Camila Cabello’s Beauty Evolution – TeenVogue.com

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Camila Cabello's Beauty Evolution - TeenVogue.com

Meteorologist applies biological evolution to forecasting – Science Daily

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Science Daily
Meteorologist applies biological evolution to forecasting
Science Daily
So Roebber applied a mathematical equivalent of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to the problem. He devised a method in which one computer program sorts 10,000 other ones, improving itself over time using strategies, such as heredity, mutation and ...

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‘Mating’ Robots Take a Fast-Forward Leap in Digital Darwinism – Live Science

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We might as well just give up control over the planet right now. In recently published research, scientists detail a set of experiments in which robots real, physical machines improved themselves through a kind of digital Darwinism. The bots, each drawing from a collective "gene pool," competed with one another over multiple generations, gradually swapping genetic material in a process akin to sexual reproduction. The research articleappearedin the journalFrontiers in Robotics and AI. While this kind ofevolutionary roboticsresearch has been around a while, the new study presents an important step forward in assessing the evolutionary dynamics of physically embodied robots and it suggests that we're mashing the fast-forward button on the impending robotic revolution. Researchers from Vassar College set up an experiment in which 10 small-wheeled robots all of them a model of the Ana BBot, manufactured by Johuco Ltd. were issued the same task: to gather beams of light while avoiding certain obstacles. Each bot was also issued its own set of "genes" a specific pattern of wires connected to pins on a circuit board.

Ana BBot, a mobile robot that is programmable using jumper wires to connect sensors and motors.

RELATED: Stopping Killer Robots at the Source (Code) It turns out that the experiment didn't reveal anything particularly dramatic. The robots didn't evolve better light-capturing or object-avoidance skills. But the experiment did reveal the importance of tracking the developmental factor in evolutionary robotics. "It is important to note that our goal was not to show adaptive evolution per se, but rather to test the hypothesis that epigenetic factors can alter the evolutionary dynamics of a population of physically embodied robots," wrote Brawer and Hill. Notably, all the bots had lost mobility entirely by the end of the experiment, since the mating algorithm allowed low-fitness individuals to remain in the gene pool and reproduce. So maybe there's still hope for us after all.

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'Mating' Robots Take a Fast-Forward Leap in Digital Darwinism - Live Science

IRSD dominates state robotics tournament – Sussex Countian

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Two teams headed to world competition

VEX Robotics has only just been introduced in the Indian River School District, yet two IRSD teams beat schools from across the state to advance to this years VEX Worlds competition.

Much of the programs success in southern Delaware is due to Georgetown Elementary School assistant principal Travis Bower, who taught Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM at Selbyville Middle School before taking the job in Georgetown. GES and SMS are the only Indian River schools offering VEX Robotics programs.

Its a very young program in Delaware, Bower said. Its teaching them a lot of STEM skills theyre going to use down the road if they choose a STEM career, but it also teaches them how to problem-solve. Rather than getting upset and worrying about it, they think about how they can get in there and fix it.

The VEX Robotics company creates hands-on STEM learning tools like robots for educators, while the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation fosters STEM and interpersonal skills in students through robotics competitions, camps, workshops and conferences. The RECF hosts competitions in communities around the world, which culminate each year at the VEX Worlds, April 19-25 this year at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville.

Robotics teams qualify by winning regional competitions. In the United States, those are organized by state. The Delaware teams at the elementary, middle and high school levels competed in March at Wesley College. Countries like China, Singapore, New Zealand, Bahrain, the United Kingdom, Russia, Ethiopia, Paraguay and Egypt are among those sending winners from their own regional divisions.

Selbyville Middle STEM teacher and robotics coach Jon Casto said the competition is a great experience for students.

Even just traveling to another state, some of them have never been on a plane, he said. Theyre forming friendships with kids from around the world.

All the kids are doing it

At Georgetown Elementary, students in grades 3-5 can participate in after-school robotics. Bowers and teachers Nicole Morey and Dickey Messick coach the team. The program, in its second year, is extremely popular among students. This year, the coaches put the kids who started last year on the competition team, taking on all 60 of the sign-ups for robotics basics.

Fifth-grader Wyatt Warner and fourth-graders Addison Layne and Kayla Betts will represent Delaware elementary schools in Louisville. Theyve been meeting once a week since the school year began, and more often as competition time gets closer.

The elementary school competition, VEX IQ Crossover, takes place on a ping-pong table-size board with short walls on all sides. The board does not change, but its design does. Last year, robots placed round balls into nets. This year, the students are working with hex balls, shaped like jacks, and must place them in square slots. Just moving the hex balls from one side of the board to the other scores the team points, but more points are scored for getting them in the slots or for getting the robot onto the bridge that connects the two sides of the board.

Dower said the students designed the robot on their own.

They engineered it, he said. They programmed it.

The teams work with robot kits which contain everything needed to build a battery-powered robot. The design is up to them.

The design is critical because the robot has to be able to pick up the hex ball, remain upright and move across the board, plus other moves. To do all that, it has to be programmed to work with a handheld controller that the students operate. At Georgetown Elementary, learning to program is part of the curriculum. The students connect the robot to a computer and type in the code.

In addition to designing and building the robot, students complete a journal, logging everything theyve done in preparation. On the elementary school level, students must also create a project in which they research ways in which robotics could benefit their communities. The GES team chose tractorless farming.

Addison said tractorless farming would allow farmers to spend more time with their families. But theyre still in testing, she said.

At the state competition, Addison, Kayla and Wyatt bested 11 other schools for the excellence award and the right to compete at VEX Worlds. Compete, however, is misleading in this case; regional winning teams are randomly paired and have to work together to earn points. Bower said language barriers can sometimes be a challenge, but thats just another tool for teaching cooperation.

Its interesting, he said. Right now, Im just giving them my phone to use Google Translate.

Bigger kids, bigger challenges

A bit farther south, at Selbyville Middle School, sixth-graders Kaitlin Johnson and Evan Carpenter and seventh-grader Kendall Coleman are working on a bigger scale.

