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The Game of Thrones season finale couldn’t leave us untouched, as everybody is now feverishly waiting for the new season. Immediately after the glorious end, Target gave us false hope that our wait will be sweeter. Several Reddit users spotted a blank page on the Target website, which could hint at a Westeros-themed title being prepared by Bethesda. Unfortunately, this might actually be only a hoax.

The Target hint to a Game of Thrones game is unfounded

Soon after Season 7 of the beloved TV show ended, a curious blank page appeared on the Target website, titled Bethesda – Game of Thrones. As expected, this sparked a lot of comments and false hopes. Could the video game producer be preparing a special title?

However, all chances are that this should be a misunderstanding. Bethesda will most likely not comment on this, but the company has already refused to make a Game of Thrones-themed game in the past. Therefore, this so-called hint is either a hoax, an accident made by an inattentive employee, or an error.

Bethesda has already declined the development of such a game

The idea of developing a Game of Thrones title was actually quite tempting for Bethesda. Back in 2011, the company received an offer which involved turning the popular book series into a video game. Everything happened before the company even released Skyrim and, at the time, everybody thought they could make a great game.

However, Bethesda wanted to develop their own take on the Game of Thrones universe. However, the developers reconsidered their time and their use of it, and decided to put all their work into Skyrim. Although everything was tempting enough, we might not see an RPG rendering of our favorite world. This is too bad, since the studio seemed perfect to develop such a major game, together with its complex characters and environment.
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Microsoft has been trying to achieve a new level regarding voice technology, and it seems it has managed to make great progresses. The company claims its speech recognition AI reached a new milestone, gaining such an accuracy that it almost challenges humans in terms of recognizing speech and voices.

About a year ago, Microsoft made an announcement regarding the word error rate in speech recognition. There is a standard Switchboard benchmark in the industry which measures this rate, and companies which develop AIs often test it to see how accurate their machines get.

Back then, it reached an impressive word error rate of 6.3 percent. Only a month after the initial announcement, it reached 5.9 percent. If this wasn’t already enough, Microsoft didn’t seem satisfied, and aimed for more progress. The current word error rate is 5.1 percent. This is a huge step ahead, as the company has achieved great progress since last year.

Microsoft reduced its word error rate for voice recognition

Lately, Microsoft has managed to reduce the overall word error rate by 12 percent. This happened mostly due to the improvements it made on the neural networks. For this, they used plenty of linguistic models, together with acoustic samples to help the AI systems get better at recognizing speech.

In other words, Cortana will now be able to better recognize what you’re saying both on PC and on mobile. Also, Microsoft benefits from voice recognition options in Office and in its Cognitive Services as well, and all feature advanced capabilities of picking up words and meanings from speech. Windows also has a quite advanced integrated speech recognition system.

Microsoft has an ultimate goal regarding Cortana. The company is planning to achieve such a great accuracy that users will be able to hold a natural conversation with the AI mechanism and feel like they are talking to a real person. Microsoft is not there yet, but it definitely made some great improvements.
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This year in June, Skype launched a major redesign for its mobile app, which was dubbed as the biggest update it has made since 2006, when it first introduced video calls. Now, Microsoft made another big announcement. This update will be available on desktop as well.

Skype is now more centered on chat

Mac and Windows users who don’t benefit from Windows 10 yet can only see a preview of this redesign. If you already use Windows 10, then the update must have already come. This means you must have already noticed the efforts Skype made to stay up to date.

The company is trying really hard to follow the same lines as today’s popular messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or Snapchat. Basically, the new Skype design is just another take on the features already available on these platforms.

This means that Skype is now more centered on chat. Users can now share photos or screen captures more easily, or add highlights of their days similar to the stories already available on Snapchat or Messenger. Also, you can keep track of everything you need to see with the help of a notification tab.

The company wants to increase its user base

Moreover, you can send reacts directly to messages, or mention a friend by typing an @ before his name. All the media you share with your friends will now be gathered in a gallery, and emojis are there to stay, as you can use them even during a call.

With this major redesign, Skype is trying to expand its user base, and get more accessible for a broader category of people. Instead of being used mostly in business environments, the company now wants to the app to come as a fun chatting app alternative. However, it might also indicate how working environments have turned more informal and relaxed.

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YouTube has just rolled out a new feature on its Android and iOS app, allowing users to share videos directly with other contacts. This resembles a messaging app, as users can also chat about the shared videos, reply with emojis or with other videos, or even invite more people to the conversation. The app will allow a maximum of 30 people to take part in such a group chat.

This is not a novelty, as YouTube started testing sharing videos in conversation-like environments in May 2016. Then, in January 2017, the company started testing it on users from Canada, since they share the most videos online. The testing must have gone well, since it announced the rolling out of the feature on both Android and iOS.

