[Podcast] Analyse Asia 188: The Hong Kong Startup Ecosystem with Jay Kim – TechNode (blog)

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Editors note: This originally appeared on Analyse Asia,a weekly podcast hosted by Bernard Leong, dedicated to dissecting the pulse of business, technology, and media in Asia. The podcast features guests from Asias vibrant tech community.

Jay Kim, host of the Jay Kim show & author of Hack Your Fitness, joined us to discuss the chronology of the rise of the Hong Kong startup ecosystem. He discussed the chronology of the Hong Kong startup ecosystem and how it has transformed into a vibrant scene with a few enthusiasts and the entry of prominent conferences such as RISE. Last but not least, we discussed the backstory of his podcast, The Jay Kim Show and his latest book, Hack your Fitness.

Here are the interesting show notes and links to the discussion (with timestamps included):

Listen to the episode here or subscribe.

TechNode does not necessarily endorse the commentary made in this program.

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[Podcast] Analyse Asia 188: The Hong Kong Startup Ecosystem with Jay Kim - TechNode (blog)

Cris Cyborg Says She’s Received UFC 214 Bout Agreement – LowKick MMA

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For quite some time now, former Invicta FC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg Justino has expressed interest in fighting at UFC 214 on July 29, 2017 in Anaheim, California. UFC President Dana White has also said that she will indeed be fighting on the card, although an opponent for the Brazilian slugger has still yet to be named

That could change very soon, however, as Cyborg took to her official Twitter account yesterday (June 10, 2017) to announce that shes received a bout agreement for UFC 214:

The bout was not officially announced during UFC Fight Night 110 last night, but recent speculation has indicated that her opponent could be reigning Invicta FC featherweight champion Megan Anderson. Last week, it was announced that Anderson would be headlining Invicta FC 24, but MMAFighting.coms Ariel Helwani recently reported that a potential bout between Cyborg and Anderson was not off the table:

Cyborg had also expressed interest in fighting Germaine de Randamie, who currently holds the UFCs featherweight title, but de Randamie has refused to fight Cyborg, while also revealing her intentions to drop back down to 135 pounds. The UFC then said a bout between Cyborg and former bantamweight title challenger Cat Zingano was being targeted, but Zingano said she wouldnt be healthy in time for UFC 214.

With that being said, Anderson appears to be the leading option to take on Cyborg on July 29.

UFC 214 is currently set to be headlined by a light heavyweight title rematch between bitter rivals Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones, although Cyborg could slide into that headlining role if she is officially booked to fight on the card.

NEXT: Ben Nguyen Had "Night Sweats" Before Destroying Tim Elliott

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Cris Cyborg Says She's Received UFC 214 Bout Agreement - LowKick MMA

Tiny Backpack Turns Dragonfly into World’s Smallest Drone ‘Cyborg’ – Interesting Engineering

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As drones get smaller, their usages and applications grow enormously. However, researchers have been struggling to sustain tiny drones. Group after group has turned to insects for inspiration, but challenges still pop up. Sure, its great that a mosquito-sized drone can fly into uncharted territory, but it wont last long. How should researchers power these tiny devices?

One team from the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory and Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Massachusetts decided to use the insect itself. They created the DragonflEye, a small backpack that allows a pilot to control where the creature flies.

Jesse Wheeler serves as a biomedical engineer at Draper. Hes also the principal investigator for the program which first made headlines in January.

DragonflEye is a totally new kind of micro-aerial vehicle thats smaller, lighter and stealthier than anything else thats manmade, he said. This system pushes the boundaries of energy harvesting, motion sensing, algorithms, miniaturization and optogenetics, all in a system small enough for an insect to wear.

The DragonflEye system uses steering neurons, light-sensitive genes embedded into the dragonflys spinal column. A controller transmits pulses of light to the sensors. The research team says this allows for the insect to fly cleanly after receiving responses without affecting or damaging the dragonflys natural neuron structure.

The project combines researchers in a number of disciplines from autonomous systems, biomedical engineering, and materials sciences.

The little backpacks arent without controversy, however. Bugs arent exactly the cutest creatures on Earth, but several people take issue with transforming dragonflies into cyborgs. Online comments include Poor animal, I cant tell if sad or really, really awesome, and this is so mean! One YouTube commenter noted: When kids rip the wings off a fly they are considered cruel, but when science nerds do it they get a cool promotional video. Dogs and kittens next and everyone smiles at their tortured screams, because its just so awesome to drive them around.

Transhuman technology or cyborg-style upgrades arent uncommon. Having it be so small, however, is certainly a different story. Ultimately, the team would like to upscale and adapt the technology for human usage. Those suffering from limited mobility due to spinal injury could have better control of their nervous systems.

Someday these same tools could advance medical treatments in humans, resulting in more effective therapies with fewer side effects, said Wheeler. Our flexible optrode technology provides a new solution to enable miniaturized diagnostics, safely access smaller neural targets and deliver higher precision therapies.

All images including featured courtesy of DragonflEye

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Tiny Backpack Turns Dragonfly into World's Smallest Drone 'Cyborg' - Interesting Engineering

Nude beaches on the California coast, from top to bottom(less) – SFGate

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Photo: California Beaches

Black's Beach: This secluded La Jolla beach has been a clothing-optional mecca for several decades.

Black's Beach: This secluded La Jolla beach has been a clothing-optional mecca for several decades.

Boneyard Beach: In Encinitas, about 25 miles north of San Diego, Boneyard is a fairly secluded beach located below a very steep cliff.

Boneyard Beach: In Encinitas, about 25 miles north of San Diego, Boneyard is a fairly secluded beach located below a very steep cliff.

Pirate's Cove Beach: This is a fairly protected beach in San Luis Obispo County.

Pirate's Cove Beach: This is a fairly protected beach in San Luis Obispo County.

San Onofre Beach in Gaviota State Park: This clothing optional beach in Santa Barbara County.

San Onofre Beach in Gaviota State Park: This clothing optional beach in Santa Barbara County.

More Mesa Beach: This beach is off Highway 101 north of Santa Barbara. Apparently, to keep the peace, nudists are encouraged to disrobe north of the trail but to leave the south of the trail area for the clothed crowd.

More Mesa Beach: This beach is off Highway 101 north of Santa Barbara. Apparently, to keep the peace, nudists are encouraged to disrobe north of the trail but to leave the south of the trail area for the

Vista Del Mar: This beach in Goleta is next to Gaviota State Park in Santa Barbara County.

Vista Del Mar: This beach in Goleta is next to Gaviota State Park in Santa Barbara County.

Garrapata State Beach: Just 6 miles south of Carmel, Garrapata is part of the Big Sur coastline. To find it, keep your eyes peeled because the park is marked with only one sign on Highway 1.

Garrapata State Beach: Just 6 miles south of Carmel, Garrapata is part of the Big Sur coastline. To find it, keep your eyes peeled because the park is marked with only one sign on Highway 1.

Fuller's Beach: This is a remote beach along the north Big Sur coast.

Fuller's Beach: This is a remote beach along the north Big Sur coast.

Carmel Meadows: This is part of Carmel River State Beach.

Carmel Meadows: This is part of Carmel River State Beach.

Crater Beach: In Monterey County's Sand City, The Crater is "wide, sandy and feels remote," according to California Beaches.

Crater Beach: In Monterey County's Sand City, The Crater is "wide, sandy and feels remote," according to California Beaches.

Indian Head Beach: This is a remote spot located between Fort Ord State Beach and Marina State Beach in Monterey County.

Indian Head Beach: This is a remote spot located between Fort Ord State Beach and Marina State Beach in Monterey County.

