Tag Archive for: How To Kill An Hour

Disney Laughing Detection

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Disney want to know how you enjoy their films, at IEEE’s Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, Disney Research and Caltech highlighted the way they track facial expressions of people watching films.

The tech is so advanced they claim that they can predict the face’s future expressions through the remainder of a film, its called “factorised variational autoencoders” (FVAEs)

To make this possible, researchers used infared cameras to the audiences of 150 showings of 9 films, including a lot of Disney movies! Like Zootopia, Big Hero 6 and the recent Star Wars films.

After compiling this huge amount of data, they went back and tested it on some more moviegoers, after an initial set up period the FVAEs were able to predict when an audience member (remember these are brand new fresh audiences) was about to laugh or smile as tied to significant moments in each of the films. They hope to predict other emotive moments in films such as fear and sadness. How this data will be used is unclear, but it could help them better understand audience reactions than human based market research.

 

Nest Camera Catches Landlord!

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A married couple in the US spotted their landlord shagging in their bed via their Nest Camera. The camera notified Logan Pierce via the app that, there was ‘activity’ going on in their bedroom. When he opened up his app he was able to witness a live 6-minute sex show that starred his very own landlord, who wiped lube off the bed with an item of their clothing, while his sex partner cleaned his genitals with Pierce’s wife’s wedding dress.

Their landlord was arrested for trespassing and negotiated a plea deal, he is due to be sentenced on September 22nd. Punishment for first degree trespassing in Colorado (where the crime was committed) is up to three years.

 

UK Email Hacker Trolls US Officials

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A British prankster (@SINON_REBORN) has amazingly pranked a number of high level US officials writing to Tom Bossert (Homeland Security Officer) posing as Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner:

Tom, we are arranging a bit of a soirée towards the end of August. It would be great if you could make it, I promise food of at least comparible [sic] quality to that which we ate in Iraq. Should be a great evening.

Bossert:

Thanks, Jared. With a promise like that, I can’t refuse. Also, if you ever need it, my personal email is [redacted]

Scaramucci, was a victim as well with the prankster posing as Priebus.

Fake Priebus:

I had promised myself I would leave my hands mud free, but after reading your tweet today which stated how; “soon we will learn who in the media who has class, and who hasn’t”, has pushed me to this. That tweet was breathtakingly hypocritical, even for you. At no stage have you acted in a way that’s even remotely classy, yet you believe that’s the standard by which everyone should behave towards you? General Kelly will do a fine job. I’ll even admit he will do a better job than me. But the way in which that transition has come about has been diabolical. And hurtful. I don’t expect a reply.

Scaramucci:

You know what you did. We all do. Even today. But rest assured we were prepared. A Man would apologize.

Fake Preibus:

I can’t believe you are questioning my ethics! The so called “Mooch”, who can’t even manage his first week in the White House without leaving upset in his wake. I have nothing to apologize for.

Scaramucci replied:

Read Shakespeare. Particularly Othello. You are right there. My family is fine by the way and will thrive. I know what you did. No more replies from me.
In a follow-up message @SINON_REBORN tweeted but which was not included in the CNN report, the fake Priebus taunted Scaramucci about his “zero dollar pay scale,” adding, “Keep spell checking your press releases, Anthony. It’s me that will be thriving.”

Scaramucci also fell for it again with Sinon this time posing as Jon Huntsman Jr Ambassador to Russia-designate:

“Who’s [sic] head should roll first? Maybe I can help things along somewhat”

Scaramucci:

“Both of them,”

We can only assume he’s referring to Steve Bannon.

SINON_REBORN also posed as Trump’s son Eric in emails to Huntsman:

Thanks for the thoughtful note. Russia will be a challenging but no doubt rewarding assignment.

Fake Eric:

Maybe we could have Dad sat (sic) on a horse, top off, giving the full Putin! He’s in better shape than his suits suggest.

Eric Trump, the real one, was the only one who caught on to the prank and told the prankster  @SINON_REBORN that law enforcement were aware.

 

UK’s HUGE Theme Park

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The UK’s HUGE theme park which is £3.2 Billion development for a brownfield site on the Swanscombe Peninsula in Kent, what’s currently an unused cement works will be transformed into a HUGE 872 acre park. That includes cinemas, restaurants, theatres, rollercoasters (of course) 3,500 hotel rooms, a development of the UK’s largest indoor water park and 14,000 parking spaces.

