The next time you watch a movie or TV series, take a look at the smartphone one of the actors is wearing. If it is an iPhone, it is because it is a “nice”. This is what you will discover in this new edition of Funny Tech with also an artificial intelligence responsible for understanding animal language or this fruit that could revolutionize electric charging.
Our weekly meeting offers you an offbeat look at the news of new technologies. The party is to entertain you, surprise you and make you dream or sigh.
In the movies, bad guys never have an iPhone or Mac
It was the director of A couteaux tirees and the last episode of Star Wars who launched this bomb. In the last Vanity Fair , Rian Johnson explains that ” the bad guys can not have an iPhone in front of the camera ” and he quips about the fact in a thriller or a film where the criminal is unknown, that makes it easier to find.
MacRumors has effectively confirmed that Apple requires that its products be used in TV series or movies only ” in the best light, in a manner or in a context that positively reflects Apple products “. Already in 2002, Wired had discovered that in the series 24 hours flat , the “good” camp used Macs, while all the bad guys used Windows PCs.
Alexa monitors traffic and weather
Via “skills”, it is possible to improve Amazon’s voice assistant, and Alexa was enriched with new functions in March. Thus, the connected speakers are now able to alert you to severe weather phenomena such as storms or floods. Obviously, Alexa uses your location to give you geolocated alerts. Another function: the traffic status, and Alexa even takes care of sending the information to your smartphone. No need to be glued to the speaker, even on the go, she thinks of you.
Will AI help translate the language of animals?
Intelligence is everywhere, and it could one day even help us understand the language of animals! It was the University of Delaware that published work on the language of mice. The researchers recorded the sounds made by two pairs of mice for five hours. Humans hear nothing but they emit sounds, and this is where automatic learning of artificial intelligence makes it possible to quickly and precisely associate sounds with movements . We are still far from a language and its translation but it is a first step.