Ghosts in the Machine: Female Computers in Science Fiction and History
You can take the woman out of the workplace, but you can't take the woman out of the machine she helped create.
Read MoreeBay Listing For “VERY HAUNTED” 2007 Apple Macbook Is Stupidly, Beautifully Spoopy
Our source for this is Business Insider. Business. Insider.
There are few members of the Internet I'm more partial to than the weirdos who post allegedly possessed items for sale on Craigslist or eBay, and in the case of the "computer that works great and may also be haunted by a ghost or specter," I kind of don't care if the seller is sincere or not. I just want to believe.
Read MoreHow Well Does Your Computer Know You? Machines May Understand Us Better Than Our Friends or Family
Time to embrace our robot overlords.
According to Wu Youyou, lead author on a study published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, "the human-computer interactions depicted in science fiction films such as Her seem to be within our reach." Yay?
Read MoreNow Computers Can Guess Your Emotional State With 87% Accuracy
Why does my computer keep asking me if everything's okay?
A paper titled "Identifying emotion by keystroke dynamics and text pattern analysis" published in the journal Behavior & Information Technology outlines software designed by A.F.M. Nazmul Haque Nahin and colleagues that can recognize the emotional state of a human user with up to 87% accuracy.
Read MoreComputer Officially Passes Turing Test for the First Time Ever by Pretending to Be a 13-Year-Old Boy
Proving that the best way to convince someone of your humanity is to annoy the crap out of them.
For the first time since the inception of the Turing Test in 1950, a computer has been able to pass by convincing humans that it is a 13-year-old boy named Eugene Goostman. Smart strategy—everybody knows that prepubescent teenagers are as irrational as buggy computer programs.
Read More[Updated] How Siri Got Her Voice [VIDEO]
The Human Machine
Here's an interesting feature on "machine language," put together by The Verge. They touch on a lot of interesting things (and there's a small clip of Ricardo Montalban) but if you'd like to jump straight to Siri, aka Allison Dufty, go to 3:34 in the video.
Update: We heard from Dufty, who clarified that she is not the voice of Siri, rather an actress used by the video to illustrate how Siri's voice was created. Apologies for the error.
(via The FW)
Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?
Possible Computer Glitch Causes All Doors in Florida Prison to Open
I hate to be a luddite but whatever happened to old fashioned bars and locks?
Say what you want about the Florida justice and penal systems, but... well, yeah, say what you want, because they're both awful. Especially at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami, where all the cell doors opened for no reason. In other news, this absolutely happened in a Dave Barry novel once. I'm pretty sure it was Big Trouble.
Read MoreWhoops! Florida May Have Accidentally Banned All Computers And Smartphones
Oh, Florida -- how are we supposed to keep up with your hilarious antics if you can't access Twitter anymore?
Well, this is embarrassing. A new bill passed by the Florida legislature and signed into law by Governor Rick Scott may have the unintentional consequence of outlawing all computers and smartphones throughout the state. While it seems like this could just be a hassle for folks in Florida, it's actually a national tragedy -- after all, with Florida gone from the Internet, how are the rest of us supposed to laugh at the cockroach-eating, firefighter-assaulting antics of the Sunshine State? We'll have to find a whole new state we can all agree to make fun of! Actually, that shouldn't be too hard. Lace up your cleats, Oregon -- you're going in!
Read MoreThis Software Looks At Your Face, Knows Your Name
My brother John just has that John look about him. He's just got that...you know, weird John look. Could you tell looking at him? I don't know, probably not. (And I wouldn't recommend it.) But you know what probably could? New software, created at Cornell University, can take a look at your face and take an educated guess on what your name is. That's right, it's profiling you. Because it's not enough to empower robots with cloud intelligence or crime prediction -- now we're letting them collect our faces. What can go wrong?
Survey Says: American TV Watchers Can’t Handle Only One Screen at a Time
You might think you're happy just watching TV, but if you're American, you might also suddenly feel the need to figure out where else you've seen that actor -- you know, What's-His-Face -- while you're watching. Best to look him up on IMDb with your smartphone, maybe even see if Netflix has it. Also, you might want to check if anyone commented on your Facebook status before the show's over. See, a new survey conducted by NPD says that TV-watching Americans are increasingly unsatisfied with just one screen at a time. 87% of viewers with a second-screen device will use it while watching the first one.
A Chocolate Circuit Board, For When She’s Already Got Enough RAM
om nom nom
It Just Got Real: China Sanctions Real-Name Registration Requirements for Internet Users
Not too long ago, the Chinese government had been toying with the notion of approving a proposal requiring real-name registration for Internet users when working with service providers and similar vendors. This procured registration information would then be stored in a data system that could possibly be accessed by the authorities to monitor the online day-to-day activities of the general public. Many concerned citizens feared that this proposed controversial move would be an encroachment on the free speech online anonymity brings -- especially in a nation notorious for censorship crackdowns on those that dispense unpopular opinions against China's ruling body. It looks like those fears have been made real since the government has sanctioned the real-name registration proposal, putting the public's private affairs on shaky ground.
Old School Gadgets Play Fun’s “We Are Young,” Set the World on Fire, Burn Brighter Than the Sun
There's something to be said when antiquated technology is totally hip to today's music scene and reproduces it in their own computerized language. Now the machines have something to play over the loud speakers to boost the morale of human slaves as they toil away, assuming our soon-to-be technological overlords even choose to keep us meatbags around. While that day is still a ways off, why not get a jump start listening to the rigid and lifeless rendition of Fun's "We Are Young," which we guarantee will be topping the charts in our not-too-distant-post-apocalyptic future!
Apple Unveils Impossibly Thin iMac, Somehow Manages to Fit an Impressive Computer Inside
The majority of Apple's design focus as of late, barring the iPad Mini, seems to have been making everything they can thinner, wider, and with more screen space than ever. None of Apple's newest announced products represent this maxim more than the newest iteration of the iMac. Coming in either 21.5 or 27 inches, this version tapers down to an almost impossibly thin 5mm edge. To put things in perspective, that's about the width of five paperclips. That's not all that it has going for it, either.
Happy Ada Lovelace Day!
Sock It To 'Em Ada
Raspberry Pi Model B Now Includes 512MB RAM Worth of Filling, Still Not a Delicious Pastry
One of the major selling points of the Raspberry Pi is that delectable $35 price point. That's the high-end model at that price; they don't get more expensive than that. There's been some clamoring for a new model featuring 512MB worth of RAM, though. According to the folks behind the Raspberry Pi, it's one of the most common suggestions. Rather than crafting a new model with extra RAM and charging more for it, however, they've simply decided their old $35 Model B will include 512MB from here on in.
Man Surrenders Home Office to New Baby, Constructs Mobile One From IKEA Parts
Having a child is an event that can end up starting a series of compromises. After all, you've got to make room in your life for another human that's quite a bit smaller and relies on others for everything. Ian, from Los Angeles, even had to give up his home office to accommodate the new screaming bundle of joy in his life. This was apparently seen as a challenge, because Ian went on to create an impressive mobile home office out of IKEA bits and pieces.
New Software Understands Art As Well As Any Critic, Art’s Deathwatch Begins In Earnest
Sophos Antivirus Software Flags Self as Threat, Deletes Important Bits
No antivirus software is without quirks and faults. Even so, having the piece of code that's meant to be protecting your computer from malicious outside forces start going haywire doesn't exactly build confidence in its ability to actually perform as intended. That's exactly what the antivirus products of Sophos did yesterday. Specifically, said products decided that they themselves were malware and carried out the rest of their duties.
RSS