Qualcomm generally uses its annual Snapdragon Tech Summit in Maui to unveil next-generation mobile processors and related technologies, which it accomplished with major new Snapdragon 865/765 and 3D Sonic Max dual-fingerprint scanner reveals today. But the bigger theme of the event is demonstrating real world use cases for the company’s new 5G AI chips, which will drive consumer demand for…
Analyzing chest X-ray images with machine learning algorithms is easier said than done. That’s because typically, the clinical labels required to train those algorithms are obtained with rule-based natural language processing or human annotation, both of which tend to…
There’s strong evidence that humans rely on coordinate frames, or reference lines and curves, to suss out the position of points in space. That’s unlike widely-used computer vision algorithms, which differentiate among objects by numerical representations of their…
Microsoft's Seeing AI app helps the blind in five more languages
December 3, 2019
Microsoft’s Seeing AI has been helpful for describing objects and text to the blind, but there’s been a key problem: it has only been available in English, making it a non-starter if you don’t speak the language. That won’t be a problem for some people from now on. Microsoft has updated the iOS-only app with support for Dutch, French, German, Japanese and Spanish, letting…
Amazon debuts AWS Inf1, an AI inference instance
December 3, 2019
Amazon Web Services today debuted Inf1, an instance that powers AI inference in the cloud that CEO Andy Jassy calls the lowest cost inference offering available in the cloud.
“…it will have lower latency, it will have 3 times higher throughput, and up to 40% lower cost…
SoftBank leads $30 million investment in Accel Robotics for AI-enabled cashierless stores
December 3, 2019
Accel Robotics, one of a growing number of AI startups that’s setting out to enable automated cashierless stores, has raised $30 million in a series A round of funding led by SoftBank, with participation from New Ground Ventures, Toyo Kanetsu Corporate Venture Investment…
Amazon has just announced AWS DeepComposer, what the company claims is the world’s first machine-learning enabled musical keyboard. In practice, the actual device is a lot simpler than Amazon’s grand statement might make it seem.
The company envisions developers using the 32-key, two-octave keyboard as a tool for experimenting with machine learning. You can use the instrument to lay…
Amazon believes its latest Web Services tool will help doctors spend more time with their patients. The tool, called Amazon Transcribe Medical, allows doctors to easily transcribe patient conversations and add those interactions to someone’s medical records with the…
Amazon unveils DeepComposer, an AI-enabled piano keyboard
December 2, 2019
Amazon’s re:Invent 2019 conference kicked off with a bang — or rather, with product announcements made during a midnight keynote at The Venetian. The Seattle company’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) division unveiled Amazon Transcribe Medical, a new edition of its automatic…
Phone use while driving remains a problem in many parts of the world, in no small part due to the difficulty of enforcing laws. How do you catch someone in the act? Australian police might not have that problem. The New South Wales government has started using the first cameras that can automatically detect when drivers are using their phones. The system uses AI to review photos for telltale…