Bingo games have gained a lot of fame in the last few years. Players flock online bingo sites seeking the best offers and prizes. And it’s no wonder more and more bingo sites are now coming up. Bingo operators haven’t been left behind either; many offer free games to draw more players. Although all bingo […]
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Facebook this morning launched a new app designed to make it easier for businesses to manage their pages and profiles across Facebook, Instagram and Messenger in a single place. The app, Facebook Business Suite, combines access to the business’s key updates and priorities, and offers a way to draft and schedule feed posts for both Facebook and Instagram, view insights and create ads.
To use the new app, business will first need to link their Facebook and Instagram business accounts, if they hadn’t already.
Once logged into Facebook, the Business Suite can be accessed on the desktop at business.facebook.com. On mobile, users of the existing Pages Manager App will see an option to join Business Suite instead. The app will also become available as a standalone download for both iOS and Android.
Image Credits: Facebook
Inside Business Suite, business owners will be able to see critical alerts, messages, comments and other activity taking place across Facebook and Instagram right in the new app’s homescreen. They can also set up personalized saved replies here, in order to respond to common customer inquiries.
The app offers tools for creating feed posts for Facebook and Instagram, scheduling posts, and provides insights on what’s working. Here, businesses can view their posts’ reach, engagement and performance across both Facebook and Instagram. They can also choose to create an ad to help boost that engagement and grow their audience, if needed.
Facebook says it’s initially building Facebook Business Suite with the needs of small businesses first, as so many have been forced by the pandemic to find new ways to reach customers and sell online. However, the long-term plan is to build out a set of tools that can be used by all businesses, including larger ones. The company aims to address that market sometime next year. Business Suite will also expand to include WhatsApp in the future.
Related to the news, Facebook published two surveys offering insights on small business trends. One, the monthly Global State of Small Business Report, produced in partnership with the World Bank and OECD, found that businesses that make more than 25% of sales online are more likely to be reporting higher sales this year, and are less likely to have laid off employees.
A second study details the impact of COVID-19 on consumer purchasing patterns and use of digital tools. Nearly half of respondents said they spent more money online overall since the outbreak, and 40% increased their use of social media and online messaging for product and business recommendations, Facebook says.
Of course, these fairly upbeat reports on the state of small businesses in the midst of the pandemic don’t provide the full picture. In the U.S., for example, Yelp is reporting that 60% of the U.S. businesses that closed due to COVID-19 won’t be re-opening. As of August, 163,735 of U.S. businesses have closed since the start of the pandemic, the report said, up 23% since mid-July.
These closures could impact Facebook as well, as the majority of Facebook’s advertisers are small and medium-sized businesses. But Facebook’s global nature protects it. Even if the U.S. loses more small businesses due to its mishandling of the pandemic, there are far more advertisers are outside the U.S. that Facebook taps into.
Facebook says the Business Suite will gradually roll out during the month of September. The app joins several others Facebook offers today for its business customers, including Facebook Pages Manager, Facebook Analytics, and Facebook Ads Manager. However, Facebook notes that its new Business Suite isn’t currently designed to serve those who use Ads Manager.
Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms for all ages. It is estimated that around one billion people use Instagram every month. This includes posting images to their profile, browsing images on their feed, and creating Instagram stories. But the most recent feature that a lot of people are using is Instagram […]
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Social media is bridging the gap between people, brands, businesses, and they are all coming together, trying to create a whole new world that knows no boundaries when it comes to connections and communication. But it is not just about that. Social media entertains us too! On a regular basis, we see many videos; funny, […]
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What is purism? Let’s start with the terminology. Translated from the Latin language “purus” means – pure. Purism means striving for perfection, purity, and inviolability of established norms. Purism became part of the design direction at the beginning of the 20th century. When people got tired of excesses and bizarre shapes, designers again returned to […]
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For people who are blind or visually impaired, JAWS is synonymous with freedom to operate Windows PCs with a remarkable degree of control and precision with output in speech and Braille. The keyboard-driven application makes it possible to navigate GUI-based interfaces of web sites and Windows programs. Anyone who has ever listened to someone proficient in JAWS (the acronym for “Job Access With Speech”) navigate a PC can’t help but marvel at the speed of the operator and the rapid fire machine-voice responses from JAWS itself.
For nearly 25 years, JAWS has dominated the field of screen readers, and is in use by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. It is inarguably one of the greatest achievements in modern assistive technology. We are delighted to announce that Glen Gordon, the architect of JAWS for over 25 years, is joining the agenda at Sight Tech Global, which is a virtual event (Dec. 2-3) focused on how AI-related technologies will influence assistive technology and accessibility in the years ahead. Attendance is free and registration is open.
