When Amazon made a unilateral decision in early February to stop accepting documentaries and short films via Prime Video Direct (a policy that also covers “slide shows, vlogs, podcasts, tutorials, filmed conferences, monologues, toy play, music videos, and voiceover gameplay”), the announcement also served as a quiet purge. Amazon also has been dropping long-running documentary titles from the service, with stakeholders…
Tag: Treats
Google’s SoundFilter AI Separates Any Sound or Voice From Mixed-Audio Recordings
Researchers at Google claim to have developed a machine learning model that can separate a sound source from noisy, single-channel audio based on only a short sample of the target source. In a paper [PDF], they say their SoundFilter system can be tuned to filter arbitrary sound sources, even those it hasn’t seen during training. From a report: The researchers believe…
America’s IRS Wants Cryptocurrency Exchanges Declared on Tax Forms
America’s dreaded tax-collecting agency is sending “a strong warning to millions of crypto holders who aren’t complying with the law that they must file required forms,” reports the Wall Street Journal. The front page of this year’s tax forms — just below “Name” and “Address” — will ask filers to declare whether they’ve received or exchanged any virtual currencies. The Journal…
Treats are better than electric shocks for training badly behaved dogs
When it comes to training badly behaved dogs, treats and rewards produce better and quicker results than electric shock collars Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2251578-treats-are-better-than-electric-shocks-for-training-badly-behaved-dogs/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Microsoft Accuses Apple of Treating Gaming Apps Differently
Hour after Apple explained why Microsoft’s xCloud wouldn’t be coming to iOS, Microsoft shot back and accused the company of “consistently treating gaming apps differently.” AppleInsider reports: On Wednesday, Microsoft ended its xCloud TestFlight program on iOS and said that the service would not be arriving on iPhone and iPad. In a statement on Thursday, Apple explained that it bars apps…
Facebook Criticizes Apple’s App Store Policies, Launches Gaming App on iOS Without Games
Facebook has joined Microsoft in condemning Apple’s App Store policies, after the company was forced to remove the games feature from its Facebook Gaming app, which launches today on iOS. From a report: In a statement, Facebook said it has had its Gaming app rejected multiple times by Apple in recent months, but Apple cited its App Store guidelines to justify…
SpaceX’s 20th station shipment arrives with candy, science
A SpaceX cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station on Monday, delivering the company’s 20th batch of gear and treats. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-03-spacex-20th-station-shipment-candy.html…
Scientists Discover ‘Why Stress Turns Hair White’
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Scientists say they may have discovered why stress makes hair turn white, and a potential way of stopping it happening without reaching for the dye. Researchers behind the study, published in Nature, from the Universities of Sao Paulo and Harvard, believed the effects were linked to melanocyte stem cells, which produce melanin…
How Google Researchers Used Neural Networks To Make Weather Forecasts
A research team at Google has developed a deep neural network that can make fast, detailed rainfall forecasts. Google says that its forecasts are more accurate than conventional weather forecasts, at least for time periods under six hours. Ars Technica reports: The researchers say their results are a dramatic improvement over previous techniques in two key ways. One is speed. Google…
Apple Changes Crimea Map To Meet Russian Demands
ardmhacha writes: Apple has complied with Russian demands to show the annexed Crimean peninsula as part of Russian territory on its apps. Russian forces annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, drawing international condemnation. The region, which has a Russian-speaking majority, is now shown as Russian territory on Apple Maps and its Weather app, when viewed from Russia. But the apps…