Privates Beach: A locked gate prevents just anyone from using this Santa Cruz beach which is popular with locals who surf or like to sunbathe naked. But the $100 cost to get a key has been controversial in recent years.

Privates Beach: A locked gate prevents just anyone from using this Santa Cruz beach which is popular with locals who surf or like to sunbathe naked. But the $100 cost to get a key has been controversial in

Laguna Creek:This remote beach is south of Davenport in Santa Cruz County and is part of the Coast Dairies State Park.

Laguna Creek:This remote beach is south of Davenport in Santa Cruz County and is part of the Coast Dairies State Park.

Bonny Doon State Beach: About 10 miles north of Santa Cruz, this is a small, secluded clothing optional beach.

Bonny Doon State Beach: About 10 miles north of Santa Cruz, this is a small, secluded clothing optional beach.

Davenport Cove: Also known as Shark Fin Cove, this beach is .7 miles south of Davenport. The actual Shark Fin rock formation off the shore is visible from Highway 1.

Davenport Cove: Also known as Shark Fin Cove, this beach is .7 miles south of Davenport. The actual Shark Fin rock formation off the shore is visible from Highway 1.

Four Mile Beach: The name comes from the four-mile drive it takes from downtown Santa Cruz north to the parking lot along Highway 1. The beach is part of Wilder Ranch State Park.

Four Mile Beach: The name comes from the four-mile drive it takes from downtown Santa Cruz north to the parking lot along Highway 1. The beach is part of Wilder Ranch State Park.

Panther Beach: According to one site, "day trippers, nude sunbathers, party kids even rock climbers" hold this secluded beach near Davenport in the highest esteem. But while beloved, it is rarely crowded.

Panther Beach: According to one site, "day trippers, nude sunbathers, party kids even rock climbers" hold this secluded beach near Davenport in the highest esteem. But while beloved, it is rarely crowded.

Hole in the Wall Beach: Located between Santa Cruz and Davenport, Hole in the Wall is backed by cliffs and accessible by walking south on Panther Beach.

Hole in the Wall Beach: Located between Santa Cruz and Davenport, Hole in the Wall is backed by cliffs and accessible by walking south on Panther Beach.

Gray Whale Cove: This state beach is located between Pacifica and Montara. It is also known as Devil's Slide.

Gray Whale Cove: This state beach is located between Pacifica and Montara. It is also known as Devil's Slide.

San Gregorio Private Beach: Located on private property just north of San Gregorio State Beach, this is considered to be the first nude beach in North America, according to California Beaches.

San Gregorio Private Beach: Located on private property just north of San Gregorio State Beach, this is considered to be the first nude beach in North America, according to California Beaches.

Land's End: It's a San Francisco beach known by most for its labyrinth but it is also a popular clothing-optional beach.

Land's End: It's a San Francisco beach known by most for its labyrinth but it is also a popular clothing-optional beach.

Baker Beach: One of San Francisco's most popular destinations for the clothed and un-clothed crowds. If this couple keeps walking, they'll run into the naked folks often found at the beach's north end.

Baker Beach: One of San Francisco's most popular destinations for the clothed and un-clothed crowds. If this couple keeps walking, they'll run into the naked folks often found at the beach's north end.

Marshall's Beach: It's a very relaxed clothing optional scene at this little beach tucked into the coast near the Golden Gate Bridge.

Marshall's Beach: It's a very relaxed clothing optional scene at this little beach tucked into the coast near the Golden Gate Bridge.

Black Sands Beach: This secluded clothing-optional stretch of sand in the Marin Headlands can feel like your own private getaway even though San Francisco is just across the way.

Black Sands Beach: This secluded clothing-optional stretch of sand in the Marin Headlands can feel like your own private getaway even though San Francisco is just across the way.

South Rodeo Beach: This is a secluded cove next to Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands.

South Rodeo Beach: This is a secluded cove next to Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands.

Muir Beach: The parking lot fills up quickly, but it is closer to S.F. than Stinson. And the northern part of the beach, seen here, is where the clothing optional scene is located.

Muir Beach: The parking lot fills up quickly, but it is closer to S.F. than Stinson. And the northern part of the beach, seen here, is where the clothing optional scene is located.

RCA Beach: North of Bolinas and on the Pt. Reyes peninsula, RCA is a longtime mecca for Marin nudists and surfers alike.

RCA Beach: North of Bolinas and on the Pt. Reyes peninsula, RCA is a longtime mecca for Marin nudists and surfers alike.

Sculptured Beach: This remote beach is in the southern portion of Point Reyes National Seashore. Reach it by walking south from Limantour Beach or going along the Coast Trail and heading down to the beach just past the Woodward Valley Trail.

Sculptured Beach: This remote beach is in the southern portion of Point Reyes National Seashore. Reach it by walking south from Limantour Beach or going along the Coast Trail and heading down to the beach just

College Cove: The other clothing optional spot in Humboldt County is in the town of Trinidad. Here are directions for getting there.

College Cove: The other clothing optional spot in Humboldt County is in the town of Trinidad. Here are directions for getting there.

Baker Beach: Do not confuse this with the one in San Francisco. This is in Humboldt County just south of the town of Trinidad. Here are directions on how to findit since there are no road markings.

Baker Beach: Do not confuse this with the one in San Francisco. This is in Humboldt County just south of the town of Trinidad. Here are directions on how to findit since there are no road markings.

Nude beaches on the California coast, from top to bottom(less)

You never know when the urge to head to the beach and rip off your clothes will strike. But if it does, it's good to have some idea of where to go.

Thankfully, in California you have options. There are dozens of clothing-optional beaches along our coast, many of which have been frequented by nudists for decades.

Above, we've collected 32 beaches for you to enjoy in the buff, beginning at the classic Black's Beach in La Jolla and ending in Trinidad (the town in Humboldt County, not the island in the Caribbean).

This is an ideal summer road trip, and one which will require very little packing. But, remember, if you follow these up Highway 1, there is that little roadblock before Big Sur you'll have to get around.

The legality of nude sunbathing varies throughout the state. While a 1972 California court case ruled that nude sunbathing is not indecent exposure, some counties have strict anti-nudity laws. As you will notice, there are no Los Angeles County beaches listed here.

If you visit only one area, Santa Cruz County is highly recommended for its sheer volume of nude beaches. And from there you can hit choice spots in Monterey County and northern Big Sur. The Bay Area is well-represented, but our weather is not always the most conducive to outdoor nudity.

Many thanks to CaliforniaBeaches.com which provided names of many of these spots, especially in Southern California, and some choice photos as well.

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Nude beaches on the California coast, from top to bottom(less) - SFGate

OPINION: Take care to not to pollute our beaches this summer – Red and Black

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Beach trips and summertime go hand in hand, but continuous littering on beaches over the years has wreaked havoc on the environment. To curb this problem, greater mass cleanup operations need to be initiated both locally and internationally, including visitors to beaches making a concerted effort to clean up after themselves to prevent the accumulation of trash in the first place.

The issue of beach pollution spans the globe and affects beaches in even the most remote locations. Henderson Island is an uninhabited island located in the South Pacific. Despite its remoteness, however, a recent study showed that 17.6 tons of debris are present on the island, mainly due to plastic products.

The amount of debris may even be higher than estimated, since many pieces of trash were found buried under the sand and the ocean is constantly moving trash around to new locations, making it difficult to collect concrete data. The plastic products and other trash not only mar the pristine appearance of the beach, but negatively affect the lives of the animals that call the beach home.

If one of the most remote beaches in the world is heavily affected by human-made pollution, then populated beaches could cause a great amount of firsthand pollution by beachgoers.

Every year, St. Simons Islanda.k.a. Frat Beachwelcomes thousands of students on the for the annual Georgia-Florida football game. This weekend is one of the busiest and most profitable of the year for the island, but that kind of spike in population, means a detrimental increase in pollution.

