Google, United Nations ESCAP unveils AI health service in Thailand to screen diabetic eye disease

Google, a few years ago worked with eye specialists in India and the U.S. on an AI system to help doctors analyze images of the back of the eye for signs of diabetic retinopathy. The AI model now detects diabetic retinopathy with a level of accuracy on par with human retinal specialists. This means doctors and staff can use this assistive technology to screen more patients in less time, sparing people from blindness through a more timely diagnosis. The company is rolling out this diabetic retinopathy initiative in clinics in India with its partner Verily, and it also conducting research in Thailand over the past few months. At the AI for Social Good Summit in Bangkok hosted by Google and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the company has announced a partnership with the Rajavithi Hospital, which is operated by the Ministry of Public Health in Thailand, kicking off a forward-looking research pilot using AI to detect diabetic retinopathy in Thailand. To ensure that all sectors contribute to the development of AI in the Asia Pacific, Google is supporting the creation of an Asia Pacific AI for Social Good Research Network with a grant. This network will bring ...

Microsoft Hummingbird AI-powered news App for Android released

Microsoft has released Hummingbird, an AI-powered News app for Android which currently is only available in the USA.  The app offers login in through Microsoft or LinkedIn accounts, but you can go ahead by skipping. The main home screen offers various topics for you to chose from. However, unlike Google News, you can't pin down your choices to granular options like a specific sports team or player, or company, or celebrity. Instead, you get general categories like NBA, celebrities, road trips, and cooking. Once the choices are made, the feed gets updated with the articles that you're probably interested in. It also enables you to save, share, dislike articles, or simply just block all news from that particular source. Tapping an article opens it in the original site it was published in, but keeps Hummingbird's title bar where you can switch into a reading mode with control over font, background color, and text size as well as copy the URL. There's also a"Search" tab that acts more like a shortcut to general topics, and "Me" takes you to view your topics, saved articles, and history. Other settings include clear all your data and to disable automatic video and GIF playback. Since it is powered ...

Google Assistant gains support for Australian and British accents

Google Home Speakers in the US can now choose between an Australian-accented voice and a British-accented voice for your Google Assistant across devices. All the other settings and features including setting a timer, checking the weather and getting an overview of your commute and everything else remain the same while your Assistant will speak with a new accent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMZYVMr5UJQ The Google Assistant speaking in an Australian-accented voice and a British-accented voice are built using DeepMind’s speech synthesis model WaveNet, which uses deep neural networks to generate raw audio waveforms resulting in more realistic and natural-sounding voices for the Google Assistant. To try out these new voices on your Assistant, navigate to “Settings” on your phone, tap on the “Assistant” tab, and select “Assistant voice.” You’ll now see two new voices that you can select, either “Sydney Harbour Blue” for the Australian voice, or “British Racing Green” for the British voice. Source

Qualcomm now seeks to ban Apple iPhone XS and XR in China

After Qualcomm was granted a preliminary injunction to ban the sale and import of Apple iPhone 6s through iPhone X in China, Qualcomm now plans to file for an injunction on the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR in China. This would prevent the sale of those devices in the country. Qualcomm has granted the preliminary injunction after it ruled that the devices violated two Qualcomm patents. The first Qualcomm patent reportedly enables users to "adjust and reformat the size and appearance of photos," while the second is said to relate to "managing applications using a touch screen when viewing and navigating apps." However, Apple has continued to sell the affected iPhone models in China because it believes the patent infringement ruling does not apply to iOS 12 and this led Qualcomm to Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court to enforce the injunction. This move suggests that Qualcomm is forcing Apple into settling its on-going legal battle, primarily over chip-related licensing fees. Apple says that a Chinese ban on sales of the iPhone will force it to settle long-standing licensing battle with Qualcomm Inc., This outcome that may end up harming the country’s smartphone industry and give its fiercest legal rival a boost. The ruling on Apple comes at times when Washington ...

Facebook Watch clocks 400 million monthly viewers; now available on desktop and Facebook Lite

Facebook has announced that Watch is now available around the world on the desktop and on Facebook Lite. The company is also expanding the ad breaks to eligible Pages in 40 countries around the world. Facebook also intends to expand the ways publishers and creators can make money on Facebook. The company is planning to bring 'Brand Collabs Manager' to more countries to help match brands and creators for sponsorship deals and will be expanding its fan subscriptions test. Facebook, back in September, introduced In-Stream Reserve for premium online video and TV buyers to deliver their ads alongside the highest-quality Watch content, and next year, it will continue to provide advertisers with more options to tailor their video ad campaigns and connect with their target audience. Facebook also confirmed that it will continue funding Originals, and is renewing four shows for a second season: Huda Boss, Five Points, Sacred Lies, and Sorry For Your Loss. These shows all cultivated deeply engaged fan bases who came for the episodes but stayed for the conversations. As for Watch, the company said that over 400 million users watch at least one minute of video per month. The new markets where Watch will expand into include China (Hong Kong), India (Bangladesh), South Africa, Taiwan, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and more. Source

Call of Duty: Legends of War arrives for Android in alpha [Download Link]

