How to EcoSystem-ize Your PCs & Laptops to Reduce Carbon Footprint and Boost Productivity – News & Features

There are many priorities when it comes to technology today that leaves us all scrambling to find the best options. One of the primary priorities with advancing technology is making sure that what you use is going to be efficient, productive, and friendly to the environment.

Trying to ecosystem-ize or make your devices and how you use them ecofriendly is not an easy thing to do, and it requires a bit of skill. However, once you get the hang of it, you can get any of your devices ready to be eco-friendly and helpful for boosting productivity at the same time.

Here are some ways you can ecosystem-ize your laptop and PC devices to ensure that you are not only boosting your productivity, but also protecting the natural environment.

Eco-friendly hard drives were first made available to the public back in 2008 and have grown in popularity over the years. The earlier versions didnt boost productivity. But with the advancement of technology, they became a much more viable option for enhancing productivity, while ecosystem-izing your computer.

These hard drives have a seamless integration into your current system without any additional performance utilities being necessary.

Not only do the hard drives help boost productivity, but they also dont suffer on performance. Using a smart-align function, these drives make the installation process simplified.

Though this one isn't something you can do to your current system, it is more of an add on with the same eco-friendly benefits for improved productivity.

Getting an under your laptop cooler will help to make your CPU last longer. Having a cooler is especially crucial if you use CPU heavy software for work or play. Keeping your CPU lasting longer is vital to increasing the longevity of your system.

These cooling systems work by generating more airflow around the entire body of your laptop so that it will help to convect the heat away from your device, so it doesnt overheat.

Most under the laptop coolers draw the heat from the underside of your computer, and others will blow cold air into it for more efficient cooling.

There are a variety of Windows settings your laptop holds that can be adjusted to help improve productivity, while enhancing the battery for longevity.

Setting such as the ones for your video card can help boost battery productivity by 8% or more.

Go into your Windows, advanced property settings, and choose the best performance instead of best appearance or letting Windows choose what is best. That will help to improve your battery life. See image:

Your computer is continually running. If you step out to go for lunch or take a phone call, your computer is still running regardless of what you are currently doing. You can change that by adjusting your computer settings to make it go to sleep after a set amount of time of being untouched.

Allowing your computer to keep running even though you arent near it is terrible on your battery and its overall performance as it heats up and no is there to watch it. Therefore, to save the battery and make your computer more ecosystem-ized, set your computer to go to sleep mode within a pre-determined time frame if you have not returned to it.

By doing this, you are still preserving battery life and protecting the environment.

Choosing an ultrabook that is futureproofed or any other computer that can be upgraded is a great way to save the environment while remaining productive. There is an extensive range of laptops, ultrabooks, and computers on the market that are designed to be upgradeable as technology advances and remains useful for many years.

When choosing your laptop, you want to be sure that you are choosing one that has upgradeable RAM, hard drives, and potentially your CPU. However, having the option to upgrade ensures that your laptop will remain productive for many years and not have to be thrown away due to it not being compatible with current technological trends.

Choosing a laptop or computer of any kind that allows you to upgrade the essential components will let you remain productive, while being eco-friendly because you are only ridding yourself of small parts rather than who systems. It is easier on the wallet too.

If you want to ecosystem-ize or make your devices ecofriendly while also boosting productivity, you can use any of the tips above to help you achieve the desired. Consider even the small things like sleep mode, performance enhancers, and under the laptop coolers to help you increase your productivity when using your devices, while decreasing your carbon footprint.

Most of the ideas above can also be used when it comes to advanced tablets, smartphones, and much more. You want to ensure that your devices are keeping you productive at the same time as allowing you to do your part in protecting the environment.

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In Other Waters review – PC Gamer

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What is it? A sci-adventure where you navigate an alien ocean through a computer interfacePrice TBCRelease date April 3, 2020Publisher Fellow TravellerReviewed on i5-2500K, 8GB RAM, GTX 670Developer Jump Over The AgeMultiplayer NoLink Official site

The way that In Other Waters imagines humanity's first encounter with alien lifeforms is a bit different from other sci-fi stories. Instead of alien species raging war against Earth or the vast spectacle of humans conquering other inhabited planets, developer Gareth Damian Martin's otherwordly adventure takes a more gentle approach. It's a quiet and serene adventure in which you explore an underwater eco-system told through the descriptions of a scientist.

Beneath the turquoise waves of the planet Gliese 677Cc is a thriving alien eco-system. It's an ocean filled with mystery and discovery, and In Other Waters is a fine-tuned balance of awe and trepidation, creating an underwater adventure like no other.

You play as the computer AI of an exo-suit piloted by xenobiologist Ellery Vas, a scientist who has come to Gliese 677Cc to study the planet's strange lifeforms and find her fellow scientist, Minae Nomura, who has not been seen in months since arriving on the planet. The story follows Ellery as she traces her lost colleague's footsteps through the depths of this alien ocean, trying to understand what Minae was studying in secret.

You assist Ellery as she navigates the underwater landscape of this new world through a computer interface. The circle in the middle of the UI displays a sleek, minimalistic map of your surroundings covered in lines, dots and symbols. You scan your surroundings and then decide where Ellery is going to move, with her taking notes and making observations about the ecology and geography as you go.

Ellery's vivid descriptions of your surroundings are your only way of making sense of the world, bringing those lines and symbols to life. As we make our way through the landscape, a dot on the map speeds towards us and I immediately think it's going to attack us, but Ellery calms my fears and explains that it's only a friendly jelly-fish like a creature. Where I only see jagged lines of rock outlines on the interface's sleek design, Ellery says that we are standing on the edge of a vast underwater reef teeming with life. Until her description, the symbols and lines around us are a mystery. As long as Ellery is calm, I am calm, when she panics, I panic. It's a vulnerable feeling, having to rely on her to be my eyes, even though she's the flesh and blood my circuits are meant to protect. The dynamic gave me a sense of responsibility to her and her endeavor, fueling my motivation to explore deeper.

In the same vein as old text adventure games, these descriptions build a strong mental picture of this world's alien ecosystem. Along with her visual descriptions, Ellery logs the species' behaviours and gives observations and educated guesses about how they fit into the larger ecosystem. The writing is vivid to the point where it feels like I'm learning about a real ecosystem. The 'singing' of underwater stalks could be communication system, Ellery says, and their growth pattern implies a complex territorial networkyou get the sense that a lot of research has gone into making this otherwordly ecosystem as believable as possible.

The sound design reinforces the word-built world: Creatures chirp when they speed past you, acid clouds fizzle as they gnaw at the underwater suit. As you go deeper into a cavern the soundscape adjusts to a deeper timbre, pulling you into the depths. Together with the bleeps and bloops of the interface and Amos Roddy's warm synth soundtrack, it creates a rich alien soundscape.

Ellery isn't here on holiday, though, and research is always at the forefront of her mind. Part of the interface allows you to take small samples from the flora and fauna you come across. At the research base, you can analyse them in the laboratory and the data is added to your alien encyclopedia, a log that holds all the information about each species you've encountered. You have the option of going back to previous areas to collect samples that you might have missed with a map indicating their locations. It's not essential, but completionists can enjoy the relaxing collect-a-thon if they like.

Your inventory of organic samples can also be cleverly used as resources on your expeditions. Some can give you an oxygen boost when Ellery's running low and others can even influence the world, such as by making a bunch of alien stalks retract to clear the way through a cavern. It takes careful thinking to progress with what resources you have, so navigation is more than a rote cycle of scanning and moving.

There were a handful of occasions where I got lost exploring In Other Waters' ocean of words. If you forget or misunderstand what the next task is, it can be difficult to proceed. There are conversation logs to re-read, but with all the terminology and species names to remember, I ended up resorting to trial and error several tames.