The increased amount of security in 2015 scared off many attendees and decreased the volume of people usually expected that weekend; however, something still needs to be done to reduce the amount of damage left behind by students, alumni and other visitors without sacrificing the livelihood of business owners on St. Simons Island.

Ultimately, beach visitorswhether at Frat Beach or halfway across the worldneed to hold each other accountable for their littering. People cannot be expected to pick up after others or police each other on the beach. But, throwing away just one piece of trash that isnt theirs can make a difference. Seeing this positive behavior can also inspire others to do the same.

People must also take initiative to prevent the possibility of littering on beaches. For instance, using reusable water bottles as opposed to plastic bottles whenever possible, or designating a bag to collect trash instead of leaving it in the sand.

Keeping trash off the ground is key: what remains on the ground can be drawn into the water when the tide rises, causing it to float away and possibly end up in a remote location on the other side of the ocean. These effects are seen firsthand in the case of Henderson Island considering it is uninhabited yet filled with trash.

With greater communication between law enforcement and beachgoers, as well as the use of preventative measures, littering can be reduced on beaches both close to home and around the globe. Going the extra mile and picking up a few pieces of someone elses trash might seem pointless, but this action can contribute to the cleanliness of the beach and the well-being of the those who live there.

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OPINION: Take care to not to pollute our beaches this summer - Red and Black

Rochester Beaches Hot Spot for Weekend – TWC News

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CHARLOTTE, N.Y. -- Sunday's prime weather drew crowds to the water to beat the heat, with many flocking to Ontario Beach Park in Charlotte to enjoy the mild, breezy weather near the lake.

"I saw the temperature and thought, 'I'm not sitting inside all day,' said Zack Reese, a local beachgoer. It's not happening, theres no way. I have to be at the beach, so here I am."

With no lifeguards on duty, swimming is technically not allowed, but that didn't stop some from bending the rules. Water temperatures in Lake Ontario are currently hovering at around 60 degrees, which is still fairly cold. But for some, it was a welcome chance to cool off.

With warm days like today, the water temperature should be warming up fairly quickly. The solution to the high water problems at the lake is not likely to come so soon. Much of the beach is still underwater.

"If you look today, over half the beach is gone from where it was last year, said Bernard White, a Rochester resident. I grew up here as a kid and used to come swimming here. We also used to go to Durand Eastman Beach too and that is still all underwater."

Only time will tell when things will return to normal along Lake Ontario, but in the meantime, beachgoers are making the most of a beautiful start to the season.

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Cool off at local pools and beaches – The Journal News | LoHud.com

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Lifeguard Matthew Gregg of Haverstraw carries a GoPro camera as he rides the water slide at the Bowline Point Park pool in Haverstraw July 22, 2016. Peter Carr/The Journal News

Rye Town Park & Beach is open to the public.(Photo: Staff/The Journal News)Buy Photo

It's not officially summer, but with the mercury crawlinginto the '90s, you may want to beat the heat by enjoying a day at a local pool, beach or water park, or enjoy al fresco dining by the water. Here is a list of some options:

BEACHES

The following beaches areopen from 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. weekends only through June 18; and 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, June 23-Labor Day (closed Monday and Tuesday except holidays). No admittance after 6 p.m. Visit parks.westchestergov.comfor additional information including parking fees and proof of Westchester residency requirements.

Croton Point Park Beach: 1A Croton Point Ave., Croton-On-Hudson. Beach access is $4, $3 for children.

Glen Island Park: 1 Pelham Road, New Rochelle. Beach access is $4, $3 for children (ages 5-11;under 5, free);County residents without a park pass: $10 adults, $5 children.Must provide proof of Westchester residency.

Playland Park Beach: 1 Playland Pkwy., Rye. Beach access is $4, $3for children (ages 5-11;under 5, free); with park pass andpool admission:$5 adults, $3.50children.This does not include admission to the park.

Rye Town Beach & Parkis opento the publicfor the summer season, through Sept. 4. 95 Dearborn Ave., Rye.This is a popular, guardedsandy white beach on the Long Island Sound, adjacent to Playland Park Beach. There'sOcean Grille at the former SeasideJohnnie'slocation.Beach access for residents on weekdays:$7 (9 a.m.-4 p.m.),$5 (4-7 p.m.);weekends: $8 (9 a.m.-4 p.m.), $5 (4-7 p.m.). For a complete list of fees including parking and permits, call 914-967-0965 orvisittownofryeny.com/requirement/rye-town-park-oakland-beach-permits-and-fees

POOLS

County-owned pools are open June 23-Labor Day, Sept. 4. Swimming hours are 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. with no admittance after 6 p.m. Pools are open seven days a week, except for Playland, which is open Wednesdays through Sundays. Proof of Westchester residency is required for all pools exceptPlayland.

Playland Park Beach:Pool access is $6,$4 for children (ages 5-11;under 5, free).This does not include admission to the park.

Saxon Woods Park:1800 Mamaroneck Ave., White Plains. Before 4 p.m.: $6 for a park pass holder; $8 for a holders guest; $4 for children of a pass holder. County residents without a pass, as well as their guests, pay $15 each.

Tibbetts Brook Park:355 Midland Ave., Yonkers. $8 with a Park Pass, $10 for a pass holder's guests, $5 for a holder's children. County residents without a pass, as well as their guests, pay $15 each.

Willson's Waves:East Lincoln Ave., Mount Vernon. $8 for a Park Pass holder, $10 for a holder's guest and $5 for children of a pass holder. County residents without a pass, as well as their guests, pay $15 each.

STATE PARK

FDR State Park Pool:2957 Crompound Road, Yorktown Heights. This pool is located in the larger State Park which also has boating, picnicking and ball fields.$8 per vehicle, additional $3per person to use the pool.Open: 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday, 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. weekends, June 24-Sept.4.914-245-4434, parks.ny.gov/parks/148/details.aspx

Tallman Pool:The revamped Tallman Pool in Tallman Mountain State Parkhas its own unique attractions, including a Hudson-riverfront locale and6,500 square feet of sandy beach, complete with Adirondack chairs and concessions by the NoCoBeach Grill. Openfor members and dayvisitors:11 a.m. for season pass holders, noon for daily pass holders.Daily pass: $10,Monday-Friday;$15, Saturday and Sunday;children under 5 free.Forinformation including season passes, visit tallmanpoolclub.com, 845-422-7126.

Bear Mountain State Park Pool:55 Hessian Dr., Bear Mountain. Open June 17-18and June 24-Labor Day, 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m. weekends, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. weekdays. Admission: $2.845-786-2701,parks.ny.gov/parks

High Tor State Park Pool:415 South Mountain Road, New City. Open 10 a.m.-5:45 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday, weekends and holidays, June 17-Aug. 13. Pool admission: $5 wristbands. No parking fees. 845-634-8074, parks.ny.gov/parks

Lake Welch Beach:800 Kanawaukee Road, Stony Point. The beach is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekendsthrough June 25, and daily June 26 through Sept. 4. $7 per vehicle for parking. 845-225-7207, parks.ny.gov/parks

Rockland Lake State Park Pool:299 Rockland Lake Road, Valley Cottage. Swimming schedule is 10 a.m.-5:45 p.m. weekends and holidays, through June 23. The pool will also be open 10 a.m.-5:45 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m.-6:45 p.m. weekends and holidays, June 24-Aug. 20. After Aug. 20, 11 a.m.-6:45 p.m. weekends and holidays only, Aug. 21 through Sept. 4.$8 parking fee per vehicle. $3pool admission. 845-268-3020,parks.ny.gov/parks

Congers Pool: The pool will be open noon-6:45 p.m.weekends only, throughJune 18,andnoon-6:45 p.m.daily, June 18-Sept.4.

