Artificial Intelligence: Japan installs its first LED illuminated manholes with anime motifs

Tokorozawa, Japan: A Japanese city neighbouring Tokyo has spruced up its manhole covers with fans' favourite anime characters.

Since August 1, manhole covers across the city were illuminated with solar-powered LED lights in designs borrowed from popular anime television series such a "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Gundam", the city's Waterworks and Sewerage department said. The 27 designs that cover a total of 28 manholes were installed by a Japanese publishing firm and were specifically made to drum up anticipation for the November opening of the city's new entertainment complex "Tokorozawa Sakura Town". 

The designs can be found on manholes stretching from the local Higashi Tokorozawa train station and light up from 5:00 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. in the morning every evening. Residents such as 22-year-old Kotaro Kodaira said they made daily commutes enjoyable.

"I can look at them on the ground so the (walk) time seems shorter than before," he said. City officials said they hope the illuminated manhole covers will help minimize crime and contribute to the neighbourhood's safety at night.

Google turns Android phones into earthquake sensors; California to get alerts

California, US: Alphabet Inc's Google's Android phones on Tuesday started detecting earthquakes around the world to provide data that could eventually give billions of users precious seconds of warning of a tremor nearby, with an alerting feature first rolling out in California.

Japan, Mexico and California already use land-based sensors to generate warnings, aiming to cut injuries and property damage by giving people further away from the epicenter of an earthquake seconds to protect themselves before the shaking starts. If Google's approaches for detecting and alerting prove effective, warnings would reach more people, including for the first time Indonesia and other developing countries with few traditional sensors.

Seismology experts consulted by Google said turning smartphones into mini-seismographs marked a major advancement, despite the inevitably of erroneous alerts from a work in progress, and the reliance on a private company's algorithms for public safety. More than 2.5 billion devices, including some tablets, run Google's Android operating system.

"There are hundreds of millions of people around the world that live near earthquake fault zones. And every few seconds of notice that you can receive can give you time to you know get off of a ladder or move away from a dangerous object and overall take cover, so if you can get early notice that an earthquake is coming toward you, you can protect yourself, and that's an area where we think Android can help," said Marc Stogaitis, principal software engineer at Google.

Google's program emerged from a week-long session 4-1/2 years ago to test whether the accelerometers in phones could detect car crashes, earthquakes and tornadoes, said Stogaitis. Accelerometers - sensors that measure direction and force of motion - are mainly used to determine whether a user is holding a phone in landscape or portrait mode.

The company studied historical accelerometer readings during earthquakes and found they could give some users up to a minute of notice. Android phones can currently separate earthquakes from vibrations caused by thunder or the device dropping only when the device is charging, stationary and has user permission to share data with Google.

If phones detect an earthquake, they send their city-level location to Google, which can triangulate the epicenter and estimate the magnitude with as few as several hundred reports, Stogaitis said.

The system will not work in regions including China where Google's Play Services software is blocked.

Google expects to issue its first alerts based on accelerometer readings next year. It also plans to feed alerts for free to businesses that want to automatically shut off elevators, gas lines and other systems before the shaking starts. To test its alerting abilities, Google is drawing in California from traditional government seismograph readings to alert Android users about earthquakes, similar to notifications about kidnappings or flooding.

People expected to experience strong shaking would hear a loud dinging and see a full-screen advisement to drop, cover and hold on, Stogaitis said. Those further away would get a smaller notification designed not to stir them from their sleep, while people too close to be warned will get information about post-quake safety, such as checking gas valves. Alerts will trigger for earthquakes magnitude 4.5 or greater, and no app download is necessary.

At the U.S. Geological Survey, Robert de Groot, communication coordinator for the ShakeAlert earthquake early warning (EEW) system, said the bi-level approach that Google is taking is unique.

"Google is using is what we call bi-level alerting where there's two kinds of messages: what is called a be aware message and then a take action message. And that has a lot of implications.

That's a type of alerting we haven't seen done yet," he said. "But beyond being interesting, and beyond being innovative, if it's successful in protecting people, then it is a success." Stogaitis also said Google has not discussed its plans with Apple Inc, whose competitor to Android comprises half the market in countries including the United States. Apple was not immediately available for comment.

Russia supported China, Russian foreign ministry said- "US TikTok move unfair"

Russia: U.S. efforts to clamp down on popular short video-sharing app TikTok are an "egregious" example of unfair economic competition for U.S. dominance in the international information space, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Saturday.

"The actions of the U.S. authorities run counter to the basic principles of a free market economy and violate rules of the World Trade Organization," Zakharova said in a commentary posted on the foreign ministry's website. U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order banning any U.S. transactions with Chinese tech firm ByteDance, owner of TikTok, starting 45 days from then.

Washington has also threatened to ban TikTok's business in the United States if it is not sold to a U.S. company before Sept. 15.

These restrictions have violated a wide range of Washington's international obligations to ensure the free and wide distribution of information, the free choice of its sources, and to encourage cooperation in this area, Zakharova said.

She said that Moscow is calling on Washington to reconsider its methods to preserve the monopoly of U.S. IT giants in international social networks and ensure they meet generally accepted values and international legal norms.

"We hope that specialized international structures and human rights organizations will react appropriately and give an impartial assessment of these actions," she added.

