Bill Atkinson points to Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game series from the 1980s, in which an artificial sentience called "Jane" lives in a crystal planted in the ear of the main character, Ender. Jane can do millions of computations per second and is aware and responsive on millions of levels. She's hesitant to make herself known to humans because she's painfully aware of the dangerous feelings of inferiority she may awaken in them. Pretty brilliant stuff.
Siri is headed for something like Jane, eventually, Atkinson says. "I think of this as Jane 0.1," Atkinson says. "Within a few years it’s going to be able to do lots of things: It will hear everything you hear, it’s going to be able to whisper in your ear."
In a statement to Ars, Aetna spokesperson Ethan Slavin said that Aetna will be working directly with Apple to develop a suite of healthcare apps for Aetna customers. “Apple will have employees devoted to providing support to Aetna on this initiative,” he wrote, and “Aetna will also have a dedicated employee unit focused on this collaboration.”
Instagram has become a permanent part of my life. It’s consistently rewarding now that I am using it the right way – not just as a place to put an occasional photo, but also as a way to interact with real-world friends and relations. Like Facebook when it’s working well, Instagram supports community building.
And for those who are into iPhone photography or photography in general, Instagram also is a place to find stunning images posted by talented shooters and befriend like-minded shutterbugs.
BusyCal 3 is a winning combination for anyone looking to make a break from Apple’s underwhelming built-in apps.
As you would expect from a smart thermostat, Lyric T5 features a touchscreen display that presents the current temperature, the target temperature, the current heating or cooling mode, and access to change the target temperature.
The latest update to the August Home app on iOS brings two new features to the August Doorbell Cam: motion detection and video recording.
ProTube also has fine-grained control over the resolution of the videos you watch that goes beyond what is available in the YouTube app. In the settings you can specify different playback resolutions for WiFi and cellular data to avoid burning through data too quickly when you are away from WiFi.
Apple is to create a spectacular new London headquarters at Battersea Power Station in a massive coup for the developers behind the £9 billion project.
A new app wants to “democratize” city spaces by offering private, well-designed rooms by the hour—but only elites can afford its rates.