Fahnestock State Park Beach:1498 Route 301, Carmel. The beach is open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. weekends through June 25, and daily June 26 through Sept. 4. $7 per vehicle for parking. 845-225-7207,parks.ny.gov/parks

WATERPARK

SplashDown Beach:16 Old Route 9W, Fishkill.Featuring wave pools and water slides andthe Arctic Plunge Racer a water-borne drag race where you zoom through enough twists, turns and curves to create a ton of acceleration.Daily rates are $25for kids, $30 for adults.845-897-9600, splashdownbeach.com.

3 Westerly, Ossining:Eat, drink and enjoy the incredible vistas from thisnew Ossining property's3,500-square-foot outdoor bar, beer garden and terrace seating. Chef Chin's food is as beautiful as the surrounding scenery, with signature dishes such as drunken baby back ribsprepared with a sweet ginger beer and apple cider glaze, veal osso buco dumplings dressed in a black truffle porcini sauce, and a crunchy rice cake topped with tuna tartare.Go:3 Westerly Road, Ossining; 914-762-1333;3westerly.com

Catch on the Hudson, Haverstraw:Under the direction ofhospitality veteran and chef Steve Lauterbach, Catch on the Hudson's kitchen is turning out high caliber plates, like wild mushroom flan with watercress, sweet garlic cloves and porcini syrup, anda house-cured Atlantic salmon gravlax timbale doused intequila and brown sugar.Go:16 Front St., Haverstraw, 845-942-1616,catchonthehudson.com

Forty North, Hastings-on-Hudson:Located upstairs from the Tennis Club of Hastings, this riverfront spot recently changed handsand has since been transformed with new Caribbean flair. Expect the same bucolic scenery of the Palisades for an appetizer, now with a choice of Jamaican jerk chicken, rasta pasta or fire lamb chops with plantain hash as your main.Go:100 River St., Hastings-on-Hudson, 914-274-8655,forty-north.com.

Four Brothers Restaurant, Mahopac:Who wouldn't want to pair a slice with a view of Lake Mahopac?Thispopular open-air dining destination offers everything but thelavello da cucinaon its lengthy menu of Italian cuisine, with a little something for everyone: Soups,salads, sandwiches, antipasti, pastas, pizzas, burgers, casseroles and seafood.Go:654 Route 6, Mahopac. 845-628-4404.fourbrothersmahopac.com

Hudson Water Club, West Haverstraw:Panoramic river views are just the setting you want for amenu with lots of fresh seafood, but there are plenty of pastas, meats and wood-fired oven pizzas, too. You can dock and dine, enjoy live music and some great happy hour deals.Go:606 Beach Road, West Haverstraw. 845-271-4046,www.hudsonwaterclub.com

Pier Restaurant & Tiki Bar, Rye:Combininglive music, lobster rolls and views of the Long Island Sound, this popular seaside destination offers a range of both tropical and New England-style bites, such asburgers, ribs,clam strips and coconut shrimp.Go:1 Playland Parkway, Rye. 914-967-1020,pierrestaurantandtikibar.com

bartaco, Port Chester:Pair a menu of tacos, tamales and 'ritas with a wide outside deck overlooking the Byram River and you've got a front seat on summer. Go:1 Willett Ave., Port Chester;914-937-8226;bartaco.com

Half Moon, Dobbs Ferry: You can't get much closer to the river than the outside patios here.The tables are so close you could just about skip stones on the Hudson. Opt for one of two distinct seating areas; facing south there's a lively South Beach outdoor bar with a more casual menu; facing north, the dinner menu includes signature dishes, such as the Montauk lobster and a great Long Island duck. Go:1 High St., Dobbs Ferry,914-693-4130,harvest2000.com.

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Vintage cars on Sunday take over Wildwood beaches | News … – Press of Atlantic City

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WILDWOOD Some owners of vintage cars and motorcycles find the opportunity to race their vehicles on the beach too juicy to pass up.

Thousands gathered Sunday afternoon on the beaches in Wildwood to watch the Race of Gentlemen, which was held here for the past five years after its inaugural year in 2012 in Allenhurst, Monmouth County.

The second and final racing day of the three-day event featured pre-1934 automobiles and pre-1947 motorcycles in exhibition-style drag races at the waters edge between Schellenger and Spicer avenues.

The antique cars were joined by racers and spectators wearing vintage clothing, and a live band playing a rockabilly style of rock n roll.

Verne Hammond, of Burbank, California, participated in the Race of Gentlemen for the first time.

Hammond, 52, is a member of of the Burbank Choppers Club. He appeared on Rides, an automotive reality TV show that aired on TLC during the past decade. He was seen building a Model-T hot rod, nicknamed Bad News.

Hammond, who has been to hundreds of car events over the years, said he thought the Race of Gentlemen was one of the best. He knows one of the organizers of the event, Melford Robbins.

Hes come up with a really neat thing here. Wildwood is lucky, and he is lucky to have Wildwood, Hammond said.

Scott Sheehan, 40, traveled of Bay City, Michigan, to compete and show off his 1930 Model A Ford Roadster.

Sheehan used to race circuit-track cars when he was younger. Eventually, his track closed down and he couldnt do anything with his car.

He developed his interest in vintage cars in the early 2000s.

I had to find something to do to fill that fix for the racing. I started building old cars. I started hanging out with the old timers, who showed me the ropes, Sheehan said.

He heard about the Race of Gentlemen after its first year.

Ive been coming to this for the last five years. Ive been racing for the last three, Sheehan said.

He raced five times Saturday. He won three, lost one and swears the other race was too close to call.

Matt Lanigan, 41, of Olney, Maryland, brought his 1929 Model A Ford Roadster to the beach race.

Lanigan attended the event as a spectator once and has been racing in it for the past three years.

I raced a Model T. Then, this car with a different engine in it last year. Then, I changed engines and raced it this year, said Lanigan, who estimated he went down the track 10 times Saturday, the first racing day. I was a little more serious about it this year. But its for fun, to be here with all the people, the atmosphere.

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Stalwart of astronomy and proud family man – Gisborne Herald

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HE WAS a Gisborne Astronomical Society star but the late Huon Chandler preferred to stay out of the limelight, says society president John Drummond of his long-time friend.

Mr Chandler was the societys long-standing treasurer and public nights presenter.

Devoted to the society since the early 1970s, the Cook Observatory was like his second home, said Mr Drummond in his eulogy.

Few know he paid the monthly power bills out of his own pocket when the society was at its ebb.

He also regularly mowed the grass around the Cook Observatory for years and painted over graffiti as soon as it appeared on the observatory.

Mr Chandler ran public nights every Tuesday for about 25 years and his talks on cosmology and others aspects of astronomy were legendary.

Those public nights even made it into the New Zealand Lonely Planet section on Gisborne.

There are undoubtedly many other things that Huon did for the society and observatory that even I dont know, said Mr Drummond.

Born in Dunedin in 1947, Mr Chandler joined the Inland Revenue Department on leaving school. When his family moved to Gisborne a few years later, he moved here too.

He met his future wife, Carol, during a holiday in USA and in 1976. They married in Gisborne and raised two boys, Joseph and Matthew.

Mr Chandlers varied career usually included a computer.

A passionate reader, Mr Chandler had a particular penchant for science fiction and loved fantasy games.

When computer fantasy games became available, he was in his element.

He was equally in his element on starry nights.

Mr Drummond recalls those nights.

We discussed everything from astronomy, to politics, to God and, of course his family, which he always spoke of with pride and excitement.

I remember one night on the roof of the Cook Observatory when Huon and I were observing a meteor shower.

