Kozminski Techblog

Apple’s new Fitness Plus service is officially out now, marking the launch of the company’s latest subscription service.

Apple Fitness+ is bringing inclusive and welcoming studio-style workouts to iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV so users can work out anytime, anywhere.

The app offers 10 different workouts types across a range of durations, including: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT), Strength, Yoga, Dance, Core, Cycling, Treadmill (for running and walking), Rowing, and Mindful Cooldown. Moreover, Apple Fitness+ workouts are fueled by inspiring music from top artists, designed to keep users motivated from start to finish.

The surest sign that Apple is taking direct aim at Peloton’s business, though, is the lineup of 21 trainers you can take on-demand classes with. It’s a compelling and diverse bunch, many whom you might recognize from Instagram or other fitness platforms. Anyone who’s spent time with a Peloton knows that service is not really about the bike, or hitting your numbers—what keeps you coming back about developing a relationship with your favorite trainers. Apple clearly hopes they can replicate that parasocial magic. It’s obviously early, but they have some work to do before that happens. There will presumably be room for each trainer to develop their own personalities and show a little more vulnerability as the platform matures, but right now it’s a little upbeat motivation—it can feel a little robotic.

To actually use Fitness Plus, you’ll need — at minimum — an Apple Watch Series 3 (or newer) running the just-released watchOS 7.2 update paired to an iPhone 6S (or newer) running the also-just-released iOS 14.3.

Fitness+ is available as a subscription service for $9.99 (US) per month or $79.99 (US) per year,1 and Apple Watch customers will find Fitness+ in the Fitness app on iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Apple Fitness+ is included in the Apple One Premier plan, which, where available, also gives customers access to Apple Music,3 Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and 2TB of iCloud storage for $29.95 per month, and can be shared among up to six family members.

On the flip side, right now the service doesn’t exactly cater to a more experienced athlete. My guess is that this will evolve with time, but currently the classes are relatively basic and beginner-friendly.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/09/apple-fitness-plus-a-personalized-fitness-experience-comes-to-life-with-apple-watch/

Did you have a desire to talk to your pet? Did you want to understand him? If not, don’t even keep reading, otherwise this article is for you.

A new cat translator app called Meowtalk has been creating a lot of excitement in the press recently. The Android app claims to help you understand what your cat is trying to say to you. Top cat apps are nothing new, but Javier Sanchez, a former Amazon engineer who worked on Alexa’s voice recognition device, created this one.The Meowtalk app actually analyses cat sounds to see if it can work out the meaning behind them.

Strangely, meows are mostly a human-cat interaction rather than one used between cats themselves. As Sanchez explained to KING5: “It’s not a language. They don’t share words or communicate with each other. Cats never meow at each other out in nature.”

Well in case you’re wondering how it works, MeowTalk records the sound and then attempts to identify the meaning. Cat’s meows mean different with different pitch and sound.

The cat’s owner also helps to label the translation, creating a database for the AI software to learn from. Currently, there are only 13 phrases in the app’s vocabulary including: “Feed me!”, “I’m angry!” and “Leave me alone!”

Of course, the developers don’t want to stop there. The ultimate objective is to develop a smart-collar that would translate your cat’s meow instantly.

“I think this is especially important now because, with all the social distancing that’s happening, you have people that are confined at home with … a significant other – this feline,” Javier Sanchez, group technical program manager at app developer Akvelon, explained.

It’s certainly a fun step along the way to communicating with our feline friends, and with over 100,000 downloads of the app already, that database of cat sounds is just going to grow – who knows what can be done with that data in the future?

Sources:

https://www.google.com.ua/amp/s/www.hitc.com/en-gb/2020/11/19/how-to-download-meowtalk/%3Famp

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54991693

https://www.en24news.com/homepage-infinite-scroll

In 2020, almost everyone encountered the problem of face recognition when unlocking a phone, because of wearing a mask.
And I will delight you, there is a man who was able to solve this problem.
Cheng Zhang and his colleagues developed the tool, called C-Face at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

C-Face (Contour-Face) is an ear-mounted wearable sensing technology that uses two mini-cameras to continuously reconstruct facial expressions by deep learning contours of the face. When facial muscles move, the contours of the face change from the point of view of the ear-mounted cameras.
“With previous technology to reconstruct facial expression, you had to put a camera in front of you. But that brings a lot of limitations,” says Zhang. “Right now, many people are wearing a face mask, and standard facial tracking will not work. Our technology still works because it doesn’t rely on what your face looks like.”

“The most exciting finding is that facial contours are highly informative of facial expressions,” the researchers wrote. It’s true , because our facial muscles expand and contract while we conduct a facial expression. They push and pull the skin and control the tension of the facial muscles that are nearby. This influence causes the cheeks’ shape (contours) to shift from the ear’s point of view.
The model translates the images of cheeks to 42 points of the facial feature, or landmarks, reflecting the shapes and locations of the mouth , eyes, and eyebrows, as changes in speech are the most influenced by those features.

Zhang and his colleagues tested C-Face in nine volunteers. When compared with a library of images taken with a front-positioned camera, the device accurately predicted facial arrangements for different expressions.

C-Face is still at an early stage and there are technological challenges that need to be addressed before it can be rolled out more generally, such as battery life. Zhang also admits that it may be an issue to guarantee user privacy. “There’s so much private information we can get from this device,” he says. “I think that’s definitely one issue we need to address.”

Sources :

https://ad164934-109c-47d8-a0fd-ee214ece47db.filesusr.com/ugd/2311aa_832c9241fdd74d7296976cefeccb43b4.pdf

https://www.scifilab.org/c-face

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/10/earphone-tracks-facial-expressions-even-face-mask

The term edge computing is appearing more and more often on various internet sites. What it really is? Edge computing brings data storage and processing power closer to the computer where it is most needed. It helps avoid latency problems with application efficiency, such as for the management of medical devices. Important healthcare data processing can be decentralized instead of relying on one centralized data center for improved security, quicker response and more efficient data transmission.
With edge computing, for the system to realize that a function needs to be performed, collected data doesn’t need to move back to the central server. This translates into running cost savings and decreases storage needs.

Important point is that edge computing moves computing as close to where the data is generated as possible. In retail, for example , data has traditionally been pulled together for review in one central location and then acted on. With edge computing, on the basis of information processed at the edge of individual locations, retail stores can optimize locally and in real time. Edge computing lets companies make data-driven choices more rapidly.

But can everything be that good? People want to believe it, but it doesn’t happen that way. Having analyzed some information, I can disagree with statements about the perfection of edge computing.
First of all, for projects and organizations that deal with large data storage, cloud computing is more fitting. Furthermore, in clouds, actual programming is best suited as it is usually developed for one target platform and uses one programming language. Several businesses are now making a move towards edge computing, however it is not the only option. Cloud computing remains a powerful alternative to the computing problems faced by IT developers and organizations. For a more detailed approach, they use it in combination with edge computing in certain cases.

In conclusion, each company makes its own choices, which can have a great impact on the future of this corporation. Besides, it’s very important not to ignore that something new isn’t always better than the previous one. You need to build on what is really best for your company, not the general opinion.

Links:

Edge computing could push the cloud to the fringe

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/12/23/13-ways-edge-computing-can-benefit-businesses/