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Starting today, Image Search for desktop will open pics you click on in the new side panel. The company says this will make it easier to compare images with others on the search result. Here’s how this looks: If you accidentally click on another image, you can easily pull back the last picture you were looking at by hitting the ‘back’ button. Pretty simple. Jokes aside, the Big G says the revamped look will help retailers and publishers attract more potential customers seeking information about a product they’re considering purchasing or a task they’re trying to solve....

If you’ve ever tried to copy information off a website…well, you know that’s easier said than done. Saving data to compare pricing, compile contacts or sales leads or just to aggregate information quickly turns into a frustrating episode of wonky formatting, unwanted link clicks and generally, a very messy glob of text, images and random coding. AnyPicker is a visual web scraper that allows you to bypass all those headaches, copying important data straight into an easy spreadsheet-compatible document....

Unlike its established competitors, Google is betting all its chips on streaming video games. The Xbox and PlayStation makers do have their own plans for streaming, but unlike Google they are not confident enough to forego their premium devices in favor of a streaming-only solution. After having played around with the Stadia for a bit, I’m happy that the other two are still planning to release actual new consoles, but I’m also glad that Stadia offers a streaming-only alternative....

Announced to an eager audience in 2007, the iPhone has revolutionized how we communicate and even how we live day to day. The large-screen revolution The iPhone was released in the United States in June 2007, and in a further six countries in November. From the launch of Mac computers in the 1970s to the iPod in 2001, Apple already knew how to engage with its audience – and how to encourage extraordinary levels of hype when launching a product....

Hasbro this weekend revealed seven new video games are currently in development for its Dungeons and Dragons property. Kicking things off will be Larian Studios’ Baldur’s Gate 3, which is slated for an early-access launch on Steam sometime in 2020. The news comes from Dark Side of Gaming, whose staff reports: The long-awaited sequel to Baldur’s Gate II: Shadows of Amn, as mentioned, is being developed by Larian Studios whose taken the reigns from Bioware....

But this kind of speculative science fiction storytelling isn’t just useful for attracting attention. The people who design and build advanced technology can use stories to consider the consequences of their work and ensure it is used for good. And we think this kind of “science fiction prototyping” or “design fiction” could help prevent human biases from working their way into new technology, further entrenching society’s prejudices and injustices. A bias can lead to the arbitrary preference of some categories (of results, people, or ideas) over others....

Tired of Facebook too? We’ve got a guide for that. Oh, and Instagram? Yep, here’s how to delete that too. What, and Twitter? Here’s all you need to know. Social platforms like Snapchat walk a fine line between being handy and consuming your whole life. Whether your screen time notification says you’ve spent a horrendous amount of time on your phone today, or you just don’t feel the need to share every inch of your life on an app anymore — it might be time to finally pull the plug on your online life and delete your account temporarily… or forever....

More specifically, Neural is me (Tristan Greene), Thomas Macaulay, Ivan Mehta, and the contributors and colleagues who help us put out fresh, original, exciting content in the world of machine learning every day. It was a tough year to be a reporter but Thomas and Ivan managed to exceed our expectations at every turn with incredible insight and consistent excellence. With that in mind, I’m proud to present some of my favorite articles from Tom and Ivan this year....

This census has always been charged with political significance, and continues to be. That’s clear from the controversies in the run-up to the 2020 census. But it’s less widely known how important the census has been in developing the US computer industry, a story that I tell in my book, Republic of Numbers: Unexpected Stories of Mathematical Americans through History. That history includes the founding of the first automated data processing company, the Tabulating Machine Company, 125 years ago on December 3, 1896....

Modern computer vision techniques have the ability to imbue us with the kind of technological super powers typically only seen in the movies. We can load video into an AI system and tell it to zoom in on a low-resolution frame and, with a little training and some clever algorithms, we can make it “enhance” the image. It’s like magic, only far more accessible. That might not sound very nefarious, but the same technology Tesla uses in its driver-assistance features could be adapted for myriad purposes....

Each gene in a genome provides the code for a protein that affects our lives, from the growth of our hair to allowing us to digest certain foods. Most of the genes found in the human genome are probably safe for now, but there are some organisms that, over time, have cut down their genome to live in various habitats. Scientists previously thought that every gene in an organism’s genome was essential for survival because humans have little variation in our genome sizes from person to person....

Counterfeit medicines are attractive to criminals. They have high-profit margins, with relatively low risks in terms of legal consequences. It is also quite easy to deceive consumers into believing that illegal products are genuine or convince them that they are buying an affordable and effective “alternative.” The situation is not expected to improve. In fact, Interpol has already seen a rise in fake medical products related to the outbreak of the COVID-19 disease....

“Monogamy is preferable at this time,” said Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s National Director of Public Health, during the height of the first wave. Government-imposed physical distancing measures, stay-at-home orders and other public health initiatives resulted in a shift toward online dating. This shift has increased the number of dating app users and the amount of time people spend on dating apps. Tinder says its users had 11 per cent more swipes and 42 per cent more matches last year, making 2020 the app’s busiest year....

So does the cloud have a silver lining from the fallout of Covid-19? Global spending on public cloud in 2020 was predicted to increase by 17% on the previous year, to $266.4B, according to Gartner, compared to a 16% increase the year before. A small increase but growth is growth. Cloud computing is seen as an essential feature of digital transformation for any business. And this has been borne out internationally by the marked increase in businesses utilizing cloud and expanding their penetration in cloud services during the push for digitization due to the pandemic....

HBO Max has a very convenient option when it comes to switching audio or language tracks in some of its movies. Here’s how you can find it. While English-language films dominate the streaming services, not everything we want to watch was originally made in English. For example, HBO Max has several Latino films as well as several Crunchyroll anime. While you can watch them all in English, or at least with English subtitles, maybe you don’t always want that....

The beauty of this game is its slow and relaxing pace. It’s not something that can be ‘completed’ in a day, but with this comes some frustration: it’s going to take a long time for my house to look good. However, the Getty Museum made its classic artwork collection available on Animal Crossing for players to spruce up their island. Getty’s Animal Crossing Art Generator includes over 70,000 masterpieces from artists including Van Gogh, Monet, Rembrandt, and Klimt....

Facebook Memories for some of you can be a delightful reminder of fun activities, touching moments, or clever witticisms of days gone by. For others, it can be a reminder of lost friends, painful events, or (in my case) the cringe-inducing things you thought were witty when you were young and foolish. This feature, which used to be called “On This Day,” is not for everyone, is what I’m saying....

The study also found that the companies that were progressive — seeking operational efficiency over immediate cost-cutting — were significantly more successful, with higher revenue growth and lower layoffs than others. This applies to past, present, and future crises, especially when applied to software development. In a survey my company in May 2020 took of IT professionals across America, over 60% reported that they’d seen layoffs and 36% reported a reduction in spending....

As gyms and sports complexes have been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, I’ve started to work out at home using various fitness apps. But I find it cumbersome to look at workout videos on the phone, and follow trainers’ movements. So, I resorted to mirroring my phone screen on my TV. But I was annoyed when notifications from WhatsApp and Twitter showed up on the TV screen mid-workout. And I’m sure you won’t appreciate notification from apps while you are mirroring a video or showing your friends some photos....

When people are stuck indoors for long periods of time, they can report getting “cabin fever” or feel like they are going “stir crazy.” Observations from actual or simulated space missions or people living in confined spaces, such as those spending a winter on polar stations, also suggest that some people may find self-isolating more difficult than others. However, there are some simple measures that you can take to help you adapt....