“Microsoft’s brain is now available for anyone to use in their apps. The company has open sourced the artificial intelligence framework it uses to power speech recognition in its Cortana digital assistant and Skype Translate applications.”
Read: Microsoft Open Sources Its Artificial Brain to One-Up Google
“On a recent, chilly Sunday morning, children ranging in age from 4 to 6 waited with their parents in the cafeteria of a Brooklyn school. Each wore a name tag.”
Read: To Be Young, ‘Gifted’ And Black, It Helps To Have A Black Teacher
“Face recognition, once the preserve of the few, the likes of intelligence and security services, is now made available to the masses as well, thanks to OpenFace.”
“Google wants to teach you deep learning — if you’re ready that is. The tech giant has launched a free course explaining the machine learning technique that underpins so many of its services.”
Read: Google just published a free, three-month course on deep learning
“According to an industry insider, the dearth of Rey merchandise for The Force Awakens was no accident — it was an intentional decision. The inside source shared their story with Michael Boehm at Sweatpants and Coffee, speaking on the condition of anonymity.”
Read: Report: ‘Star Wars’ toymakers were ‘specifically directed’ to exclude Rey
“Howard University fights to join the tech boom. Photographs by Christopher Gregory From Legand Burge, the chair of Howard University’s computer science department. In the fall of 2013 a young software engineer named Charles Pratt arrived on Howard University’s campus in Washington.”
“Nancy Drew may be growing up. CBS has ordered a pilot for a new TV series based on the character, The Wrap reports, but rather than portray her as the teenage sleuth she’s been in books, movies, and previous shows, the network intends its Nancy to be a detective for the NYPD in her 30s.”
“Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has responded to the controversy surrounding this year’s all-white Oscar nominations and confessed to being disappointed about the lack of diversity.”
Read: Academy president ‘disappointed’ with all-white Oscar nominees