We got to talking about the movie Blazing Saddles and noticed more meteors.

Later we revisited that comedy-western and again saw an increase in meteors.

This happened a number of times during the night. It was a unique experience to us both and one that we joked about for many years after.

Mr Chandler died on May 26 after several months of illness.

Farewell my old meteor-observing buddy, said Mr Drummond.

May you shine like a star in your new abode forever.

HE WAS a Gisborne Astronomical Society star but the late Huon Chandler preferred to stay out of the limelight, says society president John Drummond of his long-time friend.

Mr Chandler was the societys long-standing treasurer and public nights presenter.

Devoted to the society since the early 1970s, the Cook Observatory was like his second home, said Mr Drummond in his eulogy.

Few know he paid the monthly power bills out of his own pocket when the society was at its ebb.

He also regularly mowed the grass around the Cook Observatory for years and painted over graffiti as soon as it appeared on the observatory.

Mr Chandler ran public nights every Tuesday for about 25 years and his talks on cosmology and others aspects of astronomy were legendary.

Those public nights even made it into the New Zealand Lonely Planet section on Gisborne.

There are undoubtedly many other things that Huon did for the society and observatory that even I dont know, said Mr Drummond.

Born in Dunedin in 1947, Mr Chandler joined the Inland Revenue Department on leaving school. When his family moved to Gisborne a few years later, he moved here too.

He met his future wife, Carol, during a holiday in USA and in 1976. They married in Gisborne and raised two boys, Joseph and Matthew.

Mr Chandlers varied career usually included a computer.

A passionate reader, Mr Chandler had a particular penchant for science fiction and loved fantasy games.

When computer fantasy games became available, he was in his element.

He was equally in his element on starry nights.

Mr Drummond recalls those nights.

We discussed everything from astronomy, to politics, to God and, of course his family, which he always spoke of with pride and excitement.

I remember one night on the roof of the Cook Observatory when Huon and I were observing a meteor shower.

We got to talking about the movie Blazing Saddles and noticed more meteors.

Later we revisited that comedy-western and again saw an increase in meteors.

This happened a number of times during the night. It was a unique experience to us both and one that we joked about for many years after.

Mr Chandler died on May 26 after several months of illness.

Farewell my old meteor-observing buddy, said Mr Drummond.

May you shine like a star in your new abode forever.

Originally posted here:

Stalwart of astronomy and proud family man - Gisborne Herald

Stein 2051B Shows How Gravity Can Bend Starlight – Sci-News.com

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The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed the nearby white dwarf star Stein 2051B as it passed in front of a background star. During the close alignment, Stein 2051B deflected the starlight, which appeared offset by about 2 milliarcseconds from its actual position. This deviation is so small that it is equivalent to observing an ant crawl across the surface of a quarter from 1,500 miles (2,300 km) away.

The white dwarf star Stein 2051B (center) is 17 light-years away and the background star is 5,000 light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / K. Sahu, STScI.

A century ago, Albert Einstein published his famous theory of relativity. He proposed that all objects physically warp the fabric of space, with larger masses producing a more pronounced effect, and very massive objects causing light to travel along curved paths through space.

Such an effect was first observed during the 1919 solar eclipse by English astronomer Arthur Eddington.

Scientists had to wait a century, however, to get a telescope powerful enough to detect this gravitational microlensing caused by a star outside the Solar System.

Even around objects with very large masses, such as stars, this effect is very slight, making such detections extremely challenging for ground-based telescopes. It is, however, within the capabilities of Hubble.

This Hubble image shows the binary star system Stein 2051 on October 1, 2013, consisting of the brighter, redder Stein 2051A component at lower right and the fainter, bluer Stein 2051B component near the center. Because these stars are only 17 light-years away they appear to move in the sky relative to the much more distant background stars in several months of observations with Hubble. The wavy blue line traces this motion, due to their true motion relative to the Sun combined with the parallax due to the motion of Earth around the Sun. Stein 2051B appeared to pass close enough to one of these background stars, labeled source that the light from the background star was bent due to the mass of the white dwarf. This color image was made by combining images taken in two filters with Hubbles Wide Field Camera 3. Image credit: NASA / ESA / K. Sahu, STScI.

Stein 2051B resides 17 light-years from Earth and forms a binary system with the red dwarf star Stein 2051A.

The background star is approximately 5,000 light-years away.

Space Telescope Science Institute researcher Dr. Kailash Sahu and co-authors observed Stein 2051B eight times within two years while the white dwarf traveled in front of the background star.

During the close alignment, the white dwarfs gravity bent the light from the distant star, making it appear offset by about 2 milliarcseconds from its actual position.

From this measurement, the astronomers calculated that the white dwarfs mass is 68% of the Suns mass.

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Stein 2051B Shows How Gravity Can Bend Starlight - Sci-News.com

3 Steps To Embedding Artificial Intelligence In Enterprise Applications – Forbes

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3 Steps To Embedding Artificial Intelligence In Enterprise Applications
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In the context of contemporary applications, it's hard to think of an application that doesn't use a database. From mobile to web to the desktop, every modern application relies on some form of a database. Some apps use flat files while others rely on ...

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3 Steps To Embedding Artificial Intelligence In Enterprise Applications - Forbes

How artificial intelligence is revolutionizing customer management – TNW

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A few years back, cloud computing transformed customer management, giving every small and medium business access to unified data and communication platforms without the need to make heavy investments in IT infrastructure and staff. This time around, the next revolution in the space is being driven by artificial intelligence algorithms that help businesses automate customer outreach and make optimal use of data.

Beneath the surface of the roiling sea of data were generating hide exceptional business and sales opportunities. But the problem is theres now more information available than limited human resources and legacy tools can handle.

Fortunately, making sense of data, both structured and unstructured, is something that artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly proficient at. While were still least decades away from human-level synthetic intelligenceAI that will match the human brain in reasoning and decision makingmachine learning algorithms, computer vision, natural language processing and generation (NLG/NLP), and other forms of narrow artificial intelligence are proving to be the best complement for human activity.

AI-powered tools are now helping scale the efforts of sales teams by gleaning useful patterns from data, finding successful courses of action, and taking care of the bulk of the work in addressing customer needs and grievances.

Main providers of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions have started to invest in the added value of AI. Last year, SalesForce, the leader in the CRM industry, announced Einstein, an AI assistant that, when launched, will be omnipresent across its platform. Einstein puts its AI chops to work to continuously study the flood of data SalesForces collects from sales, e-commerce activity, emails, IoT generated data and social media streams among others. The AI engine will then make suggestions across different use cases. For instance, it helps sales reps focus on the most promising leads based on engagement data analysis, or gives advice on when to trigger email campaigns according to customer response history.

SAP, another top competitor in the field, is also joining the fray by adding AI functionalities to its S/4HANA cloud ERP. The tacked-on features will give automated insights into the business data the system collects. This includes monitoring accounts or preparing lists of top vendors for an organization based on their pricing, past performance and ability to deliver.

Oracle also declared its cloud AI project earlier this year, called Adaptive Intelligence. The initiative involves a series of add-on applications that integrate with its cloud suite. These apps combine third-party data with real-time analytics to optimize decisions and recommendations in various domains. For example, the AI Offers app merges data from the company cloud and the Oracle Data Cloud to extract contextual insights into individual customer behaviors and provide personalized offers as visitors browse websites powered by the Commerce Cloud.

Other players are focusing on verticals and optimizing specific disciplines. Growbots, a lead generation platform, uses machine learning algorithms to automate the prospecting process and marketing campaigns. The platform uses machine learning algorithms to scan websites and gather publicly available information, and enrich its database of profiles about people and businesses. Growbots incorporates this information with client CRM data to identify new potential customers and create tailored prospect lists. The platform integrates with SalesForce and uses AI to enhance and automate email marketing, creating tailored emails for customers, scheduling campaigns and sending follow ups at opportune times. The AI engine uses Natural Language Processing to parse responses and channel positive replies to the sales team.

