Forbes | Blockchain: Investment (R)Evolution For Developing Markets Forbes Allegedly a revolution is taking place on Wall street and the City of Londona financial revolution. The true action might be taking place somewhere else. Predicting revolutions almost always goes wrong, partly at least. When Marx and Engels worked on ... |
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Blockchain: Investment (R)Evolution For Developing Markets - Forbes
Trevor Noah: Trump has the impressive ability to take a bad situation and make it worse. Photograph: YouTube
Late-night hosts took aim at the latest developments within Trumps government, saying the president has gone from dickish to dictator.
On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah spoke of Trumps attack on James Robart, the federal judge who put a temporary halt to the controversial travel ban implemented last week. Noah compared judges to referees and criticized Trumps treatment of him.
You cant claim that the ref is not a ref unless you work at Foot Locker and thats different, he said. Noah then detailed Robarts unlikely popularity with both parties.
The Senate confirmed him unanimously and the Senate never agrees on anything, he said. Even when they all watched La La Land, even then they didnt agree. Ted Cruz and Chuck Schumer they both loved it. But Bernie was like its sentimental garbage, jazz doesnt belong to white people.
He then took apart Trumps tactics, suggesting that they show that a worrying future could lie ahead.
If theres one thing you should know about Trump, its that he has the impressive ability to take a bad situation and make it worse, he said. Alternative words. Disrespecting and delegitimizing a judge as just the start because then Trump took it from being dickish to dictatorish.
He also criticized Trumps tweet suggesting that Robart will be to blame if any terrorist attacks occur on US shores soon.
They use the fear of the people to convince people to surrender their rights and if you dont think the Trump administration would exploit a terror attack in that way, dont take my word for it, just ask the survivors of the Bowling Green Massacre, he said.
On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert discussed Trumps recent assertion that the media is failing to report on many terror attacks.
The president is accusing the media of refusing to cover major terrorist attacks, he said. Why? Reasons. It makes perfect sense. You know the old news adage: if it bleeds, dont talk about it.
He referred to Kellyanne Conway as White House spokeswoman and person who has not slept since the Carter administration and went on to ridicule her much-publicized Bowling Green Massacre gaffe.
Yes, it didnt get covered, on the flimsy excuse that there was no Bowling Green Massacre, he said. But I think we all remember where we werent were when we didnt hear that nothing had happened.
Colbert then insisted the media finally give the bogus event the coverage it deserves: I demand the media not release the reports they did not do on the attacks that did not occur and I will not rest until they dont.
On Late Night with Seth Meyers, the host first took a quick swipe at the modest pro-Trump protest that took place over the weekend in New York.
Fifty to 100 people in New York City is not a rally, he said. Its a Times Square corner. Its the line to get into Dave and Busters.
Meyers critiqued a common tactic used by the administration to lie as a distraction to cover up an even worse lie. Thats like telling everyone you have a girlfriend in Canada when actually, you have a dead body in the basement, he said.
He also jokes about the reality TV star turned presidents inability to be reserved. Trying to strike a moderate tone with Trump as president is a little like trying to coyly seduce a woman with a bullhorn, he said.
He also took some time to joke about Chris Christies recent defense of Trump: Chris Christie cannot take a hint. How can I put this to you in a way that youll understand? The bridge to Trumps heart is closed bro.
Finally, he spoke about Trumps worrying interview with Bill OReilly where he defended Vladimir Putin, despite OReilly referring to him as a killer. It sounds like hes defending Putin because hes about to get caught for the exact same thing, he said.
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Late-night hosts on the evolution of Trump: 'Dickish to dictatorish' - The Guardian
Published on: February 7, 2017 | Last Updated: February 7, 2017 4:01 PM CST
Skye Kaiss, left, owner of Evolution Fitness, and Korena Lafayette, director of operations, pose with the new signage at Evolution Fitness in Regina. The gym is formally known as Gold's Gym. TROY FLEECE / Regina Leader-Post
Following years of evolving from a bodybuilding imageto a health and fitness-focused facility, Golds Gym Regina has ended its franchise with Golds Gym and will now be known as Evolution Fitness.
Weve been Golds Gym now for 12 years in the city and well were proud of where we came from and how we developed this business. We found that the Golds Gym brand is no longer what we align ourselves with, saidSkye Kaiss, owner of Evolution Fitness.
The gym officially ended its franchise agreement with Golds on Friday at midnight and announced the rebranding Monday.
Golds Gym originally came to Regina 12 years ago withthe local company Family Fitness Incorporated.Eleven years ago the first gym was opened in north Regina. Over the years it has expanded to include three other locations in east, south and downtown Regina.
Golds Gym as a brand was founded in 1965 in Venice, Calif.In 1977, Golds received international attention when Pumping Iron a bodybuilding documentary starringArnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno was shot there. The gym brand quickly became synonymous with bodybuilding.
According to Kaiss, one of the reasons for the rebranding was due to the bodybuilding image of Golds. Over the years Golds Gym Regina has transitioned to more of a health and fitness image.
The stigma is still out there that this is only a bodybuilder gym, which its not. But its been a difficult to go all these years trying to change that image, or that perception, in peoples minds and its something that a lot of Golds Gyms currently still have challenges with, Kaiss said.
For current Evolution Fitness member Daniel Broussard, the bodybuilding image of Golds is what drew him to join the club three years ago when he moved to Regina from Nova Scotia.
Its always been a dream of mine since I was young (to train at a Golds Gym). Ive lifted weights since I was 12 years old,Broussard said.
