends Report | TechCrunch #trends #Internet

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The fastest way to learn everything going on in tech is to read this report. Kleiner Perkins partner Mary Meeker has become a legend for publishing these compilations of the most critical stats and… READ: Mary Meeker’s essential 2016 Internet Trends Report | TechCrunch

Age of the Data Scientist: Revolutionizing data analysis with cloud computing | Ciprian Jichici | Vimeo #datascience

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https://vimeo.com/170931209

Data is the new oil…money generated from data will exceed money that is generated from oil… – James Whittaker, Microsoft Distinguished Engineer

Google pulls Chrome extension used to target Jewish people | engadget #racism #textmining #tech #history @Google #humanrights #plugins

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We must fight racism and stand up for human rights. Raising awareness is one of the ways. Treat kindly your family, friends, neighbours and every living thing.

Following a detailed investigation by Mic, Google has pulled a Chrome extension that was used by racists to identify and track Jewish people online. The plugin, called “Coincidence Detector,” added a series of triple parentheses around the surnames of Jewish writers and celebrities. For instance, visiting the page of Mic writer Cooper Fleishman, you’d see his surname presented as (((Fleishman))) — turning the symbol into the digital equivalent of the gold star badge used to identify Jews in Nazi Germany. Until Google banned it for violating its policy on hate speech, the plugin had just under 2,500 users and had a list of 8,768 names that were considered worthy of tracking. READ MORE: Google pulls Chrome extension used to target Jewish people | engadget