Such solutions can be a boon to salespersons who are under constant pressure to meet quotas. By enhancing and automating the routine-based parts of the business process, AI-powered tools enable sales teams to focus on their efforts on better serving the more complicated and human-demanding needs of customers. Over time, as these solutions continue to process company and customer data, they become more efficient in their functionality.

Another example is Conversica, an AI-powered assistant that functions like a sales employee and reaches out to anyone who has shown interest in the company, such as by downloading a whitepaper or requesting information from the website. The assistant processes replies from customers, determines feedback and potential questions and crafts a meaningful reply. The assistant passes off the lead to a human salesperson when the time is right.

Another interesting development in the space is the advent of customer service chatbots, which have become more popular in recent years. Powered by AI algorithms, these bots are becoming much more efficient at independently identifying and resolving customer problems through natural conversation. These assistants free up staff time for more critical and complicated tasks.

Amelia is a virtual customer assistant that uses natural language processing to understand customer queries and provide answer based on data gathered from previous interactions and the company knowledge base. According to estimates, Amelia solves 55 percent of incidents. When it doesnt have an answer or senses a frustration or hostility, it will pass on to a human operator.

Soul Machines, a eerily named startup based in New Zealand, is creating chatbots with expressive digital faces that understand and manifest human emotion. Nadia, the first iteration of their technology, uses AI algorithms to discern human tone and facial expression. The developers believe these chatbots will eventually create a richer experience and be able to engage customers at a much more personal level.

These are some of the trends that are transforming the ways businesses interact with their customers. AI-powered customer support and management will surely result in more satisfied and less frustrated customers, and more productive sales teams. We expect to see more exciting developments in the space in the coming months.

Read next: Thieves use Facebook tricks to steal your money and turn it into Bitcoin

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How Artificial Intelligence Is Revolutionizing Enterprise Software In 2017 – Forbes

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How Artificial Intelligence Is Revolutionizing Enterprise Software In 2017
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These and many other fascinating insights are from the Cowen and Company Multi-Sector Equity Research study, Artificial Intelligence: Entering A Golden Age For Data Science (142 pp., PDF, client access reqd). The study is based on interviews with 146 ...

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How Artificial Intelligence Is Revolutionizing Enterprise Software In 2017 - Forbes

China is outsmarting America in artificial intelligence – The Australian Financial Review

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Soren Schwertfeger, centre, and his team of assistants work on an automated arm at his artificial intelligence lab in Shanghai.

Soren Schwertfeger finished his postdoctorate research on autonomous robots in Germany and seemed set to continue his work in Europe or the United States, where artificial intelligence was pioneered and established.

Instead, he went to China.

"You couldn't have started a lab like mine elsewhere," Schwertfeger said.

The balance of power in technology is shifting. China, which for years watched enviously as the West invented the software and the chips powering today's digital age, has become a major player in artificial intelligence, what some think may be the most important technology of the future. Experts widely believe China is only a step behind the United States.

China's ambitions mingle the most far-out sci-fi ideas with the needs of an authoritarian state: Philip K. Dick meets George Orwell. There are plans to use it to predict crimes, lend money, track people on the country's ubiquitous closed-circuit cameras, alleviate traffic jams, create self-guided missiles and censor the internet.

Beijing is backing its artificial intelligence push with vast sums of money. Having already spent billions on research programs, China is readying a new multibillion-dollar initiative to fund moonshot projects, start-ups and academic research, all with the aim of growing China's AI capabilities, according to two professors who consulted with the government on the plan.

China's private companies are pushing deeply into the field as well, although the line between government and private in China sometimes blurs. Baidu often called the Google of China and a pioneer in artificial-intelligence-related fields, like speech recognition this year opened a joint company-government laboratory partly run by academics who once worked on research into Chinese military robots.

China is spending more just as the United States is cutting back. This past week, the Trump administration released a proposed budget that would slash funding for a variety of government agencies that have traditionally backed artificial intelligence research.

"It's a race in the new generation of computing," said James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "The difference is that China seems to think it's a race and America doesn't."

For Schwertfeger, the money mattered. He received a grant six times larger than what he might have gotten in Europe or America. That enabled him to set up a full artificial intelligence lab, with an assistant, a technician and a group of PhDstudents.

"It's almost impossible for assistant professors to get this much money," he said. "The research funding is shrinking in the USand Europe. But it is definitely expanding in China."

Schwertfeger's lab, which is part of ShanghaiTech University, works on ways for machines, without aid from humans, to avoid obstacles. Decked out with wheeled robots, drones and sensors, the lab works on ways for computers to make their own maps and to improve the performance of robots with tasks like finding objects specifically, people during search-and-rescue operations.

Much of China's artificial intelligence push is similarly peaceful. Still, its prowess and dedication have set off alarms within the USdefence establishment. The Defense Department found that Chinese money had been pouring into USartificial intelligence companies some of the same ones it had been looking to for future weapons systems.

Quantifying China's spending push is difficult, because Chinese authorities disclose little. But experts say it looks to be considerable. Numerous provinces and cities are spending billions on developing robotics, and a part of that funding is likely to go to artificial intelligence research. For example, the city of Xiangtan, in China's Hunan province, has pledged $US2 billion toward developing robots and artificial intelligence. Other places have direct incentives for the AI industry. In Suzhou, leading artificial intelligence companies can get about $US800,000 in subsidies for setting up shop locally, while Shenzhen, in southern China, is offering $US1 million to support any AI project established there.

On a national level, China is working on a system to predict events like terrorist attacks or labour strikes based on possible precursors like labour strife. A paper funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China showed how facial recognition software could be simplified so that it could be more easily integrated with cameras across the country.

China is preparing a concerted nationwide push, according to the two professors who advised on the effort but declined to be identified, because the effort had not yet been made public. While the size wasn't clear, they said, it would most likely result in billions of dollars in spending.

Trump's proposed budget, meanwhile, would reduce the National Science Foundation's spending on intelligent systems by 10 per cent, to about $US175 million. Research and development in other areas would also be cut, although the proposed budget does call for more spending on defence research and some supercomputing. The cuts would essentially shift more research and development to private UScompanies like Google and Facebook.

"The previous administration was preparing for a future with artificial intelligence," said Subbarao Kambhampati, president of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial intelligence. "They were talking about increasing basic research for artificial intelligence. Instead of increases, we are now being significantly affected."

China's money won't necessarily translate into dominance. The government's top-down approach, closed-mouth bureaucracy and hoarding of information can hobble research. It threw a tremendous amount of resources toward curing severe acute respiratory syndrome, the deadly virus known as SARS, when it swept through the country 15 years ago. Yet the virus was eventually sequenced and tamed by a small Canadian lab, said Clay Shirky, a professor at NYU Shanghai and a technology writer.

"It wasn't that anyone was trying to stop the development of a SARS vaccine," Shirky said. "It's the habit that yes is more risky than no."

Authorities in China are now bringing top-down attention to fixing the problem of too much top-down control. While that may not sound promising, Wang Shengjin, a professor of electronic engineering at China's Tsinghua University, said he had noticed some improvement, such as professional groups sharing information, and authorities who are rolling back limits on professors claiming ownership of their discoveries for commercial purposes.

"The lack of open sources and sharing of information, this has been the reality," Wang said. "But it has started to change."

At the moment, cooperation and exchanges in artificial intelligence between the United States and China are largely open, at least from the USside. Chinese and USscholars widely publish their findings in journals accessible to all, and researchers from China are major players in USresearch institutions.

