Technologies

Theory and suspicion keeps on developing among fans over the world with respect to who should get onto the plane to Russia.  Like clockwork, the World Cup goes along and sprinkles happiness, exhibition and show all over the globe in the midst of the fight for the Jules Rimet Trophy.  With the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia practically around the bend, the 32 contending teamshave to name their last 23-man squads by June 4. See every one of the squads here as they are named and trimmed down. Regardless of whether it be the sweet stable of Pavarotti from Italia 90', the grainy and contorted pictures of the immense Brazilian side of 1970, or Diana Ross in the opening function for the 1994 World Cup in the U.S., the declaration of the official World Cup squads speaks to the principal energizing snapshot of an up and coming World Cup.  Going back to a 17-year-old Pele's consideration in 1958, to Theo Walcott's stun choice for England in 2016, squad declarations are

Last week, I had a photographer friend (hobbyist, but very talented) ask me if it was still possible to make a living in photography. This coincided with a Facebook rant from a local pro about a small restaurant asking for free food photography in exchange for the dreaded “exposure.” There are really two questions here, but I think they tie in together nicely.  The question, I feel, is this: if people are asking for free/cheap work and photographers are willing to work for free/cheap, is photography still a viable business? This is an issue that’s discussed a lot online: complaints of a price race to the bottom, photographers with poor gear, photographers lacking skill, photographers working for free or charging expenses. In the UK, you can find event photographers working for as little as £50 a night, weddings being shot for £300, and portrait sittings for £30. At the same time, in my local area (Leicester, UK), there are wedding photographers booked out all year at £10,000 a day,

SOUNDCAM is a new camera that lets you take pictures of  sound . It’s the first handheld camera that brings sound imaging to a size and cost that’s more accessible than industrial solutions that cost upwards of $100,000. “The system is intuitive and as easy to use as a smartphone,” the company says. “What makes it so special is its high speed and accuracy.” The camera works by combining 64 separate microphones, a traditional optical camera, and an integrated data analysis system. Using data from the mics, the system figures out exactly where in the frame the sounds are originating from and then overlays the high-resolution results in real time on the live view from the optical camera. “Sound propagates as a wave at a certain speed, which means that sound needs a certain amount of time to propagate from a noise source to each microphone of the array,” the company writes. “Depending on each microphone’s position, the sound wave will need varying travel times. The algorithm

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s Sony Corp said on Friday it expects operating profit to fall 8.8 percent in the financial year through March 2019 as a stronger yen eats into profit from the image sensor business. The electronics and entertainment firm forecast profit to fall to 670 billion yen ($6.13 billion) from 734.86 billion yen a year prior, when earnings exceeded the previous peak set in the year through March 1998. The outlook compared with the 765.04 billion average of 23 analyst estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters. Sony expects profit at its semiconductor business, which includes image sensors, to fall to 100 billion yen from 160 billion yen a year earlier due to a stronger yen that pulls down profit earned overseas. Sony’s image sensors, central to the company’s revival after years of losses in consumer electronics, are used by Apple Inc and other major smartphone makers. Meanwhile, the gaming business, another driver behind the firm’s turnaround, is expected to

Tesla author and CEO Elon Musk simply paid an uncommon compliment to his own species, calling people "underrated" on Twitter a week ago. What achieved this to some degree disappointing award? Musk had guided Tesla to receive propelled robotization as the sequential construction system for Tesla's new vehicle, the Model 3 electric auto. Yet, now that Tesla is behind in making the autos, its clients on the holding up list are protesting. "Truly, unnecessary computerization at Tesla was an error," Musk wrote in the April 13 tweet. "To be exact, my error. People are underrated." [Super-Intelligent Machines: 7 Robotic Futures] The Model 3 is Tesla's first midpriced, mass-delivered electric auto, as indicated by CBS News. Its more moderate sticker price, beginning at $35,000, provoked numerous individuals to preorder it, and the organization reacted by saying it would create 5,000 new autos every week. In any case, the real yield has been muc

Facebook must face a class action lawsuit over its use of facial recognition technology, a California judge has ruled. The lawsuit alleges that Facebook gathered biometric information without users' explicit consent. It involves the "tag suggestions" technology, which spots users' friends in uploaded photos; the lawsuit says this breaches Illinois state law. Facebook said the case had no merit and it would fight it vigorously. On Monday, US District Judge James Donato ruled to certify a class of Facebook users - a key legal hurdle for a class action suit. The class of people in question is Facebook users "in Illinois for whom Facebook created and stored a face template after June 7, 2011", according to the court order. In a successful class action suit, any person in that group could be entitled to compensation. In his order, Judge Donato wrote: "Facebook seems to believe... statutory damages could amount to billions of dollars."