Artificial Intelligence on Mobile Phone Makes Us Look Forever Young

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Amsterdam, The Netherlands (PRWEB) March 24, 2014

Today, a new photo app for Android is released: Impala. The app recognizes scenes as food or architecture as soon as the camera is pointed. Scene recognition is realized by artificial intelligence running on the users phone, even before the picture is actually taken.

Based on what the smart photo camera "sees," photographic filters are automatically applied. The selected filters are optimized for popular scenes commonly photographed. For instance, when pointing the camera at people, a filter drawing anti-wrinkle hydrating masks over the faces of your friends is applied.

Furthermore, as soon as the camera detects you are about to take a picture of a handful of blueberries or a cinnamon scone, for example, it automatically applies a filter best fit for enhancing food colors. While taking photos of buildings or monuments, a filter best suited for outdoor scenes is applied. The altered lighting gives the images an edgier look.

Computer vision and machine learning applications like these demand compute power and memory, says Andrew Bagdanov, research fellow at the Universita Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain. It is a challenge to get such applications to work on todays mobile devices.

A private beta version of the app was presented at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona last month. "Conventions like MWC are massive technology overloads," says Edgar Cervantes, journalist at Phandroid / Neverstill Media. "Its easy to miss smaller things when you have devices like the Samsung Galaxy S5 being announced, but this Impala app is quite the hidden treasure."

The Impala app uses artificial intelligence to recognize the contents of images and videos. Besides food, persons and architecture, the software recognizes sunsets, beaches, mountains, and so on. In addition to the camera functionality, the app also has a sorting functionality. For most smartphone users, the photo section is somewhat of a mess. Once the Impala app is installed, however, it automatically starts sorting all images on the phone into themed folders.

To achieve the real time performance, Euvision Technologies is one of the first companies in the world to utilize the Qualcomm Multicore Asynchronous Runtime Environment (MARE) software library. Qualcomm MARE is a new developer programming library and API being developed by Qualcomm Research, a unit of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., to enable Android native code developers to harness the benefits of multicore CPUs on modern smartphones & tablets.

The new Impala for Android application highlights how quickly and easily mobile developers can now harness the multicore performance of Qualcomm Snapdragon processors when developing in native code and using Qualcomm MARE," says Samir Kumar, director of Business Development and Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Near real time and completely on device visual scene classification opens the door for a slew of rich contextual mobile imaging experiences that enables developers to create applications, helping make the Digital 6th Sense a reality.

That said, another advantage of the technology is that it can prevent recording or viewing of unwanted scenes, such as classified military objects, on a mobile phone. As a technology demonstrator, the artificial intelligence component of the app has been trained to recognize hands. In the options section of the app, recording or displaying pictures of hands can be blocked.

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Artificial Intelligence on Mobile Phone Makes Us Look Forever Young

Artificial Intelligence and the Google Factor in Providing Smarter Advertising

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Artificial intelligence is something that we have yet to see in the world of digital advertising. While big data sets the fundamental stages for it, Google may be the factor in AI becoming a part of our lives through search and advertising. This evolution starts with their recent acquisition of a company in the U.K. that has the capability of using artificial intelligence on a basis close to the vision of a HAL 9000.

How will artificial intelligence help companies that want to have a smarter way of targeting customers? Before it begins, it's going to help Google first as part of their usual plan of spreading the wealth.

Google and DeepMind

DeepMind is the U.K. company that Google decided to acquire based on the former's artificial intelligence technology that's yet to be deployed in anything useful. The idea is to eventually employ it into Google's search engines so search can become much more intuitive and help us find things before we even know we want it.

If that sounds familiar, it's because big data is already doing that to some extent. Even though it takes what's already known and assembles it into a bigger picture, it's not really good at being intuitive. Artificial intelligence as it stands now comes closer to a real brain and not only figures out what we want, it also goes figures out variables that makes it feel like it's reading our minds.

While that might sound eerie, it works based on a new concept of artificial intelligence DeepMind reportedly uses. It combines data that's already known with unknowns so it's literally forced into thinking for itself and coming up with its own conclusions. Yes, you could say it's a forced free will in some respects.

This may pose its own problems once AI becomes like we've seen in futuristic sci-fi movies. In the immediate term, it's something that advertisers could potentially salivate over. This same AI technology can easily be applied to shopping experiences online that are unlike anything seen before.

Will Google Become a Shopping Leader?

According to the report on the acquisition of DeepMind, it's possible Google will employ the technology into their Google Shopping pages. In another year or two, it means you may be seeing products that are perfect for your lifestyle and more accurate than big data ever accomplished.

