Friday of the future: about the M.Video-Eldorado metaverse and AI that predicts crimes, about overeating implants and Herman Gref's Khoroshkola

Greetings! While the Ministry of Education is struggling with smartphones and denies the possibility of digitalization of educational

literature, as if returning to the time of Admiral Shishkov, there are also news about the future, which is already coming. Let's talk about them.

AI predicts crimes
Smart windows are just around the corner
overeating implant
Metaverse "M.Video-Eldorado"
Horoshkola by German Gref
Wireless laser charging
Robot Mark - cybergnome in the mine
Chatbot for talking with the employer
Vertical writing of numbers turned out to be more understandable
Features of farming on Mars against potatoes

AI predicts crimes

In science fiction, from all sidesapproached the question of predicting crimes in the future. But it is very likely that the first scenario that humanity will implement will be the prevention of crimes predicted by artificial intelligence. A group of scientists from the University of Chicago took openly published data on crimes (time, place, type and nature of the event) in several US cities and gave them to artificial intelligence for “understanding”. The AI, given information and a map of the city divided into 2x2 squares, was able to generate future reports, telling where, when, and what would happen. When superimposed on real crime statistics, it turned out that the accuracy of forecasts is from 80 to 90 percent. The fact is that, unlike popular detective stories, where you have to investigate complicated cases with many different factors, in reality, the bulk of crimes are almost regular events that are not committed by the smartest and most dexterous people and are usually solved in a matter of hours or days. So, their prediction is a purely mathematical problem. So far, the algorithms do not allow using it for preemption (in the study, the accuracy was +/- a day, although the program determines the time of day accurately), but the future, when AI can tell patrol policemen what places and when to pay attention, is not far off.

Image from Science Focus

Smart windows are just around the corner

Some items of our everyday life and interior have long beenhave become "smart", others still will not go through this transformation. And some are ready to become "smarter" tomorrow, but not quite in the sense in which we are accustomed to perceive "smart" things. For example, scientists at Wuhan University have proposed a technology that can literally make window panes “smart” in the near future. But this does not mean that they will turn into monitors or will be somehow tied to smart home systems. The proposed technology does not imply any kind of control or anything like that. The point is that window glass will be able to “smarter” choose what to let through and what not. As you know, with sunlight, not only visible radiation passes to us, but also infrared, which heats the room in summer. Well, or the street, if we are in Russia and it is winter outside. In general, nothing good in either case. But if you cover the glass with a hydrogel film only a few millimeters thick, you can reflect up to 96% of infrared radiation. Such a coating will help cool the premises in the summer and heat them in the spring, and will not affect the permeability to visible radiation. The design is based on the simple fact that near-infrared photons can only penetrate a few millimeters into liquids, and hydrogels are made up primarily of water, making them a selective barrier. In production, such films are not difficult, the technology is quite well developed and cheap.

Image from the Springer website

overeating implant

Popular jokes about the "Night Watcher" canstay in the past along with compulsive overeating. For the first time in the US, two patients have received implants in their brains that pick up and disrupt signals associated with uncontrolled eating. Research has been going on since 2017, and at the moment scientists have managed to create a device that should prevent cravings for mindless food consumption, for example, psychogenic overeating. Studies were conducted on mice and showed good results. Testing on human volunteers has begun recently, and so far we can only say that the implantation was successful and the operation of the device does not pose any harm to humans. To determine the signals that lead to compulsive overeating, patients were observed for six months, recording their brain activity. As a result, special software profiles have been created that work individually. The very idea of a programmable effect on the brain is not new, but for the first time it is being used to combat obesity, and an autonomous implant is also proposed that does not require constant management by the medical staff, and in the future, monitoring.

Image from New Atlas website

Miscellaneous

Affiliate material

Reality and prospects of the IT professions market

What professions are the most popular and highly paid?

Saturday coffee #215

Pour a cup of invigorating Saturday coffee andcheck out the news of the week. Yandex becomes a monopolist in the ready-to-eat food delivery market, Avto.ru offers to change cars, Chery will bring us a new sedan, and HBO showed a teaser for The Last of Us…

About diesel Audi A6, paid section of the Central Ring Road, Rostov and Yaroslavl

Last weekend my family and I decided to go toYaroslavl, and here, at the right time, Audi offered to take the diesel A6 for a test. I talked about the car back in 2019, but then we had a 340-horsepower petrol version of the sedan, the only one available in Russia at that time.

