Items of Interest

Protect, Restore, Fund

#177
Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot have released a short video urging us to Protect, Restore and Fund nature, one of the best tools to use against the climate crisis. They also ask us to "Vote for people who defend nature". The video was produced while having t"he tiniest environmental impact possible" according to the director.
Environment
Video

3D Ken Burns Effect From Single Image

#177
Researchers at Portland State University and Adobe have demonstrated being able to generate a 3D Ken Burns effect (parallax) using a single image. The system uses neural networks to generate depth predictions and object boundaries, and context aware in-painting to generate the missing pieces of the video to simluate a moving point of focus. We can tick another Star Trek TNG sci-fi concept off the list.
AI & ML
Innovation
Science
Video

Radiative Sky Cooling

#177
Researchers at UCLA have produced a prototype energy unit that takes advantage of radiative sky cooling to generate electricity at night. As heat is radiated from objects facing the sky at night, a thermoelectric generator can be used to generate electricity from the temperature difference, in this case 25 milliwatts per square metre using equipment costing $30.
Environment
Innovation
Science

AI Voice Mimic Heist

#176
AI generated voice mimicking software was used to persuade a director of a German energy subsidiary in the UK that their boss was on the phone and allowed theives to order the director to transfer funds to their bank account! This is believed to the first voice-AI assisted theft, so convincing that the director in question who made the transfer said that the software even imitated the tonality of the boss' voice.
AI & ML
Business
Innovation

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