Otherwise, though, In Other Waters pulled me through fields of alien fauna, caverns filled with glowing acid pools, through powerful currents that could sweep me away, and to the dark depths of the ocean's lower floors. In moments, it captures both the beauty and terror of the ocean. That coupled with the detailed ecosystem and the mystery of Minae's secret work had me spellbound until the end.

Even though its world is alien, In Other Waters conjures the same sense of awe conjured by the real ecosystems of our own planet. Even in the most inhospitable places, life manages to find a way to thrive.

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The startup ecosystem gets its ACT together, sets up fund to help fight COVID-19 – Moneycontrol

Industry veterans, top VCs and prominent founders have participated in the fund, which will springboard innovators working around fighting the pandemic.

The startup industry, in yet another major initiative to help fight COVID-19 has come together to create a fund of Rs 100 crore and a pool of experts who can help the sector in this difficult times. This fund will be given out as grants to companies and innovators who can help fight the pandemic.

The initiative, which has been named ACT (Action Covid 19 Team), counts leading entrepreneurs, investors and other industry veterans among its members. They will collaborate with innovators andwill partner with startup founders as they deal with the economic carnage caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Moneycontrol was the first to report on how Indian VCs and startup founders were coming together to form a Rs 100 crore fund. What was evidence of the enthusiasm around this initiative was that more than 40% of the fund got subscribed to within the first few days of the initiative getting launched.

"It seeks platforms that have capital efficient scalable solutions which need initial seed grant to fight COVID-19. Additionally the ACT network will bring its networks, team, money and startup assets to create a force multiplier to help these initiatives make rapid meaningful progress," said the collective in a note released on social media channels.

The initiative has partnered with Bengaluru chapter of 'United Way', which is a not for profit organisation to coordinate projects and grant activities.

Track this blog for latest updates on coronavirus outbreak

Multiple prominent personalities have already taken to Twitter to voice their support for the initiative, from Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to ex-Googler and currently Sequoia Capital managing director Rajan Anandan. Top executives of the startup ecosystem have also joined the initiative and many have chipped in for the fund as well.

Besides the fund, the broader ecosystem has come together to also create a platform Startup Vs COVID-19 to aggregate startups working on innovative ideas around fighting this deadly pandemic.

The fledgling startup sector is set to face its biggest challenge ever with Covid19 holding the entire nation in its grip. The number of affected persons has crossed 1,600 with the entire country in a state of lockdown till April 14.

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Paradigm Is Biggest Winner of MakerDAO Lending Systems MKR Governance Tokens, to Cover $4.5 Million of Undercollaterized Debt – Crowdfund Insider

San Francisco-based Paradigm, a digital asset investment firm, is reportedly the biggest winner of several MKR governance token auctions which were meant to cover about $4.5 million of undercollateralized debt.

The auctions, which took place between March 19 and March 28, 2020, managed to raise 5.3 million Dai, a stablecoin thats part of the MakerDAO ecosystem, which is an Ethereum-based, decentralized lending system. Dai aims to maintain a 1-to-1 soft peg with the US dollar.

During the auction, 20,980 MKR tokens were sold off at an average rate of $296.35 (per token), There were 36 unique bidders that took part in the sale. A total of 106 auctions were held.

To take part in the auctions, participants were required to commit up 50,000 to Dai, and had the chance to receive up to 250 MKR governance tokens from each auction.

Paradigms management confirmed via Twitter that they won 72 out of the 106 auctions and paid 3.6 million Dai for the MKR governance tokens they received.

The first 33 MKR auctions all seemed to have been won by three cryptocurrency addresses that are associated with the MakerDAO Foundation, a non-profit entity that focuses on the ongoing development of the Maker lending protocol.

The Maker Foundation claims that it didnt buy MKR tokens for itself. Instead, it used them to assist third parties with taking part in the auctions.

The Foundation noted:

[Weve] offered limited technical assistance to some bidders on a first come, first serve basis to facilitate their timely and effective participation in the auctions.

The three addresses associated with Maker continued their winning streak and managed to win about 14,295 MKR.

After these three addresses had transferred 14,295 MKR to the Maker Foundations trading desk address, the foundation sent 14,271 MKR to another address. As reported by The Block, 7,089 MKR of these tokens were sent to this new address from the Foundations trading desk address through a multisig wallet.

The new address is most likely controlled by Paradigm, which may have about 14,000 MKR tokens from the auctions, as it reportedly won 68% of them and each auction rewards anywhere between 180 and 250 MKR.

The new MKR tokens will add to Paradigms previous holdings of the governance token. An address associated with the investment company presently holds 15,352 MKR tokens.

Paradigm and Dragonfly Capital have invested $27.5 million in the Maker Foundation. Theyve received roughly 5.5% of MKRs outstanding supply in exchange for their contribution.

The MKR auctions were trying to make up for $4.5 million in bad debt in the Maker lending ecosystem, which had resulted from several liquidators winning collateral liquidation auctions by putting up 0 Dai on March 12, 2020 (when crypto markets crashed by over 50%).

Borrowers that use MakerDAO are given Dai after they deposit Ether (ETH), Basic Attention Token (BAT) or USDC as collateral.

A large number of loans recently dropped below their 150% collateralization threshold, which led to liquidation auctions. This was attributed to a significant decline in the Ether price on March 12.

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Paradigm Is Biggest Winner of MakerDAO Lending Systems MKR Governance Tokens, to Cover $4.5 Million of Undercollaterized Debt - Crowdfund Insider

Mobile accessory brand juice creates its own global ecosystem – Packaging News

juice will be making the switch this summer to become a more sustainable brand, by ensuring every single piece of its packaging is manufactured from post-consumer waste.

The new packaging will consist of plastics that have been put into recycling and can be fully recycled by juice customers after use in their everyday recycling bin, creating a cyclical process that forms its very own global ecosystem.

juice chief executive Jolyon Bennett, explained: We wanted to become the first mobile phone accessories manufacturer to completely remove single-use plastic from our packaging, and we couldnt be more delighted to officially announce that this is an industry first!

There is a lot of plastic out there on planet earth so lets use it and not make anymore. We now need to focus our energy on utilising the sustainable resources out there in order to help slow down the impact and effects of climate change.

This announcement follows the recent launch of juices latest range of 100% compostable phone cases, designed to help reduce the amount of non-bio-degradable material being thrown into landfill.

The plant-based phone cases and their packaging are manufactured from natural materials including wheat, corn and starch and have been designed to break down in the same time as a tea bag (12 months).

The Oxfordshire based firm has had an exciting and successful start to the year, picking up the prestigious Best Accessories Manufacturer award at the annual Mobile News Awards 2020.

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CSP Cloud-native Technology Adoption & K8s Ecosystem Report 2020 – CSPs’ 5G Success Will Depend on Having a Low-Cost, Fast-to-Deploy and Scalable…

DUBLIN, March 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --The "Cloud-native 5G: Preparing CSPs for the Impact of Kubernetes (K8s)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

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A 5G business needs low-cost, fast-to-deploy and scalable digital infrastructure to operate competitively, but the technology needed to support this infrastructure is unfamiliar and immature. Cloud-native technologies can support communications service providers' (CSPs') 5G business goals, but implementation will require the right transition strategy from the current telecoms cloud infrastructure.

This report describes the reasons why CSPs worldwide should adopt cloud-native technologies within their systems. The report analyses the benefits that CSPs can achieve by creating an onboarding cloud-native services and products using the Kubernetes (K8s) ecosystem. It outlines the migration path from infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), which underpins CSPs' internal clouds (including telco cloud) to a K8s-based container-as-a-service (CaaS) platform.