The board at the middle school level is a 12-by-12-foot space on the floor, with fence-like barriers on two sides. The Vex IQ Challenge requires they use their robot to move stars, or bigger jack-shaped objects, past the fence, by either lifting them over or pushing them under it. In addition to the stars, each team gets a cube, pre-placed on the robot, which, when moved to the other side of the fence, also scores them points. Middle school teams must keep a journal of their activities, but arent required to complete a research project like the elementary school teams.

In addition to working with a bigger board, middle school students must design a bigger robot. The SMS team has designed and redesigned their robot four times this year, and is particularly proud of their robots ability to lift the cube over the fence.

Kendall said their first design had a claw, but it didnt lift high enough, said Kendall.

Then we built a scissor lift, but the wheels had too much friction, so it would overheat, Kendall said. We tried a longer claw design, but that didnt work.

The wheels of progress turn slowly. While third-graders at Georgetown Elementary knew how to code, the SMS team students did not, as coding wasnt a part of the curriculum when they were that age. Fortunately, Kendall learned to code from previous team members, and is in turn teaching her current team members.

While the elementary and high school level robotics programs in Delaware seem to be growing exponentially, there are fewer teams on the middle school level. SMS had just one competitor at the state competition this year: Talley Middle School of Wilmington. Nevertheless, SMS took home the excellence award and will head to Kentucky, accompanied by coaches and SMS teachers Casto and Tommie Morrison.

Almost 1,000 teams from elementary, middle and high schools, or their countrys equivalent, will compete at VEX Worlds this year. On the high school level, Cape Henlopen, Appoquinimink and Cab Calloway High Schools will be representing Delaware. Each teams trip is funded through donations and grants.

Were still fundraising, Bower said. We got a grant from RECF, which was cool, and we got a lot of local businesses to donate, even DuPont.

The SMS students are doing their own fundraising, holding bake sales and other events. If youre interested in donating toward their trip, contact the school.

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Broncos, Arrow team up to power Colorado robotics team to international competition – DenverBroncos.com (blog)

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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. For 4388 Ridgebotics, a Fort Collins-based competitive robotics team with championship dreams, a sponsor was its only hope. The trip to Houston for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship seemed to be financially out of reach that is, until the Denver Broncos and Arrow Electronics stepped in.

The Broncos and Arrow had announced they would work with Colorado FIRST to select a robotics team they could sponsor to help reach the international championship, which hosts teams from 39 countries and takes place from April 19-23. After qualifying for the championship in the regional competition that took place March 24 at the University of Denver, Ridgebotics also received the sponsorship after being identified as a team in need of funding.

"Before the sponsorship, we weren't sure if we were going to go, considering the funding that we had at that time," Ridgebotics' captain Carissa Vos said. "So we were all looking forward to when we heard we could apply for this and potentially get it. ... And once we found out we got it, we were super excited. We've been awaiting this day ever since."

For many members of the team who are also Broncos fans, the funding isn't even the best part. The best part is being able to represent the Broncos.

"I can't even describe it," Vos said. "Once we found out, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, we're going to have the Broncos' logo on the back of our shirts and ... we're going to have the Broncos and Arrow [as] part of our name when they announce our team a couple times throughout the competition.' And we have the jerseys and some pants and hats that's just super cool, too.

As part of the sponsorship, the Broncos invited Ridgebotics to visit UCHealth Training Center, where they gave the young engineers an opportunity to get an inside look Friday at how the team operates. The Ridgebotics members also received shirts, hats and a pair of Broncos jerseys representing the team name before they were to leave for the four-day competition.

The students were pleasantly surprised the Broncos had a sponsorship for a high-school robotics team, as those on the Ridgebotics team knew they would need some help to get to Houston.

When it was announced at [FIRST Robotics Competition] Kickoff, that was just really cool to see, Vos said. "And I was like, All right, weve got to go for that."

Three other Colorado teams joined Ridgebotics in qualifying for the national competition: Longmont's Up A Creek Robotics, Denver's Thomas Jefferson High School and Colorado Springs' Cougars Gone Wild.

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RightHand robotics has automated a new type of warehouse work … – Quartz

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Amazon, the largest US ecommerce company, has about 45,000 robots working in its warehouses, but so far they dont seem to be taking jobs from people. Thats partly because todays commercially feasible robots are only capable of doing a small piece of the work involved in packaging an order.

But robots may soon take on a larger share of warehouse work.

A startup called RightHand robotics recently began piloting technology that automates a task robots have previously struggled to master: recognizing and picking up items from boxes. RightHand cant say which companies are part of its pilot project and Amazon didnt reply to a request for comment. But the new technology could help the ecommerce giant with a problem that has long vexed it.

Like robots elsewhere, Amazons robots retrieve entire shelves and transport them to humans who pick out items from them. They can find and move a shelf that holds a box of shirts, but they arent capable of removing the single shirt from that box to be packed into an order.

In order to pick items from boxes, robots need to master the more complex task of identifying a wide range of objects and adjusting their grips accordingly. Amazon has said this particular feat remains a difficult challenge and the company hosts an annual picking challenge in which robots compete to solve it. The best robot yet is still too slow and too inaccurate to be commercially feasible. Last year, the robot that won the $50,000 prize moved items at a speed of 100 items per hour and failed to pick up and move the correct item around 17% of the time, according to TechRepublic.

RightHand robotics, which was started by a team of researchers from Harvard Biorobotics Lab, the Yale Grab Lab, and MIT, built a solution called RightPick that, according to co-founder Leif Jentoft, can pick items at a rate of 500 to 600 per houra speed on par with a human worker. It uses a machine learning background and a sensorized robot hand to recognize and handle thousands of items.

The robots still arent as good as humans. They get stumped by stuff wrapped in plastic or things partly obscured by other items, for instance. But RightPick is functional enough to be deployed in pilot programs at warehouses of unnamed companies, where the machines are picking thousands of orders. Its just a matter of time [before the technology is good enough to be widely deployed], says Bruce Welty, the founder of Locus Robotics, who started both a company that makes warehouse robots and a fulfillment company that ships more than $1 billion of ecommerce orders each year. Theyll definitely get there. Whether its one year, two years, I dont know.

