‘DALL-E’ AI generates an image out of anything you describe

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Robin Edgar

with DALL-E (a portmanteau of “Wall-E” and “Dali”), an AI app that can create an image out of nearly any description. For example, if you ask for “a cat made of sushi” or a “high quality illustration of a giraffe turtle chimera,” it will deliver those things, often with startlingly good quality (and sometimes not).DALL-E can create images based on a description of its attributes, like “a pentagonal green clock,” or “a collection of glasses is sitting on a table.” In the latter example, it places both drinking and eye glasses on a table with varying degrees of success.

It can also draw and combine multiple objects and provide different points of view, including cutaways and object interiors. Unlike past text-to-image programs, it even infers details that aren’t mentioned in the description but would be required for a realistic image. For instance, with the description “a painting of a fox sitting in a field during winter,” the agent was able to determine that a shadow was needed.

“Unlike a 3D rendering engine, whose inputs must be specified unambiguously and in complete detail, DALL·E is often able to ‘fill in the blanks’ when the caption implies that the image must contain a certain detail that is not explicitly stated,” according to the OpenAI team.

OpenAI also exploits a capability called “zero-shot reasoning.” This allows an agent to generate an answer from a description and cue without any additional training, and has been used for translation and other chores. This time, the researchers applied it to the visual domain to perform both image-to-image and text-to-image translation. In one example, it was able to generate an image of a cat from a sketch, with the cue “the exact same cat on the top as the sketch on the bottom.”

The system has numerous other talents, like understanding how telephones and other objects change over time, grasping geographic facts and landmarks and creating images in photographic, illustration and even clip-art styles.

For now, DALL-E is pretty limited. Sometimes, it delivers what you expect from the description and other times you just get some weird or crappy images. As with other AI systems, even the researchers themselves don’t understand exactly how it produces certain images due to the black box nature of the system.

Still, if developed further, DALL-E has vast potential to disrupt fields like stock photography and illustration, with all the good and bad that entails. “In the future, we plan to analyze how models like DALL·E relate to societal issues like economic impact on certain work processes and professions, the potential for bias in the model outputs, and the longer term ethical challenges implied by this technology,” the team wrote. To play with DALL-E yourself, check out OpenAI’s blog.

Source: ‘DALL-E’ AI generates an image out of anything you describe | Engadget

The Earth has been spinning faster lately

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Robin Edgar

Scientists around the world have noted that the Earth has been spinning on its axis faster lately—the fastest ever recorded. Several scientists have spoken to the press about the unusual phenomenon, with some pointing out that this past year saw some of the shortest days ever recorded.

For most of the history of mankind, time has been marked by the 24-hour day/night cycle (with some alterations made for convenience as the seasons change). The cycle is governed by the speed at which the planet spins on its axis. Because of that, the length of a day has become the standard by which time is marked—each day lasts approximately 86,400 seconds. The day/night cycle is remarkably consistent despite the fact that it actually varies slightly on a regular basis.

Several decades ago, the development of atomic clocks began allowing scientists to record the passage of time in incredibly small increments, in turn, allowing for measuring the length of a given day down to the millisecond. And that has led to the discovery that the spin of the planet is actually far more variable than once thought. Since such measurements began, scientists have also found that the Earth was slowing its spin very gradually (compensated by the insertion of a leap second now and then)—until this past year, when it began spinning faster—so much so that some in the field have begun to wonder if a negative leap negative second might be needed this year, an unprecedented suggestion. Scientists also noted that this past summer, on July 19, the shortest day ever was recorded—it was 1.4602 milliseconds shorter than the standard.

Planetary scientists are not concerned about the new finding; they have learned that there are many factors that have an impact on planetary spin—including the moon’s pull, snowfall levels and mountain erosion. They also have begun wondering if global warming might push the Earth to spin faster as the snow caps and high-altitude snows begin disappearing. Computer scientists, on the other hand, are somewhat concerned about the shifting spin speed—so much of modern technology is based on what they describe as “true time.” Adding a negative leap second could lead to problems, so some have suggested shifting the world’s clocks from solar time to atomic time.

Source: The Earth has been spinning faster lately

If you’re a WhatsApp user, you’ll have to share your personal data with Facebook from next month – and no, you can’t opt out this time

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Robin Edgar

WhatsApp users must agree to share their personal information with Facebook if they want to continue using the messaging service from next month, according to new terms and conditions.