How many times have you seen products accumulated from big data that were just slightly off from what you really wanted? Artificial intelligence will give the impression it's reading your mind as part of that intuitive targeting method. Shopping for the holidays may already be done based on the more intelligent portrait of what you really want or need.

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Artificial Intelligence and the Google Factor in Providing Smarter Advertising

Zuckerberg, Musk and Kutcher Invest In Artificial Intelligence Firm

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Business Artificial Intelligence

Billionaire tech entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, along with actor Ashton Kutcher, have joined forces to make a $40 million investment in the artificial intelligence firm Vicarious FPC.

The firm hopes to build a system capable of replicating the functions of the neocortex of the human brain, the part that controls body movement, vision, understands language and does math, The Wall Street Journal reports. One day, the company hopes to build a computer that thinks like a person, Vicarious co-founder Scott Phoenix says. except it doesnt have to eat or sleep.

Musk, the investor behind the electric car company Tesla, is no stranger to forward-looking investments. In addition to his work to mainstream the electric car, Musk is behind the company SpaceX, which is developing quickly reusable rocket technology that Musk says could be used to colonize other planets. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement that his Vicarious investment reflects a personal interest and not a move on behalf of the social network he built, but the artificial intelligence technology companies like Vicarious are developing could be instrumental in turning Facebooks massive amount of user-generated data into usable information. Though not as well-known a tech entrepreneur, Kutcher has literally played one in the movies (Steve Jobs).

Creating artificial intelligence machines with human-like capabilities is likely decades away, at least, but that hasnt stopped investors from putting their money in companies that could one day take big data analysis to a level as yet unseen. Just last month Google spent $400 million buying the artificial intelligence firm Deep Mind.

[WSJ]

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Zuckerberg, Musk and Kutcher Invest In Artificial Intelligence Firm

Beaver Aerospace & Defense to Supply High-Performance Inertial Separator Actuators for …

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Beaver's custom electromechanical actuator will help the new TBM 900 achieve higher reliability and load capacity

Livonia, Michigan Beaver Aerospace & Defense, a subsidiary of Phillips Service Industries (PSI) and global leader in the design and manufacturing of a broad-range of custom ball screws and electromechanical actuation systems, has been selected to provide high-performance inertial separator actuators for the new DAHER-SOCATA TBM 900 Aircraft. Beaver has designed, manufactured and certified the new actuator to achieve higher reliability and load capacity for the TBM 900, which is receiving numerous enhancements from the French manufacturer. The aircraft was unveiled on March 12, 2014 at a ceremony in France, and the first three aircraft are scheduled to be delivered to customers today (March 20).

The TBM 900 is a high-performance business aircraft, powered by a single Pratt & Whitney PT6 series 850 horsepower (HP) turboprop engine. Certified up to 31,000 feet, its maximum range is more than 1730 nautical miles (Nm) and its maximum speed can reach 330 knots (or 611 km/h).

"Beaver's innovative electromechanical actuators offer unmatched performance and reliability," said Ben Kearns, General Manager at Beaver Aerospace & Defense. "We are proud to partner with the engineers at DAHER-SOCATA on this exciting project."

Beaver's award-winning ball screws, electromechanical actuators, ball splines and gears can fit virtually any application, and are known throughout the industry for their reliable quality, precision and performance. Beaver is also a certified FAA Repair Station that offers expert repair, overhaul and testing services for all electromechanical actuators and ball screws. In addition, Beaver is the industry leader in customer satisfaction, with a 99+% track record for on-time delivery.

For more information on Beaver Aerospace & Defense, visit http://www.beaver-online.com. You can also follow Beaver on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube.

About Beaver Aerospace & Defense, Inc. (www.beaver-online.com) Beaver Aerospace & Defense, Inc., a subsidiary of Phillips Service Industries, is a global leader in the design and manufacturing of a broad-range of custom ball screws and actuation systems for the aerospace and defense industries. Our award-winning ball screws, electromechanical actuators, ball splines and gears can fit virtually any application, and are known throughout the industry for their reliable quality, precision and performance. Beaver is also a certified FAA Repair Station that offers expert repair, overhaul and testing services for all electromechanical actuators and ball screws. In addition, Beaver is the industry leader in customer satisfaction, with a 99+% track record for on-time delivery.