RightHands Jentoft said robots in the pilot programs are being used mostly to pick items from boxes. Packing items to be shipped requires more complex tasks like removing hangars and nestling items into boxes in a way that fits best. Which means that for the time being, warehouses still will need to hire human warehouse workers, but fewer of them. Youre able to do much more with your people, thats for sure, Jentoft says. Amazon said in January that it will create 100,000 full-time US jobsfor peoplewithin the next 18 months.

Like many executives in the fulfillment industry, Jentoft argues that warehouses face a shortage of labor. The biggest challenge in the industry is trying to find the quality people, he says. And its hard to mourn the loss of boring, low-paying, grueling jobs. But as ecommerce sucks more business from traditional retail, and more of the jobs involved in ecommerce get automated, its still not clear exactly where new jobs will be found.

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RightHand robotics has automated a new type of warehouse work ... - Quartz

Robotics Team Raising Funds for Competition – ithaca.com

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With the lack of funding for public education it can be difficult for school districts to fund all of its programs, including extra curriculars.

At Trumansburg Central School District, the case is no different. The Trumansburg Robotics Team, also known as Team 5254 HYPE (Helping Youth Pursue Excellence), is one of those examples.

It is an organization that supports the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) studies. Students can also receive scholarships through the robotics team.

Team HYPE is only four years old, but has already made a mark for the district. Last year members competed at the national level and were ranked 28 out of 3,140 teams.

Our programs mission is to show students that science, technology, problem solving and business development are not only fun and rewarding, but are proven paths to successful careers and a bright future for us all, wrote the Trumansburg High School Robotics Team in its donation letter for funding.

The team recently took part in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Finger Lakes Regional event, where it made the semi-finals.

The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is the 'Varsity Sport for the Mind,' combining the excitement of sports with the rigors of science and technology, said Brad Farnham, lead advisor. Opportunities for our students to gain experience in engineering and computer science are limited in our school district. Our robotics program helps bridge that gap. Students participating in FIRST Programs experience improved problem solving skills, time management skills, conflict resolution skills and strengthened communication skills. School engagement increases and nationally, almost 90 percent of FIRST Alumni are either studying or working in a STEM field. Plus FIRST participants also gain access to over $25 million in college scholarships.

From March 29-April 1 the team competed at the SBPLI Regional event hoping to earn a spot at the World Championships in St. Louis.

Team HYPE is funded completely by community support. They rely on company sponsorships, grants, donations and fundraisers in order to run.

Team HYPE will be hosting a Robo Jam on Saturday, Aug. 8 from 2-6 p.m. at the Trumansburg American Legion, 4431 East Seneca Rd. to help raise funds for the World Championships. The team needs to raise another $20,000 to attend the competition.

Robo Jam will feature live music from Stone Cold Miracle, Perry City 5, Maplewood Jazz Team, Ryan and Nico and Singledowt.

A silent auction will be taking place, with items donated by local businesses. There will also be a chicken barbecue dinner.

Pre-sale tickets are $10 and they are $12 at the door. Meals will also include Cornell or red marinade, salt potatoes, pasta ring salad and a roll.

To order tickets for the chicken barbecue ahead, email Andy@TrumansburgRobotics.org

There is no charge to attend the event, but donations will be accepted.

Donations for Team HYPE can also be made at gofundme.com/5254-team-hype.

For more information on Robo Jam call (607) 387-7801. For more information on Team HYPE visit frc5254.com.

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Robotics Team Raising Funds for Competition - ithaca.com

The Museum of Science and Industry Prepares For National … – CBS Chicago

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April 7, 2017 5:43 PM

CHICAGO (CBS) Some of the most creative young minds in robotics will be showing off their creations at The Museum of Science and Industry as it prepares for National Robotics Week.

CBS 2s Vince Gerasole got a sneak peek at the artificial intelligence on display.

Of course, a self-driving mini truck is passing by, this is the Museum of Science and Industry and it even has a name

Its husky, like the dog, said Andrea Daniele, University of Chicago.

Husky is a robot, born in the computer labs of the University of Chicago to do more than run and catch a ball.

Right now its collecting data with the environment and obstacles, Daniele said.

That means Huskys camera and sensors are mapping the environment around him, to navigate the busy corridors of the museum by himself.

You can estimate the orientation and the speed of each person walking, Daniele said.

CBS 2: So right now sensors are picking up the people around us?

Daniele: Yes.

Co-creator Andrea Daniele said Huskys technology can be finessed to help those who cant walk.

We can think about something like that for a robotic wheelchair, Daniele said.

Once it seemed robots only inhabited galaxies far, far away; but the tiny drones that navigate this obstacle course at the Museum of Science and Industry are robots too.

Robotics is an emerging field, said Kathleen McCarthy, Head Curator Museum of Science and Industry.

They are among the creations on display for the upcoming National Robotics Week.

I see so many cool inventions people who are taking this technology and pushing it in useful and creative ways, McCarthy said.

Science fiction may entertain us with dreams of robotic futures, but these scientists dream to help us live better lives today.

The interesting thing about robotics is people can work together ideas from different research areas, Daniele said.

Husky might remind you of a Roomba vacuum, the difference here is he can avoid collisions with moving objects, which could lead to that robotic wheelchair Daniele was talking about.

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The Museum of Science and Industry Prepares For National ... - CBS Chicago

Elon Musk: Australian man pens desperate letter to download his brain – NEWS.com.au

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One of the many images produced by the Human Conectome Project, but can such science ever lead to brain uploading?

IF you could, would you want to live forever even if it meant existing in a virtual world?

That is the desperate goal of Australian man Philip Rhoades, the founder of a body-freezing cryonics lab and a brain preserving company called the Neural Archives Foundation.

The latter consists of scientifically preserved brains stored all over the country including those of his recently deceased parents waiting for the day when their contents might be uploaded to a computer.

