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'AmalGAN' melds AI imagination with human intuition to create art
Don't worry, they only look like the Pokemon of your nightmares. The images you are about to see are, in fact, at the very bleeding edge of machine-generated imagery, mixed with collaborative human-AI production by artist Alex Reben and a little help from some anonymous Chinese artists. Reben's latest work, dubbed AmalGAN, is derived from Google's BigGAN image-generation engine. Like other GANs (generative adversarial networks), BigGAN uses a pair of competing AI: one to randomly generate images, the other to grade said images based on how close they are to the training material. However, unlike previous iterations of image generators, BigGAN is backed by Google's mammoth computing power and uses that capability to create incredibly lifelike images. But more important, it can also be leveraged to create psychedelic works of art, which is what Joel Simon has done with the GANbreeder app. This web-based program uses the BigGAN engine to combine separate images into mashups -- say, 40 percent beagle, 60 percent bookcase. What's more, it can take these generated images and combine (or "breed") them into second-generation "child" images. Repeating this breeding process results in bizarre, dreamlike pictures. Reben's contribution is to take that GANbreeder process and automate as much of it as humanly possible. Per the AmalGAN site, 1. an AI combines different words together to generate an image of what it thinks those words look like 2. the AI then produces variants of those images by "breeding" it with other images, creating "child" images 3. another AI shows the artist several "child" images, measuring his brainwaves and body-signals to select which image he likes best 4. step 2 and 3 are repeated until the AI determines it has reached an optimal image 5. another AI increases the resolution of the image by filling in blanks with what it thinks should exist there 6. the result is sent to be painted on canvas by anonymous painters in a Chinese painting village 7. a final AI looks at the image, tries to figure out what is in it, and makes a title The first two steps are handled by GANbreeder. "As far as I understand it, right now [GANbreeder mixes images] randomly," Reben told Engadget. "So it decides to either increase or decrease the percentages of the two images or add new models. You know, like 5 percent cow, and that'll be one of the images that it shows." Once the system has conceived a sufficient selection of potential pictures, Reben pares down the collection using a separate AI trained to determine how much he likes a specific piece based on his physical reaction to it. "I trained a deep learning system on the body sensors that I was wearing," Reben explains. "I had a program show me both good and bad art -- art that I liked, and art that I didn't like -- and I recorded the data." He then used that data to train a simple neural network to figure out the physiological differences between his reactions. "Basically, it gives you that sort of dichotomous indication of what this art is [to me] from my brain waves and body signals," he continued. "It picks up on EEG; I also have heart rate and GSR. I think I might also add facial-emotion-recognition stuff through my webcam." The selection process varies between image sets, Reben said. Sometimes the "right" picture would appear among the first presented by the AI; others required him to dig through multiple generations of child images to find one he liked. Once he's selected the specific images he plans to include in the official project, Reben has the digital images oil painted onto canvas by anonymous Chinese artists. "The easiest 'why' is because I can't paint," Reben quipped. "Using anonymous Chinese painters is another link in this autonomous system, where my hand is not on the artworks -- just my brain and my eyeballs." Transferring the works to a physical medium also helps sidestep an inherent shortcoming of the BigGAN system: The fact that the images are so resource-heavy to produce, they've yet to be created at a size larger than 512 x 512-pixel resolution. The anonymous artists are "basically using human brain power to upscale that image into a canvas," he said. "So that aspect of it is also interesting because there's gonna be a little bit of human interpretation." Finally, Reben uses Microsoft's CaptionBot AI to create titles for each image. "I thought it was interesting removing more and more of a human from the process," Reben concluded. "I also like seeing what the AI interprets these as ... because it doesn't catch everything." For now, the BigGAN engine doesn't have very many practical applications, and its research paper, which was published in September, is under review for a 2019 AI conference. The system itself has a bit of a counting problem, as evidenced by its continual insistence that clock faces have more than two hands and spiders have anywhere from four to 17 legs, but these idiosyncrasies could prove a boon to artists like Reben and Simon. "One of the things Joel [Simon] is doing... is he would like to turn that tool that website into a tool for creative people," Reben said. Artists would be able to train the system on their own images, not just Google's stock set, experiment with the output levels, and "use it as a way to sort of spark imagination and creativity, which I think is great." If you're interested in getting prints of any of these pieces, check out the Charles James Gallery.
