(Image source by kentoh) Remember Clippy?  He was the animated paper-clip assistant, who lived several years ago amid the code of Microsoft Office. He would pop up rather suddenly on your desktop and interrupt your work to offer unsolicited advice as to how the work might be improved.  He was so annoying that Bill Gates reportedly sent an email memo to ...

As artificial intelligence (AI) moves from the realm of science fiction to everyday science, leading  technologists and scientists are asking themselves questions about how to write an ethical code. The most widely reported ethical dilemma involves the self-driving automobile and what’s known as the Trolley Problem.  This hypothetical challenge asks whether or not you would make the decision to divert ...

Back in June, ArsTechnica hosted the online debut of a short film called Sunspring. Directed by Oscar Sharp and featuring the actors Elizabeth Gray, Humphrey Ker, and Thomas Middleitch, the film was made for the Sci-Fi London film festival according to guidelines for the 48-Hour Film Challenge, and it placed in the top ten out of hundreds of entries.  What ...

A weekly aggregation of tech stories of note December 11, 2012 Steam Without Boiling Water – Metallic nano particles can be used to produce steam using sunlight without raising the surrounding water to the boiling point. This has huge implications for energy production and other industries that rely on steam generation.  See story at Earth Techling. Classical Musician Reinterprets Video ...

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