“For example, a system developed by Singapore’s research agency lets advertising screens detect the genders of passers-by: it will soon be able to tell how old they are, too. … Computer vision is sophisticated and cheap enough to make it possible to spot the logos on your drinks cup or shopping bags, and serve up ads in response – whether to reinforce your choice or promote a competitor.”
Tag: 07.07.09
Florida’s Opera Naples Buys Its First Home
“Opera Naples, like many first-time homebuyers this year, has taken advantage of the market to snare its own administrative and activities base, a 10,000-square-foot commercial space in East Naples.” The facility will enable the four-year-old company “to create and store sets and costumes, rehearse for productions and even stage some workshop operas.”
Scientists Perpetrate Anti-Feline Slander
“And after 10,000 years of helping people keep down pests, their reward is to have their utility questioned in a new paper in the National Academy of Sciences’ journal. The researchers, led by Stephen J. O’Brien of the National Cancer Institute, an expert on cat genetics among other things, even call them ‘profiteers’.”
Plagiarism As Passive Event: My Unconscious Did It!
“[C]ould some alleged plagiarists–like Maureen Dowd, Chris Anderson, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, and even [Kaavya] Viswanathan, who all either deny the charge, or blame their copying on unconscious mistakes–be guilty of psychological sloppiness rather than fraud? Could the real offense be disregard for the mind’s subliminal kleptomania? And if it is real, is unconscious copying (or ‘cryptomnesia’ to those who study the phenomenon) preventable?”
Penguin UK To Lay Off 100 Staffers
“Some of the Penguin job cuts will come from Dorling Kindersley, which publishes illustrated reference books, and its Rough Guide travel publication business, where the group will move some of its publishing to an existing center in New Delhi. The job losses amount to around 10% of Penguin and Dorling Kindersley’s staff in the U.K.”
Contractor Bails On Zaha Hadid’s Millennium Park Pavilion
“A new contractor has been hired to finish the construction of the complex Zaha Hadid-designed pavilion in Millennium Park, and the opening of the already-delayed pavilion has been pushed back another two weeks to Aug. 1. … [The temporary structure] was scheduled to open to the public June 19 and to have a 4½-month run.”
NEA Awards $29.78 Million In Grants
“More than 600 arts organizations around the country can each look forward to receiving a big fat check in the coming weeks thanks to the latest round of grants announced today by the National Endowment for the Arts. The grants represent part of the $50 million in federal aid to the NEA from President Obama’s economic stimulus package.”
Three Sentenced To Prison For Jewel Of Medina Arson
“Three Muslim men were jailed today for an arson attack on the home of the publisher of a novel about Aisha, the child bride of the prophet Muhammad. The trio poured diesel on the front door of the house in Islington, north London, and set it on fire. The attack in September last year took place days before Martin Rynja’s company, Gibson Square, was scheduled to publish The Jewel of Medina, by the American author Sherry Jones.”
Playboy To Publish First Excerpt Of Nabokov’s Last Novella
“Hugh Hefner’s Playboy has acquired the first serial rights to The Original of Laura, the final, unfinished novella of the late [Vladimir] Nabokov.” Also known as the book Nabokov wanted destroyed, a wish his son ultimately decided against.
Wall Street Journal Planning New York Culture Section
“Several Journal sources have confirmed to Off the Record that a weekly New York-only arts-and-culture section is in the planning stages up at The Journal‘s new Sixth Avenue headquarters. It’s early yet, but in the very near future, a budget will be drafted for the product, an indication that the effort is a serious one. The new section could be introduced into the newspaper early next year, according to our sources.”