In this report, the following questions are answered:

Adoption of a CaaS takes CSPs a step closer to building a logical, distributed 5G digital infrastructure across multiple clouds, and it can be complemented by CSPs' further take-up of platform as-a-service (PaaS) elements of the K8s ecosystem.

The report evaluates the impact of PaaS and the implications for CSPs that deploy 5G products and services based on discrete PaaS. Finally, the report discusses the operational obstacles that CSPs will encounter in the process of deploying a K8s-based CaaS/PaaS and the strategies that they can employ to overcome these issues.It is based on several sources:

Key Topics Covered

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/vjswpg

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

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Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager press@researchandmarkets.com

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AUSABLE WATER WISE: Ecosystem engineers of the river channel | News, Sports, Jobs – Lake Placid News

Silk nets created by caddisflies trap food particles and hold the streambed in place.(Photo provided)

If youve ever seen beaver take up residence in a stream, youll know the incredible power they have to alter their environment. While it can be an inconvenience for landowners, the transformation from bubbling stream to mountain pond, to open meadow, and back into a stream long after the beaver has moved on is an incredible thing to witness.

Many a cartoon strip has depicted beavers as architects and engineers. In the science world, we refer to beaver as ecosystem engineers. The term ecosystem engineer can be applied to any animal or plant that creates or modifies the environment around them to better suit their needs. Under the water, crayfish use their claws to move gravel around to find food and create burrows for shelter. A stream full of crayfish can alter an entire stream environment. But who else is responsible for changes under the waters surface?

Flyfishing anglers spend much of their time creating and using lures that mimic three major groups of aquatic insects: mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies. They tie various flies out of feathers, fur, shiny threads and beads to imitate these flies underwater larval stages and the transitional form they take as they move from water to air as adult flying insects. These insects, because of their abundance, are prime food sources for freshwater fish. One particular family of caddisflies, however, have gained a reputation as ecosystem engineers.

This locally abundant family of caddisflies, called the Hydrophsychids, spend most of their water bound time spinning nets of silk that they put out into the river current to catch drifting food particles. The silk is not as strong as spider silk but is strong enough to withstand high water velocities. It is a very efficient way of collecting food, so much so that this family of insects thrives in both wild and heavily human altered rivers. But the nets do more than just providing food for the caddisflies.

Recent research suggests that the Hydropsychid caddisfly family may actually be engineering stream systems. We already knew that their nets slow the water velocity just above the streambed. This creates suitable, lower velocity habitat for many other species of aquatic insects. Just like a beaver dam creates extra habitat for fish, amphibians, dragonflies, and birds, the Hydropsychid caddisflies open up more habitat for more diverse species to move in and shelter or feed from the faster currents. But wait, theres more.

When these aquatic insects put out their silky nets into the current, the ends adhere to pieces of gravel on the streambed. Looking more closely, river ecologists realized the silk can actually hold gravel and cobble substrate together, preventing movement and erosion during moderate to high flow events.

These silky webs actually stabilize the streambed. Ongoing studies in Pennsylvania and Montana hope to understand just how much of a stabilizing effect these caddisflies can have on the stream environment. Its possible that by looking at their presence and abundance in a stream, we could better estimate how much gravel and fine sediment would move in a flood or build up over time. Building habitat and stream resilience in floods its a significant achievement for the smallest of engineers.

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AUSABLE WATER WISE: Ecosystem engineers of the river channel | News, Sports, Jobs - Lake Placid News

Rebooting The Global Economy After Coronavirus: Physical Scarcity To Digital Abundance – Forbes

Rainbow over Athabasca River, Athabasca River, Jasper National Park, Canada

As the World Health Organization (WHO) and governments around the world go to war against the coronavirus pandemic, we are warned it could continue for longer than most of us expect or are prepared for. Experts believe that a vaccination is a minimum of 12 to 18 months away.

Our world may not return to normal for some time.

It is not the first time that we are seeing a global disease pandemic and it certainly won't be the last. Our modern world creates outbreaks like coronavirus. The coronavirus pandemic is a direct outcome of excessive activity over and beyond the capacity of our human and environmental ecosystem.

Our excessive existence is a hotly debated point. From the ecological crisis we are creating from carbon emissions and dumping plastic in the oceans, to the disproportionate wealth gap being created by modern U.S. style democratic capitalism, the warning signs are abundant.

We have a global health crisis on our hands which is creating a financial crisis and creating a crisis for humanity of unfathomable comprehension to most of us.

Governments call for social distancing and ask citizens to stay at home, blunt but effective tools in the fight against coronavirus contagion. There is a global shortage of coronavirus testing facilities . Health workers are struggling to be tested and there is a global shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like gloves, masks and gowns, oxygen machines, and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds.

The unintended consequences of the health crisis are ravaging the economy by shutting down businesses of all shapes and sizes, leaving business owners without income and large swathes of the population unemployed, with US unemployment claims hitting a record three million last week. For many citizens the only option is awaiting financial support from the government or the benevolence of family and hoping that next month, maybe things will return to normal.

To survive through the pandemic we are developing new ways of living: working and schooling, collaborating and connecting, and being productive remotely using digital tools and the network.

To thrive through the pandemic we are using our innate human instincts with great acts of courage and benevolence: from front line health workers risking their lives to volunteers to support health systems; industry re-purposing production facilities to community acts of kindness; governments offering to do whatever it takes to support business and citizens to keep the economy going, having come to an abrupt stop for many sectors.

The human spirit prevails and there is good news emerging amongst this deluge of bad news.

Navroop Sahdev is working on rebooting the economy to put humanity at the centre of our technologically driven world.

Sahdev is the founder & CEO ofThe Digital Economistand fellow atMIT Connection Science, and is calling for the global economy to transition to digital-first systems with a marked separation from our physical resources. The reboot is required for humanity to better thrive to build and grow with our innate creativity without constantly overstepping the planetary resource boundaries.

Our resources are limited but we keep creating more money. Two things happen as a result: the worth of money declines. The more there is, the more there needs to be for it to be valuable and, ever mounting pressure on resources to a point of collapse. Money cant rescue anything at that point. Then its not about the economy, its about peoples lives. The current coronavirus pandemic is a case in point, says Sahdev.

With the taxpayer as the lender of last resort, we are not just paying for the bail out of our businesses, we are paying to bail out ourselves. Governments in the West have turned on their Central Bank money printing machines and we are creating new mountains of debt, and to what end. Is the government going to become the ultimate guarantor of capitalism using taxpayers dollars?

We need to stop fighting resource wars among ourselves and against nature. Money and technology are tools weve created that need to serve us. And if it is humanity versus nature, nature is going to win. Every single time. Fundamentally, money is a claim on resources. A claim on energy spent somewhere in the system. But with digital infrastructure, we can transition away from burning physical energy in the system and confine it to the digital domain.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is not a rare event; with the ever-increasing level of global connectivity and interdependence, the so-called black swan events are a property of the system. Given the complex nature of the planetary ecosystem, the probability of the occurrence of such large-scale events is increasing.

"I see the current crisis as a catalyst for therebooting of the global economyby retooling towards a human-centered, rather than a capital-centered, socio-economic and technological build out. In the short term, its about rescuing the global economy that governments in the world are rushing to do, says Sahdev.

So where do we go from here? What must happen to both contain and avoid such global catastrophic events with loss of life? Are governments now consigned to the role of protecting entire populations, businesses and markets?

Professor Alex Pentland, Director of MIT Connection Science responds, We need to transition from nation-wide centralized systems where everyone goes to headquarters to pitch their idea and get resources, or we fashion one regulation for everyone in the whole nation, to alliances of small communities connected mainly by digital infrastructure. This transformation preserves the human, face-to-face contact and respects local conditions, while still enabling widespread cooperation.

