Media & Arts – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Feb 2
2016

Steven Spielberg Working on a Project “Solely for VR”

Virtual reality was almost hot enough at Sundance this year to melt the snow, but perhaps the most scorching news of the show was casually dropped during the high profile Technicolor panel. Virtual Reality Company (VRC) co-founder and Maleficent director Robert Stromberg declared his company is working with Steven Spielberg on a project that is “solely for VR.”

Responding to a question about how to take VR filmmaking to the next level, Robert Stromberg said “it is about getting other filmmakers interested of course, from the independent level to getting major players involved as well… I can say here, my company – VRC – we’re working with, for instance, Steven Spielberg on a project that’s solely for VR.”

We previously reported that Steven Spielberg signed on as one of the company’s advisors, but at the time there was no confirmation on his involvement with any projects. But with Spielberg set to direct Ready Player One, a film with VR central to the theme, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that he would be dipping his fingers into virtual reality at some point in the near future.

Feb 2
2016

Robot-human eye contact helps conversation flow

Pop music is littered with titles that relay how romantic yearning is sparked and experienced wordlessly with one person staring at the other. Animals don’t have it so good. “Most mammals generally interpret direct gaze as threatening or as a sign of dominance,” wrote researchers in Frontiers In Human Neuroscience.

People, however, usually take gazing with positive interpretations, such as affection, love and attraction. “A preference for direct gaze seems to be present at a very early age: Farroni et al. (2002) found that infants as young as 2 days old prefer to look at faces that gazed directly at them compared to faces with averted gaze.”

If social gazing goes down so well between humans, what about between robot and human? Sean Andrist, doctoral candidate in computer science, UW-Madison Graduate School, has seriously explored that question.

Feb 1
2016

Beat Artificial Intelligence In Markets By Investing In Individual Stocks?

Could an avg “Joe” from Wall Street actually beat AI? It sounds like it.

Investor and Forbes contributor John S. Tobey has a rather fatalistic view of artificial intelligence-based investing and trading regimes. In a recent article, the former professional investment manager who formerly operated a multi-manager fund of funds, likes three primary investment strategies – and they don’t generally include artificial intelligence and computer-based hedge fund decision processes.

Russia Cyberwar Artificial Intelligence

For his personal investment strategy, Tobey likes to switch from safety, income, value and growth, changing approaches as market conditions warrant. He particularly likes “trends being ignored or misinterpreted by investors.” Trends, it should be noted, are most often best defined quantitatively. In retail stores, popular music or movies, actual sales trends are calculated by computers to determine the force and popularity of trends. In hedge fund investing, computers examine pricing variables to document a trend.

Jan 23
2016

Theme of Life

I usually keep my posts focused on business and technology; etc. However, as a professional, innovator, researcher, etc. I like sharing incredible finds that I come across. And, in my recent year, I came across a composer who is probably one of our greatest composers of our generation (at least to me he is). His name is Magnus Strömqvist, and he composed this incredible song entitled “” — there is truly one word that comes to mind when you hear this song “Powerful”.

Jan 21
2016

Expansive New Geometric Drawings Trampled in Snow and Sand by Simon Beck — By Christopher Jobson | Colossal

“[A]rtist Simon Beck (previously) trudges across sand or through knee-high snow to create massive geometric drawings left behind in his footprints. From sandy expanses on the shore of New Zealand to frigid outlooks in the Swiss Alps, any pristine surface that stretches for hundreds of meters can work as a suitable canvas for Beck’s designs.”

Jan 21
2016

Gatebox Hologram Communication Robot: Siri 3D

Have you ever wondered what is going to replace the likes of Siri, Cortana, and Alexa? You may be looking at their next logical stage – this holographic digital home assistant.

Japanese startup vinclu Inc. is showing off a concept video for a holographic assistant called Gatebox. For its first incarnation, it projects a hologram named Azuma Hikari. Azuma will wake you in the morning, greet you when you get home from work, and communicate with your other smart devices in your home. Use her to turn on your TV, adjust your thermostat, play your music, etc. The possibilities are endless. If Amazon Echo had this kind of personality, it would have sold even better.

Jan 19
2016

Objet d’Art: A Space Oddity — By Rachel Small | Interview Magazine

“Though humble in appearance, this object is the product of great ambitions. Dubbed a “Lunar Rake,” it was designed and manufactured in the late 1960s in partnership with NASA. A facsimile of the implement that astronauts would theoretically use to scrape up dust on the moon, this model was used only during training.”

Jan 18
2016

It’s surprisingly difficult to play guitar in space — By Mike Murphy | Quartz

“Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who lived aboard the International Space Station from 2012 to 2013, recently explained to CBC Music how difficult it was to play guitar in space, along with some pointers for future space musicians.”

Jan 13
2016

Lessons from CES: How VR Can Avoid the Fate of 3D TV — By Stephen Cass | IEEE Spectrum

““Your quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all.” So says Galadrial to the fellowship sent to destroy the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings. But that advice might as well be directed to the burgeoning virtual reality industry. Early optimism that the second coming of VR, after a false start in the 1990s, will blossom into a new mainstream medium could collapse into despair, with the technology joining 3D television as another misfire.”

Jan 11
2016

We Are From the Future

“Greetings. We are from the future. Everything is going to be alright. The future is a beautiful place. But you will need some training in order to get there…”

More: http://WeAreFromTheFuture.com

Words, Voice & Editing by Garret John LoPorto.
Connect on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/GarretJohn
& on Twitter: http://twitter.com/garretloporto
Music: “Time” by Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer feat. Satellite Empire — Time (The Machinist Remix)

Science:
“Quantum mechanics explains efficiency of photosynthesis”
“Energy transfer in light-harvesting macromolecules is assisted by specific vibrational motions of the chromophores,” said Alexandra Olaya-Castro (UCL Physics & Astronomy), supervisor and co-author of the research. “We found that the properties of some of the chromophore vibrations that assist energy transfer during photosynthesis can never be described with classical laws, and moreover, this non-classical behaviour enhances the efficiency of the energy transfer.”

“The negative values in these probability distributions are a manifestation of a truly quantum feature, that is, the coherent exchange of a single quantum of energy,” explained Edward O’Reilly (UCL Physics & Astronomy), first author of the study. “When this happens electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom are jointly and transiently in a superposition of quantum states, a feature that can never be predicted with classical physics.”

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0114/090114-Quantum-…osynthesis

Continue reading “We Are From the Future” | >