Tag Archive for: How To Kill An Hour
Facebook Blender – POWERFUL CHAT BOT
Facebook have launched a brand new chatbot. It’s called Facebook Blender and it is insanely powerful and very very humanlike. It’s able to demonstrate empathy, knowledge and personality.
Facebook Blender was trained by using available public domain conversations. The conversations that were analysed? 1.5billion different human exchanges. HUGE! In a surprising stat, 49% of people prefer to interact with the chatbot compared with another human!
However, artificial intelligence experts state that using a platform such as Reddit does come with drawbacks. As Facebook Blender would sometimes respond using foul and offensive language, while at other times it would make up facts.
Though researches hope that further models of Blender would address this. A Facebook spokesperson told the BBC:
“We believe that releasing models is essential to enable full, reliable insights into their capabilities,” a Facebook spokesperson said.
Artificial Intelligence expert Dave Coplin, chief executive of consultancy The Envisioners, said that Blender was a “step in the right direction,”
“The first is just how complex it is to replicate all of the nuances of a human attribute, like the ability to hold a conversation, a skill that most three-year-olds can master,”
“The second is around the relationship with the data used to train the model and the results generated by the model.
“As great a platform as Reddit is, training algorithms based on the conversations you find there is going to get you a lot of chaff amongst the wheat.”
Facebook also compared Blender’s performance with the latest version of Meena, Google’s version of a chatbot. It showed 2 sets of conversations, one made with Blender the other Meena. These conversations included different conversations such as movies or veganism. Facebook said that 67% of respondents thought Blender sounded more humanlike than Meena.
“We achieved this milestone through a new chatbot recipe that includes improved decoding techniques, novel blending of skills, and a model with 9.4 billion parameters, which is 3.6x more than the largest existing system.
“This is the first chatbot to blend a diverse set of conversational skills together in one system.”
“Building a truly intelligent dialogue agent that can chat like a human remains one of the largest open challenges in AI today.”
Facebook Blender Example Conversations
(BBC)
Get involved with Facebook Blender here and here!
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Netflix vs Disney
Netflix’s share price rose just a tad last week to make the 22year old company more valuable than Disney. While Disney has been around for almost a century. At it’s peak, Netflix’s market cap was close to touching $200BN! (data from Koyfin). Netflix Vs Disney is on!
However, those share prices have reversed slightly to see Disney retake it’s crown. Though, considering towards the end of 2019, Disney was worth almost 2x as much as Netflix. So it’s very surprising to see a shift in fortunes in a short space of time.
You could argue that it’s the coronavirus being the reason for this. Netflix recently announced that it had gained a massive 16M new subscribers over the last quarter. While Disney have had to close it’s parks and furlough thousands of workers. Even have had to push back film releases. Disney+ however seems to be doing well, even though it represents a tiny portion of Disney’s revenue’s and profits.
Netflix may come back on top, but that could all come down to how long lockdown is. Though, other platforms such as Quibi may want to take a piece of the pie….
Launching a brand new streaming platform whilst everyone is at home during a global pandemic may be a good thing. However, for Quibi, a content provider designed for people on the go, who want a 10 minute episode whilst on the commute, it may be different.
Quibi is short for “Quick Bites” and they raised $2BN from investors before even having a single user. Therefore making it one of the msot funded startups pre-launch of all time. They’re trying to break the mold and be different, original and unique. The ability to watch your phone in landscape or portrait certainly highlights that as the content will dynamically adjust depending on how you watch.
Global Stats
Based on data from JustWatch, for 66 countries Netflix is the market leader in 61 of them. While Prime Video has the lead in Germany, Austria and India. Furthermore BluTV is leading in Turkey and iQiyi in China. (Note Netflix is unavailable in China)
Netflix vs Disney – Quibi Enters the fold
Quibi debuted at number 4 in the app store. But has since plummeted to outside the top 100.
Their socials aren’t great either 190K on Instagram is great, but there’s an account about an egg that has 6.7M and charts get 196K. So considering the funding, you’d expect more followers.
However, there is some good news. The apps ratings are great! More than half of the 2500 ratings are 5 stars and there’s little 1 star ratings.
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Mixcloud Live: Legal Live Streaming For DJ’s
Live Streaming in the DJ world has had a lot of interest over the past few years. While nothing has come close to the demand we’ve seen for live today, during a pandemic. A new reality has set in and there’s been plenty of cancelled events. Therefore creators and institutions are facing an extremely challenging financial future. Mixcloud LIVE is here to help that.