Crisis situations are the best times to the hit restart button. We can start by going fully digital.

There is too much stress on our physical systems and the carrying capacity of the ecosystem and this leaves an intrinsic dichotomy between the laws of the natural world, which optimizes for the system as a whole over time, and our evolution as a utility maximizing species.

Many of these digital tools exist already. We just need to start using them with much more urgency and social acceptance. We can start from a different starting point, there are many discussions that have ignited with the a Fed Digital Dollar to help overcome the COVID-19 crisis.

Most immediately we need to start by enabling such a transition to take place by building native digital infrastructure while ensuring basic life sustaining resource are available for everyone like: universal basic income and healthcare (nine million people die of hunger in the world each year, even though there is even food in the world); and, activating global decentralized networks in response to global challenges by correctly designing human incentives, like the outstandingRed Ballon challengewon by MIT, says Sahdev.

Sahdev talks about imagination, the highest human faculty, and firmly believes in our ability to build better technological and socio-economic systems, thanks to the urgency created by the coronavirus pandemic.

If digital abundance can be separated from physical scarcity, it may allow both conservation and regeneration of the physical resources and allowing humans to unleash their animal spirits in the virtual world: health systems, financial systems, energy systems, food systems, supply chains, you name it.

When talking about digital infrastructure, its not as much about the technology itself, its about ending the resource war. Technology is how we arrived at this point and technology is how we will free ourselves from the trap we are ultimately laying, threatening our very existence on the planet, says Sahdev.

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Rebooting The Global Economy After Coronavirus: Physical Scarcity To Digital Abundance - Forbes

Bitcoin (BTC) Ecosystem Healthier than 2014 and BitMEX Research Explains Why – U.Today

Vladislav Sopov

With COVID-19 being the main hellraiser for the last weeks within blockchain space, the BitMEX derivatives exchange has brought some good news about Bitcoin (BTC).

BitMEX Research, an analytics branch of the BitMEX crypto derivatives exchange ecosystem, attempted to figure outwho arethe most influential and productive Bitcoin (BTC) developers.

First of all, analysts at BitMEX research studied thefunding of open source developers working on Bitcoin (BTC) or the Lightning Network, the second-layer scalability solution working atop the flagship blockchain. Below is the chart that includes only developers with known sources of funding:

It looks like theCanada-based company Blockstream shares the first position with Lightning Labs Inc., which based in San Francisco. The later team recently raised$10 million in Series A financing from Slow Ventures, Ribbit Capital, and other private investors.

Jack Dorsey's Square Crypto is in third place. The company is passionate about Lightningdevelopment as an on-board pseudonymous developer, which is well-known for its contributionto this infrastructure.

In the second part of their research, the analysts tracked the GitHub committing activity in Bitcoin Core's repositories. Based on their research, it appears that the independent developers surpass their corporate competitors by a wide margin.

These results allowed BitMEX Research to conclude that the Bitcoin (BTC) development ecosystemis the following:

is in a reasonably strong situation with respect to developer funding, based on metrics such as the distribution of funders and transparency.

This is in comparison with the initial stage of Bitcoin (BTC) adoption in 2012-2014, when the Bitcoin Foundation was the one and only significant contributor.Nowadays, diversity has brought funding sources, whichin turn, has upgradedthe decentralization and development processof Bitcoin (BTC) software. So, according to the researchers:

the situation is more healthy than it has been in the past

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Bitcoin (BTC) Ecosystem Healthier than 2014 and BitMEX Research Explains Why - U.Today

RAM Celebrates 25 Years with the ‘Essence of Trance’ [Review] – EDM Identity

One of the greatest legacies any performer can leave behind is their journey. Whether its music youve written, performances for fans around the world, or the way you art rejoices, a lengthy journey as an artist gives the record books plenty to write. Enter the celebration compilation from Dutch trance legend RAM, Essence of Trance (25 Years of RAM) in which he delivers a massive mix compilation that explores the music he loves.

Unfamiliar with RAM? In 2009 his solo career catapulted his popularity thanks to stellar releases on Armada Music like RAMsterdam, RAMexico, and his immortal tribute to his deceased wife Amelia in 2013 RAMelia. He took on the Grotesque Music label family and saw the brand rise through the ranks to worldwide recognition. Today, RAM oversees the Nocturnal Animals Music label group launching new creative efforts to celebrate his continued success.

Released in late February on Black Hole Recordings, Essence of Trance (25 Years of RAM) provides a beautiful journal of trance over the past two decades plus. Clocking in at a combined time of five hours and 18 minutes, the four mixes span the genres longest popular reaches. Available on a variety of platforms, you can tune in on your preferred one or smash that play button on Spotify below!

Well dive into each mix in a moment, but its worth staying just how powerful each mix remains today. The energy of mix one represents the rise of the genre at the turn of the millennium, while the final mix catalyzes the modern era showcasing the passion RAM still carries even today. Thats a great segue to another interesting fact each disc comes with a subtitle clearly foreshadowing the sound fans will enjoy. So lets dive in each disc and experience what comes forth!

The first disc reshuffles the deck with a fresh perspective on where RAM began the journey. Showcasing the early years of trance is not an easy feat after all this time as a multitude of compilations feature the classics of the era. The classics are here (Love Comes Again, Circa Forever, Southern Sun, and Burned with Desire) but the mix showcases some of the B-side hits by artists like Gouryella, Cern, Kamaya Painters, and Vincent de Moor.

Permeating energy is palpable throughout, representing beautifully how the vibe of the millennium switch offered fresh perspectives and hope for the next 1,000 years. The zeitgeist of moment peers beyond the curtain and infects today. Aptly titled as Moments the mix fixates the listener into the hope of a genre blossoming with big-name talents before VIP table culture took over the nightclubs. It solidifies the desire to dance and let your worries escape over its hour-plus duration.

As our journey continues into mix two, the vibe ebbs towards the magic which occurred as the trance became a worldwide phenomenon. The solidified world legends like BT and Tiesto anchor this mix, while new talents starting their own journey roll out. Here some more familiar modern talents appear like John OCallaghan, Bryan Kearney, Aly & Fila, and Arctic Moon.

Each offers a solid slab of their style of trance sometimes darker or techier than before but still laden with the characteristic energy of trance. Along the way, RAMs shift to Armada Music takes place as Dash Berlin, Jorn van Deynhoven, and The Doppler Effect round out the mix with his own massive hit RAMsterdam.

RAMs third mix offers fans a peek behind the doors as he wraps our ears into sonic bliss. The continued evolution of trance shines brightly throughout this mix. Percolating upwards is the older styles of trance in Funabashis Daylight and Steve Forte Rios A New Dawn. Muddle deeper flavors with trances big room milestones like Ferry Corsten ft. Betsie Larkins Made of Love and Solarstone and Clare Staggs The Spell.

Mix three get us lost with wide-open emotional spaces too; examples range from Robert Nicksons 2016 remix of Out There by Masters & Nickson ft. Justine Suissa and Signums remix of Roger Shahs Healesville Sanctuary. For those introduced to trance during the rise of the biggest festivals in the world, this mix is where your journey begins!

As we gaze into the final mix we find how deeply RAM loves what he does. Opening with Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella Anahera quickly captures the here and now of trance music. The Noble Six cries for the ears attention with Black Star (which playfully recalls instrumentation of Robert Miles Children).

Elsewhere the stunning Sailing Airwaves plays in sonic bliss, and falling deeper we find Andy Bluemans remix of GAIAs Tuvan with its slight Arabic sounding strings whisking us away to new horizons. Mix four clearly showcases how passionate RAM is about his ove for the genre hes called home for the past 25 years, and its a master-craft in sonic beauty.