Broussard and his son, Bryden, are both members and train at the east location. With the rebranding, Broussard said his family may look into changing gyms to a cheaper one.
With it no longer being a Golds Gym and becoming a fitness club to be honest, I think theyll lose members and theyll lose a part of it that was attractive to a certain group of individuals that wanted the Golds atmosphere,Broussard said.
Almost everything will stay the same at Evolution Fitness locations in Regina Kaiss said. Rebranding and changing of signs will be complete by Feb. 18.
However the partnerships with other gyms internationally will change.Under the Golds name members at the Regina club were able to use any other Golds location up to 14 times a year. Since the franchise agreementhas ended, the partnership is gone. Evolution Fitness however is currently working out the details on partnerships with Motion Fitness in Saskatoon and World Health in Calgary and Edmonton.
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Gold's Gym Regina rebrands to become Evolution Fitness - Regina Leader-Post
Robots are invaluable tools in the workplace, but they often still require a specialist to train in anything more than elementary tasks. Rethink Robotics is helping improve that situation with a powerful and intuitive new platform for its Sawyer robots called Intera 5.
Many robots already allow anyone to train them by, say, moving the arm along the path it should take and programming actions at the end. But building more complex behaviors can be tricky.
These cascading choices multiply quickly and few robot systems are equipped to have new ones put in on a regular basis or if they are, its dedicated roboticists or coders who do it. This limits the ability of, say, a small factory to switch between jobs or reconfigure if demand increases.
Intera 5 is a way for on-the-floor workers to change or add behaviors easily, with hardly any training let alone an engineering degree.
Its a relatively simple behavior tree system with a bright, straightforward GUI and instructions. If this, then that: scan, move, pick up, put down, softly, quickly. And because the robot uses computer vision, you dont have to make sure every part or bucket is where it needs to be with millimeter precision. It also can be programmed from the desktop with a similarly visual UI.
Being able to automate easily and respond quickly to changes in the workflow or new orders makes a robot a much more attractive prospect for small businesses that might have gotten by until now with temps and minimal automation.
Existing Sawyer robots should be able to get the Intera 5 update soon, and new robots will have it installed by default.
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Rethink Robotics makes its workplace bots easier to train and redeploy - TechCrunch
LONDON Inspired by his belief that human beings are essentially terrified of robots, Ben Russell set about charting the evolution of automatons for an exhibition he hopes will force people to think about how androids and other robotic forms can enhance their lives.
Robots, says Russell, have been with us for centuries as Robots, his exhibit opening Wednesday at Londons Science Museum, shows.
From a 15th century Spanish clockwork monk who kisses his rosary and beats his breast in contrition, to a Japanese childoid newsreader, created in 2014 with lifelike facial expressions, the exhibition tracks the development of robotics and mankinds obsession with replicating itself.
Arnold Schwarzeneggers unstoppable Terminator cyborg is there, as is Robby the Robot, star of the 1956 film Forbidden Planet, representing the horror and the fantasy of robots with minds of their own.
There are also examples of factory production-line machines blamed for taking peoples jobs in recent decades; a telenoid communications android for hugging during long-distance phone calls to ease loneliness; and Kaspar, a minimally expressive social robot built like a small boy and designed to help ease social interactions for children with autism.
When you take a long view, as we have done with 500 years of robots, robots havent been these terrifying things, theyve been magical, fascinating, useful, and they generally tend to do what we want them to do, said Russell, who works at the science museum and was the lead curator of the exhibition.
And while its human nature to be worried in the face of change, Russell said, the exhibit should help people think about what we are as humans and realize that if robots are going to come along, youve got a stake in how they develop.
A total of 100 robots are set in five different historic periods in a show that explores how religion, industrialization, pop culture and visions of the future have shaped society.
For Rich Walker, managing director of Shadow Robot Company in London, robotics is about what these increasingly sophisticated machines can do for humans to make life easier, particularly for the elderly or the impaired.
Im naturally lazy and got involved so that I could get robots to do things for me, Walker said. His company has developed a robotic hand that can replicate 24 of the 27 natural movements of the human hand.
As humans have a 1 percent failure rate at repetitive tasks, committing errors about once every two hours, the hand could replace humans on production lines, he said.
Walker concedes further erosion of certain types of jobs if inventions such as his are successful, but says having repetitive tasks performed by automatons would free up people to adopt value-added roles.
The issue is to rebuild the economy so that it has a holistic approach to employment, he said.
This in turn leads to questions, raised at the exhibition as well as by the European Union, of whether or not robots should pay taxes on the value of their output as part of the new industrial revolution.
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Our obsession with robots keeps getting creepier - New York Post
Fort Worth Star Telegram | Keller students Starstruck on robotics Fort Worth Star Telegram Gautam Vachasputi of Keller Middle School Team 1 makes some repairs and adjustments to his team's robot before they enter the arena in the next round of the Keller ISD Robotics Contest at Hillwood Middle School in Keller Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017. |
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Keller students Starstruck on robotics - Fort Worth Star Telegram
BBC News | Shopping robots on the march in Ocado BBC News There is growing concern about the impact of automation on employment - or in crude terms - the threat that robots will eat our jobs. But if you want to see how important robotics and artificial intelligence can be to a business Ocado is a good place ... |
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Certainly one of the more entertaining talks of the 33rd Chaos Communications Congress was [Kari Love]s talk on her experiments in mixing food with function. In [Kari]s talk at the 2016 Hackaday Supercon, she talked extensively about working on soft robotic for NASA. At the 33C3, her focus was twofold: on a fun side project to make mobile robots out of stuff that you can eat, and to examine the process of creative engineering through the lens of a project like this.