About Phillips Service Industries, Inc. (PSI) (www.psi-online.com) Established in 1967, Phillips Service Industries, Inc. (PSI) is a privately-held global manufacturing and services holding company, which oversees a diverse collection of innovative subsidiaries: Beaver Aerospace & Defense, Inc., Evana Automation Specialists, Mountain Secure Systems, POWERTHRU, PSI Repair Services, Inc., PSI Semicon Services, Sciaky, Inc., and Skytronics, Inc. We serve a wide range of high-tech industries like aerospace, defense, automotive, alternative energy, healthcare, security and semiconductor. Our award-winning products and services help reduce costs and maximize efficiency for many Fortune 500 companies around the globe, as well as the U.S. Military. We push the boundaries of technology on critical programs like Homeland Security, Defense research and space exploration, delivering innovative solutions for land, sea, air and space. We're PSI: Always innovating. Everywhere.

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Precision Castparts to Acquire Marvin's Aerospace Biz – Analyst Blog

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Recently Precision Capstaprts Inc. ( PCP ) entered into an agreement to acquire Aerospace Dynamic International (ADI) from the Marvin Group in an all-cash deal. The acquisition is valued at $625 million and is expected to close by the first quarter of 2015, subject to regulatory requirements.

Aerospace Dynamics International is known as the leading supplier of large complex machined parts and assemblies to Aerospace and Defense industries. ADI has the most advanced titanium machining capabilities and is a trusted supplier of major structural components on practically every commercial and military aircraft program for global OEMs along with tier one suppliers.

Precision Castparts will include the ADI business in its Airframe Products segment as the latter's business is expected to improve the value proposition for the airframe business by expanding its aerostructures product offering and its role on the next-generation aircraft. The Permaswage and Airdome acquisitions had earlier strengthened Precision's permanent fittings and separable fittings business. This latest acquisition will cause further upward momentum. The ADI acquisition is expected to be accretive to earnings immediately.

Apart from vertical integration, the acquisition of Permaswage also provide Precision with geographic and product synergies. ADI acquisition also supports Precision Castparts growing presence in Southern California, as it has a facility in Valencia, CA. ADI's core competence lies in large complex components, hard metal machining and critical assemblies. It has strong positions across high-growth commercial platforms, including a significant presence on the Airbus A350.

Therefore, Precision is very optimistic about its acquisition of ADI, which it has been considering for a while, as it already enjoys a favorable position in the current and next-generation commercial aircraft platforms. Moreover, this acquisition comes at an opportune time when aerospace and aircraft manufacturers worldwide are witnessing an increase in orders due to growing commercial traffic.

Leading aerospace companies such as Precision Castparts and TransDigm Group (TDG) have been pursuing strategic acquisitions to attain synergies and cost efficiencies. Acquisitions pursued by both these companies in the recent past have been accretive to earnings.

Precision Casptarts currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the aerospace sector include Alliant Techsystems Inc . ( ATK ), Teledyne Technologies Inc . ( TDY ) and Norsk Hydro ASA ( NHYDY ), all three having a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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NORSK HYDRO ADR (NHYDY): Get Free Report

PRECISION CASTP (PCP): Free Stock Analysis Report

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Comets Outlast Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2-1

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March 22, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL) Utica Comets The Utica Comets inched closer to the playoff line in the Western Conference as they gritted out another close game with a 2-1 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday evening at Mohegan Sun Arena. The win was the 38th one goal game this season for the Comets, the second most in the AHL.

Pascal Pelletier and Colin Stuart each scored for the Comets, who improved to 28-28-3-4 with the victory. Joe Cannata collected his eighth victory of the season with 22 saves on 23 shots, while Peter Mannino took the defeat with 27 stops for the Penguins.

Just as it was last evening, the first period went scoreless with neither team finding a way through. Utica held the shots on goal advantage at 7-3, with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton not collecting a shot on net until the 3:07 mark of the period. Alex Grenier had potentially the period's best chance off of a feed from Cal O'Reilly, but Mannino held firm with one of seven stops. Cannata turned aside each of the three Penguin shots he faced.

The Comets opened the scoring midway through the middle stanza with a power-play goal at the 12:28 mark of the second. Pelletier took a feed from Alexandre Grenier on the back post and elevated a shot over an outstretched Mannino for the goal. Winger Brandon DeFazio also picked up an assist for Utica, his fifth point over the team's past six games.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton took just under three minutes to respond, as veteran winger Chuck Kobasew beat Cannata to knot the score at one. The goal was Kobasew's third in as many games with the AHL's version of the Penguins this season. Center Andrew Ebbett and defenseman Brian Dumoulin collected the assists on the play.

