Dan Jones

Google’s voice assistant technology, spurred on with “Okay, Google,” has been present in Android devices for a bit of time now, and if a new report is any indication, it’s about to expand in a big way.

Recode has learned that Google is hard at work on a product that is similar to Amazon’s Echo. The device apparently integrates Google’s voice assistant technology and extensive search capabilities. It will supposedly resemble the OnHub router released by Google last year.

While the device does not have a name yet, it is apparently known as “Chirp” internally.

Unfortunately, Google didn’t supply any comment to the publication regarding the report. Google might not showcase the new device at this year’s Google I/O, which is set to take place later this month, but the technology that will power it will be on display in other capacities. And while Google doesn’t have plans to show off the device next week, the report does say that the company plans on launching it at some point this year.

What do you think of the idea for Google Chirp?

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’

Ronald Reagan

Artist's Note:

Meanwhile in Portland, the pigeons would be asking if it was organic and locally sourced...

Writer's Note:

Ah Los Angeles, land of eternal diet fads...

It's actually a pretty cool city. Every time I visit I'm amazed at the progress the downtown revival efforts have achieved. I'm a bit mixed on the development of "Silicon Beach". New businesses are cool, but boy, those rental rates are getting a bit silly. 

As always though, the real make-or-break issue when it comes to living in Los Angeles is your tolerance of the ubiquitous, seemingly never-ending traffic. 

Why Not?

Photo retoucher Jordan Lloyd took old photos of famous buildings and monuments being built and colorized them. The Eiffel Tower is the best one, but the others are worth a look as well. I also like these two colorized views of the Golden Gate Bridge construction (not done by Lloyd):

Lloyd and Wolfgang Wild are collaborating on a book of colorized historical photographs called The Paper Time Machine. You can support the project on Unbound.

Tags: Jordan Lloyd   photography   Wolfgang Wild

While you navigate the internet, sometimes you just need to get something translated. And while Google Translate has worked to make that process easy in its own way over the years, mobile translation is getting even easier with the latest update.

Google has updated Translate to add a “Tap to Translate” feature, which will let you simply translate something on the go without having to jump in between apps. Once you copy a piece of text, you’ll see an option to select the Google Translate button. Tapping that will translate whatever text you’ve got highlighted, right from within that app.

Once the text has been translated, you can even hear how the original text is spoken, or hit “New Translation” to type out a new phrase if you so wish, which can then be translated into the original text, which will let you reply in a different language.

If you want to use the new Tap to Translate feature, you’ll need to be running an Android device running Jelly Bean 4.2 or higher. It works with all of the 103 different languages already supported by Google Translate.

That’s a pretty impressive addition, and should make quick translations even easier for those that use the service.

Paramount Pictures and CBS are suing the producers of a Star Trek fan film for copyright infringement.

In December 2015, the studios filed a complaint against Axanar. In a follow-up brief, they identify “infringing elements,” including … the Klingon language.

The way the court decides on the last item on that list has big legal implications. The Language Creation Society filed an amicus brief in support of the filmmakers. It argues that since Klingon was invented in the 1980s, the language has expanded beyond its origins — there’s even a Klingon Language Institute. They say there’s enough vocabulary in the language to translate Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Klingon \took on a life of its own — a life that the Copyright Act has no power to control,” they say.

The reason this matters — whether you can copyright a language — is related to programming. Is computer code a language, and can you copyright it? It goes to a long-running case between Oracle and Google.

Justin Lin, director of the upcoming — authorized — Star Trek: Beyond, tweeted his support:

This is getting ridiculous! I support the fans. Trek belongs to all of us.

And Mark Okrand, who created Klingon in 1984, and published the first Klingon dictionary in 1985, agrees. “Languages are something that you should use and you should feel free to use them and be encouraged to use them.”

MapleMatch.com promises love and a U.S. escape plan if Trump becomes commander-in-chief.

During the primaries, American Google searches for “move to Canada” hit record numbers.

http://maximumble.thebookofbiff.com/2016/05/10/1329-intrude/

Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.

Robert Heinlein

http://invisiblebread.com/2016/05/wendell-2/

I need Wendell

http://buttersafe.com/2016/05/10/on-the-wheel/

It’s all about perspective

Don’t write so that you can be understood; write so that you can’t be misunderstood

William Taft

Woke up this morning to our power being out. It came back on pretty quickly, but also found this in our front yard. Told the landlord it was a danger, and could blow over in the next storm. He didn’t believe me. Thankfully, it didn’t hit anything.

In case you ever wanted to program with a musical keyboard, apparently now you can.

http://www.commitstrip.com/en/2016/05/09/when-the-pm-fixes-a-bug/

A pair of undergraduate students, Thomas Pryor and Navid Azodi of the University of Washington, have invented a pair of gloves that translates the sign language movements of the wearer into spoken English in realtime.

Thomas and Navid developed SignAloud, a pair of gloves that recognizes hand gestures that correspond to words and phrases in American Sign Language, using resources at the University of Washington CoMotion MakerSpace, a place that offers communal tools, equipment, and opportunities for students. Each glove contains sensors that record hand position and movement. As users put on the gloves, the device calibrates to account for differences in sensor placement. Data from the sensors is sent from the gloves wirelessly via Bluetooth to a central computer. The computer looks at the data for gestures through various sequential statistical regressions, similar to a neural network. If the data matches a gesture, then the associated word or phrase is spoken through a speaker.