If you look up edible robotics, you get a lot of medical literature about endoscopes that you can swallow, or devices that take samples while theyre inside you. Thats not what [Kari]s after at all. Shes after a robot thats made of candy, a yummy machine. And while this is still a work in progress, she demonstrated a video of an all-licorice cable-based actuator.
But more than that, she demonstrated all of the materials shes looked at so far, and the research shes done. To some extent, the process is the substance of this project, but theres nothing wrong with some tasty revelations along the way.
This talk was a potpourri of helpful tips and novel facts. For instance, if youre working in candy robotics, dont eat your mistakes. That stomach ache that your mom always said youd get? You will. Did you know that the gummi in gummibears is re-heatable and re-moldable? In addition, of the gels that she made, it was the most delicious. And finally, Pop Rocks dont have enough CO2 in them to drive pneumatics. Who knew? [Kari] knows. And now you do too.
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There are seven key megatrends driving the future of enterprise IT. You can remember them all with the helpful mnemonic acronym CAMBRIC, which stands forCloud Computing,Artificial Intelligence,Mobility,Big Data,Robotics,Internet of Things,CyberSecurity.
In this post we dive deeper into the trend of Robotics.
Operating along a spectrum of human controlled to semi-autonomous to totally independent, robots are already operating in our world. They save lives in hospitals, are taking the place of humans in dangerous jobs, improve our oil exploration and farming, endure the hazards of outer space and now fight our wars. Soon they will make driving safe. Like AI, Robotics hold great potential to displace large portions of the global workforce. Robotic factories are already causing a large shift of manufacturing back from China to the US and we expect that trend to continue (but the bad news is that new robotic manufacturing plants employ far fewer people).
We believe all countries should assume they are in a race towards robotics manufacturing and we should plan to win that race. Right now we are not. The US stands the chance of losing to other regions if we do not lead with vision.
A snapshot of the trend right now indicates:
Open questions decision-makers should track include:
Books we appreciated for context around Robotics include:
A great way to track the emerging developments in this domain is our page on Robotic Companies.
For deeper considerations of the impact of Roboticson enterprise IT it is important to track all seven MegaTrends and consider them together. Dive deeper into all the trends and examine their impact on your organization via aCTOvision Pro membership, available for enterprises and individuals.
You can launch your examination of the MegaTrends through the categories menu at CTOvision, or directly via these links: Cloud Computing,Artificial Intelligence,Mobility,Big Data,Robotics,Internet of Things,CyberSecurity.
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The FIRST Tech Challenge robotics program at Central Middle School is having one of its most successful seasons since the program began more than three years ago.
This year, CMS has nearly 50 students who are on six teams -- "Ground Zero" Team 9078, "Ice Breakers" Team 10397, "(Insert Name Here)" Team 10471, "Quantum Mechanics" Team 10398, "Team Tec Man" Team 11949 and "Octobots" Team 11937.
For the first time, the program has four teams that qualified to go to state; all of the teams made it to the elimination rounds in at least one of their tournaments and five of the six teams were captains in final matches when robotics teams select other teams to form an alliance, according to Gail Silewski, FTC coordinator at CMS.
Quantum Mechanics, Icebreakers, Team Tec Man and Ground Zero are the teams competing in the state tournament on Feb. 11.
"I'm looking forward to seeing other teams and how well we can do," said eighth-grader Pranav Kartha.
This years challenge, Velocity Vortex, involves robots being able to get points by shooting wiffle balls into one of two standing circular targets; pushing balls into two corner goals and pushing buttons to light a beacon. The teams started meeting on Sept. 10 and competed in their first qualifying tournaments in November.
When asked about why this year has been successful, the students and their mentors gave several reasons.
Justin Seidler, one of the adult mentors, said members of a team that went to the state tournament last year were split up and put on five of the six different teams. This allowed the experience gained from competing last year to be spread through the whole program.
"I think that the students that were in it last year have really stepped up into a leadership role and have helped guide the newer members so that everybody can be involved," added Katy Olson, a Talon Robotics team member and high school mentor.
Silewski said the mentors also spent more time training students ahead of time so kids had a larger base of knowledge. The students learned about 3D printing and the different stages of building a robot. The high school mentors also have a wider range of skills and are able to provide help with a variety of challenges.
Eighth-grader Luke Schreifels believes this year's challenge is having an impact on the teams' successes. He said it's easier to score more points with the Velocity Vortex challenge.
"The challenge last year, the main scoring was super difficult," he said.
Eighth-grader Joe Brown competed at the state competition last year and said this year he'll have fun going with a new team and experiencing a new challenge. He said last year he learned the importance of keeping supplies organized and having enough spare parts.
"With the state meet, it kind of feels more important because not every team is going to this," he said. "It's fun to see all the teams that are really, really good."
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By Darcy Meadedarcy.meade@sentinel-standard.com
BELDING Belding High School and its robotics program played host to nearly 50 teams for its Vex Robotics Competition.
Saturday, teams from schools like Pewamo-Westphalia, Hudsonville, Grandville and Petoskey among others descended into Redskin Arena to qualify for state competition. Two teams from Grandville and one from Hudsonville earned the honors to compete on the state level.
