In China, a Three-Digit Score Could Dictate Your Place in Society
WHEN Lazarus Liu moved home to China after studying logistics in the UK, he noticed that something had changed: Everyone paid for everything with their phones.
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Social
A way to poke Facebook off its uncontested perch
We need to talk about Facebook. Google (or Alphabet, if you prefer) is more ubiquitous; Apple makes more money; Amazon is a more obvious threat to the bricks-and-mortar economy; yet there is something uniquely troubling about the social media leviatha
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VR could be niche if it doesn’t resolve social conundrum
Virtual reality could become a niche technology if developers don’t work out how to make the viewing experience social.
That is the view of Roger Antunez, co-founder and CEO of Barcelona-based wearable tech firm FIRSTVISION.
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Grandma’s Little Robot
Robots already perform many traditionally human tasks, from vacuuming to surgery—and they could soon help care for the sick and elderly. But until they can convincingly discern and mimic emotions, their caretaker value will be severely limited.
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VR is spectacular but lonely: Here’s how it needs to change to succeed | ZDNet
The Oculus Rift is a remarkable, intoxicating, mesmerising experience, and virtual reality, or VR, will almost certainly turn out to be one of the defining technologies of the next century — but not quite yet.
I first tried out a VR headset perhaps a dozen years ago: it was like trying to play Pong while wearing a diving helmet. On a boat in a storm. At midnight. Drunk.
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Are we ready for robot relationships?
Companion robots designed to interact, assist and socialise with humans are a growing focus of the robotics industry. While some developers are looking to create innovative caregiving solutions to help ageing populations, others are delving into equally controversial territory – such as the creation of human-like sex robots. Can advanced technology really improve living standards or alleviate loneliness?
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Be your selves | 1843
A friend who stumbled upon my Twitter account told me that my tweets made me sound like a jerk. “You’re much nicer than this in real life,” she said.
This is a common refrain about social media.
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AltspaceVR To Host World’s First Virtual Reality Wedding
On May 25th, 2017, bride and groom Elisa Evans and Martin Shervington will get together with friends and family at one of their favorite hangout spots: a quirky florist that doubles up as a bar in the Welsh city of Cardiff. They will then don their HMDs, and join the remainder of their guests scattered all around the globe for the world’s first official VR wedding ceremony of its kind.
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Wearable AI system can detect a conversation’s tone | MIT News
It’s a fact of nature that a single conversation can be interpreted in very different ways. For people with anxiety or conditions such as Asperger’s, this can make social situations extremely stressful. But what if there was a more objective way to measure and understand our interactions?
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Why Virtual Reality Will Be the Most Social Computing Platform Yet – Medium
The future of immersive virtual reality is often depicted as a dystopian view of millions of people spending hours alone each day, with huge gadgets stuck to their face, enraptured by fantastical worlds.
But it’s going to be millions of people spending time together — with friends, family, colleagues, and new acquaintances — experiencing moments together no matter the physical distance between them.
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How cooperative behaviour could make artificial intelligence more human
Cooperation is one of the hallmarks of being human. On a regular basis, we all enter into helping others in small but important ways, whether it be letting someone out in traffic or giving a tip for good service.
We do this without any guarantee of payback.
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