Of course the science underpinning such an ambitious idea is dubious to say the least, but Mr Rhoades believes its just a matter of time until technology is advanced enough to achieve his dream.

At 65, he understands time is of the essence and so hes turned to a well-known figure of tech innovation for help: Elon Musk.

The billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX recently announced a new venture called Neural Lace to develop a way to connect the human brain with a computer. Mr Rhoades believes the tech titan is somebody who can push the controversial field forward.

In a bizarre open letter the former biomedical researcher spruiked his credentials and volunteered his brain to be uploaded and sent to Mars, allowing him to explore the universe.

Musk has bold plans to take humans to Mars and is planning to launch a mission to the red planet in conjunction with NASA in the coming decade.

Mr Rhoades believes it would make more sense to send virtual people.

I am convinced that I need to become a virtual person (via mind uploading) sooner rather than later, he writes in his letter to Musk.

It sounds delusional and many would argue that it is but Mr Rhoades is convinced the science of transferring our brains to computers has not been proven to be impossible.

I dont care if your average Facebook user thinks its all crazy ... people in the business are spending serious money on this, he told news.com.au.

Philip Rhoades knows that most people think hes crazy. Picture: Jim Trifyllis.Source:News Limited

Russian internet millionaire Dmitry Itskov is among them. He is pursuing brain uploading with the ultimate goal of being able to transfer someones personality into a completely new body.

Within the next 30 years, I am going to make sure that we can all live forever, he told the BBC last year.

All of the evidence seems to say in theory its possible its extremely difficult, but its possible.

Mr Rhoades said he knew there was virtually no chance of getting Mr Musks attention, so he published the letter on a site that promotes the convergence of technology and the human body.

Dr Elaine Mulcahy wearing wired up thinking cap connected to computer. The device records brain waves during a medical research test at Sydney University back in 2002.Source:News Limited

From a technological point of view I dont know that Neural Lace is the best solution ... but certainly that brain computer interface angle is the way to go to get the brain uploading stuff going, he said.

It sounds like science fiction but its not. Its just the normal march of scientific progress.

Currently, scientists are working on something called the Human Conectome Project which is mapping the connections and neural links in the brain to better understand how it functions.

Mr Rhoades is hopeful such research will give us a better understanding of how things like memories are stored and that one day well be able to be decode them.

There is another, more personal factor that drives his optimism.

Towards the end of his life, Mr Rhoades father who died in May last year suffered from a neural degenerative disease. His son is desperate to avoid a similar fate.

If we accelerate this, I might be able to skip the freezing step and get uploaded directly, he said.

Tech billionaire and innovator Elon Musk. Picture: Karim SahibSource:AFP

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Showtime docu-series sees the ‘Dark’ side of tech – LA Daily News

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What: Second season of docu-series that explores aspects of new technologies.

When: Premieres 10 p.m. Thursday.

Where: Showtime.

In the first episode of the second season of Showtimes docu-series Dark Net, the narrator asserts, In the future technology wont just complement reality, it will create a new one.

While the first season of the series looked at what is known as the Dark Web and its shady activities such as biohacking, cyber-kidnapping, digital warfare and the webcam sex trade this season seems to be getting out into the world to examine how technology is bending our perceptions.

In the opening episode called My Mind, we meet a military vet with post-traumatic stress disorder. His unease has torn up his family, and the usual approaches of therapy havent worked.

The vet eventually found help from a scientist who is developing a virtual-reality program that lets the ex-soldier work out his issues and relive some traumatic moments, sometimes recreating firefights he has been in.

VR headsets will be likes toasters. Soon everyone will have one in their home, the scientist says.

In a whole other dimension, we meet Harmony, the worlds first artificially intelligent sex robot. (Female, of course. Men are so inept, it seems.) Her goal is to not only learn to recognize her owner, but to recognize her owners desires.

A third part of the episode finds a Canadian woman spending her days and nights uploading her mind to create algorithms that will be used for artificial intelligence. Shes convinced that what she is doing will make people obsolete.

While Dark Net spins out some interesting material, its dystopian view is too humorless at times. It skips around far too much and never digs into anything. Annoyingly, it also has that grave found on real-life crime shows.

When the inventor of the sex robot says he hopes his creation can be used for human companionship, you want someone to ask him, Why?

In fact, why does someone even need a robot to anticipate their desires?

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The perils and false rewards of parenting in the era of ‘digi-discipline’ – Minnesota Public Radio News

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The videos are an infamous genre unto themselves: "Mother Punches Her Daughter Dead in the Face for Having Sex in the House!" "Dad Whups Daughter for Dressing Like Beyonce." "Son Left In Bloody Mess as Father Forces Him to 'Fight.'" Their images stream from Facebook timelines and across YouTube channels, alternately horrifying and arresting: burly fathers, angry mothers, lips curled, curses flying, hands wrapped around electrical chords, tree branches, belts, slashing down on legs, arms, buttocks and flesh as children cry and plead and scream out in agony.

Tens of millions have clicked "play," becoming voyeurs of this new form of child punishment what some observers call "digi-discipline."

Rather than sticking to the time-honored tradition of physically disciplining their children behind closed doors, parents, many of them black, buoyed by the instant gratification and viral fame that social media provides, are increasingly uploading videos of the corporal punishment they mete out on their kids, sparking intense debate on the usefulness of this particular form of public shaming.

The videos' comments threads reveal where most viewers stand on the issue: the digital whoops, hollers and high-fives rival those heard at championship boxing matches, with a majority of commenters encouraging the beatings and applauding the parents. "Whup that trick," one commenter wrote. "Beat that THOT wannabe's ass," said another, using the slur du jour for "slut." Yet another chimed in with "Good job .. now this is a father i salute him because if my daughter was doing this id whoop her ass too."

The running theme: It's OK to beat children, and, if the millions of views each video garners tell the story, it's acceptable to post tapings of the beatings on social media for feedback and "likes."

