The Speaker News Journal

Facebook Open Sources Its AI Server

December 19, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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Facebook’s AI hardware is now, like its software, open source, joining a broad movement towards outsourcing the world’s artificial intelligence intelligence. Facebook also stated it hoped independent AI technicians would develop deep learning tech superior to what the company currently uses, and that it would buy this technology.

The tech giant has developed deep learning technology, which it uses for Facebook-related functions like identifying faces in pictures and curating news feeds, but can also apply to a wide range of computing tasks.

Through the Open Compute Project, Facebook’s custom hardware designs — a GPU-based server called “Big Sur” — will join Google’s and others’ open source deep learning designs. The hope is that more workers will devote themselves to these projects and become familiar with using the technology.

Deep learning technology involves building computers that function similar to the neural networks of animal brains. The computers store masses of data, form neural networks between the data, and draw inferences from the data based on need.

Yann LeCun, head of the Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence Research lab, commented on the move to make the company’s AI open source, “This is a way of saying, ‘Look, here is what we use, here is what we need. If you make hardware better than this, we’ll probably buy it from you.'”

By Andy Stern

Canada Selling Bottled Air To China

July 30, 2016December 18, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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A Canadian company is now selling bottled air to China, and supplies are selling out.

Vitality Air, and Edmonton-based company, is bottling air from Banff and Lake Louise, world-famous Canadian vacation destinations. The hand-bottled air is then shipped around the world.

For around $13 per bottle, Chinese are buying stocks out.

“We shipped a sample of 500 [bottles] to China,” Vitality Air co-founder Moses Lam said this week. “They sold out within a week-and-a-half.”

The company already has sold 1,000 of their next shipment of 4,000 bottles to China as well.

The air is being sold in orders of 10 bottles, according to the company, which markets their product on China’s eBay equivalent, Taobao.

India has also started to buy Vitality’s air.

The company is having a hard time keeping up with demand since starting selling online last June, due to the hand-bottling involved in their product.

Each bottle contains 3 liters of air, which equates to approximately 80 breaths. In a relaxed state, breathing steadily, it would take 4 minutes to breathe the air contained in one can, although consumers may prefer to draw out their enjoyment by sipping at the air over a longer period of time.

By Andy Stern

Tokyo Launches Drone Squad

January 1, 2016December 18, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department announced a new policing initiative this week to combat illegal drone operation in metropolitan areas.

The police drones will monitor no-fly zones, enforcing Japan’s drone legislation. Upon finding illegal activity, the drone squad will seek for the drone operator and order the drones to be grounded.

If the squad is not able to remove the drone from the air using this method, 10-foot long drone enforcers will be dispatched to collect the offending drones with large nets.

Japan also recently amended its Civil Aeronautics Law to limit the airspace of drones to 500 feet from the ground. Also, now in densely populated areas, all drones over 300 grams are banned.

The police force also has drone terrorism in mind in pursuing the program. The metropolitan police bureau recently told national media that such attacks were a possibility, and that the force hoped to defend Japan against any such scenario.

The potential for a serious attack in Japan was highlighted earlier this year, when an activist flew a drone carrying radioactive sand to the top of the office building of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The act was a protest against nuclear power, the man said, and no one was injured by the symbolic action.

The new drone squad will consist of dozens of trained officers and will begin operations later this month, according to police officials.

By Andy Stern

New $7 Million XPrize Competition Aims To Explore Oceans

December 17, 2015December 17, 2015 by Tony Simpson

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On Monday, the XPrize Foundation announced its latest competition: the $7 Million Shell Ocean Discovery XPrize, which aims to map the ocean floor in high resolution, and find sources of pollution autonomously. Teams will test their technologies in two rounds at two separate undisclosed locations, mapping a 500 square kilometer area of ocean floor in high resolution at depths of 2, and 4 kilometers; winners will receive a grand prize of $4 million.

An additional $1 million will be awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to teams that have technology capable of “sniffing out” specified objects through biological and chemical signals. Xprize claims that such technology could also help us learn about our own history, and find medical advancements to currently fatal diseases.

The competition was designed to create better maps, and expand our present knowledge of the oceans, as they are currently 95% unexplored, and remain as one of Earth’s last mysteries. We have mapped the moon, Venus, and Mars, all in much higher resolution than our own oceans. It is also estimated that two thirds of species in the ocean remain to be discovered.

Each of the 25 teams will try to create new, relatively low cost technology that can map the ocean floor, and identify archaeological, Biological, and geological features. Each team must prove their robotics can function efficiently at a depth of 2 and 4 kilometers, where there is no sunlight, high pressure, and temperatures below freezing. A bonus $1 million will go to any team that can make technology that can track chemical and biological signatures to find objects. Such technology could lead to many other discoveries and inventions, as well as helping to find sources of human-caused pollution and slow global warming.