There is no argument over the legacy behind RAM. As a talent his touch remains imprinted on dance musics culture even when focused on pure styles of trance which tend to push him towards an underground appeal when compared to his peers. Having survived the ups and downs of an industry which sees all sorts of strangeness the explosion of the internet, the barrier to music production falling, and the phenomenon of globetrotting performances RAMs not content to stop expressing his art yet.

The new label (Nocturnal Animals) offers him a platform to support emerging talents and established names who want to experiment. Unfortunately, the world tour to celebrate his 25th year in the business is on hold with COVID-19 quarantine but we hope that he can get back at it soon. In the interim, picking up a copy of Essence of Trance (25 Years of RAM) is an easy recommendation for tunes to get lost in. In the world today, we need a bit of an escape, so thank you to RAM for providing it!

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RAM Celebrates 25 Years with the 'Essence of Trance' [Review] - EDM Identity

IDMA 2020 winners announced: Avicii’s ‘Tim’ named as the best album – We Rave You

Following the cancelation of the 35th Winter Music Conference, the winners of the prestigious International Dance Music Awards (IDMA) have been announced online amidst the coronavirus outbreak. The highly descriptive categories under the IDMA provide us with an in-depth overview of how the electronic music industry was influenced and who had dominated the bigger scene throughout the year.

As a lot of us would have hoped for, Aviciis Tim has been named as the best album, claiming it over some tough competitors like Ascend from Illenium and Gravity by Gryffin. On the other hand, the Belgian duo Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike have been honored as the Best Male Artist (Dance/Electronic), taking the title previously won by Martin Garrix, just like they claimed the no. 1 spot on DJMag.

The techno and trance categories under the artist section were claimed once again by Carl Cox and Armin van Buuren respectively. The Italian trio Meduza was named as the best breakthrough act, and their global hit Piece of Your Heart was awarded the title of Best Song (Dance) among other nominations including Post Malone from Sam Feldt and This Groove from Oliver Heldens, all of which chosen in collaboration with the music-tech company Viberate.

Music awards are often criticized for being biased, sometimes you can play the system and pay for votes. But we use data from streaming services, social networks, etc. to see who really deserves a nomination and this reflects the actual popularity of an artist in the most unbiased way possible. Vasja Veber (co-founder Viberate)

Dont forget to check out the complete list of IDMA 2020 winners here.

Image Credits Amy Sussman

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IDMA 2020 winners announced: Avicii's 'Tim' named as the best album - We Rave You

No concerts? Bay Areas Adam Theis, Jazz Mafia videos are just the thing – Marin Independent Journal

Adam Theis wasnt counting on a captive audience.

As the founder and driving spirit behind the Jazz Mafia collective, the Oakland trombonist/bassist just figured that the early months of 2020 seemed like a good time to start letting the world know about the dozen or so projects that Mafia associates have been perpetrating.

The confederation of Bay Area musicians has long made savvy use of video, but with furious bursts of activity we were finding we werent documenting what we were doing, Theis says. Were always worried about moving forward. So we booked three days at this sound stage connected to Sound Wave in Oakland and taped a bunch of performances.

More than a welcome dose of funk and soul, the flood of videos posted on the Jazz Mafia YouTube channel offers hours of spirit-lifting diversion.

Some of the performances were captured on multi-camera shoots, like saxophonist Joe Cohens Brass arrangement of the Rolling Stones Paint It Black, a prescient performance that could serve as the seasons theme song.

Other pieces were documented via iPhone, offering a particularly intimate view of the performance, like the Cosa Nostra Strings version of the Scottish band The Proclaimers Im Gonna Be (500 Miles). Arranged and sung by violistKeith Lawrence, its one of those covers that permanently purloins a song from the original source.

The multi-camera shoots cost money and take a lot of coordination, and the iPhone ones cost almost nothing, Theis says. Weve been finding a lot of enjoyment in that simple way of creating content, with viewers really responding to the raw stuff. And once this pandemic hit, it seemed like the perfect time to focus even more on this homespun way of recording that was already in the ether.

Theis has put out a call for musical friends and colleagues to send in self-made videos for Jazz Mafia posting. In the meantime, the YouTube channel overflows with seriously funky tunes featuring some of the regions most dynamic artists. Arranged by Theis for a brass-augmented lineup of the Heaviest Feather ensemble, Karlita is a Crescent City stomp delivered by vocalist Trance Thompson. For a pure shot of horn-driven funk theres the Brass Mafias Rollin In Da Hood, a high-stepping instrumental Mardi Gras anthem.

But part of the fun is remembering just how many musical bases the Jazz Mafia can cover. Theres a gorgeous track Get Back by the folky T Sisters with the Cosa Nostra Strings. The Jazz Mafias Choral Syndicate delivers an inspired performance of gospel music legend Kirk Franklins Miracles conducted by Trance Thompson.

Vocalist Lilan Kane explores the future-soul sound of Hiatus Kaiyotes By Fire with the Cosa Nostra Strings, and bilingual rapperDakini Star tears up Driiip, delivering a few sly azucar! shout outs in tribute to legendary Cuban singer Celia Cruz.

When it comes to old favorites, theres no beating the 2009 video of Stevie Wonder jamming with the Jazz Mafia outfit Supertaster.Theis says there are dozens of tracks theyll continue to upload in the coming weeks. When itll be safe to document current projects isnt clear. We have all these recording studios we have access to, but it doesnt seem safe to have five or 19 musicians crammed in a small room, Theis says.

Instead of recording new music, he and his closest associates are looking at ways to keep fellow musicians from fading out on a scene thats turned into a barren desert. I feel like artists live in a sense of panic anyways, especially in the Bay, he says. People can survive for a little bit, but a few months will be a deal breaker for a lot of artists.

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No concerts? Bay Areas Adam Theis, Jazz Mafia videos are just the thing - Marin Independent Journal

Singularity Cases and Components Available at OCUK – Play3r

Singularity Computers is an Australian based PC component manufacturer that specialises in creating some of the most beautiful hardware available. If youre a fan of high quality, unique modded PC systems with an emphasis on aesthetics Singularity is a dream come true. Their extensive range of products ranges from reservoirs to distro plates and even water-cooled PC cases. Singularity Computers hardware makes it easier to create your own exceptional work of art.

Wraith Mini ITX Showcase

TheSingularity Computers Wraithis a mini-ITX case with extensive options for installing a custom water cooling system. The compact chassis has an integrated distro plate, which acts as a motherboard tray and is made of transparent acrylic glass, and the graphics card is displayed vertically.

TheSpectre 2.0is an E-ATX case with extensive options for installing a custom water cooling system. The mid-tower has an integrated distro plate that acts as a motherboard tray and is made of transparent acrylic glass. The graphics card can be displayed vertically with the enclosed riser cable.

Singularity not only build showcases but a full range of high spec, heavily engineered water-cooling components. Singularity computers have designed their products to be highly versatile in order to give you the flexibility and freedom to create your own ideas. When building a unique PC you need as many options as possible and the large product range allows for this. Within the lineup, there is everything you need to realise a stunning high-quality custom loop with plenty of choices when it comes to tubing, reservoirs, pumps, and distro plates.

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Singularity Cases and Components Available at OCUK - Play3r

Reaching the Singularity May be Humanity’s Greatest and Last Accomplishment – Air & Space Magazine

In a new paper published in The International Journal of Astrobiology, Joseph Gale from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem and co-authors make the point that recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI)particularly in pattern recognition and self-learningwill likely result in a paradigm shift in the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life.

