This week, Burger King attempted to trigger Google Home devices with a TV ad but… things got messy, I stumbled upon a cool short film on AR and Google released a new sort of AI-powered auto-complete… for drawings! Like my AI-sketch of the creature on the right!
Burger King’s sneaky Google home invasion, my wonderful AI-assisted drawing and its inspiration from an AR short film!
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AI With The Best
This is the final week before the online AI With The Best conference! Attend this conference without leaving your house! This online dev conference is on April 29th, use coupon code WTBVIP or the link above for a discount!
Virtual Reality
Using virtual reality for autism therapy
Inspiring to see the team at Floreo using virtual reality for autism therapy!
The game studio with grand VR cat tracking ambitions!
Remember the VR cat tracker? Here’s a look at the team behind it.
The 12 best ways to fund your VR project
Useful tips for getting money for your next VR app.
Global virtual reality industry to hit $7.2 billion in revenues by 2017
Things will be big this year if this report is accurate!
Wireless VR peripherals with Nefes data kit
Allows for USB-based peripherals such as haptic controllers, smart gloves and other USB wearables to become untethered.
AMD VP: Fallout 4 VR will be an “industry changer” like Mario and Sonic
Fallout 4 VR is getting talked up pretty highly by AMD’s VP.
VR First will create 50 education labs at universities this year
They’ve already opened 26 around the globe. Such a good initiative!
Storyboard VR is here: download and get prototyping
A new prototyping and visualization tool for VR apps.
Aukey Cortex 4k VR headset review and giveaway
Higher resolution & lower price than high-end headsets like the Rift and Vive.
This team wants to stimulate your muscles so you can feel VR
This could be fun!
VR camera set to go into space with Space X
Space X is planning to put a VR camera into space with them!
Augmented and Mixed Reality
Magic Leap just had some of its secrets spilled by Andre Iguodala
Magic Leap had some of its secrets spilled by an NBA star last week. This week, Ricky Gervais also said it will change the world.
Augmented reality and loneliness: Magali Barbé’s ‘Strange Beasts’
An interesting take on AR pets!
Gravity jack’s poindextar tracks objects’ smallest details for augmented reality anywhere
This tracks real-world objects and their components in 3D not via tags.
Lifeliqe is bringing HoloLens to the classroom
Students seemed to prefer using mixed reality for education over VR.
Wearables
Beta CloudPebble shutdown
Beta CloudPebble is retiring from active service, if you’ve got anything hosted there, back them up!
Alphabet’s Verily reveals a concept clinical smartwatch you can’t buy
A smartwatch packed with sensors, an always-on display, a big battery and a long-lasting battery that’s meant for longitudinal studies.
Fitbit’s smartwatch is plagued by software and hardware issues
It sounds like they’re having issues with their upcoming smartwatch.
Fitbit smartwatch investigation: Fitbit is hell-bent on building an Apple Watch rival
Here’s some details on what they’re working towards.
Lifebeam launches AI-powered and voice-activated personal trainer
An interesting combo of biosensing earphones and AI.
Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Vehicles and Robotics
Fast drawing for everyone
Google can now use AI to autocomplete drawings!
Why AI is not the enemy
Great, well reasoned points for how we need to approach AI.
The dark secret at the heart of AI
“No one really knows how the most advanced algorithms do what they do. That could be a problem.”
AI can predict heart attacks more accurately than doctors
This machine learning algorithm beats ACC/AHA guidelines by 7.6 percent!
Apple gets permit to test autonomous cars in California
Looks like they’re still looking into self driving cars after all?
How machine learning may help tackle depression
Really glad to see this sort of use of emerging tech!
Neural networks made easy
Neural networks explained in a pretty handy guide by TechCrunch!
Google’s dueling neural networks spar to get smarter, no humans required
Google are getting AI to battle it out with other AI to learn.
The art of algorithms: how automation is affecting creativity
A look at how developing AI might affect our creativity in the future.
Can artificial intelligence learn racism from human language?
AI that learns from human language acquires the same gender and racial biases as people, according to a new study (this is a video).
Samsung says Bixby voice assistant won’t ship with Galaxy S8
A bit disappointing and surprising… It will come later this year.
Deep learning in 7 lines of code
A continued look at learning deep learning.
Five years ago, AI was struggling to identify cats. now it’s trying to tackle 5000 species
A contest Google is sponsoring requires researchers to train an AI to identify more than 5000 different species of plants and animals.
Google Home vs Amazon’s Alexa: 54 questions, 1 clear winner
A test of the AI responses of each.
Internet of Things
Google shuts down Burger King’s cunning TV ad
Burger King tried to trigger Google Home devices around America, Google say they’ve disabled responses to the ad however I’ve still heard of people who’ve had the ad trigger their device. Hilariously though, it works off the Whopper Wikipedia page… so people just went and edited it.
Lift takes finger tracking accuracy to a new level
A new way to track 10 fingers to within less than 2mm using a pair of Arduino MKR1000s.
Amazon makes the high-performance 7-mic voice processing technology from Amazon Echo available to third-party device makers
I think that super long title covers it pretty well.
Mirai botnet variant turns IoT devices into Bitcoin mining slaves
IBM X-Force uncovered a new strain of the Linux malware…
The Ecobee4 thermostat will come with integrated Alexa controls
Ecobee’s next connected thermostat will likely include Alexa!
Smart mirror (with optional Alexa)
Connected thermostat not your thing? What about building a smart mirror?
Interactive Mario mushroom block
A DIY interactive Mario mushroom block using an Arduino!
Got questions on emerging tech? Feel free to DM me on Twitter, Snapchat me (devdiner) or just send me an email and ask! That’s what Dev Diner is here for 🙂
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Want more?
A neat way to add I/O with the physical world — the Wio Terminal
The world of micro-controllers and maker creations is a vast and ever-growing one that can be super intimidating to newcomers. Should you start with an Arduino? A Raspberry Pi? What's an ESP something something? How do you add a screen? Sensors? The team at Seeed Studio are trying to make things easier and their Wio Terminal looks like a nice option for those who want to start with a screen and some sensors.
Building a 3D printed AR headset with The Triton Project
It's always exciting to stumble upon another AR headset being developed! Graham Atlee has been putting together The Triton Project, an exciting new headset similar to Project North Star that can be put together with off-the-shelf parts! Here's a Q&A with Graham on how it came about and how you might be able to get your hands on one!