Innovation: 'Mozo' the robot takes orders and serve food in Cairo restaurant

Cairo, Egypt: As Egypt loosens coronavirus restrictions, one restaurant decided to let robot wait its tables in a bid to attract customers who wish to limit human interaction.

Adorned with its own name tag, tie and apron, the robot named "Mozo", which means waiter in Spanish, is programmed to take orders and deliver meals to tables. "Mozo" works in tandem with the restaurant's human staff, whose role is now limited to entering a passcode to confirm each table's order and then place the food platters on the robot's specially designed trays. Launched at Kimbo Restaurant & Cafe in Cairo on July 14, "Mozo" is the only robot in Egypt waiting tables so far.

"When the problem of the coronavirus began in Egypt, Egyptian culture started thinking more about social distancing," said Aladdin Al-Howainy, from MARSES Robotic Solutions, the Egyptian company that developed "Mozo". He added that the robot was designed to look as friendly as possible to Egyptians not used to being around a moving robot.

"Everyone is afraid", said Dana Mohamed, a customer being waited on by the robot. "(It helps) people who are afraid that someone else might touch their food before they do." Egypt has allowed cafes and restaurants to return to work after the coronavirus measures were lifted, under the condition that they close at midnight and limit their capacity to 50%.

The North African country has been reporting dwindling numbers of coronavirus cases, the latest being less than 200 cases a day. In total, Egypt has recorded 94,483 cases, and 4,865 deaths.

Samsung launches Galaxy Note Z Fold 2, foldable smart phone as pandemic shrinks market

Seoul, South Korea: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled its latest Galaxy Note smartphone and new version of its foldable phone, the Z Fold 2, on Wednesday, hoping to regain ground against rivals Huawei and Apple Inc as the smartphone market begins to recover from its COVID-19 slump.

Samsung launched its previous premium model, the S20, in February at the start of the pandemic but since then has ceded its top ranking in the smartphone market to China's Huawei, as people opt for cheaper models in tough times. The Z Fold 2 has a 6.2-inch (15.75-cm) screen when folded to provide a full smartphone experience even when it is closed, Samsung announced during a livestreamed event. Its unfolded display measures 7.6 inches (19.3 cm).

The new iteration is thinner than the first Fold, and the hinge is improved to be more resilient, Samsung said. Samsung did not disclose the phone's price, but said more details and preorders will be available on Sept. 1. The new Note 20 boasts a larger screen at 6.7 inches (17 cm), 5G connectivity, enhanced writing features with its S-Pen stylus, and access to more than 100 console and PC games via a tie-up with Microsoft Corp's Xbox cloud service.

It will go on sale on Aug. 21 in about 70 countries, including the United States, where the basic version will retail for $999 (USD), compared with its predecessor's $949. Apple fans are unlikely to jump ship to the new Samsung model as the 5G iPhone is likely to be launched later this year, analysts say.

Samsung posted a 29% on-year drop in shipments in the June quarter, the biggest fall among top vendors, according to researcher IDC. Apple, which launched the budget-friendly SE during the period, remained resilient with 11% on-year shipment growth, while Huawei posted only a 5% fall.

The global smartphone market shrank about 16% on-year in the April-June quarter due to COVID-19 lockdowns and consumer caution, a larger contraction than in the first quarter, and is expected to improve only slightly in the second half, IDC said.

Artificial Intelligence: Star Wars-inspired 'smart skin' developed by Singapore scientists

Singapore: Researchers at the National University of Singapore have developed an AI device with a sense of touch that can identify objects and textures.

The device, officially dubbed ACES (Asynchronous Coded Electronic Skin), is composed of 100 different small sensors and is about 1 square centimetre in size. According to its developers, it can process information faster than the human nervous system, and has been trained to recognise 20-30 different types of textures and read braille letters, all with over 90% accuracy.

"So humans need to slide to feel texture, but in this case, the skin, with just a single touch, is able to detect textures of different roughness, and so in some sense, it's quite difficult to cheat this skin, especially when it's combined with AI algorithms that can learn very quickly," said research team leader Dr. Benjamin Tee.

According to Tee, the device is part of a series of other innovations that he and his team are developing to help make prosthetic limbs that can feel and sense-not just for detecting objects or textures, but also being able to feel temperatures and even pain.

"When you lose your sense of touch, you essentially become numb every single moment, and prosthetic users face that problem. They are unable to feel the world, just like us. So by recreating an artificial version of the skin, for their prosthetic devices, they can hold a hand and feel the warmth and feel that it is soft, how hard are they holding the hand. You know, they are able to do that, and they can regain some semblance of normal life," said Tee, demonstrating that the device could detect a squishy stress ball is "soft" while a solid plastic ball is classified as "hard".

Tee said that the concept was originally inspired by a scene from the original "Star Wars" trilogy when protagonist Luke Skywalker loses his right hand and had it replaced with a robotic one, and was seemingly able experience sensations of pain and touch again.

The recent projects has been in development for the past two years, although Tee previously spent over a decade working on this field.

Among the other patents they have developed is a water-resistant, self-healing transparent skin that that can repair itself when ruptured. Made from a fluorocarbon-based polymer with a fluorine-rich ionic liquid, the material can repair itself after being ruptured, and takes around a full day to completely "heal" from a large cut. His team has also developed a self-healing, light-emitting material that Tee said can be used for wearable electronic devices or even clothing.

Tee said that the technology is still in the experimental stage and has yet to hit the private market, but there has been "tremendous interest," especially from the medical community.