What’s new
Kaspersky Lab software has been banned from US government networks
This ban has become official as President Trump signed a law forbidding the use of Kaspersky Lab software on government computers. There have long been concerns that the Moscow-based security firm has links to the Russian government, although this is something the company strongly denies. In a statement, Kaspersky said that it “has serious concerns” about the law because of it “geographic-specific approach to cybersecurity”.
You can read more here.
Google will open an artificial intelligence research center in China
Google said the facility will be the first its kind in Asia and will aim to employ local talent. The Google AI China Center will have a small group of researchers supported by several hundred China-based engineers. In a blog post on the company’s website, Google said the new research centre was an important part of its mission as an “AI first company”.
More info are available here.
New products
Xiaomi Amazfit Watch 2
The smartwatch has a 1.34-inch display, dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. It is water-resistant up to 5ATM (50 m) and can record the data when swimming.
More info here.
Intex Elyt E6
The phone has 5-inch HD display, MediaTek MT6737V quad-core processor, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. It comes with a 13MP primary camera and an 8MP front camera.
More info here.
You might want to know about this
Adobe Lightroom uses AI to edit photos
Adobe launched an update for the Lightroom photo management apps that brings a new machine learning-powered auto setting to the service. The new auto setting uses Adobe’s Sensei AI platform to analyze a photo and compare it to the thousands of professionally edited images in its catalog.
You can read more here.
Google integrated Duo on Android call screen
According to Android Police, the Duo button is showing up in some users’ regular phone dialer app. When they tap the video call button, their phone launches the Duo app and activates your camera.
More info can be found here.
Fun stuff
An AI wrote its own Harry Potter fan fiction
The story is titled “Harry Potter and the Portrait of What Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash“ and it is only three pages long. The language is fun at time, describing things like a “magically magnified wind” and “leathery sheets of rain”.
You can read more here.