Fourteen of the 49 teams were from two Ionia County school districts. Belding had four middle school teams and eight high school teams and Pewamo-Westphalia had two high school teams. The Belding High School teams took eight, ninth, 13th, 16th, 40th, 41st, 42nd and 47th. The middle schoolers picked up 30th, 43rd, 45th and 47th, while P-W came in at 26th and 36th.
"It was tough, but it was definitely better than past years," P-W freshman Alexis Celis said.
The competition started out with 62 qualifying matches, which puts two teams of two robots into the arena and the more points a robot receives the higher they qualify. The match had two objectives, one of which happens with the push of a button, called autonomous.
"With autonomous they have to program the robot to work on its own for 15 seconds and try to score as many points as it can and it can be kind of complicated ... so they need to learn the programming language and make the robot go on its own," STMBotix teacher and robotics coach Doug Klein said.
The next is a round that is nearly two minutes long, where the robots go head-to-head to see who can get the most points. Teams have to push star objects, which are worth one point, and cubes, which are worth two, to the opponents side. Klein said based on how many wins a team has is how they are seeded for the tournament.
Four Belding High School teams and one P-W team made it into tournament play. Klein said his second team had some trouble early on.
"Their robot had problems, the arm lifting mechanism broke, so they got disabled a few matches in," Klein said. "It can be frustrating because stuff goes wrong ... sometimes something goes wrong and you have time to fix it and sometimes it's just like you have to work with what you've got."
The program at P-W is funded through different fundraisers and the club said they have received donations from the P-W Boosters, PFCU, Consumers Energy and P-W Students Take Charge. The club plans to visit local businesses in hopes of becoming sponsored. Klein said the costs add up between registering, t-shirts and getting new part, it can be costly.
When asked why the students decided to join the robotics club, they all said because they had fun in the STMBotix class. Some said they even plan to go into the engineering field.
"I'm thinking about mechanical engineering because my dad is a mechanical engineer, so a lot of the things I know I learned from him," P-W Senior Adrian Celis said. "When we took the robot home he would talk to us about what makes sense here and what doesn't and he knew that we would eventually have the problem with the gears having too much torque on them."
This was the last competition of the year for P-W, but will start back up building another couple of robots in May after the world championship because that is when the new game will be released.
For more information on the robotics club or to donate, email Klein at klein@pwschools.org.
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From Texas Standard:
Selene Moreno is a senior at Benito Juarez-Abraham Lincoln High School in La Joya, Texas. She says shes looking forward to graduation.
Im planning to become a physical therapist after I graduate from high school and Im planning on going to Texas A&M, Moreno says.
Moreno is petite and soft-spoken. Shes also ambitious taking college courses and a bunch of AP classes. That can be especially difficult because she doesnt have Internet access at home.
Some parts of Texas are at the epicenter of what's called the digital divide. Thats the gulf between those who have ready access to computers and theInternet,and those who dont.
The Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas found the two metropolitan areas in the country with the lowest broadband access are in the Rio Grande Valley. Those most impacted by the digital divide may be students in the Valley from low-income families, like Moreno.
Moreno does have some access to the Internet, but she says it isnt enough.
I do have a cellphone and that has Internet, but sometimes its really slow and its hard to catch up because it takestimeto get it done, she says. I wish I had fast Internet to get it done faster.
She often finds herself having to work on projects until 2 or 3 a.m.
I remember one time I stayed up to cry, Moreno says. I worked through my tears to stay up late. And sometimes I would come sleepless to school and I wouldnt be able to concentrate the next day.
Moreno's story isnt unique.
Clem Garza is La Joya Independent School District's Director of Instructional Resources and Technology.
Theresparents that sit, take lawn chairs, outside a campus so they can access the web, Garza says. There are students that sit outside by the fence on the grass so they can access the web to do homework. And that tugged at me and that visual never left my mind.
So Garza came up with a plan.
We equipped the buses with routers and antennas so that our students are able to accessInterneton the school buses, Garza says.
Only two of the district's buses have Internet access right now.
Equipping thebusescost a little more than $4,000. But this is not an out-of-pocket expense for the district. Verizon and other businesses are paying for it.
Juarez LincolnHigh School teacher Karim Briseno says the program is also helping teachers. They now feel better about assigning projects that require Internet access. Although most families dont have the Internet at home, kids do ride the bus.
If they spend that much time, from 30 to 45 minutes on the bus, Briseno says, Im pretty sure they can use that time in order for them to do research, homework [and] communicate with teachers [any] questions they might have.
Briseno says she hopes the program will soon be accessible to more students.
I think every bus should have Wifi, Briseno says.
An expansion is in the works, but first La Joya ISD needs to look at the data from the pilot program.
How many users logged on, what types of sites, not necessarily individual sites, but let's say how many educational sites were accessed, how many social sites were accessed, Garza says. Were able to use that and then to see are they mainly streaming, are they downloading, uploading? What are the students doing?
Garza says that information will go to the school board. Itll be up to the board to implement the program. One thing that will help her case, Garza has already found funding for 20 of the 261 buses in the district.
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How a WiFi Pilot Program Is Helping Students in the Rio Grande Valley - KUT
Are you livingyour life for you or for other peoples opinion of you? Are you tryingto earn bragging rights for empty instances of your life? Are you trying to convince everyone that you are living the life of your dreams, when it is actually far from true?
As human beings, at one point or the other in our existence, we all seek validation. Everyone loves to be seen and heard. Since the advent of Facebook and other social media applications, being seen and heard just moved to another level. It has gone way overboard, such that most people have lost touch with reality. They live under illusions, wishes and hopes.