Amazon Echo gets StubHub event info, further automates your home
Since its introduction, Amazon has continued to add new features to its voice-controlled speaker. Most recently, the online retailer tacked on StubHub integration for keeping tabs on local events. Once you set your city, you can ask the gadget's virtual assistant Alexa to tell you what's going on this weekend, for example. Adding to its home automation toolbox, Echo also plays nice with Cree connected light bulbs and gear from both Leviton and Lightify through the Wink hub. If those don't excite you too much you can rest assured that more of the so-called Skills are certainly on the way for the speaker and its built-in helper.
Details of Samsung's 'Alex' Chrome OS netbook leaked, Atom N550 in tow
As we approach the expected mid-2011 launch for a few Chrome OS devices, it seems inevitable that some details are bound to slip out ahead of time -- here's looking at you, Acer ZGB and Seaboard. The latest victim outed by a Chromium bug report is the Samsung "Alex," which sports a 1280 x 800 display (probably at 10 inches as previously rumored; like the mockup above), 1.5GHz dual-core Atom N550, SanDisk SSD P4 of unknown capacity, and 2GB RAM. Also listed are a Qualcomm Gobi 2000 3G card, Bluetooth, WiFi, webcam, and a Synaptics touchpad. Well, not long to go now -- perhaps the Alex might even make a cheeky appearance at Google I/O in two weeks' time? Screenshot of the bug report after the break. [Thanks, Marco]
Barnes & Noble licenses Alex e-reader patents from Spring Design, settles dispute
You can now tack on one more footnote to the end of the Alex e-reader story -- Spring Design has finally settled its longstanding dispute with Barnes & Noble, and granted the company a "non-exclusive, paid-up royalty free license for the entire portfolio of Spring Design patents and patent applications." Terms of the settlement are otherwise confidential, with Barnes & Noble only saying that it is "pleased to add Spring Design's patents and patent applications as a complementary addition to our rapidly growing digital portfolio." Head on past the break for the short and sweet official press release.
Spring Design Alex dies, forever remembered as the one that looked like the Nook
The Spring Design Alex, introduced in late 2009, died today. The causes aren't exactly known, but it is said that the company's investor "stopped the money." We surmise its $399 price point at least put it on life support. The Alex lived a rather short life, in which it battled Barnes & Noble's Nook on shelves as well as in courts. The E-ink and LCD e-reader did, however, live to be rooted and sideloaded with apps. We'll always remember the Spring Design Alex as a brave Android, dual-screen e-reader willing to venture into tablet territories. Spring Design has confirmed the passing, but hasn't said if it plans to bring more children into the world. We wish them the best in this tough time.
Engadget's back to school guide: E-readers
Welcome to Engadget's Back to School guide! We know that this time of year can be pretty annoying and stressful for everyone, so we're here to help out with the heartbreaking process of gadget buying for the school-aged crowd. Today, we have e-readers in our sights -- and you can head to the Back to School hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the month. Yes, it's the next round of buying advice for those of you condemned to start hitting the books at the end of the summer. But, with one of these e-readers, you might just have fewer books to hit -- or at least lighter ones. Sadly most schools are still dependent on texts of the pulpy variety, but that doesn't mean an e-reader can't make your life a lot easier at school, and possibly even save you some money if you're reading the classics.