Tameka Harris-James, an Atlanta-based licensed clinical social worker whose practice includes working with victims of family trauma, said "digi-discipline" has become a new "community experience" that lays bare generations of trauma corporal punishment has wreaked on African-Americans. Viewers, perhaps triggered by their own abuse, repeat the cycle of abuse by hitting their children or applauding those who publicly do so, rather than acquiring the language and skills they need to deal with their own trauma.

"When you have a group of people coming from the same population and circumstances who live by the same social rules and norms that say it's OK to beat children, you don't talk about problems or go to therapy and get the help you need from those kinds of cathartic outlets," Harris-James said. "Instead, you watch these videos and collectively join in and bond over the pain."

Corporal punishment is universally accepted by a large swath of American parents; a 2014 study by Child Trends, a research organization that uses data to help shape public policy on children, reveals that 65 percent of women and 76 percent of men agree or strongly agree that it is sometimes necessary to give a child a "good hard spanking." But when broken down by race, black parents particularly black mothers are far more likely to agree that kids need beatings: 81 percent of black mothers, compared with 62 percent each of Hispanic and white mothers, advocate hard spanking, while 80 percent of black fathers felt the same, compared to 76 percent and 73 percent of white and Hispanic fathers respectively.

Among blacks, commiserating over corporal punishment is nothing new; before social media, parents would recount in conversations at the hair salon, barbershop, church, family gatherings or more intimate phone conversations the beatings they handed out for childhood infractions. Anti-corporal punishment advocate Stacey Patton, author of Spare the Kids: Why Whupping Children Won't Save Black America, said in the past, "It would be, 'girl, I tore her butt up for leaving this house without asking.'" Today, she said, digital technology, social media and video-sharing sites "allow that conversation to become much more public and widespread. It makes parents feel more powerful."

Patton notes that in a society where black people have limited political, economic and social power, one place they can both exercise authority and strike back at stereotypes that portray black parents as irresponsible and unloving is taking "control" of their kids. Beating children and posting it on social media, then, is just as much about performing respectability as it is punishing wrongdoing. "Rather than striking back at oppressive systems that justify beating and shaming your kids, you beat and shame your kids. You can say, 'I'm a responsible parent. I don't let my kids run wild.'"

In some cases, those parents are rewarded when their videos go viral. LaToya Graham was crowned "mom of the year" after being captured on tape smacking her son upside his head, yelling at him and chasing him down the street for participating in a Baltimore protest over the police killing of Freddie Gray. The video, filmed by a local TV news station, shot past 8 million views on YouTube after it aired on television and Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts shouted out Graham, saying he wished "there were more parents out there who took charge of their kids." Within weeks, Graham enjoyed a media whirlwind of praise, appearing on several popular news and talk shows, getting job offers from BET, Under Armour and a local hospital, and even receiving a phone call and a $15,000 check from Oprah.

Social media amplified the significance and reward of Graham's actions, which led to an uptick in digi-discipline videos, said Patton. "Her success gave validation to other parents that this was OK," she said.

But not everyone gets rewarded for such public discipline. In the case of Virginia father Tavis Sellers, boxing his son on Facebook Live as punishment for leaving class earned the dad a domestic assault and battery charge after his video went viral. In it, Sellers orders his son to put on boxing gloves and fight him; the father bests the son, tossing jabs that make the boy's nose bleed. As he continues to beat him, Sellers chides the boy, telling both him and the viewing audience that when he "cuts up in school, this is what [he] has to deal with when [he] comes home." By the video's end, the boy's white t-shirt is covered with blood; his father demands he look in the camera and apologize to his teacher.

Sellers was arrested a few days later.

Patton, whose outspoken advocacy teaches positive, non-violent disciplinary practices to parents of color, has even called police to report parents who've uploaded videos of themselves beating their children, and encouraged her more than 44,000 Facebook followers to do the same. "People say, 'That's [expletive] up. Another black man in jail, another black child in foster care you need to mind your business.' I'm like, 'This person put their business in the fiber optic streets and it's our job as human beings to protect this kid.'"

Parents, she adds, need to spend less time posting digi-punishment videos and more time actually learning how to parent their children. "What they're beating their kids over bad report cards, cutting class, sexual behavior is all developmental stuff. Sit down and have a conversation with them about healthy sexual choices. All that time they spent charging their phones, setting up the cameras, explaining why they're about to beat the mess out of their kids, filming the abuse, uploading it on YouTube, captioning it and tagging their friends, they could have Googled 'How to talk to my daughter about sex.'"

Still, some parents find great value in digi-punishment as a deterrent for their children and a lesson for mothers and fathers parenting in the digital age. "I would do it all over again," says author ReShonda Tate Billingsley, who set off a storm of controversy in 2012 when she punished her daughter for posting an Instagram photo of herself holding up a bottle of Vodka and saying she wished she could drink it. Billingsley countered with a photo of her own: a picture of her crying daughter holding a sign that read, "Since I want to take pics holding liquor, I am obviously NOT ready for social media and will be taking a hiatus until I learn what is and isn't appropriate to post. Bye-Bye." The photo, which she posted on her Facebook page, was shared more than 10,000 times hours after it went public.

"It resonated with her and to this day, she still thinks about that. They live on social media and that's always in the back of her mind," says Billingsley, adding that the picture inspired parents to pay attention to what their children post on social media. Still, the mom of three believes that beating children on camera goes "way too far." These days, parents, she said, "are doing it for likes and shares."

Patton plans to lobby for legislation that would make it a crime to post videos and pictures of children getting beaten and adds that she believes the only reason it hasn't been introduced and passed already is because the videos predominately feature black children. "This is a country that's become numb to the destruction of black bodies. Whether it's Toya Graham beating her son, or Tamir Rice being shot by cops, it's OK we've become accustomed to watching it. If these were white children in these degrading videos, something would have been done a long time ago."

Harris-James thinks a bit differently about this.

"Parents will continue to beat their children and there should be consequences for that," she says quietly. "But if we shut it down, it takes our attention off of it and we forget about those children. At least now, the videos stimulate dialogue and conversation and action because it's in your face."