Where do we really draw the line between trying to be heard and showing off? How do we differentiate between reality and vanity when many have virtually lost touch with reality in a bid to keep up with the Joneses.
Have you been at a church wedding where the sermon was going on and people were outside taking pictures with their expensive gadgets? There are some who are even daring enough to take pictures right inside the church. At that point, they dont care about enjoying the event, because showing off to people is better than being present there
But why is it that the first thing that comes to mind after dressing up for an occasion is how to upload mixes to social media?
Is it an attention seeking disorder to want other peoples reassurance that we look good or that the clothes we wear look good on us? Or is it an insecurity issue?
Why is marriage a competition on Facebook? You will see people uploading their wedding pictures on the same night they are supposed to be tired and be in bed.
What is the brain behind all the long names? Who is competing your spouses name with you that you just have to put everything out there? Sometimes up to four names. For example, Yetunde Olasiyan Adebayo Phillips. What does that mean? Some who try to be modest go like this: Yetunde-Adebayo Phillips.
Is Facebook a form of official page where you must do a change of name? Even our official change of names dont look anything near this. It is strictly your name and new surname.
With the way people churn out beautiful messages and poetry lyrics to their boo and bae on Facebook, they give me a run for my money. Why? Because so many writers have now evolved on Facebook with the almost perfect way they write out these inspirational messages. I am talking about a full page of tributes.
If everybodys boo and bae is this perfect on social media, who then owns those ones who are mummys pets, those that beat their wives or those who act like garrison commanders in their homes?
Im not writing a tribute is bad, but what is the motive behind it? Is it to truly appreciate your spouse or to pretend to the whole world that your spouse is almost faultless?
Then why is it a problem when your post doesnt get many likes or comment and you get resentful against those who werent loyal enough to support your appreciation of your spouse. Those silent resentments are very real though unspoken. You hear things like he/she has never liked my posts, I wont like his picture too.
Having everybody know that we have visited the abroad isnt even the big deal but when we do not know the limits at which putting pictures at the restaurant, on the street of DC, in the swimming pool(of probably your neighbour ) becomes a little bit distateful and no longer appealing.
But before you say, go and argue these points with your village deity. What concerns you with other peoples habits anyways? Arent we all guilty one way or the other? Ifwe all do the same thing in an attempt to be different, dont we all end up being the same person in the process?
Of course, there are wonderful talented people on Facebook who are wordsmiths and are role models. Thats one positive thing. These people share inspiring and revelational thoughts that brings healthy discussions.
Asides this, arent we gradually turning into a profane people? Arent we gradually projecting false personalities? A place where I worked had banned its workers from accessing Facebook during office hours. The connection was even suspended such that you could not access certain social sites except check and respond to your mails. It was discovered that good quality productive time was spent on the internet.
Why is it that instead of people to help accident victims or someone undergoing jungle justice, people would rather stand and take live videos and photos?
During my mums burial(she died young and it wasnt a celebration), I was shocked that some people were moving up and down in front of me and my siblings, trying to take our pictures. We were looking so sad and forlorn; yet, they kept brandishing their IPads and tabs just to take videos and photos. They kept distracting and blocking my view.
We even had to tell one of them to go and sit down.
What about you? What do you do on social media?
Photo Credit: Kadettmann | Dreamstime.com
Here is a sneak peek; she is a freelance writer, blogger and poet. Blogs at yettyolas.wordpress.com Please contact her for any freelance writing gigs on any topic via nikeolasiyan@yahoo.com Follow her on twitter@nikeolasiyan.
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Yetunde Olasiyan: Between Having a Voice & the Need to Show Off on Social Media - Bella Naija
Forbes | Adobe's Path To Entering The Virtual Reality Story Forbes Until recently, the pioneers of Virtual Reality storytelling, especially live action, were using the digital equivalent of baling wire and duct tape to tell their stories. For the Video Team, it was hearing multiple times that video creators were using ... |
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Europes booming virtual reality ecosystem now consists of nearly 300companies, according to the first European Virtual Reality landscape released by The Venture Reality Fund and Frances LucidWeb.
Silicon Valley-based venture firm The Venture Reality Fund tracks investments in the augmented reality and VR markets, but most of the action in the past has focused on U.S. companies. But now the VR Fund has created its first graphic showing the regions growth in the VR ecosystem, its increased investment, and its growing international impact.
The European VR landscape is based on extensive research and information gatheredduring meetings and calls with regional VR ambassadors across Europe. Close to 300 VRstartups were identified and reviewed, of which 116 were selected to be part of the firstrelease of the VR Landscape Europe.
We chose to partner with LucidWeb as they have a strong database of top VR startups inEurope and valuable familiarity with the European ecosystem, says Tipatat Chennavasin, cofounder and general partner at The Venture Reality Fund, in a statement. These landscapes are a visualrepresentation of our commitment to education and growth of the industry.
The research shows that games are the most competitive space, with well-fundedcompanies including CCP Games (Iceland), nDreams (United Kingdom), ResolutionGames (Sweden), and Solfar Studios (Iceland).
And user input technology focused on interactions in VR by brain (BCI), body, eye, feet, and hand has many premium players, such as the Swiss-based company MindMazethat raised $100 million, the largest amount raised in one round by any European VRcompany.
Companies are also creating 360-degree VR capture hardware and software, with two French companies,VideoStitch and Giroptic, at the forefront.