While futurist Ray Kurzweil predicted 15 years ago that the singularitythe time when the abilities of a computer overtake the abilities of the human brainwill occur in about 2045, Gale and his co-authors believe this event may be much more imminent, especially with the advent of quantum computing. Its already been four years since the program AlphaGO, fortified with neural networks and learning modes, defeated Lee Sedol, the Go world champion. The strategy game StarCraft II may be the next to have a machine as reigning champion.

If we look at the calculating capacity of computers and compare it to the number of neurons in the human brain, the singularity could be reached as soon as the early 2020s. However, a human brain is wired differently than a computer, and that may be the reason why certain tasks that are simple for us are still quite challenging for todays AI. Also, the size of the brain or the number of neurons dont equate to intelligence. For example, whales and elephants have more than double the number of neurons in their brain, but are not more intelligent than humans.

The authors dont know when the singularity will come, but come it will. When this occurs, the end of the human race might very well be upon us, they say, citing a 2014 prediction by the late Stephen Hawking. According to Kurzweil, humans may then be fully replaced by AI, or by some hybrid of humans and machines.

What will this mean for astrobiology? Not much, if were searching only for microbial extraterrestrial life. But it might have a drastic impact on the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life (SETI). If other civilizations are similar to ours but older, we would expect that they already moved beyond the singularity. So they wouldnt necessarily be located on a planet in the so-called habitable zone. As the authors point out, such civilizations might prefer locations with little electronic noise in a dry and cold environment, perhaps in space, where they could use superconductivity for computing and quantum entanglement as a means of communication.

We are just beginning to understand quantum entanglement, and it is not yet clear whether it can be used to transfer information. If it can, however, that might explain the apparent lack of evidence for extraterrestrial intelligent civilizations. Why would they use primitive radio waves to send messages?

I think it also is still unclear whether there is something special enough about the human brains ability to process information that casts doubt on whether AI can surpass our abilities in all relevant areas, especially in achieving consciousness. Might there be something unique to biological brains after millions and millions of years of evolution that computers cannot achieve? If not, the authors are correct that reaching the singularity could be humanitys greatest and last advance.

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Reaching the Singularity May be Humanity's Greatest and Last Accomplishment - Air & Space Magazine

Singularity Computers hardware is available from Overclockers UK now – KitGuru

Overclockers UK has added another manufacturer to its arsenal, Singularity Computers will be joining the ranks to offer its range of modding components and cases to UK PC enthusiasts via the Overclockers UK store.

If you are unfamiliar with the name Singularity Computers, it is an Australian based manufacturer of PC components that specialise in creating some of the most amazing and beautiful hardware. The company offers a wide range of custom liquid cooling products, PC chassis that showcase components like nothing else and a range of modding accessories.

Singularity Computers puts a huge emphasis on aesthetics in the design of its products and has an extensive range of unique products including reservoirs, distribution plates and even fully water-cooled PC cases. Products that will be available from Singularity Computers at Overclockers UK include the Wraith mini-ITX show case, which is a compact chassis featuring an integrated transparent acrylic distro plate with a D5 pump that acts as the motherboard tray to show off components like no other mini-ITX can.

The Singularity Spectre 2.0 is a larger open frame E-ATX chassis perfect for installing complex custom water cooling on high-end systems. The mid-tower open frame chassis also has a distribution plate as a motherboard tray, it can accommodate two 360mm radiators and includes the option for vertical graphics card mounting with mounting bracket and riser cable included.

As well as these beautiful show cases, Overclockers UK will also be stocking the full range of Singularity Computers heavily engineered water cooling components. According to OcUk, Singularity water cooling components are highly versatile and provide users with flexibility and freedom to create their own unique custom cooling solutions. The range includes everything that is needed to build a high quality custom cooling loop.

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KitGuru says: I really like the look of some of these new products from Singularity Computers and cant wait to try out some of the custom cooling parts. What do you guys think of this new Singularity gear at Overlockers UK?

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Singularity Computers hardware is available from Overclockers UK now - KitGuru

How long have we got before humans are replaced by artificial intelligence? – Scroll.in

My view, and that of the majority of my colleagues in AI, is that itll be at least half a century before we see computers matching humans. Given that various breakthroughs are needed, and its very hard to predict when breakthroughs will happen, it might even be a century or more. If thats the case, you dont need to lose too much sleep tonight.

One reason for believing that machines will get to human-level or even superhuman-level intelligence quickly is the dangerously seductive idea of the technological singularity. This idea can be traced back to a number of people over fifty years ago: John von Neumann, one of the fathers of computing, and the mathematician and Bletchley Park cryptographer IJ Good. More recently, its an idea that has been popularised by the science-fiction author Vernor Vinge and the futurist Ray Kurzweil.

The singularity is the anticipated point in humankinds history when we have developed a machine so intelligent that it can recursively redesign itself to be even more intelligent. The idea is that this would be a tipping point, and machine intelligence would suddenly start to improve exponentially, quickly exceeding human intelligence by orders of magnitude.

Once we reach the technological singularity, we will no longer be the most intelligent species on the planet. It will certainly be an interesting moment in our history. One fear is that it will happen so quickly that we wont have time to monitor and control the development of this super-intelligence, and that this super-intelligence might lead intentionally or unintentionally to the end of the human race.

Proponents of the technological singularity who, tellingly, are usually not AI researchers but futurists or philosophers behave as if the singularity is inevitable. To them, it is a logical certainty; the only question mark is when. However, like many other AI researchers, I have considerable doubt about its inevitability.

We have learned, over half a century of work, how difficult it is to build computer systems with even modest intelligence. And we have never built a single computer system that can recursively self-improve. Indeed, even the most intelligent system we know of on the planet the human brain has made only modest improvements in its cognitive abilities. It is, for example, still as painfully slow today for most of us to learn a second language as it always was. Little of our understanding of the human brain has made the task easier.

Since 1930, there has been a significant and gradual increase in intelligence test scores in many parts of the world. This is called the Flynn effect, after the New Zealand researcher James Flynn, who has done much to identify the phenomenon. However, explanations for this have tended to focus on improvements in nutrition, healthcare and access to school, rather than on how we educate our young people.

There are multiple technical reasons why the technological singularity might never happen. I discussed many of these in my last book. Nevertheless, the meme that the singularity is inevitable doesnt seem to be getting any less popular. Given the importance of the topic it may decide the fate of the human race I will return again to these arguments, in greater detail, and in light of recent developments in the debates. I will also introduce some new arguments against the inevitability of the technological singularity.

My first objection to the supposed inevitability of the singularity is an idea that has been called the faster-thinking dog argument. It considers the consequences of being able to think faster. While computer speeds may have plateaued, computers nonetheless still process data faster and faster. They achieve this by exploiting more and more parallelism, doing multiple tasks at the same time, a little like the brain.

Theres an expectation that by being able to think longer and harder about problems, machines will eventually become smarter than us. And we certainly have benefited from ever-increasing computer power; the smartphone in your pocket is evidence of that. But processing speed alone probably wont get us to the singularity.

Suppose that you could increase the speed of the brain of your dog. Such a faster-thinking dog would still not be able to talk to you, play chess or compose a sonnet. For one thing, it doesnt possess complex language. A faster-thinking dog will likely still be a dog. It will still dream of chasing squirrels and sticks. It may think these thoughts more quickly, but they will likely not be much deeper. Similarly, faster computers alone will not yield higher intelligence.

Intelligence is a product of many things. It takes us years of experience to train our intuitions. And during those years of learning we also refine our ability to abstract: to take ideas from old situations and apply them to new, novel situations. We add to our common sense knowledge, which helps us adapt to new circumstances. Our intelligence is thus much more than thinking faster about a problem.

My second argument against the inevitability of the technological singularity is anthropocentricity. Proponents of the singularity place a special importance on human intelligence. Surpassing human intelligence, they argue, is a tipping point. Computers will then recursively be able to redesign and improve themselves. But why is human intelligence such a special point to pass?