Update: A woman named Katie, who is a linguistics professor and ASL interpreter, wrote a not-so-positive review of the gloves on her blog. Actually, she calls them impractical and "nothing more than a fun party trick".

ASL uses facial expressions and other "non-manual" markers to show grammar. The difference between a question, a statement and a command is purely on your face. How can the gloves interpret your face?

And she also points out the biggest thing I noticed when I first watched the video:

These guys are not signers. The signs they demoed are (laughably) not even correctly produced. Programming the device with incorrect input will not, as they say in their video, "translate American Sign Language into speech". Without the collaboration of a deaf person (the targeted audience of these things), how do these guys even know that what they're doing is right?

Sounds like a well-meaning experiment that may have merit in the future (like the Apple Watch?), but, as Katie says, presently impractical. (via @jonathonbellew)

Update: Alex Lu writes that deaf people don't need new communications tools.

Deaf people should not have to wear gloves to make their words and presentation palatable to hearing people. You already have all the tools you need to communicate with us, if you would only learn how to use them. It is time that hearing people respect Deaf people for who they are, instead of forcing us to be empty caricatures of hearing standards.

Tags: Alex Lu   language   Navid Azodi   sign language   Thomas Pryor   video

Dinosaur Cookie Cutters – Prehistoric party perfection!

The Best of Team Iron Man (No Civil War Spoilers)

    

  

   

    

   

   

   

Texts From Superheroes

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Lazy afternoon in the hammock meets float trip with a coupla coolers of beer and 3 of your best friends. Grab the Bud Light Lime, call Cornelius, Victor, and TJ, and prepare to launch the Hammocraft.

Hammocrafts use the same materials as whitewater raft frames, reconfigured to mount to your favorite floatation device strong and sturdy enough to string a hammock or 4 between their posts, and help a bunch of buds relax during a day on the lake. The Hammocraft brainfathers are based out of outdoor Wonderland Jackson, Wyoming (no surprise there) and sell their hammock rigs as fully functional and easily assembled frame kits, or individual frame, hammock, and hardware components you can use to build your own beast of the still, chill body of water*.

Hammocrafts can be fashioned to fit over stand up paddleboards, rafts, duckies, and drift boats (you'll need to supply your own). They are recommended for use on lakes and slow-moving rivers. Those interested in adding a Hammocraft to their plans for Epic Summer 2016 can contact the company to discuss configuration and kit options, as well as get price quotes. Ready-to-assemble frames run around $1,000.

*While Hammocrafts take advantage of whitewater raft materials, the company strongly discourages their use on actual rapids. In other words, don't replicate what the Hammocraft kids themselves are doing in the third image above.

Muchas danke to Gizmodo.

“My cousin’s friend let her son wear this hoodie on picture day if he promised to take it off for the photo.”

Thankfully, he didn’t listen.

Check out the entire pic below.

(via Reddit)

I haven't had the energy to stay up all night and play games for years now. If I really try I can make it until 3 or 4 am at the latest, but never right before work. Also, gone are the days where I could stay up all night, go to work and then take a nap as soon as I get home. Now I have "responsibilities" and a "family." What a crock!



See more: How Long Has it Been Since You Last Played…

Texts From Superheroes

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Emma reading her first big girl book, Ella Enchanted http://ift.tt/1NmPNtB

Got a new car! Well, a van, but close enough.

Artist's Note:

The concept of Infinite Warfare is actually... really funny. I mean, what'll they do next? They've shot themselves in the foot. They can't go beyond Infinite. 

...right?

NOTE: In an exhausted haze I realized that I forgot to apply links to the buttons below. I apologize for that, they've been fixed to work properly!

Writer's Note:

Oh Sarah, do you really think a concept as mundane as infinity would be enough to stop Activision from continuing such a profitable game franchise? It actually isn't that hard to imagine. I mean, Marvel solved this very problem years ago for comics - whenever a conflict or plotline escalated to the point of universal scale, they just end up rebooting the damn universe. In the case of CoD, I would be completely unsurprised if Activision chose to reboot the series and revisit the old WWII setting. 

Ahhh, this makes me nostalgic for the 90s World Wide Web. Designer Sebastian Serena has built a Rube Goldberg machine out of HTML form elements. Once you start, you'll watch the whole thing. (via @Colossal)

Tags: design   HTML   Sebastian Serena   WWW

The Justice Department notified Gov. Pat McCrory in a letter Wednesday that the state’s House Bill 2, which restricts transgender bathroom access and has become a focus in the LGBT rights fight, violates sections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. It gave the state until Monday to “remedy” the violations.

On Thursday, North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore said legislators would not meet the federal government’s deadline.

“We will take no action by Monday.” “That deadline will come and go. Obviously, we don’t ever want to lose any money, but we’re not going to get bullied by the Obama administration to take action prior to Monday’s date. That’s not how this works.”