This AI robot mimics human expressions to build trust with users

Jun01
by on June 1, 2021 at 5:47 pm
Posted In: Insider


Scientists at Columbia University have developed a robot that mimics the facial expressions of humans to gain their trust. Named Eva, the droid uses deep learning to analyze human facial gestures captured by a camera. Cables and motors then pull on different points of the robot’s soft skin to mimic the expressions of nearby people in real-time. The effect is pretty creepy, but the researchers say that giving androids this ability can facilitate more natural and engaging human-robot interactions. Eva produces different expressions by utilizing one or more of six basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise. Per the study paper: For example, while joy…

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Car companies are ‘greenwashing’ their plug-in hybrid vehicles

May31
by on May 31, 2021 at 3:08 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized


Hybrid vehicle sales skyrocketed in Europe during the first quarter of 2021, reaching roughly 256,000 (up 264% year-over-year), EV-volumes.com reports. Hybrids remain a much more popular choice than battery electric vehicles, but the question is whether they are actually sustainable and good for the environment. A collaborative study by the European Federation for Transport and Environment and Greenpeace has found that CO2 emissions from plug-in hybrid vehicles are up to 2,5 times greater than official tests and manufacturer marketing suggests. Based on data gathered from over 20,000 plug-in hybrid drivers around Europe, the average plug-in hybrid car produces around 28 tonnes of…

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a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Macros with 32-bit API Calls

May30
by on May 30, 2021 at 10:59 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized

I have a fairly slow running macro (~20 seconds) that works fine on one computer, but never finishes on another. If finally decided to figure out why. (Big Daddy is the nickname of the guy who started this golf league way before my time. I am not Big Daddy, although maybe I should be.)

First I noted that Windows Defender was using a lot of CPU and Excel almost none.

I disabled Windows Defender realtime under Windows Security. Then I got a green leaf next to Excel that says “This UWP process is suspended to improve system performance.”

I don’t know what that means, but the internet told me to increase the priority of Excel.

That got rid of the green leaf, but the macro never finished. I read some stuff about 32-bit APIs and Win 10 trying to prevent malicious code. I use the CopyMemory API referenced in Rob Bruce’s comment to Terminating Dependent Classes

I rewrote all the dependencies to simply point to the other classes rather than use CopyMemory and all the problems vanished.

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With Scrivener 3 for Mac, writers can keep their projects focused and organized their way

May30
by on May 30, 2021 at 2:00 pm
Posted In: Offers


TLDR: Scrivener 3 for Mac is a long-form writing tool that offers writers all the tools for researching, organizing, writing, and editing work in a workflow tailored to each user. Microsoft Word is a heritage program for a reason. For 95 percent of all types of writing projects, its streamlined functionality, ease of use, and complete availability make it an absolute no-brainer of a writing tool for almost everyone. But oh, that last 5 percent. The irony of Word is that if you’re a serious professional writer, a scribe of books, manuscripts, scholarly works, and more, then Word becomes…well, a…

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It’s time to make stringent cybersecurity for infrastructure companies mandatory

May29
by on May 29, 2021 at 4:45 pm
Posted In: Uncategorized


On May 7, a pipeline system carrying almost half the fuel used on the east coast of the United States was crippled by a major cyber attack. The five-day shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline resulted in widespread fuel shortages and panic-buying as Virginia, North Carolina and Florida declared a state of emergency. The attack highlights how vulnerable critical infrastructure such as fuel pipelines are in an era of growing cyber security threats. In Australia, we believe the time has come to make it compulsory for critical infrastructure companies to implement serious cybersecurity measures. Collateral damage The risk of cyber attacks…

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