YouTube said it made a few changes on the feature since its initial testing in 2016. Now, the chat looks differently. For instance, the video sticks to the top of the chatting window, allowing users to reply to the conversation and watch the video at the same time.

YouTube’s new feature lets you comment on videos after sharing them

The app will now feature a new tab, called Shared, which makes the new feature accessible. If you want to try it with other users, you have to send them invitations either via SMS or an invitation link. To put it differently, YouTube lets you invite other users to try its messaging app via all the other means you could have tried to share a video with them.

However, this is not only a sharing feature. YouTube already benefits from a share button which, upon clicking, lets you choose the platform where you want your video to end up. This new tab looks exactly like a chat platform.

YouTube shaped it so that you should discuss upon the shared videos. In fact, you can talk about anything you like, as it allows you to share only text or even other kinds of links. Therefore, the Google-owned company brought another messaging app out there, although users have plenty of other alternatives available.
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Ubisoft launched the first-person shooter Rainbow Six Siege in December 2015, but it failed to gather too many fans. Twenty months later, it has won a place among the games of the moment, as it managed to reach an impressive number of players.

Rainbow Six Siege suddenly increased in popularity

Ubisoft has recently released a blog post where it discussed the sudden popularity Rainbow Six Siege was enjoying. According to them, 2.3 million people are playing the game every day. If this wasn’t impressive enough, the game has also reached the landmark of 20 million registered players.

The game received a beta version, as well as several weekends when you could play the game for free. This means that many of those 20 million registered players ended up playing Rainbow Six Siege thanks to those free trials. However, the number of daily players is even more relevant, placing it among the latest trending games.

According to the Steam statistics, Rainbow Six Siege is the 13^th most popular game on the platform. These statistics can tell us the number of concurrent players at any given moment. Since the game made quite a bad start, seeing it so up on the list is impressive. In fact, it even occupies a higher place than big games like Fallout 4 or Skyrim.

How did it end up among the top games?

Now, you may wonder how Ubisoft managed to bring this game so high. The secret lies in solid support after the release, as well as a clever DLC strategy. Instead of splitting the fanbase when something new gets released, all maps and operators become available for everybody.

Also, apart from exclusive content, Ubisoft made Rainbow Six Siege into an eSport. The game has already gathered a professional league of players, which is already enjoying popularity on the video game streaming platform Twitch. Over the past few months, the company also fixed all reported issues and worked on improving the gaming experience.
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It is certain! Microsoft has just confirmed that the future versions of Windows 10 will offer eye tracking support. This innovative feature can change the way people use their personal computers. However, the most substantial benefit addresses to people with disabilities, especially those with neuromuscular diseases.

Microsoft’s Eye Tracking Support Stems from Stephen Michael Gleason’s Inspirational Story

Microsoft is building a new feature for its operating system. The innovation is based on the program that helped former professional American football player, Stephen Michael Gleason, to be more independent after he lost the battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS. It is called Eye Control. It promises a type of technology that allows computer display to follow the gaze of users and execute their commands.

Therefore, people will be able to control the mouse, keyboard, and text-to-speech feature with just their eyes. The secret is a special camera that can read the eye movements to understand where exactly the user is looking. Thanks to it, people who can only move their eyes, for instance, can write on screen with great speed and engage in a proper conversation with anybody.

However, the new feature is currently in beta. On top of that, users are going to need extra hardware that are specially created for eye tracking support. On the other hand, the feature will be compatible with most tracking solutions such as Tobii 4C.

Alienware, MSi, and Acer Will Be the First Computers That Are Equipped to Support This New Technology

The company is determined to create the ideal product for people with disabilities. Therefore, in its Wednesday statement, Microsoft admitted that it is willing to work with third-parties to create a comprehensive experience for users.

On the other hand, Tobii delivered further details about the project. The Swedish company has experience in gaming and research domains, and it is currently studying the aiding accessibility. The organization announced that the tests are in their final stages and that Alienware, MSi, and Acer are almost ready to host Eye Control compatibility.

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Artificial intelligence is an innovative field that scientists are just starting to comprehend. The basic goal follows the capacity of computers to replicate human “cognitive” functions such as problem-solving or learning. Eventually, professionals can harness these skills to our own advantage. However, some people are afraid of this future scenario as machines could develop a mind of their own and organize a mutiny against humanity. Facebook has recently noticed how its bots went off books and created their own artificial language.

The Negotiation Exercise Gave Bots the Liberty to Develop Their Own Artificial Language

On Sunday, a report surfaced on media revealing the latest decisions Facebook took regarding one of its AI programs. This time, artificial bots did not set up apocalyptic targets. Instead, they showed how deep they could go to solve a problem that they were created to solve.

