Interesting news for the lazier, armchair programmers out there: the appropriately named “Pix2Code” is an application created by a neural network that can generate code automatically when it’s fed with screenshots of a GUI. The article suggests that it’s superior to humans because it can create code for Android, iOS, and “web-based technologies”: apparently, most coders only know how to craft for one platform. This may already exist, but I would like to see a version for web design: just create a layout in Photoshop and have an application translate it to the proper HTML and CSS.
Artificial intelligence is threatening worker’s jobs in dozens of different professions, from manufacturing and legal to banking and driving, and many more. Now, it’s time to add programming to that list. A new neural network being built by a Danish startup called UIzard Technologies IVS has created an application that can transform raw designs of graphical user interfaces into actual source code that can be used to build them. It uses cutting-edge machine learning technologies to create a neural network that can generate code automatically when it’s fed with screenshots of a GUI.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – AI Creates Programs from Simple Screenshots
Monthly Archives: May 2017
"District 9" Director Neil Blomkamp Is Bringing Short Films to Steam
It was reported last week that Neil Blomkamp would be using Steam to showcase his directing talents with a series of short films, and our first taste of that has already arrived in the form of a teaser trailer. There does not seem to be an official synopsis yet, but I assume this is about, uh, an alien lizard invasion. I actually think Blomkamp is a fluke (his only truly great film is District 9), but it is interesting to see big names utilizing Steam for purposes beyond gaming.
The first teaser trailer for District 9 and Elysium director Neill Blomkamp’s first “experimental short film” has arrived. There is a lot going on in this trailer “Volume 1,” as the action bounces around between a number of different scenes containing aliens, shootouts in the jungle, and what looks like the Eiffel Tower after nature has reclaimed it. “The new world altered everyone,” a voice says. “Adapt or die; it was as simple as that.” Sigourney Weaver is in the movie, alongside Dakota Fanning.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – “District 9” Director Neil Blomkamp Is Bringing Short Films to Steam
Get a Massage Any Time You Want–Even On Your Commute–With This $20 Pillow
We live in stressful times, and on-demand shoulder massages could probably do us some good. This $20 shiatsu massage pillow includes four rotating massage nodes and infrared heating to knead your aching muscles. It even comes with a car adapter to ease tension during long road trips, or just on your commute home after…
Source: Gizmodo – Get a Massage Any Time You Want–Even On Your Commute–With This Pillow
Samsung adds UFC fights and more live events to Gear VR
Soccer. Basketball. Golf. While plenty of sports are being shot in 360-degree video, the format is still the exception, rather than the rule. For Samsung, which wants to sell as many Gear VR headsets as possible, that just won’t do. To solve the prob…
Source: Engadget – Samsung adds UFC fights and more live events to Gear VR
Hybrid technology generates electricity from where rivers meet the ocean
The differences in salt concentrations at these coastal convergences could generate 40 percent of the global energy demand.
Source: TreeHugger – Hybrid technology generates electricity from where rivers meet the ocean
Marvel's Next Comic Event Venomizes the Marvel Universe
After a couple months of teases, Marvel has revealed some new details about Venomverse, its latest event miniseries that celebrates all things Venom by, well, turning as many heroes as it can into Venomized versions of themselves. You get a symbiote! You get a symbiote! Symbiotes for all!
Source: Gizmodo – Marvel’s Next Comic Event Venomizes the Marvel Universe
Let Germany's Robopriest Offer You Guidance and Protection
Unlike many of today’s workers, priests probably thought their jobs were safe from automation. Well, they thought wrong. In Wittenberg, Germany, one church has taken to automating spiritual guidance, creating a new robot, called the Bless U-2, that offers robotic benedictions to its fleshy parishioners.
Source: Gizmodo – Let Germany’s Robopriest Offer You Guidance and Protection
Sticking a Camera Under a Faucet Feels Like Hurdling Down a Hypnotic Water Tunnel
The next time you have to visit your dentist to get a cavity filled, or a dreaded root canal, you might not need any anesthesia if you’re able to watch the incredibly hypnotic footage from a waterproof camera pointed up at a running faucet.