Blind since birth, Gordon’s interest in accessibility developed out of what he calls “a selfish desire to use Windows at a time when it was not at all clear that graphical user interfaces could be made accessible.” He has an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School, and he learned software development through “the school of hard knocks and lots of frustration trying to use inaccessible software.” He is an audio and broadcasting buff and host of FSCast, the podcast from Freedom Scientific.
The latest public beta release of JAWS contains a glimpse of the future for the storied software: It now works with certain user voice commands – “Voice Assist” – and provides more streamlined access to image descriptions, both thanks to AI technologies that the JAWS team at Freedom Scientific is using in JAWS as well as FUSION (which combines JAWS and ZoomText, a screen magnifier). Those updates address two of JAWS’ challenges – the complexity of the available keyboard command set that intimidates some users and “alt tags” on images that don’t always adequately describe the image.
“The upcoming versions of JAWS, ZoomText, and Fusion use natural language processing to allow many screen reader commands to be performed verbally,” says Gordon. “ You probably wouldn’t want to speak every command, but for the less common ones Voice assist offers a way to minimize the key combinations that you need to learn.”
“Broadly speaking, we’re looking to make it easier for people to use a smaller command set to work efficiently. This fundamentally means making our products smarter, and being able to anticipate what a user wants and needs based on their prior actions. Getting there is an imprecise process and we’ll continue to rely on user feedback to help guide us towards what works best.”
The next generation of screen readers will take advantage of AI among other technologies, and that will be a major topic at Sight Tech Global on Dec. 2-3. Get your free pass now.
Sight Tech Global Sight Tech Global welcomes sponsors. Current sponsors include Verizon Media, Google, Waymo, Mojo Vision and Wells Fargo, The event is organized by volunteers and all proceeds from the event benefit The Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Silicon Valley.
Pictured above: JAWS Architect Glen Gordon in his home audio studio.
Apple has just released the final version of iOS 14, the next major version of the operating system for the iPhone. It is a free download and it works with the iPhone 6s or later, both generations of iPhone SE and the most recent iPod touch model. If your device runs iOS 13, it supports iOS 14. The update may or may not be immediately available, but keep checking because people are now receiving the update.
The company is also releasing major updates for the iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV today. So you can expect some new features with iPadOS 14, tvOS 14 and watchOS 7 as well.
The release of those updates caught many developers by surprise. Apple announced yesterday that iOS 14 would be ready for prime time today. Usually, the company announces the release date a week or two in advance. This way, developers have enough time to fix the last remaining bugs and submit updates to the App Store.
If you update your iPhone today, don’t be surprised if you encounter a few bugs here and there from third-party apps. There are some major changes under the hood and nobody expected such a short turnaround.
The update is currently rolling out and is available both over-the-air in the Settings app, and by plugging your device into iTunes for a wired update. But first, back up your device. Make sure your iCloud backup is up to date by opening the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad and tapping on your account information at the top and then on your device name. Additionally, you can also plug your iOS device into your computer to do a manual backup in iTunes (or do both, really).
Don’t forget to encrypt your backup in iTunes. It is much safer if somebody hacks your computer. And encrypted backups include saved passwords and health data. This way, you don’t have to reconnect to all your online accounts.
Once this is done, you should go to the Settings app, then ‘General’ and then ‘Software Update.’ Then you should see ‘Update Requested…’ It will then automatically start downloading once the download is available.
The biggest change of iOS 14 is the introduction of widgets on the home screen, a new App Library to browse all your apps and the ability to run App Clips — those are mini apps that feature a small part of an app and that you can run without installing anything.
There are also many refinements across the board, such as new features for Messages, with a big focus on groups with @-mentions and replies, a new Translate app that works on your device, cycling directions in Apple Maps in some cities and various improvements in Notes, Reminders, Weather, Home and more.
If you want to learn more about iOS 14, I looked at some of the features in the new version earlier this summer:
Apple has just released the final version of iOS 14, the next major version of the operating system for the iPhone. It is a free download and it works with the iPhone 6s or later, both generations of iPhone SE and the most recent iPod touch model. If your device runs iOS 13, it supports iOS 14. The update may or may not be immediately available, but keep checking because people are now receiving the update.
The company is also releasing major updates for the iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV today. So you can expect some new features with iPadOS 14, tvOS 14 and watchOS 7 as well.
The release of those updates caught many developers by surprise. Apple announced yesterday that iOS 14 would be ready for prime time today. Usually, the company announces the release date a week or two in advance. This way, developers have enough time to fix the last remaining bugs and submit updates to the App Store.
If you update your iPhone today, don’t be surprised if you encounter a few bugs here and there from third-party apps. There are some major changes under the hood and nobody expected such a short turnaround.
The update is currently rolling out and is available both over-the-air in the Settings app, and by plugging your device into iTunes for a wired update. But first, back up your device. Make sure your iCloud backup is up to date by opening the Settings app on your iPhone or iPad and tapping on your account information at the top and then on your device name. Additionally, you can also plug your iOS device into your computer to do a manual backup in iTunes (or do both, really).