Motorola Razr (2022): is the game worth the candle?

Does Motorola learn from its mistakes? Has the Razr become a real competitor for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip?

Metaverse "M.Video-Eldorado"

Increasingly virtualization of the surrounding realitygaining momentum. It would seem that if you have an online store, then where to go next? But M.Video answers: “Welcome to the virtual store!” On September 1, M.Video-Eldorado launched its store in the metaverse on the Roblox online platform, thus becoming the first Russian fully virtual store with virtual shelves, virtual goods on them, a virtual cash register area, thematic areas, etc. . The real benefit is that it's a virtual showroom that allows you to evaluate the product to a greater extent than is possible on the platform of a traditional online store, as well as the gamification of the experience, so starting with the start of the school year was not accidental. To increase attractiveness, the M.Video store in the metaverse has a built-in game that allows you to collect virtual points, which then turn into a real discount when buying goods in a “real” store.

Image from the RBC website

Horoshkola by German Gref

If you don't like the course of the Ministryeducation, in which Medinsky thinks out how to ban smartphones for schoolchildren, and Minister Kravtsov assures that electronic textbooks and notebooks will never replace paper ones, then you can pay attention to the project from Sberbank called Khoroshkola. German Gref spoke about him at the opening of the new building of the gymnasium. It represents something like the embodiment of the ideas of Count Uvarov by Elon Musk. On a methodological basis, completely created by Russian teachers (on the legacy of Makarenko and Shuleshko, according to Gref), exclusively domestic engineers have developed a platform for a fundamentally new school, in which, instead of the usual elementary school program, you can already study foreign languages, sports, music, needlework, engineering etc. And most importantly: “Our idea is to connect the two schools with a huge underground space of two thousand meters, which houses seven scientific laboratories. This is a huge space for presenting research results.” In general, the school of the future is at its maximum.

Image from Rambler News

Wireless laser charging

Wireless charging of devices - of course,a convenient thing, but not at all what we would like to see in the future. Of course, it’s good that you don’t need to plug in a cable, but a strictly defined position on a relatively small surface of the charger is not the most convenient way to charge, depriving you of mobility and limiting the use of the gadget. In general, almost the same as wired. Much more futuristic and changing ideas about charging is the development of South Korean engineers and scientists at Sejong University in Seoul. The wireless charging system is based on a laser and involves the stationary placement of a transmitter (for example, in a room) in the form of an infrared laser and a receiver directly in an electronic device. The transmitter is an optical power supply with an erbium-doped fiber amplifier and emits a beam of IR light with a center wavelength of 1550 nm. During the experiments, it was possible to achieve the transmission of a beam of light of 400 mW over a distance of more than 30 meters. A receiver with dimensions of 10 by 10 mm was able to convert it into 85 mW of electricity. Engineers say it is possible to scale the device so that it can remotely charge smartphones, but the price remains open. In addition, wireless power transmission via a laser beam is not entirely relevant for user mobile devices: it is more expensive than induction charging, and any obstacle in the path of the laser beam will interrupt it.

Image from the Optica website

Robot Mark - cybergnome in the mine

Another industry where robots can and shouldto successfully replace people - these are mine workings. In the 20th century, the pickaxe was replaced by a jackhammer, which, in turn, was replaced by a tunneling machine. In the 21st century, the harvester will be replaced by a robot. Which seems very logical in an area where, despite all the security measures, disasters regularly occur. There are no tasks left that would require the mandatory presence of a person and in which he cannot be replaced by a robot, according to NUST MISIS. Mark was created there for the Norilsk Nickel company, which is an excellent replacement for a person in the conduct of mine surveying. This cybergnome on wheels (platform dimensions - 120x120x80 cm) is adapted for carrying out measurements and calculations when assessing the spatial orientation of a working, equipped with a lidar for scanning space and creating three-dimensional models. At the moment, work is underway to create a software package that will allow Mark to do his job without involving a person in dangerous and harmful work, after which he will be able to go to full-scale tests.

Image from Gazeta.Ru website

Operators

Vladimir Nimin

Operator news: new Tele2 tariff

It seems that the new tariff from Tele2 looks like a great reason to throw a gamepad into your backpack so that you always have it at hand.