Chinese tech giants like Baidu, Tencent and Didi Chuxing have opened artificial intelligence labs in America, as have some Chinese start-ups. Over the past six years, Chinese investors helped finance 51 USartificial intelligence companies, contributing to the $US700 million raised, according to the recent Pentagon report.

It's unclear how long the cooperation will continue. The Pentagon report urged more controls. And while there are government and private pushes out of China, it is difficult to tell which is which, as Baidu shows.

Baidu is a leader in China's artificial intelligence efforts. It is working on driverless cars. It has turned an app that started as a visual dictionary take a picture of an object, and your cellphone will tell you what it is into a site that uses facial recognition to find missing people, a major problem in a country where child kidnapping has been persistent. In one stunning example, it helped a family find a child kidnapped 27 years earlier. DNA testing confirmed the family connection.

Baidu's speech-recognition software which can accomplish the difficult task of hearing tonal differences in Chinese dialects is considered top of the class. When Microsoft announced last October that its speech recognition software had surpassed human-level language recognition, Baidu's head of research at the time playfully reminded the UScompany that his team had accomplished a similar feat a year earlier.

In an apparent effort to harness Baidu's breakthroughs, China said this year that it would open a lab that would cooperate with the company on AI research. The facility will be headed by two professors with long experience working for government programs designed to catch up to and replace foreign technology. Both professors also worked on a program called the Tsinghua Mobile Robot, according to multiple academic papers published on the topic. Research behind the robot, which in one award is described as a "military-use intelligent ground robot", was sponsored by funding to improve Chinese military capabilities.

Li Wei, a professor involved in the Baidu cooperative effort, spent much of his career at Beihang University, one of China's seven schools of national defense.

A company spokeswoman said: "Baidu develops products and services that improve people's lives. Through its partnership with the AI research community, Baidu aims to make a complicated world simpler through technology."

Still, there are advantages in China's developing cutting-edge AI on its own. National efforts are aided by access to enormous amounts of data held by Chinese companies and universities, the large number of Chinese engineers being trained on either side of the Pacific and from government backing, said Wang, of Tsinghua.

Driving that attention is a breakthrough from a UScompany largely banned in China: Google. In March 2016, a Google artificial intelligence system, AlphaGo, beat a South Korean player at the complicated strategy game Go, which originated in China. This past week, AlphaGo beat the best player in the world, a Chinese national, at a tournament in Wuzhen, China.

The Google event changed the tenor of government discussions about funding, according to several Chinese professors.

"After AlphaGo came out and had such a big impact on the industry," said Zha Hongbin, a professor of machine learning at Peking University, "the content of government discussions got much wider and more concrete."

Shortly afterward, the government created a new project on brain-inspired computing, he added.

For all the government support, advances in the field could ultimately backfire, Shirky said. Artificial intelligence may help China better censor the internet, a task that often blocks Chinese researchers from finding vital information. At the same time, better AI could make it easier for Chinese readers to translate articles and other information.

"The fact is," Shirky said, "unlike automobile engineering, artificial intelligence will lead to surprises. That will make the world considerably less predictable, and that's never been Beijing's favourite characteristic."

Additional research by Carolyn Zhang in Shanghai

The New York Times

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China is outsmarting America in artificial intelligence - The Australian Financial Review

Emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) Leaders: Rana el Kaliouby, Affectiva – Forbes

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Emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) Leaders: Rana el Kaliouby, Affectiva
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Without our emotions, we can't make smart decisions, says Rana el Kaliouby. In the field of artificial intelligence, this is sheer heresy. Isn't the goal of AI to create a machine with human-level intelligence but without the human baggage of ...

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Emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) Leaders: Rana el Kaliouby, Affectiva - Forbes

Artificial Intelligence for Good sees development applications – Devex

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Sophia, a human-like robot, being interviewed during the AI for Global Good Summit in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo by: International Telecommunication Union/ CC BY

Perhaps the most photographed individual at the AI for Global Good Summitin Geneva, Switzerland, last week was not a human but a humanoid called Sophia.

As I get smarter, I hope to understand people better help you, work with you as a friend, to imagine and build a better future for us all, Sophia, an uncannily human-like robot, said in a Facebook Liveinterview.

In that interview and onstage at the summit, her eyebrows lifted, she smiled gently, and her eyes lit up as she answered questions from the audience, with moments where only the glimpse of cords behind her face revealed that she is a machine.

Hanson Robotics developed Sophia as part of its mission to create genius machines that live and love, and work together with humans to build a a smarter and better future. Her creator, Dr. David Hanson, appeared alongside Sophiaat the summit, presenting her as an example of his work to develop robots that can learn creativity, empathy and compassion. These are the traits he thinks must be combined with artificial intelligence so that robots can solve problems too complex for people to solve on their own.

Sophias appearance placed her amongst some of the leading minds across academia and industry who are helping humanitarian agencies examine how AI can help meet global goals.

Discussions centered around how AI is already changing the world, ways to harness the technologys potential for good, and challenges ranging from policy to security to privacy in advancing the contributions of AI to the Sustainable Development Goals. Sessions explored applications of AI, including advancing the personalization of education, augmenting medical practice and health care policy, and improving smart cities. The event was convened by the XPRIZE Foundationand the United Nations International Telecommunications Unionin partnership with 20 U.N. agencies.

How artificial intelligence might help achieve the SDGs

Global development professionals are working on complex problems that might appeal to machine learning experts looking to use their artificial intelligence skills for good. A growing number of efforts are bringing these communities together.

Artificial Intelligence has the potential to accelerate progress towards a dignified life, in peace and prosperity, for all people, saidU.N. Secretary-General Antnio Guterres. The time has arrived for all of us governments, industry and civil society to consider how AI will affect our future.

The summit represents the beginnings of the U.N.s efforts to ensure advances in AI can benefit all of humanity,he said. The event was part of a broader conversation as a number of actors in the development community are looking at how AI could augment their work, for example by helping organizations to analyze and act upon the enormous volumes of data they are collecting.

Last week, chief strategy officers gathered for the World Economic Forums Industry Strategy Meetingin San Francisco asked whether AI needs a Hippocratic oath, and discussed ways to train computer scientists to understand the ethical implications of the technologies they are developing.

I actually find it hard to name a major industry that I dont think AI can transform in the next several years.

Industry experts predict that AI could have a huge disrupting effect, with all the benefits and risks that follow.

AI is the new electricity, Andrew Ng, one of the leading thinkers on artificial intelligence, told Devex at a recent eventat Stanford University on the role of AI in achieving the SDGs. I actually find it hard to name a major industry that I dont think AI can transform in the next several years.

Ng is the co-founder of the education technology company Coursera, having recently led the AI efforts at Baidu, the Chinese search engine, and at Google, where he founded and led the Google Brain project, developing deep learning algorithms. Now he says he wants to advance AI beyond the tech world.

The most obvious cases for AI use include anything a typical human can do in less than a second of thought, he said. Image recognition is one common example, but AI also has powerful applications in education and health care in both the developed and developing world, said Ng.

We believe that AI is a transformative platform that will improve everything, Zenia Tata, executive director of global development at XPRIZE, told Devex via email. As such, the implications for development professionals are huge. Whether you are working in health care, water quality, market access for smallholder farmers or financial services for the underserved, AI will help you do it better in so many ways, as an example it will help with rapidly analyzing data and create predictive models.

As they have done with other technologies, developing countries may be able to leapfrog with some AI applications, because there are fewer regulatory barriers there for entrepreneurs looking to test these technologies, Ng said.

Yet while developing countries stand to benefit, they also face the greatest risk of being left behind, Guterres of the U.N. said.