Amazon Kindle dual-screen e-reader patent granted, Barnes & Noble Nook potentially in trouble
Looks like the battle for e-reader dominance between Amazon and Barnes & Noble could soon expand beyond the recent spate of price drops and into the courtroom as well: the USPTO just granted a 2006 Amazon patent on e-readers with secondary LCD displays (like the original Kindle's scroller-navigation panel), and several of the claims are potentially broad enough to cover the Nook and many other devices with both electronic paper and LCD displays. What's more, Amazon agreed not to file for any corresponding foreign patents during the four-year approval process and thus wasn't required to publish the patent application -- meaning this is likely a complete surprise to the entire industry. Yeah, it's juicy. Here's one of the claims that could cause problems for Barnes & Noble -- in plain English, it potentially covers any device with both an electronic paper display and a second smaller LCD display next to it. A handheld electronic device comprising: a housing; an electronic paper display disposed in the housing and having a first surface area; and a liquid crystal display (LCD) disposed in the housing proximate the electronic paper display, the LCD having a second surface area that is smaller than the first surface area of the electronic paper display. That's pretty sweeping -- it doesn't take much to look at the Nook and see that it has both an electronic ink display and a smaller LCD located next to it. Now, we don't know if Amazon has any plans to actually sue anyone over this patent yet, but we're guessing there's a flurry of legal activity happening at all the major e-reader manufacturers right now, and we're definitely curious to see what the fallout looks like -- remember, Barnes & Noble is already involved in a trade secret dispute over the Nook with Spring Design, which claims that B&N saw its Alex reader under NDA and then copied it for the Nook. That case isn't scheduled to wrap up before November, so there's a chance B&N and Spring Design could end up simultaneously fighting each other in one case while taking on Amazon as allies in another, which would be... messy. We'll see what happens -- while we've no doubt Barnes & Noble will put up a serious fight if it comes to that, we're curious to see if the shift away from e-reader development to general-use tablets hastens as the market contracts, margins shrink, and the cost of litigation becomes prohibitive. The ball's very definitely in Amazon's court now -- stay tuned. [Thanks, Anand]
Alex e-reader rooted, five users overwhelmed with joy
Well, it was only a matter of time before the Alex e-reader got it's Android sportin' self hacked, right? According to e-reader enthusiast (and oddly named pirate) Bluebrain, this is exactly what he did over the weekend! You're psyched, right? Want to see pics? Get instructions? Try it out for yourself? What else are you going to do on a Monday morning -- work? Hit that source link to get started. Update: Bluebrain sent us a brand-new direct download for the zip file, with 100 percent less irksome advertising. Check it out!
Spring Design Alex starts shipping tomorrow
We'd gripe about the wait, but given all the e-book readers we saw at CES that've fallen off the radar or been delayed to oblivion, we're actually pretty proud of Spring Design for shipping the Alex at last. Orders will start going out tomorrow for the $399 dual screen reader. Not sure it's worth the price? Well, we're not positive either. Check out our review for a bit of help deciding.
One Shots: I shall call him Mini-me
It's April Fool's day, and that means there's all manner of craziness going on across the MMO landscape. From bogus upcoming features and races being touted, to crazy in-game shenanigans, our team is out hunting it all down to document for posterity in an upcoming April Fool's Day roundup posting. That said, today Alex was early on the ball this morning and sent us a screenshot of the craziness going on in Guild Wars. Not a regular Guild Wars player who can spot just what's wrong with this picture? Have no fear -- Alex also sent in a note to explain! "This is my character Necromas Darklight having a little fun with the April Fool's event. They made it so that when in towns and outposts, all the player models were scaled down to minipet sizes and all the minipet models were scaled up to regular sizes. I know it doesn't sound like much but it's gotten everyone running around and meeting up for little parades and celebrations and even thrown the minipet trading market into a frenzy. For this shot I just decided to keep it simple and show off my 'miniature' lich. Sometimes it's just little things like this that go a long way to keeping me interested in the game and having fun." If you notice something odd in your favorite MMO today, feel free to send in a screenshot to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com too. If we get enough, we might run them in a special April Fool's gallery showing off all the different things that went on today! If not -- we'll probably just show them off over the next few days for those who missed out on the events. Be sure to add in your name, the name of the game, and a description of the shenanigans too. Either way, we'd love to have your tales of tomfoolery! %Gallery-85937%
Spring Design Alex review