Unlike land, the sea floor can’t be mapped in high resolution by satellite, since radar waves don’t pass through water. Satellites rely on precisely measuring the height of the ocean, and when enough data is collected, scientists can calculate the differences in the ocean surface caused by the landscape below the surface. This technology has given us a full map of the ocean to a resolution of 5 kilometers, which allows us to see the largest features, such as ocean trenches; leaving us with plenty of room for discovery under the water that covers two-thirds of our planet. We’ve mapped the entire surface of the moon at a resolution of 7 meters, and most of Mars and Venus at 100 meters.

XPrize is hopeful that the competition will usher a new era of ocean exploration, and help to better humanity through future innovation from it. The competition is the third of five multi-million dollar ocean based challenges to be created by 2020. The 10 year XPrize Ocean Initiative was created to address critical challenges in ocean exploration and technology; with the goal to make the oceans “healthy, valued, and understood”.

By Tony Simpson

Sources: The Verge | Ocean Discovery Overview

New World’s Largest Crochet Quilt

December 15, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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How big is the world’s largest crochet blanket?

Crochet Queens, an Indian group, is set to needle past the current South African world record-holders’ 3,377 square meter (11,080 foot) quilt by combining the forces of their 1,800 members.

Mother India’s Crochet Queens team, composed of crocheters aged 8 through 85, is ready to earn a place in the Guinness World Record book by assembling a 5,000 square meter (16,404 foot) quilt from one square meter parts.

The team’s members live in diverse locations around the world. They mailed their square meter parts to Chennai, India to be knitted together. The parts were displayed at Durbar Hall Ground in Kochi this week.

The project started out as an online campaign, but interest grew globally. Even now, any woman can join to group so long as she can crochet three one-meter squares (one one-meter square is expected of younger members), according to Mother India’s.

By Tamara Fifer

Leonardo DiCaprio Expresses Fear Of Chinooks

December 14, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who filmed the historical adventure picture ‘The Revenant’ in Alberta and British Columbia this year, recently commented on his northern experience at a Q&A, expressing grave concern over the weather phenomena known as the “Chinook.”

“We were in Calgary,” said DiCaprio, “and the locals were saying, ‘This has never happened in our province ever.’ We would come and there would be eight feet of snow, and then all of a sudden a warm gust of wind would come.”

DiCaprio has become somewhat of an expert on environment matters in recent years, producing the climate change documentary “The 11th Hour” in 2007. Reportedly, the actor is now working on another climate change documentary. However, many Canadians were surprised that the actor would refer to what in Canada is commonly known as a Chinook, a warm breeze felt during colder weather, as a sign of impending disaster.

DiCaprio stated:

“[I]t was scary. I’ve never experienced something so firsthand that was so dramatic. You see the fragility of nature and how easily things can be completely transformed with just a few degrees difference. It’s terrifying, and it’s what people are talking about all over the world. And it’s simply just going to get worse.”

Despite what may be an unusual cause of concern, 2015 was the warmest year on record, and the cast of the film had to relocate to a glacier in Argentina to find a snowy location — the snow at their Canadian location melted in August, forcing the unexpected move.

By Andy Stern
Photo: 20th Century Fox

BC Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Trinity Western’s Law School

January 26, 2021December 14, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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CHILLIWACK, British Columbia — In the latest of the trials over Trinity Western University’s planned law school, a B.C. Supreme Court judge has found in favor of the school, rejecting the Law Society of BC’s rejection of TWU.

The Law Society had not properly maintained its discretion when it went back on its initial approval of Trinity Western’s law school after holding a referendum among its disapproving members, B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson found.

“I conclude that the benchers permitted a non-binding vote of the LSBC membership to supplant their judgment,” said Hinkson.

“In so doing, the benchers disabled their discretion under the [Legal Profession Act] by binding themselves to a fixed blanket policy set by LSBC members. The benchers thereby wrongfully fettered their discretion.”

The matter at issue is Trinity Western’s “Community Covenant,” which all staff and students must sign. The covenant is a pledge that an individual will maintain the teachings of the Bible and refrain from sex outside traditional marriage.

The Langley, B.C.-based school — Canada’s largest Christian university with 4,000 students — applied for and received permission from the British Columbia Law Society in 2013.

Afterwards, responding to the disapproval of its members — B.C. lawyers — the LSBC held a referendum. After finding that 74 percent of its members wanted to deny graduates of Trinity Western to practice, the Law Society changed its decision and withdrew its approval.

Hinkson concluded that, besides allowing their discretion to be clouded by popular sentiment, the Law Society had infringed on the freedom of religion guaranteed by the nation’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Hinkson ordered the Law Society to return to its original decision to allow Trinity Western’s graduates to practice law in B.C.