Don’t forget to encrypt your backup in iTunes. It is much safer if somebody hacks your computer. And encrypted backups include saved passwords and health data. This way, you don’t have to reconnect to all your online accounts.
Once this is done, you should go to the Settings app, then ‘General’ and then ‘Software Update.’ Then you should see ‘Update Requested…’ It will then automatically start downloading once the download is available.
The biggest change of iOS 14 is the introduction of widgets on the home screen, a new App Library to browse all your apps and the ability to run App Clips — those are mini apps that feature a small part of an app and that you can run without installing anything.
There are also many refinements across the board, such as new features for Messages, with a big focus on groups with @-mentions and replies, a new Translate app that works on your device, cycling directions in Apple Maps in some cities and various improvements in Notes, Reminders, Weather, Home and more.
If you want to learn more about iOS 14, I looked at some of the features in the new version earlier this summer:
Modern deep neural network architectures are often highly redundant [1, 2, 3], making it possible to remove a significant fraction of connections without harming performance. The sparse neural networks that result have been shown to be more parameter and compute efficient compared to dense networks, and, in many cases, can significantly decrease wall clock inference times.
By far the most popular method for training sparse neural networks is pruning, (dense-to-sparse training) which usually requires first training a dense model, and then “sparsifying” it by cutting out the connections with negligible weights. However, this process has two limitations.
In “Rigging the Lottery: Making All Tickets Winners”, presented at ICML 2020, we introduce RigL, an algorithm for training sparse neural networks that uses a fixed parameter count and computational cost throughout training, without sacrificing accuracy relative to existing dense-to-sparse training methods. The algorithm identifies which neurons should be active during training, which helps the optimization process to utilize the most relevant connections and results in better sparse solutions. An example of this is shown below, where, during the training of a multilayer perceptron (MLP) network on MNIST, our sparse network trained with RigL learns to focus on the center of the images, discarding the uninformative pixels from the edges. A Tensorflow implementation of our method along with three other baselines (SET, SNFS, SNIP) can be found at github.com/google-research/rigl.
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| Left: Average MNIST image. Right: Evolution of the connectivity of the input throughout the training of a 98% sparse, 2-layer MLP on MNIST. Training starts from a random sparse mask, where each input pixel has roughly six outgoing connections. Connections that originate from the edges do not exhibit meaningful gradients and are therefore replaced by more informative connections that originate from the center pixels. |
RigL Overview
The RigL method starts with a network initialized with a random sparse topology. At regularly spaced intervals we remove a fraction of the connections with the smallest weight magnitudes. Such a strategy has been shown to have very little effect on the loss. RigL then activates new connections using instantaneous gradient information, i.e., without using past gradient information. After updating the connectivity, training continues with the updated network until the next scheduled update. Next, the system activates connections with large gradients, since these connections are expected to decrease the loss most quickly.
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| RigL begins with a random sparse initialization of the network. It then trains the network and trims out those connections with weak activations. Based on the gradients calculated for the new configuration, it grows new connections and trains again, repeating the cycle. |
Evaluating Performance
By changing the connectivity of the neurons dynamically during training, RigL helps optimize to find better solutions. To demonstrate this, we restart training from a bad solution that exhibits poor accuracy and show that RigL's mask updates help the optimization achieve better loss compared to static training, in which connectivity of the sparse network remains the same.
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| Training loss of RigL and Static methods starting from the same static sparse solution, shown together with their final test accuracies. |
The figure below summarizes the performance of various methods on training an 80% sparse ResNet-50 architecture. We compare RigL with two recent sparse training methods, SET and SNFS and three baselines: Static, Small-Dense and Pruning. Two of these methods (SNFS and Pruning) require dense resources as they need to either train a large network or store the gradients of it. Overall, we observe that the performance of all methods improves with additional training time; thus, for each method we run extended training with up to 5x the training steps of the original 100 epochs.
As noted in a number of studies [4, 5, 6, 7], training a network with fixed sparsity from scratch (Static) leads to inferior performance compared to solutions found by pruning. Training a small, dense network (Small-Dense) with the same number of parameters gets better results than Static, but fails to match the performance of dynamic sparse models. Similarly, SET improves the performance over Small-Dense, but saturates at around 75% accuracy, revealing the limits of growing new connections randomly. Methods that use gradient information to grow new connections (RigL and SNFS) obtain higher accuracy in general, but RigL achieves the highest accuracy, while also consistently requiring fewer FLOPs (and memory footprint) than the other methods.