Denene Millner is a New York Times best-selling author and a parenting expert, whose latest book is My Brown Baby: On the Joys and Challenges Of Raising African American Children.

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Virtual Reality To Be Featured At Tribecca Film Festival – Forbes

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Virtual Reality To Be Featured At Tribecca Film Festival
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Loren Hammonds (Programmer and Live Events Producer) and Ingrid Kopp (Director, Digital Initiatives), have what many would consider dream jobs traveling the world to find interactive exhibitions for New York's Tribecca Film Festival, now in it's ...

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Virtual reality takes staff, physicians through new hospital | Local … – Times Daily

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FLORENCE -- A walking tour through North Alabama Regional Medical Center while it is still just a bunch of steel and construction plans was made possible with virtual reality technology.

Hospital department leaders, nurses and physicians were able to tour different types of hospital rooms to check the setup and functionality of the rooms, and make changes on the spot.

Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital Chief Operating Officer Mike Howard said when modifications are noted during the virtual reality tour, those changes can be made immediately to three-dimensional computer renderings.

The virtual reality tours were set up in a Layton Construction trailer at the hospital site in east Florence.

"Previously, we would have had to build out these actual rooms, perhaps in a warehouse space one by one," Howard said. "This saves time and money and makes changes much more streamlined."

The new hospital will replace ECM and change names when it opens, which is expected in late 2018.

Keith Allen, vice president for real estate with RCCH Health Partners, the company that owns ECM, said utilizing virtual reality technology is new for the construction industry.

"This is the first time Layton Construction has ever used this capability on a project," Allen said.

Using virtual reality googles and a wireless, hand-held controller, users could peek inside patient rooms, the hospital nursery, or an intensive care unit room.

Howard said virtual reality models of an emergency department exam room, an endoscopy procedure room, an intensive care unit room, a labor and delivery room and nursery, an inpatient room, a robotic-equipped operating room, and a surgery recovery room were made for the tour.

He said changes were made after the first wave of care staff did the virtual tour.

"In the critical care room, we had some oversized furniture that would have been in the way of our front-line staff caring for patients," he said. "We also noticed some of the outlets and medical gases (hook-ups) needed to be moved."

Hospital staff and physicians that practice at the hospital had access to the virtual reality tour all day Friday. Also available were renderings of the inside of the hospital that showed the hallways and elongated main entrance, and lobby that mimic the shape of the Tennessee River. Architectural beams that replicate the shape of O'Neal Bridge hang from the lobby ceiling.

The first steel beam was placed the middle of March. Since then, more of the skeleton of the hospital has been assembled. The steel structure for the center column of the hospital is in the works, and portions of the wings that span from the center are being put in place.

About 2,800 tons of raw steel are being used to build the frame. The new hospital will be 485,000 square feet.

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Inside the Story: A virtual reality experience opens in NYC, Dubai … – KUTV 2News

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(KUTV) Across an open field on the east side of Interstate 15 in Lindon, Utah, is a unique building containing the latest in virtual reality technology.

They call it The Void.

People suit up in a vest, helmet, and weapon, and walk through a special door to experience a make-believe world.

"When you go in wearing these goggles and this vest, you don't just see this world around you; you can actually reach out and touch it," described Curtis Hickman, co-founder of The Void.

In this virtual reality world, you become a Ghostbuster. Your job is to fight off the evil ghosts that appear all around you. And you end up face-to-face with the Marshmallow Man.

"We immerse you in it. When you walk in, you are completely untethered in this free and open world that you've stepped into," Hickman said.

The Void teamed up with Sony to bring this Ghostbuster experience.

But this is just one of several they've created. The concept is nearly three years in the making.

Their first location opened up in New York City in May of last year.

Number two opened in Dubai just last month and now The Void is coming to the little Utah County town of Lindon.

"We are here; it just made sense to open something up to let our friends here in Utah really see and experience this amazing technology we've developed," said Hickman.

The secrets of what happens behind these close doors are just that-secrets.

Much of it has to do with magic.

In fact, Hickman worked as a professional magician.

He says magic is a huge part of how this all is brought to life.

"It's all about creating an illusion of reality," he said.

But as high-tech as this experience is, this is just the beginning of what's to come from this kind of virtual reality experience.

"That's probably the most exciting part, is that everything is going to grow and expand and the technology is going to get better and the equipment is going to get smaller and lighter," Hickman said. "This is like the early days of basic video games."

But even now, the technology is so good that it becomes a little too real for customers.

"We've had people leap back and land on the equipment and just start screaming and flaring around," Hickman said.

But that's the reaction The Void is hoping to get as they bring this make-believe world to life.

"It's sort of this mix of actual reality and virtual reality that come together to create a realistic yet impossible experience," Hickman explained.

To find tickets, go to The Voids website.

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Just How Big Is The Virtual Reality Market And Where Is It Going Next? – Forbes

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Just How Big Is The Virtual Reality Market And Where Is It Going Next?
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2016 was a pivotal year for the Virtual Reality industry but just how pivotal? Almost 100 million VR units shipped, pivotal. The trouble is... most of those (96%) ...
VR Porn Stats: Gear VR Most-Used Headset, Daydream Barely ...Variety
'We're running with scissors': Why some experts worry about VR dangersPolygon

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Just How Big Is The Virtual Reality Market And Where Is It Going Next? - Forbes

Ancient Jerusalem Comes Alive in New Virtual-Reality App – Live Science

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The "Lithodomos VR" app allows people to experience archaeological reconstructions of ancient Jerusalem, at the height of the city's splendor under Roman rule in the first century.

This story was updated at 12:29 a.m. ET on April 7.

Visitors to Jerusalem and virtual tourists alike can now see the city as it looked in ancient history, with a virtual-reality app based on archaeological reconstructions of the city at the height of its splendor under Roman rule in the first century.

The program, named "Lithodomos VR," is a paid android app for smartphones and portable virtual-reality headsets that was launched on Google Play in December 2016. The app sells for $1.99 on Google Play, and $2.99 in the Apple App Store. Developed by Simon Young, an archaeology doctoral student at the University of Melbourne in Australia, the app includes a 3D virtual view of the area around Jerusalem's Western Wall, where the ancient stone walls of the city's Temple Mount can still be seen.