Provincial courts across Canada have been hearing Trinity Western’s case — some are finding for the school, some against. It is expected that the matter will proceed to the Supreme Court of Canada to be settled.

Watch Earth Live From The International Space Station

January 15, 2016December 13, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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This is ISS’s HDEV (High Definition Earth Viewing) experiment — a live HD stream from several cameras mounted to the External Payload Facility of the European Space Agency’s Columbus module, and has been broadcasting since April 30, 2014.

To protect the cameras, they are encased in pressurized, temperature-controlled housing.

Viewing notes: A black screen is normal when the ISS is flying above parts of the Earth with no lights on the night side of the Earth (it orbits every 92 minutes, so in 30 minutes it will likely be over day again), and there is no sound to the stream. Although the black night view might not be interesting, I recommend you wait — when you see the crescent of the Earth and the red glow of the Sun appear, it is spectacular.

There is also (rare) down-time — meaning there has been a loss of signal with the Earth or that HDEV is not operating: at these times, viewers will see a gray slate or previously recorded video. The live stream frequently switches between cameras — while the cameras switch, viewers will see a grey slate, then a black slate, before seeing the new camera angle.

In the meantime — and relatedly — you can watch the course of ISS live on this other page. It will show you where the ISS is right now, superimposed over the Google Earth map, and you can watch it’s trail accumulate (it travels at 27,600 km/h [17,100 mp/h]).

If you see something great on the live stream, take a screenshot and post it in the comments!

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Canada And Sweden Sign Arctic Agreement

July 30, 2016December 12, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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Canada and Sweden have signed a new cooperative agreement based on science in the Arctic. The deal may have a special meaning for Canada, because the nation’s claims to a large tract of the Arctic is contested by other claimants Russia, Denmark, the U.S., and Norway.

Canada’s claim depends upon proving that the boundaries of its continental shelf extends beneath the North Pole. However, proving the extent of the shelf is challenging because much of the Arctic is still uncharted and work in the area is expensive and dangerous.

The new five-year “Arctic Science Cooperation Agreement” was completed by Canada’s Science Minister Kristy Duncan and Sweden’s Polar Research Secretariat head Bjorn Dahlback, and was announced by Ottawa Saturday.

According to international law, countries are entitled to 200 nautical miles of water as a coastal economic zone.

Currently, Canada, the U.S., Russia, Denmark and Norway are working with the United Nations to resolve jurisdictional boundaries in the Arctic. Rewrites have been made, including a 2013 rewrite by Canada’s Conservative government which included a claim to the North Pole, and a 2015 claim by Russia claiming 1.2 million square kilometers of the Arctic shelf. Denmark also claims the North Pole.

By Andy Stern

Curiosity Rover Reaches Mars’s Sand Dunes — Photos

December 21, 2015December 11, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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The active sand dunes of Mars were reached by NASA’s Curiosity rover last month, and Friday NASA released some of Curiosity’s latest photography.

The Bagnold Dunes are as high as two stories, and compose the bottom portion of a layered mountain Curiosity is trekking up this month.

Some of Curiosity’s latest photos show the bot’s view looking up the dune hill. Others show the texture of the sand its treaded wheels are covering.

NASA states that the individual dunes of the Bagnold band — which is located along the northwestern flank of Mount Sharp inside Gale Glacier — move up to 3 feet (1 meter) per year, based on observations from orbit.

Curiosity’s current mission task is to scale Sharp and examine the higher layers. It has already explored outcrops between its landing site and the mountain since landing in August 2012.

By James Haleavy

Photos: NASA

Best Meteor Shower — Colorful Geminids — This Weekend

December 11, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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The Geminids — “the King of Meteor Showers” — will rain down around 100 to 150 multi-colored slow-moving streaks per hour this weekend, visible from anywhere, but the best views will be for those in the Northern Hemisphere.

The show will peak over the night of Sunday, December 13 — between midnight and morning with the highest activity between 2 and 3 a.m. There should be some meteors visible already at sunset, though. While the meteors will radiate from the southwest, there is no particular part of the sky where viewers need to focus their attention because the shower will be so high.

The Gemenids are famous not only for the frequency of meteors, but also their slow movement and the varied colors which are produced by the different chemical compounds burning in the sky.

The Gemenids are a relatively young shower — first observed 150 years ago. They originated from the 3200 Phaeton asteroid — one of only two major showers not originating from a comet.

By Andy Stern

What The World’s Capital Cities Look Like From Space, Part 1

November 3, 2016December 10, 2015 by The Speaker Editors

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This collection of photographs was taken by the cameras of the International Space Station from it’s orbit at 319 nautical kilometers (172 miles) from the Earth’s surface. Can you guess what some of these cities are, or even the countries they belong to?

We’ll make it more interesting: This first set of cities are all from the Americas, and they progress from northernmost southwards.