Google's latest object recognition tech can spot everything in your living room

Google object recognition spots items in a living room

Automatic object recognition in images is currently tricky. Even if a computer has the help of smart algorithms and human assistants, it may not catch everything in a given scene. Google might change that soon, though; it just detailed a new detection systemthat can easily spot lots of objects in a scene, even if they're partly obscured. The key is aneural network that can rapidly refine the criteria it's looking for without requiring a lot of extra computing power. The result is a far deeper scanning system that can both identify more objects and make better guesses -- it can spot tons of items in a living room, including (according to Google's odd example) a flying cat. The technology is still young, but the internet giant sees its recognition breakthrough helping everything fromimage searches through to self-driving cars. Don't be surprised if it gets much easier to look for things online using only vaguest of terms.

Comments

Shatterproof screens to protect smartphones

Polymer scientists at the University of Akron in Ohio have developed a transparent electrode that could change the face of smartphones, literally, by making their displays shatterproof. In a recently published paper, researchers show how a transparent layer of nanowire-based electrodes on a polymer surface could be extraordinarily tough and flexible, withstanding repeated scotch tape peeling and bending tests. This could revolutionise and replace conventional touchscreens, according to Yu Zhu, UA assistant professor of polymer science. Currently used coatings made of indium tin oxide (ITO) are more brittle, most likely to shatter, and increasingly costly to manufacture. “These two pronounced factors drive the need to substitute ITO with a cost-effective and flexible conductive transparent film,” Zhu says, adding that the new film provides the same degree of transparency as ITO, yet offers greater conductivity. The novel film retains its shape and functionality after tests i...

Get 56GB of free cloud storage in one folder!

Bring Your Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, & OneDrive All Together In One Folder With odrive! Dropbox gives you up to 16GB free. Google Drive & Gmail give you 15GB. OneDrive gives you 15GB. Box gives you 10GB. odrive brings all your cloud storage apps together in one folder right on your desktop. Just link your Dropbox, Google Drive, Gmail, Box, and OneDrive accounts to odrive and instantly get all your files scattered everywhere in one place! You can even link multiple accounts from each app to get even more! 1. Install odrive. DOWNLOAD It's free! And available for Windows & Mac :) 3.Get all your stuff! 2. Link all your cloud storage accounts. Note: This gives odrive permission to download your files for you. odrive doesn't store anything, we promise! OXYGEN CLOUD, INC., 1600 SEAPORT BLVD, REDWOOD CITY, CA, 94063, UNITED ...

So, when will your device actually get Android Oreo?

Google officially just took the wraps off of Android Oreo, but there are still some questions left to be answered — most notably, precisely when each device will be getting the latest version of the mobile operating system. Due to Android’s openness and a variety of different factors on the manufacturing side, it’s not an easy question to answer, but we’ll break it down best we can. First the good news: If your device was enrolled in the Android Beta Program, you’ll be getting your hands on the final version of the software “soon,” according to Google. Exactly what that means remains to be seen, but rest assured that you’ll be one of of the first people outside of Google to take advantage of picture-in-picture, notification dots and the like. No big surprise, Google handsets will be the first non-beta phones to get the update. The Pixel, Nexus 5X and 6P are at the top of the list, alongside Pixel C tablet and ASUS’s Nexus Player set-top box, which will be receiving the upgrade i...

The Withings Go Is A Cheap Little Activity Tracker

Withings has one more thing up its sleeve, a new activity tracker. This isn’t a new version of the Pulse or Activité. This is a brand new activity tracker. And the best part is that it only costs $69. The Withings Go uses an always-on E Ink display like the one on your Kindle or original Pebble. It’s very power efficient but it’s also a black and white display. But the good thing about this kind of display is that the Withings Go uses a button cell battery and the battery lasts 8 months. This new device tracks your steps, distance, running activity and swimming activity. You can also use it to track your sleep cycles. Compared to other entry-level activity trackers, you can do quite a lot. You don’t have to switch between activities — the device switches automatically. And of course, you can get your data in the Withings Health Mate app on iOS and Android. The Withings Go will be available in Q1 2016. Now the question is whether people want ...

Where does Blue Apron go after Amazon wraps up its Whole Foods deal?

Last week, Amazon said that its massive $13.7 billion deal to acquire Whole Foods is wrapping up on Monday — giving it access to one of the strongest food brands in the United States, as well as hundreds of grocery stores in metropolitan areas. That means it’s going to be easier and easier for people to get access to great ingredients, and there’s been a continued trickle of suggestions that Amazon will be gunning for a massive business that helped Blue Apron go public — a trickle that has since tempered Wall Street’s appetite for that business. All this raises a ton of questions as to what the future of Blue Apron is as Amazon looks primed to bulldoze into its territory in a very Amazon move. But as the specter of Amazon getting into meal-kit delivery looms, let’s review really quickly what Blue Apron has going for it: It has a strong brand in meal-kit delivery. The company wouldn’t have been able to go public, much less sustain unicorn status even as its stock continues to plumme...

Exciting Technology

Search This Blog