By using the app on a portable VR headset and smartphone, visitors to the Western Wall can compare the modern-day view with a 3D, 360-degree reconstruction of the ancient city from the same location, when the wall and the Jewish temple above it had been newly built on the orders of Herod I (74 B.C.- 4 B.C.), the Roman-backed king of Judea. [See Photos of the VR App and Ancient Jerusalem]

Young told Live Science that the reconstruction of the first-century scene was faithful to the latest archaeological research, and will be updated as new research becomes available.

"The VR content that we are deploying on the app is the result of carefully researched material from archaeological excavations, site plans, elevation drawings, photographs of textures and [geographic information system] mapping, as well as topographical data from NASA's ASTER digital elevation models," he said. "So all the content is linked in to the real world."

The VR scenes of Jerusalem in the Lithodomos VR app are based on the archaeology of the city years after Herod rebuilt the Temple Mount around 20 B.C., Young said, and before the destruction of the temple precinct by Roman troops in A.D 70, during the rebellion against Roman rule that became known as the Jewish Revolt.

In addition to the virtual view of the ancient Western Wall, the app includes a reconstruction of a market street in the city, where the virtual houses are based on real excavations. The featured objects, such as ceramics and street furniture, were modeled on data from first-century artifacts in Israeli museums, according to Young.

"We're really making sure that rather than just being haphazardly thrown together, what you're seeing really does correspond to the research," Young said.

"I see virtual reality as a really important way of communicating what is often a lifetime of work for many archaeologists," he added, "so there's a line I dont cross."

Jerusalem's Western Wall is one of the most iconic cultural sites in the ancient city. The layers of stone blocks at the base of the wall were laid around 20 B.C., when Temple Mount and the Jewish Second Temple were rebuilt by the Roman "client-king" of Judea, Herod I.

Another virtual scene is an elevated view from a bridge to the entrance of the temple, the remains of which are known as Robinson's Arch. [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds]

"From there, you can see the slope of Mount Zion and the Roman-period settlements, as well as the back of a theater, and to the left you can see the Antonia Fortress [the barracks of the Roman garrison] and the Jewish settlement. So, you can see about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in every direction," Young said.

Young's career as a software developer began as he studied for his Ph.D. in archaeology at the University of Melbourne. (His thesis on ancient cityscapes was submitted in September, and he's waiting to hear the results.)

Young explained that he taught himself 3D-modeling as part of his studies on the architecture of ancient cities, and began experimenting with virtual reality when the Oculus Rift headset became available.

"I thought, I can take my 3D models and put them into this machine," he said, "and then when I put the headset on, there I was, standing in one of my buildings."

Lithodomos has also released a second, free app on Google Play and for Oculus Rift,featuring VR reconstructions of the Odeon of Agrippa in Athens, the Temple of Venus in Rome and the Arena of Lutece in Paris. The arena is a city park where a Roman theater and an arena for gladiators stood in the first century A.D.

"The idea is that when you visit an ancient site, say the Odeon of Agrippa, you take out your headset, stand in the right spot, and look around and what you will see is exactly a perfectly mapped reconstruction within a few centimeters to the real world," Young said.

In January, Young's company received investor funding of $900,000 Australian dollars ($679,000 U.S.) to develop the software and expand the range of archaeological sites that it covers, reported Venture Beat. Young plans to publish new VR scenes of famous archaeological sites every few weeks or months.

Future developments will include new software features, such as the ability to view the changes over time in VR scenes at each location, he said

"Our goal is to show the evolution of an important place through time, like the Roman forum from the time it was a cow market, right up to the sack of Rome by the Goths [in 410 A.D.]," Young said. "But, as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day."

Editor's Note: This story was updated to correct the app developer's name. His name is Simon, not Sean.

Original article on Live Science.

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Ancient Jerusalem Comes Alive in New Virtual-Reality App - Live Science

Enter Player 3 Why Nintendo Will Win the Coming Virtual Reality Console War – Monkeys Fighting Robots (blog)

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In the rising tide of Virtual Reality buzz nothing is moving faster than the equipment. In particular with the gaming console giants and their takes on evolving into virtual reality. The aspects of virtual reality that are difficult to manage remain usability, content and player experience. Like anything else these issues will take time and innovation to resolve. So youre thinking this is about virtual reality tech. Yes and no. This is also about strategy. Something game console creators have been playing with for years.

Im going to go ahead and call the eventual winner of the coming console virtual reality war. Nintendo. You say what?!? PlayStation has put its best try out there and Microsoft has just let it slip that they are releasing the Kraken soon in Project Scorpio. Yes and then Nintendo mentions as a by your leave oh the Switch could have virtual reality capabilities. Well thats rather convenient.

Take a jaded look at the history of these companies when it comes to producing gaming consoles we want. Nintendo is the old dog for a good reason. Mostly patience and the ability to rope and dope the other two into putting out first so they can learn from their mistakes. It happened years ago when PS3 and XBox 360 were duking it out for console supremacy. Nintendo let them go with graphics as a main definer for enhanced user experience. Then they went with quality of game play to quietly release the Wii. Which much like the Switch, sold out immediately and then indefinitely for about a year. Remember this example as you read. Its called a pattern.

Now back to those factors from before. Lets look at usability. By the way in case you havent thought about it. The Wii was the first foray into Virtual or Augmented Reality gaming. Nintendo already has the controllers. Consider Wii the dry run. With the Wii, Nintendo explored placing real action into a game space. All of those kinks have been being puzzled over and worked on for years now. It seems to me Xbox was still solving red ring of death issues. While PlayStation never really got their Move adjustment off the ground.