The Comets found the game-winning goal at the 8:01 mark of the third period as Stuart remained hot with what went down as an even strength marker. After nearly four straight minutes of time with the man advantage had expired, Stuart put home a feed from Cal O'Reilly, who picked now has a point in eight of his past nine games. The goal was also Stuart's fourth over his past three games. Center Alex Friesen collected the secondary assist on the play, his sixth point in eight games during the month of March.

Cannata remained hot as he moved to 5-1-0 over his past seven starts. Dating back to a 3-1 victory on Jan. 18 against the Hamilton Bulldogs, Cannata has turned aside 181 of the 191 shots he has faced, good for a .948 save percentage. The Merrimack graduate has also won each of his past four starts outside of the state of New York.

The Comets are back in action tomorrow evening with a game of great magnitude against the Milwaukee Admirals. Milwaukee sits just three points over the playoff line in the Western Conference. Puck drop is set for 5:00 p.m. from the Utica Memorial Auditorium.

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Comets Outlast Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2-1

Gameday: Comets at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

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March 22, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL) Utica Comets UTICA COMETS (27-28-3-4) @ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (35-20-3-5)

Tonight's Game: The Comets travel to Pennsylvania tonight for the final time this season, to take on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Utica comes into tonight's action in desperate search of a victory, eight points behind Rockford for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

When They Last Met: The Comets pulled a little bit of magic out of their hats in a 2-1 shootout win over the Penguins on March 7 at The AUD. Brandon DeFazio scored with just 7.7 seconds left to force overtime, before Cal O'Reilly won the game in the fifth round of the shootout. Joacim Eriksson stole the show with 32 saves on 33 shots, including a perfect five of five during the shootout for the victory.

Comets Outlook: The Utica Comets lost a disappointing 4-3 tilt last evening against the Adirondack Phantoms at The AUD. Utica got goals from Brandon DeFazio, Colin Stuart and Kent Huskins, but were defeated by an Adirondack team led by three points from Jason Akeson (2-1-3). Joacim Eriksson made 21 saves in defeat while Yann Danis turned aside 35 of 38 Utica shots for the victory.

Penguins Outlook: A 16 save shutout from Peter Mannino led the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 2-0 victory over the Syracuse Crunch last evening at the War Memorial. Forwards Spencer Machacek and Adam Payerl scored for the Penguins, who won their fifth consecutive game. Sochi hero Kristers Gudlevskis made 26 saves on 28 shots in defeat for Syracuse.

Here Come The Comets: Since Jan. 18, the Comets have been the AHL's third highest producing team with 34 points, courtesy of a 16-9-2 record. Utica, which trails just St. John's and Chicago in points during that span, is currently tied for eleventh place in the Western Conference with 61 points on the season, eight behind Rockford for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Brand Theft Auto: With a goal last evening against Adirondack, Comets winger Brandon DeFazio has now scored a goal in four of his past five games. The Oakville, ON native now has a career high 13 goals this season and has tied his AHL best from 2012-13 with 25 points. DeFazio also has a career high 152 shots and currently sits at a +4 rating, which would also be a career best.

Time Well Kent: Defenseman Kent Huskins was named the game's second star last evening with a multi-point performance (1-1-2). The goal was just the third of the season for Huskins, who also collected his first two-point game at any level since Feb. 18, 2011 when he played for the St. Louis Blues of the NHL. His last two-point effort in the AHL came on Feb. 23, 2007, when Huskins was a member of the Portland Pirates. Huskins also hit the 200-assist milestone for his career with the helper on teammate Brandon DeFazio's goal.

More Milestones To Come: If they are both in the lineup, defenseman Henrik Tommernes and winger Brandon DeFazio are both in line for a milestone in tonight's game. For Tommernes, tonight will be his 250th professional game played, while DeFazio is in line for his 200th game played in the AHL.

Scouting The Penguins: AHL veteran winger Tom Kostopoulos leads all Wilkes-Barre/Scranton skaters with 21 goals and 44 points. Center Nick Drazenovic is tops on the roster amongst forwards with 26 assists over 46 games, while Brandon Mikkelson leads all Penguin skaters with 27.

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Gameday: Comets at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Gameday: Comets vs. Milwaukee

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March 23, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL) Utica Comets MILWAUKEE ADMIRALS (30-21-6-6) @ UTICA COMETS (28-28-3-4)

Utica Memorial Auditorium, 5 pm

Radio: 94.9 K-Rock

Tonight's Game: The Utica Comets face their conference rivals, the Milwaukee Admirals, in a critical matchup for Utica's playoff chances. The Comets enter tonight's contest just eight points out of a playoff spot, with Milwaukee one of three teams in their crosshairs.

