feed on feeds - 2015/06/27 - items 0 to 15

Each bit of news potentially fires up a moral parade, where people recite prepared speeches.

Often the speeches begin explaining how what someone said is like this other thing, then basically recites a canned story about that thing.

You could give each story a number, and just type the number. The computer (Facebook) could then get the text and insert it into the comment for you. Discourse could happen much faster.

Eventually Facebook could predict what you'll say and just say it for you. Like the self-driving cars Google is making. You'd sign onto Facebook and see in your notification drop down menu "You have commented on Betty Fird's post."

You could read it if you like, but eventually you will know that Facebook correctly stated your opinion.

Each bit of news potentially fires up a moral parade, where people recite prepared speeches.

Often the speeches begin explaining how what someone said is like this other thing, then basically recites a canned story about that thing.

You could give each story a number, and just type the number. The computer (Facebook) could then get the text and insert it into the comment for you. Discourse could happen much faster.

Eventually Facebook could predict what you'll say and just say it for you. Like the self-driving cars Google is making. You'd sign onto Facebook and see in your notification drop down menu "You have commented on Betty Fird's post."

You could read it if you like, but eventually you will know that Facebook correctly stated your opinion.

Flash Modin writes: NASA built the twin Voyager spacecraft for a rare planetary alignment that put Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune within reach at once. Originally, Voyager 1 was programmed to see Pluto in 1986, but managers targeted Saturn's planet-like moon Titan instead. That choice made Pluto impossible by vaulting Voyager 1 from the orbital plane. Interestingly, Voyager 2, which couldn't reach Pluto, made the case for New Horizons by revealing Neptune's moon Triton as a kidnapped Pluto. "I'm very glad that they chose not to go to Pluto in 1986," says New Horizons head Alan Stern. "We'll do a better job at Pluto with modern instruments than they would have, and they did a much better job at Saturn..."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Rhio Zablan's unusual trajectory from the Philippine president's press office to working for China's state-run media.

An anonymous reader writes with a Georgia Institute of Technology report that researchers there have created a computing system that views gameplay video from streaming services like YouTube or Twitch, analyzes the footage and then is able to create original new sections of a game. The team tested their discovery, the first of its kind, with the original Super Mario Brothers, a well-known two-dimensional platformer game that will allow the new automatic-level designer to replicate results across similar games. Rather than the playable character himself, the Georgia Tech system focuses instead on the in-game terrain. "For example, pipes in the Mario games tend to stick out of the ground, so the system learns this and prevents any pipes from being flush with grassy surfaces. It also prevents "breaks" by using spatial analysis – e.g. no impossibly long jumps for the hero."