Beyond games, the enterprise is gaining traction, with real estate VR generating significant additionalrevenue for online agencies across Europe. SwedensDiakrit and Dutch-basedTheConstruct are two companies leading the charge.
French companiesHomido andMindMaze and Swedish-based Starbreeze arethe most advanced hardware companies developing a mobile Head Mounted Display(HMD) or tethered HMD.
Companies in VR post-production are developing 3D tools, and leadingAmerican software companies have acquired several of these startups over the past two years: Googleacquired Irish Thrive Audio, Facebook acquired Scotland-based Two Big Ears, andSnapchat acquired London-based Seen/Obvious Engineering.
Health care and fitness companies are utilizing VR for medical training, mentaltreatments (anxiety, Aspergers syndrome), and physical rehabilitation. Spain-based Psious and Amsterdam-based MDlinking are two companies to watch in thiscategory.
More than half of the companies included in the landscape are based in the U.K., France, Germany, and Sweden. Overall, France is taking the lead in VR in continental Europe.
The VR industry is booming and not just in the U.S. or Asia. The old continent has known aslower start, but definitely got up to speed during the past two years, says Leen Segers, cofounder and CEO at LucidWeb, in a statement. The VR gaming segment remains the most competitivespace but is surely challenged by a large number of companies focusing on user input or 3Dtools. We feel very excited for the future as we see local and international investors areclearly investing in these segments, too.
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Europe's virtual reality sector has grown to nearly 300 companies - VentureBeat
The Amazon rainforest is just a few clicks away with this new canopy-diving, sloth-dodging, immersive 360-degree virtual reality (VR) video.
Under the Canopy is a new project from nonprofit group Conservation International, bringing the latest filming and VR technology to one of nature's greatest endeavors. Along with providing a beautiful and entertaining experience, they also hope to raise aware of whats at stake from the perils of deforestation in the Amazon.
Why is this important? Well, for starters, the area holds 40 percent of the carbon stocks of tropical forests globally. It provides 20 percent of the worlds breathable oxygen, 20 percent of the worlds fresh water, and holds more species of plants and animals than anywhere else on the planet. Additionally, its home to a number of indigenous peoples, each with a rich history and culture.
The 11-minute long video is best seen through a VR headset, however, it still makes for great viewing on any screen. Simply by clicking around the screen, you can look around the scenes while the story plays out. Theres also a handful of bonusbehind-the-scenes videos explaining some of the impressive techniques they used to capture this footage.
It begins as you descend down a 60-meters-high (200 feet) Ceiba tree to a panoramic view of the great forest around Suriname, and in Ecuadors Yasun National Park. Once you hit the ground, youre introduced to Kamanja Panashekung, a native of the forest who acts as your personal guide through the gorgeous ecosystem and its potentially dark future.
Under the Canopy gives those who may never visit the Amazon rainforest an opportunity to rappel down a 200-foot tree, see its wildlife up close, and understand what is at risk. Sustaining the Amazon is not an option, it is a necessity, said Dr. M. Sanjayan, Conservation International executive vice president and senior scientist.
Turn down the lights, hit the fullscreen button, and enjoy.
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Explore The Amazon With This Stunning 360 Virtual Reality Video - IFLScience
Witness the sights and sounds of an electric collegiate environment as the University of Florida Gators face the University of Tennessee Volunteers. All 360 of it. The prototype for virtual reality in swimming coverage.Current Photo via Phlex Swim Channel
Courtesy of Ryan Rosenbaum / Phlex Swim Channel
Witness the sights and sounds of an electric collegiate environment as the University of Florida Gators face the University of Tennessee Volunteers. All 360 of it. The prototype for virtual reality in swimming coverage.
Virtual reality is an innovative technology that has taken hold of the imaginations of many in the past year. We see it in various big company marketing tactics, or even in your living room with capabilities from a Playstation 4. Whats unfortunate, is that the swimming world has yet to adopt this incredible technology. So we did.
Our very first prototype of a 360 Swimming experience. The collegiate dual meet matchup of UF vs Tennessee in the OConnell center. Experience the races from the stands, above the pool, and even next to the blocks as Caeleb Dressel takes his mark. Let us know if you think this type of content works in the sport with a comment below.
Swimming needs more entertainment. Were here to provide just that. Phlex is a tech startup created by four swimmers with vastly different perspectives on the sport; An Olympian, swim coach, triathlete, and Open Water Swimmer. Weve created the Phlex Swim Youtube Channel to bring more entertaining content to the sport of swimming while keeping it informative as well. Each week we will be posting new videos every Tuesday and Friday at 2PM EST. Stay tuned to the channel for weekly stroke technique/drills, gear reviews, diet advice, and overall business talk in the swimming world.
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New York Times | Virtual Reality Has Arrived in the Art World. Now What? New York Times The accelerating development of virtual reality technology which lets you escape into another world through a blackout headset is finally rumbling the art world, always more skeptical than cinema and television about new technologies. A new ... |
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Virtual Reality Has Arrived in the Art World. Now What? - New York Times
Knowing a thing means you dont need to believe in it. Whatever can be known, or proven by logic or evidence, doesnt need to be taken on faith. Certain details of nutrition and the physiology of eating are known and knowable: the fact that humans require certain nutrients; the fact that our bodies convert food into energy and then into new flesh (and back to energy again when needed). But there are bigger questions that dont have definitive answers, like what is the best diet for all people? For me?