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| Performance of sparse training methods on training an 80% sparse ResNet-50 architecture with uniform sparsity distribution. Points at each curve correspond to the individual training runs with increasing training length. The number of FLOPs required to train a standard dense ResNet-50 along with its performance is indicated with a dashed red line. RigL matches the standard ResNet-50 performance, even though it is 5x smaller in size. |
Observing the trend between extended training and performance, we compare the results using longer training runs. Within the interval considered (i.e., 1x-100x) RigL's performance constantly improves with additional training. RigL achieves state of art performance of 68.07% Top-1 accuracy at training with a 99% sparse ResNet-50 architecture. Similarly extended training of a 90% sparse MobileNet-v1 architecture with RigL achieves 70.55% Top-1 accuracy. Obtaining the same results with fewer training iterations is an exciting future research direction.
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| Effect of training time on RigL accuracy at training 99% sparse ResNet-50 (left) and 90% sparse MobileNets-v1 (right) architectures. |
Other experiments include image classification on CIFAR-10 datasets and character-based language modelling using RNNs with the WikiText-103 dataset and can be found in the full paper.
Future Work
RigL is useful in three different scenarios:
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Eleni Triantafillou, Hugo Larochelle, Bart van Merrienboer, Fabian Pedregosa, Joan Puigcerver, Danny Tarlow, Nicolas Le Roux, Karen Simonyan for giving feedback on the preprint of the paper; Namhoon Lee for helping us verify and debug our SNIP implementation; Chris Jones for helping us discover and solve the distributed training bug; and Tom Small for creating the visualization of the algorithm.
Everything we do seems to have an associated app these days, and all day they vie for your attention, pinging and lighting up in their needy ways. TouchWood wants to tone down this exhausting non-stop competition with a quiet, simplified interface built right into the natural material of your desk or wall.
Co-founders Matthew Dworman and Gaurav Asthana were fed up with the idea that making your home or workplace smarter usually meant adding even more stuff: a smart speaker that sits on your desk, a smart watch constantly telling you your step count, a smart fridge that slips advertisements into your morning routine. Not only that but these devices and apps are constantly drawing you away from what you want to do, whether that’s work or trying not to work.
They wanted (they told me) something like the enchanted sword Sting from Lord of the Rings: It’s just a sword 99 percent of the time, but it’s also an orc radar if and when you need it, and even then it just glows. Why doesn’t the digital world similarly only appear when you need it, and in the least obtrusive fashion possible?
Dworman previously worked in high-end furniture design, and with Asthana developed the idea of interacting with tech via “a slab of wood instead of an app,” as the latter put it.
Image Credits: TouchWood
“What we’ve created is a modular tech platform that uses high-intensity LEDs with capacitive touch sensing. This allows us to embed it in essentially opaque material,” Dworman explained. “The wall, countertop, desk, in the home, the office, retail, transportation, we see so many ways to provide information and completely invisible controls.”
The surface would appear completely normal when the display is off, and indeed it is. Mui Labs, which demonstrated at CES its own natural material display, requires a specially perforated wood surface that you probably wouldn’t want to spill coffee on. A TouchWood display is just that: wood — or many other common surface materials.
A TouchWood surface in action. (The lines are an artifact of the camera’s framerate.)
It’s not meant to be a second display, but a friendly overflow for the information avalanche presented to us via our desktops, laptops, and phones… and speakers, watches, coffee makers, robot dogs, and so on.
“We’re not trying to put a computer in a surface — we want to provide you with a better touchpoint for your existing devices, to enhance their capabilities by taking away some of the information pressure that’s put on them,” said Asthana.
Image Credits: TouchWood
Perhaps you, like me, constantly flick your eyes towards the tabs in your browsers, or the apps arrayed on the bottom of your screen, to see if there’s any change — a new email, a message on Slack, a calendar item. A TouchWood desk would let those notifications take alternative routes, like a glowing circle off where you put your coffee or mouse. Tap it there and get a summary, or go to the content, or swipe it away — but you never have to switch tabs, or go to a different app, or unlock your phone. And when it’s done, the desk is just a piece of wood again.
Dworman sees the transition as natural. “Touchscreens the way we know them have really only been around for 10 or 11 years. But because they’re so ubiquitous we kind of take them for granted,” he said. “When you watch sci-fi films, this tech is still being used 500 years in the future! But it shouldn’t be. In car terms, the iPhone as it is now is like the Model T.”
TouchWood aims to be a platform eventually, but needs to launch a product of its own first. It plans to have a nice sit/stand desk with two large display areas available next year for somewhere in the $2,000 region. Expensive, yes — but you may be surprised what people will happily spend on new furniture, especially something like a major component of a newly important home office.
After proving out the concept with a flagship product, they can start working their way into other niches and working with partners. Embedding an invisible display in a countertop, wall, or of course a restaurant table leads to all kinds of use cases. Here’s hoping TouchWood’s tech leads to a future with slightly fewer screens in it — at least ones we can see.
