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OpenAI's DALL-E app generates images from just a description
OpenAI has reached a new milestone with DALL-E, an agent that can create an image out of nearly any description.
Apple alters App Store algorithm yet again
Apple tinkered with its App Store algorithm last week and changed the search position of some apps by ordering results based on user ratings and an app's description. This morning a report from TechCrunch suggests the Cupertino company has tweaked the algorithm again to add some weight back to the app's name and keyword. This change was detected by Tomasz Kolinko, developer and founder of App Store analyst company Appcod.es. Kolinko noticed the change when his own app, Love Letter Writing, appeared in searches for the terms "advice" and "writing advice." Last week's change had removed his app from these keyword search results. Besides Kolinko, several other iOS developers told TechCrunch that their apps now appear in relevant keyword searches. This change may be inconsequential to users, but to developers, these tweaks influence SEO and search position within the app store. It's a big deal as a positive ranking could increase sales, while a negative change could decrease an app's potential revenue.
iPhone apps help the blind in all kinds of ways
We've heard of the iPhone being used in all kinds of situations, but here's a new one for me. Blind iPhone users are making wide use of the device for identifying objects visually. This writeup over at The Atlantic has more, telling the story of two blind women who use Apple's little mobile phone to do things like identify the color of clothing, scan money bills for their values, and even tell them where they are, via GPS and voice controls. The Audible app will also read books out loud, and there are apps to tell the user where they're pressing on the screen, and even "speech texting" through HeyTell, which is an app that I know a few sighted people use as well. In the future, these blind users would like even more, specifically better integration of Siri with voice controls (which is something that I think everyone would like), and even more location features. They mention an idea where a phone will buzz or vibrate if you happen to be near a certain location. Still, it's amazing how much having a powerful little, location and camera-equipped pocket-sized computer has been able to change the lives of the blind.
Best Buy Canada not looking forward to Wrath of the Lich King
Hawkawkari of Khaz Modan sent us this one -- apparently somebody on the Best Buy Canada site is a little miffed about some expansion news, and it's showing up in their description text for the game. There's some QQ in there about siege vehicles ("1% chance to drop, bind on pickup"), a "hairstyling" profession for Blood Elves and Night Elves, and a special "Unbalance Game" power for Death Knights "on a one-patch time limit cooldown." Pretty funny.I thought this was just a case of Best Buy cutting and pasting from another more informal site, but Google doesn't find the same text anywhere else, so this might actually be a disgruntled WoW player in their system writing out a fairly biased description. The text still says a release date hasn't been announced (and of course it has) so look for the text to change soon (just in case it does, the full text is after the jump). But wherever you are, disgruntled WoW player, thanks for the laugh.
Addon Spotlight: FlagRSP2 and MyRolePlay
FlagRSP and its descendents have long been the de facto standard addons that most roleplayes use to "flag" themselves, letting other roleplayers know at a glance not only that they're interested in roleplaying, but also sharing character descriptions and basic information about what sort of roleplaying they prefer. The original FlagRSP is defunct, but the torch has been passed to two worthy (and superior) successors: FlagRSP2 and MyRolePlay. Both use the same methods to communicate with other roleplayers, so you need only choose one and you'll be able to share information with players who use the other (be careful not to use both at the same time, however). Both addons help a lot with the problem of roleplayers being hard to find.FlagRSP2 and MyRolePlay both give you a space to write things like your character's first or last names, a character title (such as "Priestess of the Dark" or "Wacky Troublemaker"), as well as some description about what your character looks like; and of course they both enable you to see the information other people have written about their characters too. Both have "roleplaying flags," which can tell other people whether you are a "casual" or "fulltime" roleplayer, as well as whether you are in or out of character at any given moment.FlagRSP2 has a cleaner, more intuitive interface, in my opinion, and it has nice little popup windows for character information which can appear whenever you mouseover or target someone. MyRolePlay only has a popup button which you must click on to see other characters' information, but it also has two separate spaces for physical descriptions and story backgrounds, which FlagRSP2 users sometimes mix up together. MyRolePlay also uses less computer resources on my system, and keeps things running a bit smoother. I often switch between the two since I can't really decide which is best.