Source: Gizmodo – Sticking a Camera Under a Faucet Feels Like Hurdling Down a Hypnotic Water Tunnel
Apple hints you should wait to buy that MacBook Pro
If you needed a clue that Apple might be launching new Macs at WWDC, you just got it. Typical free shipping times for 15-inch MacBook Pro orders have slipped from same day to 3-5 business days in many countries, pushing deliveries to June 6th or lat…
Source: Engadget – Apple hints you should wait to buy that MacBook Pro
Intel's Massive 18-core Core i9 Chip Starts a Bloody Battle For Enthusiast PCs
With Core i9, the Intel vs. AMD battle rages anew. Announced Tuesday at Computex in Taipei, Intel’s answer to AMD’s 16-core, 32-thread Threadripper is an 18-core, 36-thread monster microprocessor of its own, tailor-made for elite PC enthusiasts. From a report: The Core i9 Extreme Edition i9-7980XE, what Intel calls the first teraflop desktop PC processor ever, will be priced at (gulp!) $1,999 when it ships later this year. In a slightly lower tier will be the meat of the Core i9 family: Core i9 X-series chips in 16-core, 14-core, 12-core, and 10-core versions, with prices climbing from $999 to $1,699. All of these new Skylake-based parts will offer improvements over their older Broadwell-E counterparts: 15 percent faster in single-threaded apps and 10 percent faster in multithreaded tasks, Intel says. If these Core i9 X-series chips — code-named “Basin Falls” — are too rich for your blood, Intel also introduced three new Core i7 X-series chips, priced from $339 to $599, and a $242 quad-core Core i5. All of the new chips are due “in the coming weeks,” Intel said. Most of the Core i9 chips will incorporate what Intel calls an updated Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0, a feature where the chip identifies not just one, but two cores as the “best” cores, and makes them available to be dynamically overclocked to higher speeds when needed. Detailed story at AnandTech and HotHardware.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Intel’s Massive 18-core Core i9 Chip Starts a Bloody Battle For Enthusiast PCs
WhiteEgret: New Linux Security Module For Execution Whitelisting
WhiteEgret is the name of a new Linux Security Module (LSM) in-development by Toshiba for being able to limit what your system can execute via a whitelist…
Source: Phoronix – WhiteEgret: New Linux Security Module For Execution Whitelisting
Try the 'Better Burger Challenge' this summer
Adding vegetables or legumes to ground beef makes a burger that’s tastier, healthier, and less environmentally damaging.
Source: TreeHugger – Try the ‘Better Burger Challenge’ this summer
NASA's Lunar Orbiter Survived an Impact With a Tiny Meteor
Three years ago, a camera aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was struck by a tiny meteoroid as it was capturing an image of the lunar surface. By studying the resulting zigzag patterns, scientists have been able to estimate the speed and size of the offending object.
Source: Gizmodo – NASA’s Lunar Orbiter Survived an Impact With a Tiny Meteor
Paragon Adds Write Support To Its ReFS Linux Driver
If you are bound to dealing with Microsoft’s ReFS file-system, Paragon Software has added write support to its proprietary ReFS Linux file-system driver…
Source: Phoronix – Paragon Adds Write Support To Its ReFS Linux Driver
If Americans used bidets it could save fifteen million trees
And 473,587,500,000 gallons of water.
Source: TreeHugger – If Americans used bidets it could save fifteen million trees
Barclaycard’s ‘Grab+Go’ swaps store checkouts for an app
With nigh-immediate grocery deliveries becoming more and more accessible, there’s less incentive to pop down to your local shop to pick up the essentials. But Barclaycard is working on a way to make the in-store experience more convenient by allowing…
Source: Engadget – Barclaycard’s ‘Grab+Go’ swaps store checkouts for an app
North Korea's Latest Tablet Computer Has a Catchy Name: iPad
Ryonghung, a North Korean technology company, recently announced a new tablet. It looks a lot like the weird, firewalled computers the country has produced in the past, with the addition of one curious new feature: the name. It’s called… the iPad.
Source: Gizmodo – North Korea’s Latest Tablet Computer Has a Catchy Name: iPad
Regrow these 6 fruits from kitchen scraps
From berries and citrus to tomatoes and pineapple, use leftover bits to grow whole new plants over and over again.
Source: TreeHugger – Regrow these 6 fruits from kitchen scraps
Deadspin What’s Hunter Strickland’s Deal?
Deadspin What’s Hunter Strickland’s Deal? | Jezebel Kim Kardashian, Like the Rest of Us, Never Expected Her Marriage to Kris Humphries Would Last | The Root 65-Year-Old NYC Woman Loses Life Savings in Scam | Fusion Column on “Civil Discourse” Truly Sucks Ass |
Source: Gizmodo – Deadspin What’s Hunter Strickland’s Deal?
HTC Vive Wireless Shown Off by Intel at Computex
Hopefully we can expect some sort of variant of this WiGig (Wireless Gigabit) HTC Vive headset in the first half of 2018. I have spent countless hours with the Vive headset on, and I can assure you, that while the wired headset in manageable, if I could go wireless, I certainly would. The huge box on the head looks a bit ridiculous at the moment, but keep in mind this is a prototype which you can almost be assured that will be slimmed way down for consumer sales.
Discussion
Source: [H]ardOCP – HTC Vive Wireless Shown Off by Intel at Computex