All posts tagged: search

The Search for the Face Behind Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing

The Search for the Face Behind Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing

Published by skeptic

Jazmin Jones knows what she did. “If you’re online, there’s this idea of trolling,” Jones, the director behind Seeking Mavis Beacon, said during a recent panel for her new documentary. “For this project, some things we’re taking incredibly seriously … and other things we’re trolling. We’re trolling this idea of a detective because we’re also, like, ACAB.” Her trolling, though, was for a good reason. Jones and fellow filmmaker Olivia Mckayla Ross did it in hopes of finding the woman behind Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. The popular teaching tool was released in 1987 by The Software Toolworks, a video game and software company based in California that produced educational chess, reading, and math games. Mavis, essentially the “mascot” of the game, is a Black woman donned in professional clothes and a slicked-back bun. Though Mavis Beacon was not an actual person, Jones and Ross say that she is one of the first examples of Black representation they witnessed in tech. Seeking Mavis Beacon, which opened in New York City on August 30 and is rolling …

Wyze is testing a new AI feature that lets you search your video footage by keyword

Wyze is testing a new AI feature that lets you search your video footage by keyword

Published by skeptic

Wyze/ZDNET Smart home brand Wyze is expanding access to its new AI-Fueled Video Search tool on mobile. As the name suggests, it gives people a way to look up security footage via text search. This feature has actually been around since late May as part of a beta program. Despite being around for several months, Video Search still isn’t seeing an official release, with the company clarifying that this is just a “Pilot Launch.” According to Wyze, the inquiries you enter into the search engine can either be as specific or vague as you want. You can enter “dogs in backyard” and the app will bring up every instance of your pets in the backyard. Conversely, you can just type in the word “truck” and the feed will show a bunch of recordings with trucks in them — or vehicles that closely fit the description. The examples shown in the software page display a large van.  The company admits its Wyze Vision Language Model isn’t perfect. You might occasionally receive “wonky results.” The brand is asking people …

Search for tourist who plunged into 8m-deep sinkhole in Malaysia enters third day

Search for tourist who plunged into 8m-deep sinkhole in Malaysia enters third day

Published by Sam

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: The search for an Indian tourist who fell into an 8m-deep sinkhole in Kuala Lumpur’s city centre entered its third day on Sunday (Aug 25). The 48-year-old woman was walking on a pavement when it suddenly caved in on Friday morning, sparking a search-and-rescue operation. However, the operation was halted on Saturday evening due to a lack of new leads, and resumed on Sunday morning.  Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim expressed his sympathy and condolences to the family on Sunday, and instructed the Kuala Lumpur City Hall to meet with them, according to the New Straits Times. “The search-and-rescue mission continues. There are still issues with the soil that we need to address,” he told reporters. Earlier, the authorities had inspected all six manholes from Jalan Masjid India – where the incident happened – to a sewerage pond in Pantai Dalam. However, there were no signs of of the woman, except for a pair of slippers belonging to her. Source link

OpenAI’s search tool has already made a mistake

OpenAI’s search tool has already made a mistake

Published by skeptic

This is Atlantic Intelligence, a newsletter in which our writers help you wrap your mind around artificial intelligence and a new machine age. Sign up here. Yesterday OpenAI made what should have been a triumphant entry into the AI-search wars: The start-up announced SearchGPT, a prototype tool that can use the internet to answer questions of all kinds. But there was a problem, as I reported: Even the demo got something wrong. In a video accompanying the announcement, a user searches for music festivals in boone north carolina in august. SearchGPT’s top suggestion was a fair that ends in July. The dates that the AI tool gave, July 29 to August 16, are not the dates for the festival but the dates for which its box office is closed. AI tools are supposed to refashion the web, the physical world, and our lives—in the context of internet search, by providing instant, straightforward, personalized answers to the most complex queries. In contrast with a traditional Google search, which surfaces a list of links, a searchbot will …

Microsoft’s generative search engine weds something new, something old

Microsoft’s generative search engine weds something new, something old

Published by skeptic

Microsoft Microsoft has been a major player in the AI race and one of the first companies to unveil a chatbot that’s a worthy ChatGPT competitor — Copilot. Now, the company is returning its attention to the project that started it all: the Bing search engine.  On Wednesday, Microsoft unveiled a new generative search experience that combines the conversational responses facilitated by generative AI with a search engine results page found in traditional search engines. Also: OpenAI launches SearchGPT – here’s what it can do and how to access it For example, in the demo below, a user asks, “What is Spaghetti Western?” Bing provides a conversational response with links to sites, and on the right, users can view the traditional search results, scrolling through them as they typically would.  I’m excited to share an early look at Bing’s new generative search experience. It combines the power of LLMs and SLMs with Bing’s search results to generate a more delightful and efficient UX layout. This is another meaningful step forward in our evolution of AI-powered …