One of the sessions at the summit in Geneva centered around promoting equality in access to AI. Discussions centered around how to ensure access to potential beneficial applications, such as diagnosing disease or promoting democracy.

Among the risks going forward will be the potential impact on the labor force. Several speakers at the AI for Global Good summit urged policymakers to begin preparing the workforce for new jobs in a future that is about human machine collaboration.

Technologists such as Ng have argued for the need to rethink social safety nets, and his preferred option is a conditional basic income, through which people are paid if they are unemployed, with the expectation that they study.

The global development community can be a strong partner in working to ensure that AI benefits everyone, said Ruchit Garg, the founder of Harvesting, which applies AI techniques to satellite imagery to drive financial inclusion for farmers.

This starts with understanding what AI is, how this may or may not work for various sections of society in different settings, creating platforms like this global summit to create dialogue between relevant global players, and finally facilitating standards and guidelines for industry to adopt which can ensure development of AI in [a way that] brings good to humanity in inclusive way, he said.

There is a precedent, he said: The ITU helped define telecommunications industry standards such as 3G, 5G, and Long Term Evolution. The organization could play a similar role in standardizing AI.

Christopher Fabian of UNICEFsaid in an interview at the summitthat he hopes to see development organizations launch partnerships with technology companies, as UNICEF has done with drones and UAVs, to move from conversation to action on AI for good.

If we can help to define some of the greatest needs in the world, and also a path to profit, how business can be involved with those needs, he said, we can create both more consistent and solid businesses but also help those who most need it.

Read more international development newsonline, and subscribe to The Development Newswireto receive the latest from the worlds leading donors and decision-makers emailed to you free every business day.

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Israel Aerospace Industries Launch Simulated Air Battle Training bet. Lavi and Enemy Aircraft – The Jewish Press – JewishPress.com

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Photo Credit: Courtesy IAI

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) will provide the EHUD, ACMI system to the Israeli Air Force to be used by the corps training between combat aircraft and the Lavi training airplanes.

The IAF has ordered the air combat maneuvering instrumentation (ACMI) systems from IAIs MALAM division. MALAM is IAIs system house and the developer and manufacturer of the esteemed, long-standing EHUD training system. To date, more than 1,000 air combat maneuvering instrumentation systems have been shipped, as well as hundreds of debriefing systems.

EHUD is also the standard ACMI of NATO nations.

The EHUD will be mounted on the corps various combat aircraft as part of the training schedule until installation of fixed systems. In this way, the 4th generation combat aircraft will be able to undertake combat scenarios with the Lavi, which are already equipped with the EHUD communication system.

The use of the EHUD opens the door for shared live drills and debriefing with the Lavi airplanes based on the EHUD network, as is already being carried out by Italy and other countries. This is made possible thanks to IAIs capacity to perform Live, Virtual, Constructive drills (LVC) with the newest and most advanced generation of EHUD.

In addition to this application, IAI is providing on-demand training services, assigning training experts to run and oversee the debriefing systems in a range of the air force activities.

Jacob Galifat, General Manager of the IAI/MALAM Division, Missiles & Space Group, said in a statement: MALAM provides training services to the Air Force and supports multinational drills to allow our clients to experience the best, most modern training methods and make the most of every training sortie efficiently and accurately. Our technologies leverage the new, state-of-the-art capabilities of EHUD and allow us to provide network support for LVC formats. This is natural evolution of the long-standing EHUD system, which is deployed extensively across the globe.

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Israel Aerospace Industries Launch Simulated Air Battle Training bet. Lavi and Enemy Aircraft - The Jewish Press - JewishPress.com

Aerospace looks to robotic systems as orders backlog grows – The Engineer

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Jason Ford, news editor

The Paris Air Show launches next week with business appearing to be brisk for UK companies supplying the aerospace sector.

Trade body ADS announced on 30 May, 2017 that the worldwide backlog of aircraft orders stands at over 13,300, which is the fifth highest level recorded. So far this year, companies have delivered 406 aircraft, which has an estimated value of 8bn to UK industry. Of this figure, 5.5bn is attributed to deliveries of 109 wide-body aircraft and 2.5bn to single-aisle aircraft.

More normally associated with Everett, north of Seattle in Washington State, Boeing today reiterated its contribution to the UK economy with figures that show a tripling of direct spending with UK suppliers to 2.1bn over the past six years. According to Boeing, this has helped to support around 16,500 jobs, which increased by 80 per cent over the same period.

Furthermore, the companys payroll includes 2,200 employees in the UK who are supporting local airline, military and security customers.

Boeing continues to find significant talent and supply chain capability, a strong market and world-class partners in the UK, said Sir Michael Arthur, president of Boeing Europe and managing director of Boeing UK and Ireland.

Earlier in the year The Engineer reported on Boeings plans to open its first manufacturing plant in Europe with a facility in Sheffield that will produce trailing-edge actuation systems for Next-Generation 737, 737 MAX and 777 aircraft.

The 20m investment by Boeing is part of broader plans to for the US aviation giant to begin in-house manufacturing of actuation components and systems in the US and Britain.

Whilst not leaving aerospace OEMs hamstrung, there are elements within production processes that that would benefit from the help of robotic tools, such as in riveting, which can have detrimental physical effects on the people performing the job.

To this end, Boeing has introduced FAUB (Fuselage Automated Upright Build) on its 777 line in Everett.

Meanwhile, Airbus is also no stranger to robotic systems, as research investigating the feasibility of co-robotic systems (co-bots) has shown, a situation reflected at Ford Motor Company, where co-bots are being assessed across a range of assembly line tasks.

More broadly, a report from Markets and Markets shows that the aerospace robotics market is projected to grow from $1.81bn in 2016 to $4.54bn by 2022, at a compound annual growth rate of 16.55 per cent. Increasing use of robots for efficient aircraft production, growing use of robotics to handle aircraft order backlogs, and increasing labour costs are factors identified in the report as driving the aerospace robotics market.

The 52nd Paris Air Show will take place at the Le Bourget Parc des Expositions from19 to 25 June 2017. Following Paris, UK Robotics Week starts on 24 June, with robotics and autonomous systems taking centre stage.

As well as celebrating Britains strengths in robotics and autonomous systems, the event will seek to engage the nations schools, colleges and universities in developing the digital skills needed to drive the UKs future economy.

In his piece titled UK must rise to robotics and AI challenge (link below), Prof Guang-Zhong Yang, Chair of the EPSRC UK-Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) Network, discusses UK Robotics Week, and the significance of robotics and AI innovation in the governments recently announced Industrial Strategy.

According to Prof Yang, Robotics Week will feature four Challenges:

More on these challenges and importance of robotics and RAS to the UK economy can be found at UK must rise to robotics and AI challenge

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Aerospace looks to robotic systems as orders backlog grows - The Engineer

An Imaginative Aerospace Engineer Turned This Classic Lego Space Shuttle Into a Flying Toy – Gizmodo

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As a follow-up to turning the classic Lego Solo Trainer set into a fully-functional RC plane, aerospace engineer Adam Woodworth is back with an even more impressive build: he somehow made this tiny 27-year-old Lego Space Shuttle actually fly.

Many of us probably remember set #1682, Space Shuttle Launch, released way back in 1990. After all, it carried so many of our Lego minifigures into imaginary orbit.

Adam rebuilds the entire set from scratch, but alashe leaves out the details where he somehow managed to make the shuttle itself fly. Looking at his Instagram account, however, reveals that he most likely built a duplicate of the shuttle out of paper so that it was light enough to take off with just three tiny propellers on the underside.

[YouTube]

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An Imaginative Aerospace Engineer Turned This Classic Lego Space Shuttle Into a Flying Toy - Gizmodo