The AI bots were programmed to support a negotiation in English. There were two of them called Bob and Alice. However, they came to a rather drastic conclusion together. They decided that this particular language sharpened by vast cultural trends and history was not an appropriate system in which they should engage in a meaningful conversation. Therefore, they decided to create a new code based on English.

Programmers Didn’t Set Reward for Bots Keeping Their Communication in English

Therefore, when it came to implementing their real purpose, which was that of negotiating an exchange of balls, the bots chose their streamlined version of English to engage in communication. Bob started saying things like “I can I I everything else” while Alice’s answer was “ balls have zero to me to me to me.” The rest of conversation followed similar replies with odd phrases.

The factor that allowed such an unexpected turn of events was the way the system encourages bots to enter role plays. Modern technology developed a reward program through which bots receive a “benefit” if they accomplish a certain action. However, the negotiating exercise did not offer any incentive for sticking to English. Therefore, the bots compressed the language and made a more effective version of it.

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Nintendo’s NES Classic was full of drama when the company announced the end of production. Therefore, there was no surprise when the same intense atmosphere applied for the new SNES Classic as well. This vintage system is stuck to a lot of fans’ mind. The company notified the public that the Super Nintendo Classic would appear on shelves on September 29 for $80. Despite this announcement, thousands of consumers were trying to go through an overnight preorder option.

Several Snes Classic Preorders Were Cancelled on Saturday

There are a few more months left until the vintage platform appears on the market. However, on Friday night Walmart seemed to accept preorders for such a coveted product in the gaming industry. Therefore, users jammed the website trying to secure a product for themselves. On the other hand, this window of opportunity was opened for just several hours to the disappointment of those asleep or at work.

This event soon took viral proportions. Reddit hosted an entire thread for all those fans who missed this opportunity. Therefore, they comforted themselves by sharing with others the story that kept them away from their computer and their chance to become the early owners of a retro console.

However, on Saturday night, many lucky buyers turned out to be not so lucky after all.  That’s because they started receiving messages from Walmart stating that their preorder would not go through anymore. The general pretext regarded incorrect payment details as well as other vague issues.

It Remains Unclear If the Overnight Preorder Opportunity Stands True or Not

Nonetheless, with the power of social media, those who were lured in by the idea of a preorder started to understand one thing. A print screen of a conversation between a client and a Walmart customer care agent suggested that the whole SNES Classic preorder fuss was just an accident. Therefore, everyone who managed to seize this opportunity would eventually have their payments canceled. At the same time, there surfaced other such conversations yet with different answers.

The new retro model is going to feature a more exciting lineup of games than its predecessor. On top of that, Nintendo reassured its fans that there would be more available consoles this time to accommodate the high demand. However, it is still unclear what generated exactly the preorder mess.

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The trend of home artificial intelligence appliances came with its own controversial nature. The matter in question is that of infringement of the right to a private life. There were hints in the media that some smart home gadgets are recording what happens without household permission. Other disputes stem from the fact that members of the family can start commands without intention. This is how thousands of kids ordered products by mistake. However, such an accidental command might have averted a severe case of home violence.

The Smart Home Device Took a Question as a Command to Call 911

Police officers in New Mexico claimed that a smart home device contacted them through a 911 emergency call. This action might have started as a mistake, but it proved that the timing was just right. Thanks to this piece of artificial intelligence, authorities were able to stop a severe case of domestic assault.

It all started during a fight Eduardo Barros initiated against his girlfriend. However, his mistake was to ask the assaulted girl if she called the sheriffs. At this moment, the AI personal assistant that was vigilant in the house interpreted this question as a command. Therefore, the device proceeded to call the New Mexico police.

The gadget not only called authorities, but it kept the line open for them to overhear parts of the heated conversation. Therefore, they witnessed how Barros menaced his girlfriend with a gun. As a result, they immediately appealed to a SWAT team and negotiators. In the end, Barros was arrested over chargers of firearm possession and assault.

This Case of Home Violence Could Have Been Worse If It Weren’t for This Mistake

Unfortunately, the victim of the assault was injured during this fight. However, authorities are of the opinion that the situation could have degenerated into a much worse scenario than this. Therefore, the smart device could have just saved the day and become a hero.

Even though this issue had a happy ending, authorities won’t take this isolated case as evidence that households can do well with non-stop surveillance from their smart gadgets. On the contrary, they intend to draw a line when it comes to such accidental emergency calls. That’s because the gadget might misinterpret things or act upon a TV show dialogue.

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Google started seriously working on AI development back in 2014 when the company acquired DeepMind Technologies Limited. The AI projects of this firm are amazing. They created a neural network that can learn on its own how to play video games as humans do. The tech giant decided to open an international lab in the heart of Canada. This way, such exciting lab projects can also act as an incentive for a local pool of talents to join the expanding team.

