Microsoft Researchers Developing Storytelling Robots

Scientists at Microsoft Research and their colleagues are developing an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can tell stories based on photos.

The aim is not just to explain what items are in the picture, but also what appears to be happening and how it might potentially make a person feel, US-based website livescience.com quoted the researchers as saying.

For example, if a person is shown a picture of a man in a tuxedo and a woman in a long, white dress, instead of saying, "This is a bride and groom," he or she might say, "My friends got married. They look really happy; it was a beautiful wedding."
"The goal is to help give AIs more human-like intelligence, to help it understand things on a more abstract level and what it means to be fun or creepy or weird or interesting," Margaret Mitchell, study senior author said in a

"With our focus on storytelling, we hope to help AIs understand human concepts in a way that is very safe and beneficial for mankind, rather than teaching it how to beat mankind," Mitchell, who is also a computer scientist at Microsoft Research, added.

To build a visual storytelling system, the researchers used deep neural networks, computer systems that learn by example.

The researchers said although everything worked fine, the computerized storyteller needs a lot more tinkering.

"The automated evaluation is saying that it's doing as good or better than humans, but if you actually look at what's generated, it's much worse than humans," Mitchell noted.

"There's a lot the automated evaluation metrics are not capturing and there needs to be a lot more work on them. This work is a solid start, but it is just the beginning."

The scientists will detail their findings in San Diego at the annual meeting of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics later this month.

OnePlus 3 To Launch In 6 Different Variants

OnePlus 3 may reportedly be coming out in six different variants. Two models of the OnePlus 3 with varying RAM and storage sizes will be up for grabs on June 30.

There will be a standard variant of 4GB RAM which will be available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB variants. Also, a mammoth 6GB variant will be released with 32GB, 64GB and 128GB variants, according to product listings on oppomart.

The phone will have a 5.5 inch Full HD display powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC and a 3650mAh battery. There will be a 16MP primary camera with Optimal Image Stabilization and a 8MP front camera. The phone will run on the company's own OxygenOS powered by Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

OnePlus 3's global launch will be invite free. "We're releasing the OnePlus 3 invite-free, right from launch day. In addition, invites are gone forever from future OnePlus product launches," said Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus in a blogpost

The company is already creating waves with the OnePlus 3 launch campaign. As a first, the phone will launch in the virtualspace on the company's Loop VR headsets, which the Chinese manufacturer made available before the launch. The entire stock sold out in a minute and there is another sale scheduled on June 7.

How to Turn off your Search and Location History in Google

By now, it should come as no surprise that Google keeps track of your search and location history.

But you may be surprised to find out just how detailed that history that is. Google not only lets you view your past search history, you can now get a detailed look at just about every place you've ever visited. These settings are enabled by default, but they don't have to be.

While the thought of Google quietly recording your every search — whether it's on Maps, YouTube or its search engine — can be disconcerting, there are reasons why it's useful to keep these settings enabled. For example, it helps Google offer up better recommendations (and, yes, more targeted ads). Plus, if you're a Google Now user, it can help make recommendations more personalized. Nevertheless, if you want to erase your Google footprint, here's how to do it.

Get a clean slate

Google recently streamlined many of its privacy settings and other account tools when it released a privacy dashboard last year. Head over to your "My account" page and select "Activity Controls" under the "Personal Info and Privacy" menu.

Here, you can see a list of cards that allow you to control how Google saves your search and activity history. It's possible to "pause" history related to search and browsing activity, Maps, voice search, YouTube and what else you've watched, as well as "information from your devices," a setting that uses data from your calendar and other apps to improve personalization in other Google services.

Keep in mind that if you use more than one Google account, you'll have to repeat these steps for each account. It's also a good idea to review your privacy and security settings while you're in your account dashboard.

If you want to delete previous activity that's already been saved, you can find instructions for doing so here (for search and browsing) and here (for maps and location).

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How to Save Battery Life Using Low Power Mode on the iPhone

For iPhone users who are always low on battery life, there's an easy way to squeeze more power out of your device throughout the day.

By flipping on the iPhone's Low Power Mode, it temporarily reduces power consumption until you can fully charge your phone; essentially, it puts a hold on battery-sucking features like mail fetch and background refresh. You're probably already familiar with Low Power Mode — Apple sends a notification when you hit 20% battery life, asking if you want to engage it.

But the good news is Low Power Mode exists beyond moments of battery emergency. Here's how to get it: Open Settings > Battery > Low Power Mode (make sure it's "on").

You'll want to switch this on right after you're done charging the device — once you plug it back in at the end of the day and it hits 80% charged, Low Power Mode will unfortunately switch off, so you'll want to incorporate this process into your morning routine.

Low Power Mode is available for devices running iOS 9, but it'll work best with Apple's latest model smartphone, the iPhone 6S.

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6 Apps Your Company Should Take Advantage

By Brooke Chaplan

Phones can either be a distraction or a boon, depending on how they are used. With the proper apps, phones can improve productivity, and help your company make even more profits. Here are six apps your company should absolutely be taking advantage of.

Evernote

With instant syncing across multiple platforms, top-level organizational abilities, and features that enable collaboration, Evernote is the ultimate note-taking app. When you need a team to focus on the same topic, Evernote can be used to create notebook for them all. It’s perfect for getting quick notations down in minutes.

National Trainers

New to the software scene is National Environmental Trainers Inc. which offers HAZWOPER training certification courses. Not only are these necessary in some industries, but can be expensive if all your employees have to go to a location to get them done. Using the new software and now app, you can streamline this process and get all your employees trained and on the same page.

Expensify

Maintaining a record of all businesses expenses can be a tedious chore. With Expensify, all your employees have to do is scan their receipts and the image will be automatically uploaded to a central database. Never again will you have to sort dozens of receipts at tax time.

Trello

Trello is a free online app that allows people to work together no matter their physical location. It encourages sharing and collaboration and displays the data in a visual way, making it easy to see and understand what’s going on. Everything from sound bites, to images can be shared on a customizable board.

GoToMeeting

Meetings tend to take far more time than is necessary, and because employees have to move from their desks, they lose their train of thought and it interrupts their flow throughout the day.GoToMeeting prevents that by allowing employees to have meetings without ever leaving their computers. It also helps when trying to hold a meeting when people are in different geographic locations.

CampFire

For those times when you need to collaborate with a group but a full meeting isn’t necessary, Campfire fills the void. It’s a simple, easy to use group messaging system. With both a mobile and browser based version, it’s easy to send off a quick question or address a concern without the need to completely break your work flow.

Asana

When the days become hectic and the to-do list never seems to get shorter, it’s easy to get discouraged. Asana helps by providing a simple, easy to use interface. When you finish a task, just mark it off. Watching as the list shortens will give you the momentum to keep pushing through to the end of the day.

When used like this, phones can be very helpful for all your business purposes. Just make sure you don’t get sidetracked with the latest Facebook notification.