“As part of the Facebook Companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, the other Facebook Companies,” its privacy policy, updated this week, stated.

“We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings, including the Facebook Company Products.”

Yes, said information includes your personal information. Thus, in other words, WhatsApp users must allow their personal info to be shared with Facebook and its subsidiaries as and when decided by the tech giant. Presumably, this is to serve personalized advertising.

If you’re a user today, you have two choices: accept this new arrangement, or stop using the end-to-end encrypted chat app (and use something else, like Signal.) The changes are expected to take effect on February 8.

When WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014, it promised netizens that its instant-messaging app would not collect names, addresses, internet searches, or location data. CEO Jan Koum wrote in a blog post: “Above all else, I want to make sure you understand how deeply I value the principle of private communication. For me, this is very personal. I was born in Ukraine, and grew up in the USSR during the 1980s.

“One of my strongest memories from that time is a phrase I’d frequently hear when my mother was talking on the phone: ‘This is not a phone conversation; I’ll tell you in person.’ The fact that we couldn’t speak freely without the fear that our communications would be monitored by KGB is in part why we moved to the United States when I was a teenager.”

Two years later, however, that vow was eroded by, well, capitalism, and WhatsApp decided it would share its users’ information with Facebook though only if they consented. That ability to opt-out, however, will no longer be an option from next month. Koum left in 2018.

That means users who wish to keep using WhatsApp must be prepared to give up personal info such as their names, profile pictures, status updates, phone numbers, contacts lists, and IP addresses, as well as data about their mobile devices, such as model numbers, operating system versions, and network carrier details, to the mothership. If users engage with businesses via the app, order details such as shipping addresses and the amount of money spent can be passed to Facebook, too.

Source: If you’re a WhatsApp user, you’ll have to share your personal data with Facebook from next month – and no, you can’t opt out this time • The Register

These Repair Bulletins for Tesla’s Quality Problems Are Downright Embarrassing—and Serious

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Robin Edgar

t’s no secret that Tesla tends to ship cars to customers with questionable fit and finish. Sometimes components don’t fit the way they should, so fake wood from Home Depot is used to ensure they do. Other times, glass roofs simply detach while driving down the highway. This time, however, it’s not a random Facebook rant or one-off tweet telling us Tesla is selling vehicles of questionable quality, it’s the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), via recalls and service bulletins.

Thanks to Bozi Tatarevic on Twitter, we know about errors numerous enough to warrant a response from the NHTSA, and some of them are pretty bad. They include low-grade rust repair, fixes to bodywork using a dead-blow hammer, and missing fasteners. We’re not talking about a couple of loose lug nuts, either. We’re talking parts missing from the car’s power system that may affect battery charge and discharge, and even nuts missing in the front suspension.

NHTSA

The service bulletins are sort of humorous in their official language of very basic fixes to really obvious issues with these cars. If the “DC link busbar” bolts are missing in the Model 3, replace them! If the charging door isn’t sitting flush—this defect is present on the 3 and Y—hit the non-flush panel with a hammer until it sits right. But if you start roleplaying as the village blacksmith and take it just a tad too far, replace the entire panel. Also, if you mess up the paint when you do this, make sure you touch it up. It looks like there’s a little bit of rust forming in that area anyway, so it’s probably a good idea to do that in any case.

The most alarming one of these issues is the self-locking nylon nut that’s straight-up missing from the front suspension. Apparently, this issue is widespread enough on the Model Y to warrant a service bulletin. If this bolt fell out during driving—which it would if there was no nut holding it on—one side of the front suspension would just collapse. Obviously, that’s something you don’t want to happen while you’re driving, and could lead to a serious accident and bodily injury. Possibly even worse.

Reading through other complaints on the NHTSA’s page for the Model 3, it seems like suspension issues are very common. Problems with ball joints snapping seem to be by far the most common issue. It’s safe to read clearly inflammatory messages with a little bit of skepticism, but looking through wrecked Model 3s on Copart, it seems like that is at least a somewhat common issue.

Unfortunately, this just sort of seems like business as usual for Tesla. Its vehicles are known to have these sorts of issues, and they aren’t doing a ton to attempt to shed this image. There is certainly something to be said for the strides the company has made with battery technology and drivetrain design, but quality control has to catch up with those innovations. Making advanced cars is one thing, making safe and reliable cars is entirely another.