Activision and Tencent Games have teamed up to release Call of Duty: Legends of War, its new first-person shooter for Android. The game has been soft launched in Australia in alpha. It combines the best maps, characters, weapons and gear from the Call of Duty universe and brings them together for the first time, says the company. It has Multiplayer and Zombies modes currently. You can Play as Price, Ghost, and other iconic Call of Duty characters across franchises as you wage war against your foes in real-time multiplayer. You can also customize your favorite heroes, weapons, and then unleash devastating Scorestreaks to annihilate your opponents. The company says that the game is currently in early Alpha and they are working to improve the game by continuously fixing bugs and adding additional content. However the game files have been leaked, so you can side-load the APK and the OBB file (After installing the APK, place the obb file inside Android/obb and a new folder named "com.activision.callofduty.shooter". Download Call of Duty: Legends of War (Australia only) - APK and OBB [FEATURES] BATTLE ACROSS MULTIPLAYER AND ZOMBIES GAME MODES! Multiplayer - Engage in online fast-paced 5v5 PvP action with several modes including Team Deathmatch, Frontline, and more! Zombies - Overcome hordes of the undead ...

Opera for Android becomes first Web 3-ready browser with crypto wallet integration

After introducing built-in Crypto Wallet for its Android app in beta back in July, Opera has announced the stable version making it the first Web 3-ready browser featuring crypto wallet integration and web of tomorrow (Web 3) support. Web 3 is an umbrella term for a set of emerging technologies intersecting cryptocurrencies, blockchains and distributed systems that, together, extend the capabilities of the web we all use today in important and meaningful ways. Opera believes that the web of today will be the interface to the decentralized web of tomorrow (Web 3).  The browser now supports Ethereum, a popular and quickly growing protocol that allows people to make transactions and developers to create decentralized apps (Dapps), which provide practical use for this technology. You can download Opera from the Play Store, however for Web 3 transactions, you need to purchase Ethereum cryptocurrency and store it in Opera Crypto Wallet. Once the cryptocurrency is stored, users can access a selection of Web 3 apps in the Dapp (decentralized application) store, accessible from within the browser’s built-in Crypto Wallet. It is already testing Cryptocurrency Wallet on desktop in developer version and plans to also roll it out to PC browser (Windows, Mac, Linux) in 2019.

Instagram Year in Review 2018: Fortnite records highest hashtag, heart emoji, Disneyland Tokyo and much more

With 2018 coming to an end, companies are bringing yearly rewinds and highlights to showcase the things that trended on their platform over the course of 12 months. After Google, it is Instagram which is sharing trends from the year. [embed]https://instagram-press.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-top-trends-on-instagram_16x9.mp4[/embed] The 'Heart Love Sticker' by Arata was the most-used Giphy sticker in Stories, while 'Heart Eyes' was the most-used Face Filter in Stories. In Feed, the heart emoji was used in comments over 14 billion times. Disneyland Tokyo was the highest use of in the caption. ASMR was the top niche community trend of the year, with soap cutting, slime popping, and makeup shaving continuing its steep rise in popularity. The game Fortnite also saw explosive growth with #fortnite being the fastest growing hashtag globally. K-pop’s BTS “Army” is the top fandom community on the platform. The biggest viral dance challenge of the year was #inmyfeelingschallenge, which included everyone from @theshiggyshow to @willsmith, coming in at number 1. The year’s top advocacy hashtags were #metoo(1.5 million), #timesup (597K), #marchforourlives (562K). Source

Samsung Galaxy S10 launch details, storage variants, pricing and more surface

It is already known that Samsung is busy prepping the Galaxy S10 and its variants which are due in February 2019. According to a new report, the launch date, release date, storage sizes, screen sizes, variants, some features, and even the UK price points have leaked.  The S10 will launch at a Samsung Unpacked event before the Mobile World Congress 2019, on the 20th of February, according to the report. The phone will be available for pre-order the same and will then be released on the 8th of March. Sources further suggest that the S10 will be available in three variants; the regular version, a Plus version, and a flat version. Furthermore, it will also have a regular 3.5mm headphone jack. As expected, the Galaxy S10 will have the Infinity O display that contains a selfie camera and it avoids having a notch. Like the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, the S10 will be able to wirelessly charge other devices with a feature they're calling Powershare. It will use ultrasound waves to read the ridges of your finger in 3D. There will be no iris scanner on the S10. The regular version of the Galaxy S10 will have a 6.1-inch screen. The Plus variant will have a 6.4-inch screen, while ...

Apple to open new campus in Austin with $1 billion investment

Apple has announced that it will set up a new campus in Austin with an investment of $1 billion. The company also announced plans to establish new sites in Seattle, San Diego, and Culver City and expand in cities across the United States including Pittsburgh, New York and Boulder, Colorado over the next three years. Apple added 6,000 jobs to its American workforce in 2018 and now employs 90,000 people in all 50 states. As announced in January, the company is on track to create 20,000 jobs in the US by 2023. Apple’s newest Austin campus will be located less than a mile from its existing facilities. The 133-acre campus will initially accommodate 5,000 additional employees, with the capacity to grow to 15,000, and is expected to make Apple the largest private employer in Austin. Jobs created at the new campus will include a broad range of functions including engineering, R&D, operations, finance, sales, and customer support. The new campus will include 50 acres of preserved open space and, like all Apple facilities worldwide, its workspaces will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy. Apple plans to invest $10 billion in US data centers over the next five years, including $4.5 billion this year ...