Tickets are estimated at a reasonable £57 and transport packages will be available as it’s next to Ebbsfleet international, which is 20mins away from St Pancras in London. London Resort Companies Holdings are behind the project and they were in partnership with Paramount, but now the deal is off the table but the development is still there to build rides based on Hollywood film franchises.

Building work (if the government approves plans which take 12-18months to approve) is planned to be undertook between 2019-2022 with doors opening in 2023.

 

A Company Is MicroChipping It’s Employees

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A company in the US, Three Two Market based in Wisconsin, is planning to microchip it’s employees, yet the implants are totally voluntary.

Three Two Market are paying for the £230 procedure which is performed by a Swedish Company called BioHax. Todd Westby CEO of Three Two Market sees the implants (which strangely enough, will go between the webbing of the thumb and index finger) to open doors, use of copy machines, logging on to the computers, storing medical info and payment at RFID terminals.

Security is of course a major concern as it could allow hackers to steal data and what’s stopping the companies people work for from snooping on their employees? However it is said that no data is stored or monitored at a company level, but it is unclear if BioHax has access to this data. The chip only communicates with a reader such as a door, or a vending machine. But what happens if someone quits? Leaves?

 

Limbo

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Limbo is a puzzle-platform video game developed by independent studio Playdead. The game was released in July 2010 on Xbox Live Arcade, and has since been ported to several other systems, including the PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows. Limbo is a 2D side-scroller, incorporating a physics system that governs environmental objects and the player character. The player guides an unnamed boy through dangerous environments and traps as he searches for his sister. The developer built the game’s puzzles expecting the player to fail before finding the correct solution. Playdead called the style of play “trial and death”, and used gruesome imagery for the boy’s deaths to steer the player from unworkable solutions. (Wiki)

 

To download Limbo please click here Apple / Android

Dark matter discovery

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New map reveals more detail about dark matter

There has been an age old question that no one has been able to answer yet  – ‘what is dark matter made of?’

New research might be closer to the answer as new images help scientists understand what dark matter is made from and learn more about another mysterious phenomenon called dark energy.

The subject matter for many science fiction films and TV series over the past 5 decades, we might be a step closer to getting to the bottom of dark matter…

According to Professor Ofer Lahav of University College London (UCL) the map would provide new insights into how the Universe operates and he explained: “Once we have the full survey, 300 million galaxies and a thousand supernovae, we may be providing input for a new Einstein to tell us what does it all mean – why is the Universe made the way it is?”

Electronic Skin

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Electronic skin has been developed by researchers in Japan

The Electronic Skin can be worn on the human body and has many uses.

The skin has an organic circuit that can be worn on the skin, it’s ten times lighter than skin and lighter than a feather.

The skin is surprisingly tough and resilient and has been in development for 10 years.

Many potential uses for the skin include monitoring your health, it can be worn as an electronic tattoo or in the future generate images within the electronic skin.

Drones with X-Ray vision

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Kind of… 

X-Ray vision was still thought to be a thing of the future…

…we are now in the future. Researchers are trialling a process that uses WiFi signals and a little interpolation to literally see through walls.

The system is two-fold, one drone blasts WiFi through the structure and another picks up the signal.

They then work in tandem, the two drones fly around the solid structure until it maps the differences in wave strength at different points. Using this information the researchers have been able to create a 3D model of a closed building.

Although you won’t be able to see though walls in incredible detail, the process has implications to be used in emergency situations when you need to know what’s inside the building without breaking down the doors.

Clothes you can vend

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Uniqlo shirts at push of a button in airport vending

Japanese clothing brand has installed its first vending machine that will dispense clothing at a Californian airport.

There are plans to launch 9 others at airports including Los Angeles, Houston and New York in the coming months.

The stock will include men and women’s lightweight shirts and jackets.

These vending machines are ideal for the millennial who has to take a last minute business trip or if you’ve under-packed and only realise when you get to the airport. In short, it’s the ultimate convenience stop and as the brand is so popular travellers might even vend even if they don’t need a new shirt or jacket.