OpenAI Debuts SearchGPT AI Search Engine

OpenAI Debuts SearchGPT AI Search Engine

Published by skeptic

OpenAI today introduced SearchGPT, a prototype of AI search features that are designed to provide “fast and timely answers” combined with “clear and relevant sources.” SearchGPT is available to a small group of users and publishers at the current time, with OpenAI seeking feedback on the product. The prototype is temporary at the current time, but “best” of the features will be integrated into ChatGPT in the future. OpenAI designed SearchGPT to pair conversational capabilities with real-time information with the web, which the company says can make it faster and easier to find what you’re looking for. SearchGPT is able to respond to questions with up-to-date information from the web. SearchGPT is able to answer follow-up questions in a conversational manner, with shared context included with each additional query. We’re testing SearchGPT, a temporary prototype of new AI search features that give you fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources. We’re launching with a small group of users for feedback and plan to integrate the experience into ChatGPT. https://t.co/dRRnxXVlGh pic.twitter.com/iQpADXmllH — OpenAI (@OpenAI) …

My search for the perfect veg – from my greenhouse to the Cotswolds and even into orbit | Food

My search for the perfect veg – from my greenhouse to the Cotswolds and even into orbit | Food

Published by skeptic

I present a brief story of food love and loss. One that begins and ends with the greatest cucumbers I’ve ever eaten. Mum gave the first one to me, fresh from her small greenhouse. Small, stubby, military green. Taken home, tasted, followed by a wide-eyed pause as I thought: “OK, how did she do this?” Within a month, I have a greenhouse of my own. I had to ensure I too could grow my own highly superior cucumbers. The cucumber had tasted like no other cucumber I’d known. It tasted 100% cucumber. Every other cucumber had been a terrible cucumber by comparison. Weak, watery, a taste so distant it was like cucumber homeopathy. Imagine what else I’d missed out on. The greenhouse was supermodel beautiful. Sleek and extravagant. Danish. Somehow floating before laurels that applauded it in the breeze, it was almost invisible but for fast-moving clouds reflected on panels above. Soon each glass side-pane hinted at tasty treasures within: burgeoning tomatoes. Chillies of every seed and strain. Dark green feathers of mint. I should …

‘Google says I’m a dead physicist’: is the world’s biggest search engine broken? | Google

‘Google says I’m a dead physicist’: is the world’s biggest search engine broken? | Google

Published by skeptic

I didn’t know I was dead until I saw it on Google. When I searched my name, there it was: a picture of my smiling face next to the text “Tom Faber was a physicist and publisher, and he was a university lecturer at Cambridge for 35 years”. Apparently I died on 27 July 2004, aged 77. This was news to me. The problem was the picture. When you search the name of a notable person, Google may create what it calls a “knowledge panel”, a little box with basic information taken from Wikipedia. Somewhere along the way, the algorithm had confused pictures of my face with the biography of another man who shared my name. According to his obituary, he was “a distinguished physicist with a literary hinterland”. Google provides a feedback form to resolve this type of bug. I filled it in several times, but it made no difference. I’m not the only one who has been struggling with Google recently. Many users are saying its principal product, its search engine, isn’t working …

A Kenyan tribe’s search for its leader’s stolen skull | History

A Kenyan tribe’s search for its leader’s stolen skull | History

Published by Sam

No ‘true leader’ In 1919, the British rounded up all members of the Talai – Koitalel’s clan and the longstanding leaders of the Nandi – and banished them to an isolated island-like village called Kapsisiywo in the heart of Nandi territory. Situated between two rivers, which encircle the whole area of Kapsisiywo, about 30 Talai families, consisting of at least 150 people, were separated from the rest of their tribe for decades. “Along the edges of the river, the British made sure to place the homesteads of colonial chiefs [Nandi who were loyal to the British],” Chomu told Al Jazeera. “This prevented any Talai from leaving Kapsisiywo.” More than a century later, most Talai still live there. The British missionaries moved on to instil fear about the Talai into the rest of the Nandi population. Once revered for their supernatural and prophetic abilities, the missionaries spent decades convincing the Nandi that the Talai were evil witch doctors who were responsible for their state of misery under colonialism. Before the arrival of the British, the Talai …