Mixcloud LIVE
So, as a result, Mixcloud have launched Mixcloud LIVE for all of their PRO Creators. Mixcloud LIVE is a first music focused, integrated solution to allow audio creators to live stream video and archive the audio (coming soon). Futhermore they’re able to generate income via SELECT. While this is done via a legal and licensed platform ensuring that underlying artists and songwriters who get played will get paid.
All via a legal and licensed platform ensuring the underlying artists and songwriters who get played, get paid.
Some Bugs
Mixcloud have been working hard to bring a brand new way for creators to express themselves over the last few weeks. All within the best way possible. They’ve built and released Mixcloud LOVE earlier than they’d normally do, so expect some bugs and UI flaws when using it. However, don’t worry as they will iron them out as quickly a possible.
Mixcloud LIVE has been designed to bring an interactive, fun, human experience to both creators and listeners, at a time when the world is socially distant we can feel closer than ever with music.
Start here: mixcloud.com/live/new
For help setting up, check out this article on how to go live on Mixcloud
(Mixcloud)
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Coronavirus Conversation
We’re in lockdown, not just in UK, but all over the world. Old conversation habits die hard, such as ‘what did you get up to last night’. There’s not many different things you can do whilst in lockdown. So our friends over at Stylist have devised a new way of spicing up our answers to questions. Here’s some Coronavirus conversation to help spice things up!
Stylist have come up with some really funny ways to respond when someone asks what you got up to last night. They make you sound like you did really exciting things. When in reality they’re quite mundane:
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I HAD A CHEEKY WINE IN THE GARDEN”
Say: “I partook in an al fresco wine tasting. It was glorious. I particularly enjoyed the bergamot top notes in the chardonnay.”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I WATCHED TIGER KING ON NETFLIX”
Say: “I watched an innovative and divisive documentary exploring the complex relationship between man and beast. It threw up some interesting philosophical dilemmas, actually.”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I WENT FOR A WALK”
Say: “I indulged in my evening constitutional.”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I CHATTED TO SOME FRIENDS ON ZOOM”
Say: “Some close acquaintances and I met face-to-face using a cloud-based video conferencing service, whereupon we discussed all manner of things.”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I FINISHED MY BOOK”
Take a leaf out of Jane Austen’s book and say: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything than of a book!”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I SCROLLED AIMLESSLY THROUGH INSTAGRAM”
Say: “I visited the world’s largest image gallery and perused the many exhibits on display, in order to gather inspiration for the interior design of my future home, outfits I will wear once I can go outside again, and cakes I will bake once I can actually buy flour and eggs.”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I ATE ALL MY QUARANTINE SNACKS IN ONE SITTING”
Say: “I struggled in vain to curb my innermost desires, but alas! I am only human, and some temptations cannot be resisted.”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I PLAYED VIDEO GAMES FOR A BIT”
Say: “I used an innovative software system to test my mental and physical reflexes, not to mention my decision-making.”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I WENT TO THE SUPERMARKET”
Say: “I embarked on an intrepid mission outdoors, in a bid to replenish our supplies and see us through this infernal quarantine.”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “ I MADE A SPOT OF DINNER”
Say: “Cooking is an expression that crosses boundaries, and last night saw me transcend all boundaries as I whipped up a culinary storm in my kitchen.”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I TRIED TO DO A JOE WICKS WORKOUT”
Say: “I did my best to exert myself with the help of an old friend. One always feels better when the blood starts pumping, doesn’t one?”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I HAD A SHOWER”
Say: “I shed my clothes, until I was as naked as the day I was born, and stepped under a stream of gushing water. It cleansed me, body and soul, and left me feeling utterly invigorated.”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I DID A LOT OF UNNECESSARY ONLINE SHOPPING”
Make like Barbra Streisand in Hello Dolly and say: “Money, pardon the expression, is like manure. It’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around, encouraging young things to grow. And so I sacrificed my disposable income in a bid to give the economy a boost.”
- INSTEAD OF SAYING: “I FELL ASLEEP ON THE SOFA”
Say: “I hunkered down for the night far from my creature comforts, with nary a duvet or pillow in sight.”
(Stylist)
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