When They Last Met: The Comets pulled out a 3-0 shutout in Milwaukee on Feb. 7, led by 21 saves from Joacim Eriksson and two goals from Darren Archibald. Defenseman Kent Huskins also scored for the Comets. For Eriksson, the shutout was his fourth of the season, which, at the time, moved him to second in the AHL in that category. Marek Mazanec made 28 saves on 31 shots in defeat.

Comets Outlook: In another gritty performance, the Utica Comets defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2-1 at Mohegan Sun Arena. Pascal Pelletier and Colin Stuart scored for the Comets, who moved back to the .500 mark with the win. Alex Friesen, Alex Grenier, Cal O'Reilly and Brandon DeFazio each picked up assists for Utica. Joe Cannata collected the victory with 22 saves on 23 shots, while Peter Mannino took the defeat despite a 27 save effort.

Admirals Outlook: The Admirals were victorious over the Toronto Marlies, 5-1 last evening at Ricoh Coliseum. Milwaukee got multi-point games from Filip Forsberg (1-1-2), Mark Van Guilder (1-1-2), Miikka Salomaki (1-1-2) and Patrick Cehlin (0-2-2). Austin Watson and Scott Ford also scored, while goaltender Scott Darling got the victory, with 30 saves on 31 shots. Christopher Gibson took the defeat after he was pulled through just nine saves on 12 shots. Trevor Smith scored the lone Toronto goal.

Here Come The Comets: Since Jan. 18, the Comets have been the AHL's second highest producing team with 36 points, courtesy of a 17-7-2 record. Utica, which trails just St. John's in both wins and points during that span, has moved into sole possession of 11th place in the Western Conference, eight points shy of the final playoff position with two games in hand.

Stuart Not So Little: Winger Colin Stuart is currently riding a three game goal scoring streak, extended with his game winner last evening in Wilkes-Barre. The Rochester, MN native is now tied for the team lead with four game winning goals this season, and has taken over sole possession of second on the Comets, with 17 total goals scored.

The Cannataj Mahal: Goaltender Joe Cannata has quietly put together a solid string of games, with a 5-1-0 record over his past seven starts. Dating back to a 3-1 victory on Jan. 18 against the Hamilton Bulldogs, Cannata has turned aside 181 of the 191 shots he has faced, good for a .948 save percentage. The Merrimack graduate has also won each of his past four starts outside of the state of New York.

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Gameday: Comets vs. Milwaukee

Comets Snap Pens' Five-Game Winning Streak

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March 22, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins WILKES-BARRE, PA. - Colin Stuart's goal eight minutes into the third period proved to be the difference, as the Utica Comets skated to a 2-1 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in front of a sold out Mohegan Sun Arena on Saturday night.

The Penguins (35-21-3-5, 78 points) saw their five game winning streak and seven game points streak snapped, while the Comets (28-28-3-4, 63 points) won for the sixth time in their past eight games.

Stuart beat a screened Peter Mannino with a nifty wrister that appeared to change course en route to the net, with the goal coming just two seconds after a tripping call on the Penguins goaltender expired. It was Stuart's 17th goal of the season, the second highest total on the Utica roster.

After a scoreless first period, Utica opened the scoring with a power play goal off of the stick of Pascal Pelletier at 12:28 of the second. The Comets' leading scorer swept home a quick shot into the far corner of the Pens net with Mannino blocked by one of his own defensemen. The goal was the first allowed by Mannino in 194:48 of play, which included back-to-back shutouts against the Norfolk Admirals and Syracuse Crunch.

Chuck Kobasew tied the score less than three minutes later, taking a pass from Andrew Ebbett behind the Utica defense and snapping a low shot past netminder Joe Cannata. Kobasew, who was a veteran scratch in Syracuse on Friday night, has now scored one goal in each of the three games he has suited up for with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Beau Bennett made his return to action after being sidelined with a wrist injury for four months. Assigned to Wilkes-Barre on a conditioning stint by Pittsburgh earlier in the day, Bennett was held off the scoresheet, but did see time on the Pens power play unit. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is back in action in Atlantic City on Sunday afternoon, where they will face the Albany Devils at 4:00pm.

Good seats for all Penguins home games are available at the Mohegan Sun Arena box office, online at TicketMaster.com, or by calling 800-745-3000. Group rates, flex books and mini-plans are available directly from the Penguins ticket office by calling 570-208-7367.

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Comets Snap Pens' Five-Game Winning Streak