Nutrition is a young science that lies at the intersection of several complex disciplineschemistry, biochemistry, physiology, microbiology, psychologyand though we are far from having figured it all out, we still have to eat to survive. When there are no guarantees or easy answers, every act of eating is something like a leap of faith.
Eating is the first magic ritual, an act that transmits life energy from one object to another, according to cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker in his posthumously published book Escape From Evil. All animals must feed on other life to sustain themselves, whether in the form of breastmilk, plants, or the corpses of other animals. The act of incorporation, of taking a once-living thing into your own body, is necessary for all animals existence. It is also disturbing and unsavory to think about, since it draws a direct connection between eating and death.
Human self-awareness means that, from a relatively early age, we are also aware of death. In his Pulitzer prize-winning book, The Denial of Death, Becker hypothesized that the fear of deathand the need to suppress that fearis what drives much of human behavior. This idea went on, in social psychology, to the form the basis of Terror Management Theory.
Ancient humans must have decided, once their bellies were full, that there was more to life than mere survival and staring mortality in the face. They went on to build things in which they could find distraction, comfort, recreation, and meaning. They built cultures in which death became another rite of passage, not the end of everything. They made structures to live in, wrote songs to sing to each other, and added spices to their food, which they cooked in different styles. Humans are supported by a self-created system of meanings, symbols, rituals, and etiquette. Food and eating are part of this.
The act of ingestion is embroidered with so much cultural meaning that, for most people, its roots in spare, brutal survival are entirely hidden. Even for people in extreme poverty, for whom survival is a more immediate concern, the cultural meanings of food remain critical. Wealthy or poor, we eat to celebrate, we eat to mourn, we eat because its mealtime, we eat as a way to bond with others, we eat for entertainment and pleasure. It is not a coincidence that the survival function of food is buried beneath all of thiswho wants to think about staving off death each time they tuck into a bowl of cereal? Forgetting about death is the entire point of food culture.
When it comes to food, Becker said that humans quickly saw beyond mere physical nourishment, and that the desire for more lifenot just delaying death today, but clearing the bar of mortality entirelygrew into an obsession with transforming the self into a perfected object that might achieve a sort of immorality. Diet culture and its variations, such as clean eating, are cultural structures we have built to attempt to transcend our animality.
By creating and following diets, humans not only eat to stay alive, but they fit themselves into a cultural edifice that is larger, and more permanent, than their bodies. It is a sort of immortality ritual, and rituals must be performed socially. Clean eating rarely, if ever, occurs in secret. If you havent evangelized about it, joined a movement around it, or been praised publicly for it, have you truly cleansed?
As humans, we are possibly the most promiscuous omnivores ever to wander the earth. We dine on animals, insects, plants, marine life, and occasionally non-food: dirt, clay, chalk, even once, famously, bicycles and airplanes.
We are not pandas, chastely satisfied with munching through a square mile of bamboo. We seek variety and novelty, and at the same time, we carry an innate fear of food. This is described by the famous omnivores paradox, which (Michael Pollan notwithstanding) is not mere confusion about choosing what to eat in a cluttered food marketplace. The omnivores paradox was originally defined by psychological researcher Paul Rozin as the anxiety that arises from our desire to try new foods (neophilia) paired with our inherited fear of unknown foods (neophobia) that could turn out to be toxic. All omnivores feel these twin pressures, but none more acutely than humans. If it werent for the small chance of death lurking behind every food choice and every dietary ideology, choosing what to eat from a crowded marketplace wouldnt be considered a dilemma. Instead, we would call it the omnivores fun time at the supermarket, and people wouldnt repost so many Facebook memes about the necessity of drinking a gallon of water daily, or the magical properties of apple cider vinegar and coconut oil. Everyone would be just a little bit calmer about food.
Humans do not have a single, definitive rulebook to direct our eating, despite the many attempts nutrition scientists, dietitians, chefs, and celebrities have made to write one. Each of us has to negotiate the desire for food and fear of the unknown when we are still too young to read, calculate calories, or understand abstract ideas about nutrition. Almost all children go through a phase of pickiness with eating. It seems to be an evolved survival mechanism that prevents usonce we are mobile enough to put things in our mouths, but not experienced enough to know the difference between safe and dangerous foodsfrom eating something toxic. We have all been children trying to shove the world in our mouths, even while we spit out our strained peas.
Our omnivorousness gives us an exhilarating and terrifying amount of freedom. As social creatures, we seek safety from that freedom in our culture, and in a certain amount of conformity. We prefer to follow leaders weve invested with authority to blaze a path to safety.
The heroes of contemporary diet culture are wellness gurus who claim to have cured themselves of fatness, disease, and meaninglessness through the unimpeachable purity of cold-pressed vegetable juice. Many traditional heroes earn their status by confronting and defeating death, like Hercules, who was granted immortality after a lifetime of capturing or killing a menagerie of dangerous beasts, including the three-headed dog of Hades himself. Wellness gurus are the glamorously clean eaters whose triumph over sad, dirty animality is evidenced by fresh, thoughtfully-lit photographs of green smoothies in wholesome Mason jars, and by their own bodies, beautifully rendered.
There are no such heroes to be found in a peer-reviewed paper with a large, anonymous sample, and small effect sizes, written in impenetrable statistician-ese, and hedged with disclosures about limitations. But the image of a person you can relate to on a human level, smiling out at you from the screen, standing in a before-and-after, shoulder-to-shoulder with their former, lesser, processed-food-eating self, is something else altogether. Their creation myth and redemptionhow they were lost but now are foundis undeniably compelling.