We realize that the e-reader market is about as crowded (not to mention overwhelming) as a Walmart on Black Friday, but ever since the dual-screen Spring Design Alex surfaced and we mistook it as the Barnes & Noble Nook, we've been incredibly intrigued by it. Though its 6-inch E-Ink display and 3.5-inch Android LCD form factor may seem like a riff on the Nook, the Alex has quite a few more tricks up its sleeve, including a full Android browser and the ability to extend what appears on the LCD to the E-Ink screen. And that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the unorthodox extras baked into the $399 Alex. Still, games and gimmicks only get you so far, and you're probably wondering if it has what it takes to pull up next to the majors like the Kindle or Nook and knock them from the top. We've got that answer and lots more details on what it's like to use two screens rather than one just after the break in our full review. Join us, won't you? %Gallery-88668%
Spring Design Alex finally up for pre-order, Borders eBook store launching in June
Well it's about time, Spring Design! After missing its February ship date, the company is finally ready for you to whip out the plastic and pre-order its Alex -- that dual-screen, Android-based ereader we liked so much at CES. While you can shell out the $399 today, you'll still have to wait until mid-April for the mailman to drop off the package. We'd like to say the wait stops there, but we've also learned that early buyers won't have access to the promised Borders eBook store until June. When we chatted with Spring Design CEO Priscilla Lu last week she confirmed that Borders will officially launch its store in the "June time frame," which will be around the very same time that the 3G version of the Alex will be ready to hit the market -- at least there's access to Google Books and an micro-SD card slot for sideloading in the meantime. With so much coming down the pike it may be worth waiting a bit more time for this one, but our own Alex arrived just last night so no matter what it'd behoove you to wait a few days for our review before you hit the source link to pre-order. Update: Well, this is odd. Even though this news hit the wires today, the shop page on Spring Design's website is definitely non-functional right now. Instead, you'll see a message to check back soon. We'll keep doing just that until we see signs of life... or hear otherwise. Update 2: And we're back...the pre-order page is finally up! %Gallery-88293%
Spring Design Alex still not available for pre-order, 'early spring' ship date still planned
The first week of March may have brought warmer weather and an awesome episode of the Engadget Show, but unfortunately we're still missing a Spring Design Alex pre-order page. The company had promised to have its dual-screen, 3.5-inch Android and 6-inch e-ink e-Reader ready last week after the original February delay, but we've now been told that there were some slight issues with the order page and that it should be up within the "next week or two," and Spring Design still plans to have the reader in customer's hand's by "early spring." We've got no choice but to wait, but we can tell you we are looking forward to this whole spring thing in general.
Spring Design's Alex e-reader hits the FCC
Spring Design's Alex e-reader has certainly had one of the more interesting product launches in recent years and, with an actual release now seemingly imminent, it's finally turned up in the FCC's hands. There's not many surprises left at this point, but the agency has at least treated us to a peek inside the device, and offered us our first look at the device's user manual. Head on past the break for a few more exciting images, and hit up the link below for the complete rundown, FCC style.
Spring Design's Alex pushed to first week of March
February 22nd came and went with nary a word from Spring Design about its Alex availability. Now, after a bit of prodding, we're being told to check back during the first week of March; that's when you'll be able to order your dual-screen, 3.5-inch Android and 6-inch EPD e-Reader. So, $359 for Alex or $499 for the iPad launching just a few weeks later... decisions, decisions.
BCC launches Alex, the laptop free of hassles but not monthly surcharges (video)
What's better than paying £400 ($615) for a laptop from a place that won't tell you isn't very forthcoming about what's inside it? Paying that much for a laptop that then comes with a £9.99 ($15) monthly fee just to use the thing. It's the Alex from BCC, the Broadband Computer Company (not to be confused by the Alex from Spring Design, or Alex Bushill from the BBC), a somewhat chunky looking laptop loaded with some custom layer over Linux promising an always updated, always ready, and incredibly easy to use experience. It also has a round mousepad that says "Alex" on it. The machine should be secure, shipping with a USB thumb drive that must be plugged in for it to work -- something we're guessing most people will never bother to unplug. There's online file storage and a UI full of pretty colors, but we're having a bit of a hard time with that cost. That said, if you're the perpetually on-call tech support person in your family it might be a small price to pay for some peace and quiet. Update: TheLostSwede dug through the Alex site and found a spec sheet. We're talking 1.6GHz worth of Intel T1600 Celeron power, 1GB of memory, a 15.4-inch display driven by integrated graphics, 120GB of storage, and a DVD/RW drive. Hot stuff, readers. Hot stuff.
It's February 23rd, do you know where your Spring Design Alex is?