When it comes to content PlayStation usually wins the war for modern adaptations. This is done so well that they never introduce a new advance without a lusted after Triple A title to sell it. Most recently this was done with the Batman VR launch. The tried and true method for PlayStation to go to market with. Microsoft has never been a really heavy content hitter beyond the Halo franchise. So they have less to build on there. Consequently this is why they usually lean to power. Nintendo has the most famous video game characters of all time. (slight audio feedback, plunk) Yes you did hear an audible mic drop with that statement.

An amazing player experience is the light at the end of the game design tunnel. The aspects of an enjoyable player experience is interpreted by each company differently and given different weight. Microsoft is the king of creating a beast which cannot be fed. The consumer says I want a console that may drop my citys electric grid, Microsoft calmly answers with hold my beer. No one does that better. The leaked specs for Project Scorpio is just confirmation of the Microsoft plan. It reminds me of Dodge selling Hemis. Yes its a magnificent engine, however is the average consumer going to need all that bang for their buck?

PlayStation is usually a bit more subtle, low-key and incorporates lived life with their console use. A lesson well learned when they became the most affordable Blu-ray player on the market just in time to capitalize on HD DVD losing the war with Blu-ray. PlayStation expects the players to live outside of the game experience. Mostly because Sony is a multimedia company. They have DVDs to sell. In that same vein Microsoft is a computer company. Guess what they have to sell.

So lets be clear, there is only one game company in this comparison. That company is Nintendo. They arent a branch, they are not a subsidiary or investment. They live and breathe games. The advantage of that is that while Sony and Microsoft are viewing this situation as an innovation for multiple tiers of their technology, Nintendo is viewing this as another way to make games. Games that will focus specifically on game play to define the quality of the player experience.

The Wii was successful because Nintendo built a console that enhanced game play. PlayStation and Microsoft were selling hi resolution interactive movies. Dont get me wrong those are great, but not a game does it make. It just so happens that a decent amount of those turned out to be really good games. When making games is the focus, graphics should not be the catalyst for innovation. It seems simplistic to state it but game play should be.

Enter Virtual Reality which is a method to incorporate created worlds into real life. This is a medium to enhance whatever experiences the user would like to enhance. The natural assumption would be that virtual reality would be benefitted by the most powerful graphics engine on the planet. Yes if youre inserting someone into a movie or a documentary. The Scorpio specs are perfect for that. However we are talking about games which are another beast.

Virtual reality game creation is a process of simplicity not necessarily of power. A well constructed game takes advantage of the tools used to play it. Nintendo is the company that has been planning in some form or fashion for this innovation without anyone being none the wiser. Repsfrom the company have gone on record in declaring that when virtual reality can be used to meet their needs it will be used. Tell me about those Nintendo Switch Virtual Reality capabilities again.

The pattern plays out the same over and over again. PlayStation sells a title with a console. Microsoft sells an engine. Then Nintendo sells a better way to play games and kamehameha waves the market. HaMeHAA!

Comment below and let me know your thoughts on the most important things to have in a good VR game.

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Cody Brown Has a Broad Vision for Virtual Reality – New York Times

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Cody Brown Has a Broad Vision for Virtual Reality
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Latest Project IRL, which was started in 2016, seeks to exploit what Mr. Brown calls virtual reality's untapped social potential. An overwhelming number of people have not discovered room-scale V.R., or high-end V.R., and they will not believe the ...

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Cody Brown Has a Broad Vision for Virtual Reality - New York Times

Virtual reality app recreates Jerusalem during Second Temple – The Times of Israel

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A new virtual reality app allows visitors to Jerusalem to see the city as it looked during the heyday of the Second Temple.

The paid application, called Lithodomos VR, simulates the way Jerusalem appeared during the first century CE, when Jesus lived and before the temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE.

The app, launched in December 2016, will be updated as new archaeological research concerning the Temple Mount and its environs emerges, Simon Young, a doctoral researcher at the University of Melbourne who designed the app, told LiveScience on Thursday.

The VR content that we are deploying on the app is the result of carefully researched material from archaeological excavations, site plans, elevation drawings, photographs of textures and [geographic information system] mapping, as well as topographical data from NASAs ASTER digital elevation models, he said.

The application includes virtual reality scenes of Jerusalem from the period after Herod renovated the Temple, as well as view from the digitally rebuilt Robinsons Arch.

From there, you can see the slope of Mount Zion and the Roman-period settlements, as well as the back of a theater, and to the left you can see the Antonia Fortress [the barracks of the Roman garrison] and the Jewish settlement. So, you can see about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in every direction, Young told the site.

Lithodomos costs $1.99 for Android, and $2.99 on an iPhone.

The Israel Antiquities Authority also announced Thursday that its working on the development of an interactive digital Sanhedrin Trail crossing the Galilee. The virtual reality application allows visitors traveling certain segments of the cross-Galilee trail to view recreated heritage sites from the second and third centuries CE, when Jewish scholars were compiling the Mishnah and Gemara.

A digital reconstruction of a Roman arch along the Sanhedrin Trail in northern Israel (Tovanot Digital Projects, via Israel Antiquities Authority)

The project has already begun marking the route through the ancient city of Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee.

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Virtual reality app recreates Jerusalem during Second Temple - The Times of Israel

VR and cocktails: London is getting a virtual reality arcade – CNET

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A new VR arcade will be filled with HTC Vive headsets.

London is getting a virtual reality arcade.

Other Worlds VR arcade will host gamers who don VR helmets and polish off street food and cocktails (not at the same time). It's set to be in a "secret location" somewhere in East London over the weekend of Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 June.

By day, the arcade will have events suitable for younger gamers. Bacon sandwiches, ice cream and retro cereal (this is East London, after all) will be served. Then from 4 p.m. to midnight, DJs take over, the bar opens and things no doubt get messy.

You'll be able to play on eight HTC Vive VR rigs, each with a big screen so your friends can point and laugh. There will also be retro arcade games and consoles hooked up to TVs from the appropriate era.

If you can't make it to London, Other Worlds is set to come to Birmingham, Cardiff and Manchester some time soon. Tickets go on sale on Friday. Sign up at otherworldsvra.com to find out more.

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VR and cocktails: London is getting a virtual reality arcade - CNET