Human intelligence cannot be measured on some single, linear scale. And even if it could be, human intelligence would not be a single point, but a spectrum of different intelligences. In a room full of people, some people are smarter than others. So what metric of human intelligence are computers supposed to pass? That of the smartest person in the room? The smartest person on the planet today? The smartest person who ever lived? The smartest person who might ever live in the future? The idea of passing human intelligence is already starting to sound a bit shaky.

But lets put these objections aside for a second. Why is human intelligence, whatever it is, the tipping point to pass, after which machine intelligence will inevitably snowball? The assumption appears to be that if we are smart enough to build a machine smarter than us, then this smarter machine must also be smart enough to build an even smarter machine. And so on. But there is no logical reason that this would be the case. We might be able to build a smarter machine than ourselves. But that smarter machine might not necessarily be able to improve on itself.

There could be some level of intelligence that is a tipping point. But it could be any level of intelligence. It seems unlikely that the tipping point is less than human intelligence. If it were less than human intelligence, we humans could likely simulate such a machine today, use this simulation to build a smarter machine, and thereby already start the process of recursive self-improvement.

So it seems that any tipping point is at, or above, the level of human intelligence. Indeed, it could be well above human intelligence. But if we need to build machines with much greater intelligence than our own, this throws up the possibility that we might not be smart enough to build such machines.

My third argument against the inevitability of the technological singularity concerns meta-intelligence. Intelligence, as I said before, encompasses many different abilities. It includes the ability both to perceive the world and to reason about that perceived world. But it also includes many other abilities, such as creativity.

The argument for the inevitability of the singularity confuses two different abilities. It conflates the ability to do a task and the ability to improve your ability to do a task. We can build intelligent machines that improve their ability to do particular tasks, and do these tasks better than humans. Baidu, for instance, has built Deep Speech 2, a machine-learning algorithm that learned to transcribe Mandarin better than humans.

But Deep Speech 2 has not improved our ability to learn tasks. It takes Deep Speech 2 just as long now to learn to transcribe Mandarin as it always has. Its superhuman ability to transcribe Mandarin hasnt fed back into improvements of the basic deep-learning algorithm itself. Unlike humans, who get to be better learners as they learn new tasks, Deep Speech 2 doesnt learn faster as it learns more.

Improvements to deep-learning algorithms have come about the old-fashioned way: by humans thinking long and hard about the problem. We have not yet built any self-improving machines. Its not certain that we ever will.

Excerpted with permission from 2062: The World That AI Made, Toby Walsh, Speaking Tiger Books.

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Robots to the Rescue: How They Can Help During Coronavirus (and Future Pandemics) – Singularity Hub

As the coronavirus pandemic forces people to keep their distance, could this be robots time to shine? A group of scientists think so, and theyre calling for robots to do the dull, dirty, and dangerous jobs of infectious disease management.

Social distancing has emerged as one of the most effective strategies for slowing the spread of COVID-19, but its also bringing many jobs to a standstill and severely restricting our daily lives. And unfortunately, the one group that cant rely on its protective benefits are the medical and emergency services workers were relying on to save us.

Robots could be a solution, according to the editorial board of Science Robotics, by helping replace humans in a host of critical tasks, from disinfecting hospitals to collecting patient samples and automating lab tests.

According to the authors, the key areas where robots could help are clinical care, logistics, and reconnaissance, which refers to tasks like identifying the infected or making sure people comply with quarantines or social distancing requirements. Outside of the medical sphere, robots could also help keep the economy and infrastructure going by standing in for humans in factories or vital utilities like waste management or power plants.

When it comes to clinical care, robots can play important roles in disease prevention, diagnosis and screening, and patient care, the researchers say. Robots have already been widely deployed to disinfect hospitals and other public spaces either using UV light that kills bugs or by repurposing agricultural robots and drones to spray disinfectant, reducing the exposure of cleaning staff to potentially contaminated surfaces. They are also being used to carry out crucial deliveries of food and medication without exposing humans.

But they could also play an important role in tracking the disease, say the researchers. Thermal cameras combined with image recognition algorithms are already being used to detect potential cases at places like airports, but incorporating them into mobile robots or drones could greatly expand the coverage of screening programs.

A more complex challengebut one that could significantly reduce medical workers exposure to the viruswould be to design robots that could automate the collection of nasal swabs used to test for COVID-19. Similarly automated blood collection for tests could be of significant help, and researchers are already investigating using ultrasound to help robots locate veins to draw blood from.

Convincing people its safe to let a robot stick a swab up their nose or jab a needle in their arm might be a hard sell right now, but a potentially more realistic scenario would be to get robots to carry out laboratory tests on collected samples to reduce exposure to lab technicians. Commercial laboratory automation systems already exist, so this might be a more achievable near-term goal.

Not all solutions need to be automated, though. While autonomous systems will be helpful for reducing the workload of stretched health workers, remote systems can still provide useful distancing. Remote control robotics systems are already becoming increasingly common in the delicate business of surgery, so it would be entirely feasible to create remote systems to carry out more prosaic medical tasks.

Such systems would make it possible for experts to contribute remotely in many different places without having to travel. And robotic systems could combine medical tasks like patient monitoring with equally important social interaction for people who may have been shut off from human contact.

In a teleconference last week Guang-Zhong Yang, a medical roboticist from Carnegie Mellon University and founding editor of Science Robotics, highlighted the importance of including both doctors and patients in the design of these robots to ensure they are safe and effective, but also to make sure people trust them to observe social protocols and not invade their privacy.

But Yang also stressed the importance of putting the pieces in place to enable the rapid development and deployment of solutions. During the 2015 Ebola outbreak, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation organized workshops to identify where robotics could help deal with epidemics.

But once the threat receded, attention shifted elsewhere, and by the time the next pandemic came around little progress had been made on potential solutions. The result is that its unclear how much help robots will really be able to provide to the COVID-19 response.

That means its crucial to invest in a sustained research effort into this field, say the papers authors, with more funding and multidisciplinary research partnerships between government agencies and industry so that next time around we will be prepared.

These events are rare and then its just that people start to direct their efforts to other applications, said Yang. So I think this time we really need to nail it, because without a sustained approach to this history will repeat itself and robots wont be ready.

Image Credit: ABBs YuMi collaborative robot. Image courtesy of ABB

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Devin Townsend Readies "Ultimate Edition" of ‘Empath’ – Exclaim!

The expanded album features a 5.1 surround mix, acoustic recordings and more

Published Apr 01, 2020

InsideOut Music, Townsend's label home, announced today that an "Ultimate Edition" ofEmpathwill touch down on June 5.

The expanded issue will see the album released as a2CD/2Blu-ray package, featuring a 5.1 surround sound mix, demos, live recordings from Townsend's 2019 acoustic tour, visualizers, album commentary, a documentary and more.

The new edition, which you can find cover art for up above, will also feature an artbook. Find a complete tracklisting below, and pre-order the package here.

Townsend has recently shared new music as part of his ongoing "Quarantine Project," also noting that the material will be released as an album"when all this calms down."

Empath: Ultimate Edition:

CD1:

1. Castaway2. Genesis3. Spirits Will Collide4. Evermore5. Sprite6. Hear Me7. Why?8. Borderlands9. Requiem10. Singularity: Adrift11. Singularity: I Am I12. Singularity: There Be Monsters13. Singularity: Curious Gods14. Singularity: Silicone Scientists15. Singularity: Here Comes The Sun!