We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but it looks like the lovely Spring Design Alex has quietly missed its ship date. Back at CES the word was Febuary 22nd and, after spending a little quality time with the thing, we've been counting the days. Here we are on February 23rd and the only thing up for sale at the Spring Design website is a "coming soon" note, and we already have more of those than we know what to do with. Even more discouraging, the Borders site is still listing only Sony Readers up for sale. We've reached out to Spring Design to see what's up, so hang onto your pulp until we get a response. [Thanks, Matthäus]
Alex and Jen really want you to play Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing
The other day, our friends Alex and Jen invited us up to their loft to play this new racing game for the Wii. We were a little leery about going (Jen kept yelling things like "Waaaah! Super horn!" and "Shortcut cheat!," which was weird), but they promised us it was kart racing "with attitude," so we went anyway. It was okay, we guess. You could ride planes and cars and stuff (Jen was really excited about riding bananas for some reason), but when Alex and Jen kept yelling random competitive cliches in between these weird clinical explanations of powerups, we got kind of freaked out and started checking our watches. Things got a little uncomfortable when Alex threatened to make Jen cry like a little girl, and when she replied with a confident "Bring. It. On," we knew it was probably time to call it a night and quietly excused ourselves from their apartment. On our way out, we heard Alex creepily mumbling about "the sweet taste of victory" under Jen's nonsense shouting. They've already called us to see if we want to hang out next weekend for a "rematch," but uh, we think we're probably busy then.
Engadget Podcast 177: CES 2010 Day 3 - 01.08.2010
It took every bit of geeky fortitude we had left in our bodies to tear ourselves away from @LadyGaga's tweeterfeed for an hour and produce this podcast for you, but we did it. Feel appreciative?Hosts: Joshua Topolsky, Nilay Patel, Paul MillerProducer: Trent WolbeSong: Bad RomanceHear the podcast01:40 - Live from Palm's CES 2010 press event03:25 - Palm swings open doors to App Catalog's innards03:35 - Palm gets serious about 3D gaming on webOS04:00 - Video recording coming to all webOS devices in February (updated: Flash, too!)04:10 - Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus first hands-on (video)!04:40 - Palm introduces Palm Pre Plus: 16GB, coming to Verizon on January 25th06:30 - Palm Pixi Plus: WiFi-equipped and heading to Verizon23:10 - Palm intros Mobile Hotspot app, guaranteed to make your router jealous25:47 - Live from Dell's CES 2010 press event26:42 - Alienware M11X netbook gets official, costs less than a grand26:55 - Alienware M11x hands-on27:20 - Dell teases the Streak?29:00 - Dell slate (secret) hands-on30:00 - Dell 5-inch slate press pics want you to study them30:30 - Dell Mini 3 lightning hands-on33:17 - Live from NVIDIA's CES press event33:35 - NVIDIA announces Tegra 2, tablets en route35:00 - Plastic Logic QUE proReader in-depth video hands-on38:20 - Live from Paul Otellini's Intel CES keynote39:50 - Intel launches AppUp Center app store for Atom-powered devices (updated with hands-on impressions)40:25 - Intel announces WiDi HD wireless display technology43:27 - LG GW990 hands-on video48:12 - Spring Design announces partnership with Borders, lowers price on Alex reader49:35 - Notion Ink Adam prototype hands-on: it looks nothing like the render, but it's still pretty wild52:32 - Boxee Box confirmed to have Tegra 2, Boxee Beta now open to all Subscribe to the podcast[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC).[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator.[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune MarketplaceDownload the podcastLISTEN (MP3)LISTEN (AAC)LISTEN (OGG)Contact the podcast1-888-ENGADGET or podcast (at) engadget (dot) com.Twitter: @joshuatopolsky @futurepaul @reckless @engadget
Spring Design announces partnership with Borders, lowers price on Alex reader
What do you do when one major book retailer (allegedly) steals your design and makes their own version of it? Why, you go and make a partnership with that major book retailer's major retail competitor, stick out your tongue, and hope for the best! That's what Spring Design seems to have done, signing up with Borders to sell the luscious Alex e-reader that we finally got to play with the other day. Borders will provide retail space for the reader and will create a branded digital book store as well as some "mobile eBook applications" of indeterminate nature. The most interesting part of the announcement? A new price for the device of $359, which makes it exactly 40 dollars more attractive than it was this morning. Full release after the break.