There are twin motives underlying human behavior, according to Beckerthe urge for heroism and the desire for atonement. At a fundamental level, people may feel a twinge of guilty for having a body, taking up space, and having appetites that devour the living things around us. They may crave expiation of this guilt, and culture provides not only the means to achieve plentiful material comfort, but also ways to sacrifice part of that comfort to achieve redemption. It is not enough for wellness gurus to simply amass the riches of health, beauty, and statusthey must also deny themselves sugar, grains, and flesh. They must pay.
Only those with status and resources to spare can afford the most impressive gestures of renunciation. Look at all they have! The steel-and-granite kitchen! The Le Creuset collection! The Vitamix! The otherworldly glow! They could afford to eat cake, should the bread run out, but they quit sugar. Theyre only eating twigs and moss now. What more glamorous way to triumph over dirt and animality and death? And you can, too. That is, if you have the time and money to spend juicing all that moss and boiling the twigs until theyre soft enough to eat.
This is how the omnivores paradox breeds diet culture: Overwhelmed by choice, by the dim threat of mortality that lurks beneath any wrong choice, people crave rules from outside themselves, and successful heroes to guide them to safety. People willingly, happily, hand over their freedom in exchange for the bondage of a diet that forbids their most cherished foods, that forces them to rely on the unfamiliar, unpalatable, or inaccessible, all for the promise of relief from choice and the attendant responsibility. If you are free to choose, you can be blamed for anything that happens to you: weight gain, illness, agingin short, your share in the human condition, including the random whims of luck and your own inescapable mortality.
Humans are the only animals aware of our mortality, and we all want to be the person whose death comes as a surprise rather than a pathetic inevitability. We want to be the one of whom people say, But she did everything right. If we cannot escape death, maybe we can find a way to be declared innocent and undeserving of it.
But diet culture is constantly shifting. Todays token foods of health may seem tainted or pass tomorrow, and within diet culture, there are contradictory ideologies: what is safe and clean to one is filth and decadence to another. Legumes and grains are wholesome, life-giving staples to many vegan eaters, while they represent the corrupting influences of agriculture on the state of nature to those who prefer a meat-heavy, grain-free Paleo diet.
Nutrition science itself is a self-correcting series of refutations. There is no certain path to purity and blamelessness through food. The only common thread between competing dietary ideologies is the belief that by adhering to them, one can escape the human condition, and become a purer, less animal, kind of being.
This is why arguments about diet get so vicious, so quickly. You are not merely disputing facts, you are pitting your wild gamble to avoid death against someone elses. You are poking at their life raft. But if their diet proves to be the One True Diet, yours must not be. If they are right, you are wrong. This is why diet culture seems so religious. People adhere to a dietary faith in the hope they will be saved. That if theyre good enough, pure enough in their eating, they can keep illness and mortality at bay. And the pursuit of life everlasting always requires a leap of faith.
To eat without restriction, on the other hand, is to risk being unclean, and to beat your own uncertain path. It is admitting your mortality, your limitations and messiness as a biological creature, while accepting the freedoms and pleasures of eating, and taking responsibility for choosing them.
Unclean, agnostic eating means taking your best stab in the dark, accepting that there is much we dont know. But we do know that there is no One True Diet. There may be as many right ways to eat as there are peoplenone of whom can live forever, all of whom must make of eating and their lives some personal, temporary meaning.
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Diet Culture Exists to Fight Off the Fear of Death - The Atlantic - The Atlantic
A leading dentist claimed sugary foods and supplements are wreaking havoc on the dental health of thousands of nursing home patients.
Dr Anne Twomey said people who have held onto their teeth for 80 years are now losing them in three months.
She accused the HSE of reneging on its duty of care to 27,000 patients by failing to meet their dental health needs.
Dr Twomey, who is vice president of the Irish Dental Association, said the unregulated use of fortified high sugar food supplements is causing untold damage.
She said: Fortified oral nutritional supplements can be effective in increasing a patients calorie intake but one of the consequences of constantly sipping these high sugar content drinks is the very negative effect they have on oral health.
When you add in all the gifts of sweets and soft drinks which patients receive you have a recipe for disaster. Dr Twomey said her practice was contacted recently by a nursing home to say an elderly patient with end-stage Parkinsons disease, urgently needed dental care.
On the first visit, she said she could see there was overwhelming halitosis and sadly her grandchildren were refusing to hug her. Staff had rubbed the 75 year-olds teeth twice daily with a sponge but she hadnt had her teeth brushed in two years.
Dr Twomey said she had to remove four of the womans upper incisors, while the remaining teeth were in such poor condition phased extractions were essential.
She pointed out that because of the medication a significant number of patients like this woman suffer from dry mouth and this accelerates dental decay.
She said: Very often the situation has reached crisis proportions by the time Im called in and I have to take out 15 to 20 teeth over a short period of time.
Although these patients are among our most vulnerable citizens, they have little or no access to oral hygiene.
In addition dentists are generally not included in the multi-disciplinary teams which care for them.
Dr Twomey highlighted this issue in a recent edition of the Journal of the IDA.
She has urged the HSE and HIQA to step up to their obligations and added: These patients did not reach old age with their original teeth on a high-sugar diet.
As well as carefully monitoring high-sugar supplements, family and carers should be encouraged to provide low-sugar treats. Patients bedrooms often resemble a sweet shop.
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Top dentist claims sugary foods and supplements bad for nursing home patients' teeth - Irish Mirror