CD2:

1. The Contrarian (Demo)2. King (Demo)3. The Waiting Kind (Demo)4. Empath (Demo)5. Methuselah (Demo)6. This Is Your Life (Demo)7. Gulag (Demo)8. Middle Aged Man (Demo)9. Total Collapse (Demo)10. Summer (Demo)

Blu-ray 1:

1. Castaway (5.1 Surround Mix)2. Genesis (5.1 Surround Mix)3. Spirits Will Collide (5.1 Surround Mix)4. Evermore (5.1 Surround Mix)5. Sprite (5.1 Surround Mix)6. Hear Me (5.1 Surround Mix)7. Why? (5.1 Surround Mix)8. Borderlands (5.1 Surround Mix)9. Requiem (5.1 Surround Mix)10. Singularity: Adrift (5.1 Surround Mix)11. Singularity: I Am I (5.1 Surround Mix)12. Singularity: There Be Monsters (5.1 Surround Mix)13. Singularity: Curious Gods (5.1 Surround Mix)14. Singularity: Silicone Scientists (5.1 Surround Mix)15. Singularity: Here Comes The Sun! (5.1 Surround Mix)16. Castaway (Stereo Mix Visualizer)17. Genesis (Stereo Mix Visualizer)18. Spirits Will Collide (Stereo Mix Visualizer)19. Evermore (Stereo Mix Visualizer)20. Sprite (Stereo Mix Visualizer)21. Hear Me (Stereo Mix Visualizer)22. Borderlands (Stereo Mix Visualizer)23. Why? (Stereo Mix Visualizer)24. Requiem (Stereo Mix Visualizer)25. Singularity: Adrift (Stereo Mix Visualizer)26. Singularity: I Am I (Stereo Mix Visualizer)27. Singularity: There Be Monsters (Stereo Mix Visualizer)28. Singularity: Curious Gods (Stereo Mix Visualizer)29. Singularity: Silicone Scientists (Stereo Mix Visualizer)30. Singularity: Here Comes The Sun! (Stereo Mix Visualizer)

Blu-ray 2:

1. Empath Documentary2. Empath Album Commentary3. Genesis 5.1 Mixing Lesson4. Acoustic Gear Tour5. Intro (Live in Leeds 2019)6. Let It Roll (Live in Leeds 2019)7. Funeral (Live in Leeds 2019)8. Ih-Ah (Live in Leeds 2019)9. Deadhead (Live in Leeds 2019)10. Love? (Live in Leeds 2019)11. Hyperdrive! (Live in Leeds 2019)12. Terminal (Live in Leeds 2019)13. Coast (Live in Leeds 2019)14. Solar Winds (Live in Leeds 2019)15. Thing Beyond Things (Live in Leeds 2019)16. King (Official Video)

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Devin Townsend Readies "Ultimate Edition" of 'Empath' - Exclaim!

Saints Row IV Re-Elected: Where to Find The Singularity Gun – Screen Rant

The Nintendo Switch has finally received a port for Saints Row IV: Re-Elected and both new and old fans are flocking to the title. Players will once again be able to run through a simulated version of Steelport blowing up cars, shooting aliens, and living it up as President of the United States. The best thing that Saints Row does though, is give players access to an impressive amount of weapons.

Related: Saints Row IV: Re-Elected Review - It's Just as Good

One of the best weapons in the entirety of Saints Row IV, and one that players will want to quickly get their hands on, is the Singularity Gun. This weapon will fire out black holes that can suck up enemies and cause a massive amount of damage. This weapon is perfect for clearing out large groups of enemies or causing lots of property damage. By following this guide players can obtain the Singularity Gun for themselves.

The first thing that players will need to do before obtaining the Singularity Gun is to track down Johnny Gat. In order to find Gat players will need to play through the mission "... The Very Next Day". Once this mission is completed Johnny Gat will be available on the ship. From there players just need to exit the simulation and speak to Johhny in order to begin his Loyalty Quest, "WWGD".

After talking to Gat, he will give the player several tasks to complete for this quest. The first thing that Gat asks the player to do is shut down a Hotspot. This will involve avoiding a lot of enemies as the player attempts to destroy the three generators powering the Hotspot. These generators will be positioned on floating platforms surrounding the spot. After these are shut down, players then need to bring the controller down before moving on to the next task.

The next task shouldn't cause players to many issues. The only thing that players need to do is eliminate 20 Saints Flow mascots. The easiest way to clear this mission is to use the freeze blast enemies to set them up for easy kills.

The next task will send players to a flashpoint area. Players will need to clear out all Zin troops in the vicinity. Once this happens players will then have to face off against a Warden. The Warden's stomps, telekinesis, and laser blasts should be avoided at all costs.

After killing the Warden, players will then get to causes some mayhem from within a tank. In order to beat this task, at least $600,000 in property damage will have to be caused by the tank. With over three minutes on the clock, this is more than enough time to cause that amount of damage.

The final task is a simple as rushing over to another flashpoint and taking out another group of Zin soldiers. After this just exit the simulation and go talk to Johnny Gat. After a short conversation, players will finally have access to Saints Row IV: Re-Elected's strongest weapon: The Singularity Gun.

Next: Saints Row Movie Writer Wants Adaptation to Become An Insane Film Franchise

Saints Row IV: Re-Elected can be played on Nintendo Switch.

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Cody Peterson is an avid reader and writer. Graduated from Midwestern State University with a BA in English where he worked as an editor for the University literary journal. Currently a freelancer for Screenrant, where he writes about video games. When he isn't writing he usually spends his time playing video games or editing the podcast he runs with his best friend.

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Saints Row IV Re-Elected: Where to Find The Singularity Gun - Screen Rant

Mind-blowing Nasa photo reveals glowing mess of Milky Ways centre including our galaxys supermassive black – The Sun

NASA has given space fans an unprecedented look at the violent black hole at the centre of our galaxy.

A fascinating picture published by the space agency shows the ominous object slap bang in the middle of the Milky Way.

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The image was captured using Nasa's orbiting Chandra X-Ray Observatory last year butwas featured as Nasa's Astronomy Picture of The Day on Monday.

The various colours are the different types of light emitted by the mysterious region, which is 26,000 light years from Earth.

Green and blue regions are high-energy X-ray emissions picked up by Chandra, while red sections are low-energy radiation captured by MEERKAT, a ground-based telescope in South Africa.

Nasa said in yesterday's post: "This enigmatic region... glows in every type of light that we can see."

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Just to the right of the colourful central region lies Sagittarius A (Sag A), the supermassive black hole in the middle of our galaxy.

Sag A weighs about four million times the mass of the Sun and is more than 13million miles wide.

"Hot gas surrounds Sag A, as well as a series of parallel radio filaments known as the Arc, seen just left of the image centre," Nasa wrote.

"Many stars orbit in and around Sag A, as well as numerous small black holes and dense stellar cores known as neutron stars and white dwarfs."

What is a black hole? The key facts

Here's what you need to know...

What is a black hole?

What is an event horizon?

What is a singularity?

How are black holes created?

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Last year, scientists unveiled the first ever picture of a black hole.

The black hole, described by scientists as a "monster", is 24billion miles across - 3million times the size of the Earth.

Sitting about 300 million trillion miles away from our planet, it was photographed by a network of eight telescopes across the globe known as the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).

When used together, the telescopes combine with the power of a single telescope "the size of our planet", scientists said.

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In other space news, Nasa astronauts could build a Moon base using their own pee and lunar dirt to make space concrete.

Space Force has successfullylaunched its first missionsince its establishment as a US military service.

And, the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed new data about what may be themost powerful cosmic stormin the universe.

What do you think of the Nasa photo? Let us know in the comments...

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at tech@the-sun.co.uk

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Mind-blowing Nasa photo reveals glowing mess of Milky Ways centre including our galaxys supermassive black - The Sun