Ten reasons to buy Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4

We consider the advantages of the Galaxy Z Fold4, for which you can choose this smartphone, which, moreover, has no direct competitors in the market. There is only positive.

Google Pixel 6: user-friendly interface, taking photos and videos

I’m talking about the camera interface and its interesting features…

5 facts about the Bose QuietComfort 45

Meet and test a new model from the hit Bose series…

Chatbot for talking with the employer

Chatbots and other virtual assistantsare so tightly integrated into the daily life of Russians that 5% use them exclusively when it comes to interacting with companies. In general, 68% of the population uses such services to communicate with the company. At the same time, 65% communicate with the bot to clarify information about a product or service, 43% place orders in this way, 32% participate in surveys, 25% make an appointment, and 14% contact the employer this way. These data were obtained as a result of a joint study by Avito Rabota and HR Messenger. A third of respondents use a virtual assistant at least once a week. Predictably, chatbots are most popular among young people (18-25 years old), a quarter of whose representatives used chatbots when applying for a job, because they are faster, available at any time, allow you to get comprehensive answers and interaction can be carried out through any device. Capacity, conciseness, and relevance of answers to the questions asked are also valued. HR could become a disappearing profession if virtual assistants continue to improve. And they will continue.

Image from probanky.ru

Vertical writing of numbers turned out to be more understandable

The order of numbers, written from smallest to largest,known as the "mental number line" and known to scientists for a long time. However, until now the question has been raised only about how a person is more accustomed to perceive them - from left to right or from right to left. Research shows that most will choose to have large numbers on the right and small numbers on the left. However, researchers from Monash University found that it would be more convenient for human perception to position this row vertically. During the test of the speed of processing numbers, depending on the representation, it was found that people compare the fastest when they are written in a column, and the smallest is at the bottom. Those. the most convenient is the representation of the numerical series from the bottom up - from smaller numbers to larger ones. At first glance, these results look like yet another discovery by British scientists, but they can be of practical importance for designers and engineers when it comes to convenience and speed of perception.

Image from PLOS ONE website

Features of farming on Mars against potatoes

Creators of fantastic works aboutthe colonization of Mars, it may be worth reconsidering their concepts for its terraforming. In any case, the University of Iowa believes that the potato will definitely not be the first plant to be grown there. And not at all because the colonization of Mars is unlikely to be started by the Irish or Belarusians. It's all about the scientific justification of which plant should be chosen for planting in Martian soils in terms of the greatest efficiency. The main problem of the Martian soil is that it does not have enough nutrients and there is an excess of salt, which puts an end to the attempt to simply plant not only potatoes, but also most other terrestrial plants in the soil of the red planet. However, there are exceptions. Alfalfa is able not only to survive in the Martian soil, but also to grow successfully, becoming further fertilizer for growing lettuce, radishes and turnips. She herself does not require fertilizer, but the problem with irrigation needs to be solved: local water sources contain too much salt. Of course, the study has been carried out so far only on Earth, in the laboratory conditions were created close to those that actually exist on Mars, and the regolith was replaced by samples of the earth's soil, similar in composition. So it is possible that with a real seeding of the planet, the results will be different and potatoes will still work. But it is not exactly.

Image from Wikipedia

Future Friday: About AI and porn, about the implementation of Web 3.0 in Telegram and about charging electric vehicles in 10 minutes

Google neural network removes noise in photos, RZDstandardizes the quantum internet, semiconductors taught to “think”, Samsung advises breaking down SSDs, aluminum and sulfur batteries, and liquid crystal computers.

Friday of the future: about the threat from 6G and the songs of Janet Jackson, about cyborgized lawyers and about the absence of objective reality

NASA in pursuit of UFOs, AR navigation at Sheremetyevo, oxygen for Mars and clean air for the ISS, drones from Kurgan and a personal AI font for everyone.

Friday of the future: about an esports hotel with a virtual manager, about people-charging stations and about brewing coffee with a laser

Robot-dogs took over the guard, and their ownthe chatbot ridiculed Zuckerberg, the US is blocking GAA developments in China, a battery gigafactory will be built in Kaliningrad, and the mask will not help to hide from the neural network.