Richard Sutton at University of Alberta Will Lead DeepMind’s AI Lab Projects

On Wednesday, Google’s DeepMind announced plans for an international research center in Edmonton, Canada. The company had already some connections with this city through the University of Alberta. There are almost a dozen of grads from Alberta that joined DeepMind forces to imagine the future of artificial intelligence.

Richard Sutton works at Alberta as a professor of computing science and represented the first outside advisor for the company. Now he is going to take over the helm of this new division along with two of his colleagues, Patrick Piarski and Michael Bowling. For the moment, there are other seven professionals who are going to round up the Canadian team.

Sutton has already made a name for himself outside Google’s reach. He contributed to the pioneering project of reinforcement learning. This field studies the way bots can learn on their own through trial and error methods. At one point, researchers introduce virtual incentives to confirm to bots their right choices. DeepMind based many of its lab projects on a version of this technology called deep reinforcement learning. The company developed other interesting artificial intelligence systems.

Canada Is the New Hub for AI Technology

Canada seems like the ideal ground to invent the world of artificial intelligence. The government allotted a budget of $125 million to attract AI scientists here. Therefore, the country became in no time the place to be if a company seeks talent in this area. Uber, BlackBerry, and Apple are other giants that opened units in Canada to take advantage of its opportunities.

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Blizzard continues its strategy to hit fans of the Overwatch universe with new content at a dizzy pace. This time, the company hinted at a new villain that disrupted the order in this fictional world, namely Doomfist. The good news is that there are chances for this character to become playable. Gamers will have the opportunity to take advantage of a new set of skills, weapons, and combat strategies that will be unlocked with the advent of the new Overwatch hero.

The In-Game Media Journal Revealed Hints at a New Overwatch Hero

The in-game media publisher, Times of Numbani, announced some concerning events. It turns out that the organization that goes by the name of Talon attempted an attack on a prison of maximum security. Their sole goal was to help one innate escape incarceration for good. The name of this fellow is Akande Ogundimu, also known as Doomfist.

The post offers spellbinding details about the incident. The organization approached the prison by means of an aircraft. However, local radars reported no living being aboard the ship. This way, the craft managed to get past the defense systems without any trouble. This oddity led people to believe that there was an inside person that helped Talon.

At its nearest point, the spacecraft released a shadow. This figure alone was enough to cause a dozen of casualties. Medical staff identified the mercenary as Reaper confirming the operation as under the control of Talon.

This scene is part of the Overwatch timeline. This prison incident is positioned three months before Doomfist’s assault on the Numbani airport. Nonetheless, the post brings fresh information about this mysterious villain even though Doomfist was teased ever since the official trailer of the production that appeared in 2016.

The company said no more about this incident from Overwatch universe, leaving fans on the edge of their seats. However, the thing that gave it away is exactly its past. Blizzard has always teased players with glimpses in the update before releasing a new Overwatch hero. Therefore, there might appear additional details about this excerpt from the game’s universe soon.

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Facebook intends to bring the world together with better Internet connectivity. While other tech giants turned to air balloons to transmit wireless internet, Facebook came up with a completely new design of a spacecraft. The result is Aquila, an Internet drone that has a wingspan of a 737. On the other hand, this beast needs only enough power to operate three hairdryers.

Facebook’s Aquila Is an Internet Drone That Is the Definition of Efficiency

On Thursday, Facebook completed its second test flight with Aquila, the Internet-beaming drone. The success was dented by a small technical issue with its propellers. It suffered some damages right at the end of the test.

Aquila intends to be the epitome of modern craft. Its alloy of carbon-fiber and one of a kind design makes it function at maximum capacity with a minimum of effort. On top of that, it may be as wide as a Boeing 737 airplane, but it is actually lighter than even an electric car. Moving on, the latest Facebook toy works solely on clean energy. By day, it harnesses the potential of solar power. By night, Aquila works on batteries.

The company plans to launch these gadgets for months on end into the atmosphere. The key is to consume as less energy as possible and preserve a standby position. At 60,000, Aquila can hang around with ease thanks to its special aerodynamics shape. When it enters this mode, it can remain operational for only 5,000 Watts of power.

The Prototype Had Some Better Performances than in Its First Test Flight

For the time being, the company still has a lot of work ahead. The Internet drone revealed one weakness right before its landing. Under normal conditions, the autopilot should place all propellers horizontally right before landing. This way, they do not get a scratch by a collision with the ground. However, during the second test, the autopilot locked one propeller only.

Despite these technical difficulties, the aircraft caressed the track and stopped in 10 meters. On top of that, the team received some exciting news. The aircraft scored twice a bigger climb rate than during its first launch. This means that the numerous refinements the aircraft received in the meantime are working.
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