Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on December 19, 2016 that his artificial intelligence-imbued software "butler", named Jarvis, is now in service

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on December 19, 2016 that his artificial intelligence-imbued software "butler", named Jarvis, is now in service

 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on December 19, 2016 that his artificial intelligence-imbued software "butler", named Jarvis, is now in service (AFP Photo/Justin Sullivan)

San Francisco (AFP) - Mark Zuckerberg's artificial intelligence-imbued software "butler" -- named Jarvis -- is now in service, and even plays with his family, the Facebook chief said Monday.

Zuckerberg took on the personal project this year, devoting about 100 hours to making a system inspired by the "Iron Man" film character Jarvis as a virtual

assistant to help manage his household.
 
 

"In some ways, this challenge was easier than I expected," Zuckerberg said in a post on his page at the leading social network.

"In fact, my running challenge (I also set out to run 365 miles in 2016) took more total time."

Jarvis is not a physical robot, but an application Zuckerberg can access through his phone or computer to control lights, temperature, music, security, appliances and more.

The software learns his tastes and patterns, as well as new words or concepts, and can even entertain his one-year-old daughter Max, according to Zuckerberg.

- Knowing faces -

Natural language processing and facial recognition capabilities were built into Jarvis, enabling it to understand spoken or texted commands and recognize who is issuing them, Zuckerberg noted.

The software can determine when a guest at the door is expected and let them into the home, while notifying the family that someone has arrived, according to the post.

"One aspect that was much more complicated than I expected was simply connecting and communicating with all of the different systems in my home," Zuckerberg said.

"Most appliances aren't even connected to the internet yet."

Assistants such as Jarvis would not only need devices in homes to be linked to the internet, they would have to run on common standards, according to the Facebook co-founder and chief executive, who returned to his software-writing roots for the project.

His foray into AI also impressed upon him the importance of getting software to understand context, such as who is speaking and where they are.

"When I tell it to turn the AC (air conditioning) up in 'my office,' that means something completely different from when Priscilla tells it the exact same thing," Zuckerberg said, referring to his wife.

"That one caused some issues!"

Similar problems could arise when asking for music to be played without the AI being told which room, especially if a napping baby is a factor.

The more context AI has, the better it can handle open-ended requests, he noted.

"At this point, I mostly just ask Jarvis to 'play me some music' and by looking at my past listening patterns, it mostly nails something I'd want to hear," he said.

Zuckerberg said he tends to text his Jarvis using a 'bot' he built for the Facebook Messenger service instead of speaking to it, mostly not to disturb people around him.

- AI personality -

Speaking to the AI had the psychological effect of making him think of it more as a real person, he noted.

"Ever since I built voice into Jarvis, I've also wanted to build in more humor," Zuckerberg said.

"Part of this is that now it can interact with Max and I want those interactions to be entertaining for her, but part of it is that it now feels like it's present with us."

He told of teaching the AI a game in which they ask it who they should tickle, and Jarvis randomly picks someone in the family, including the dog, to target.

Zuckerberg planned to continue improving Jarvis, and said he was more convinced than ever that AI technology would improve greatly in the coming five to 10 years.

"I'd love to have Jarvis control my Big Green Egg and help me cook, but that will take even more serious hacking than rigging up the T-shirt cannon," he said, referring to a popular brand of ceramic cooker.

"In the longer term, I'd like to explore teaching Jarvis how to learn new skills itself rather than me having to teach it how to perform specific tasks."

AI is getting a foothold in people's homes, starting with devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home speakers which links to personal assistants to answer questions and control connected devices.

Invoking Syria, policeman kills Russian ambassador to Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- A Turkish policeman fatally shot Russia's ambassador to Turkey on Monday in front of a shocked gathering at a photo exhibit and then, pacing near the body of his victim, appeared to condemn Russia's military role in Syria, shouting: "Don't forget Aleppo! Don't forget Syria!"

The leaders of Turkey and Russia said the attack in Ankara, the Turkish capital, was an attempt to disrupt efforts to repair ties between their countries, which have backed opposing sides in the Syrian civil war.

An Associated Press photographer and others at the art gallery watched in horror as the gunman, who was wearing a dark suit and tie, fired at least eight shots, at one point walking around Ambassador Andrei Karlov as he lay motionless and shooting him again at close range.

The assailant, who was identified as Mevlut Mert Altintas, a 22-year-old member of Ankara's riot police squad, was later killed in a shootout with police. Three other people were wounded in the attack, authorities said.

The assassination came after days of protests by Turks angry over Russia's support for President Bashar Assad in the Syrian conflict and Russia's role in the bombardment and destruction of Aleppo, Syria's largest city.

The gunman shouted about Aleppo in Turkish, and also yelled "Allahu akbar," the Arabic phrase for "God is great," continuing in Arabic: "We are the descendants of those who supported the Prophet Muhammad, for jihad."

The attack, condemned by the White House and the United Nations, was another sign of how Turkey, a NATO member and a partner in the U.S.-led campaign against the Islamic State group, is struggling to contain multiple security threats. The war in Syria has been a major problem for years, sending several million refugees into Turkey and, more recently, drawing in Turkish troops.

Turkey has become accustomed to deadly attacks — Kurdish militants claimed responsibility for Dec. 10 bombings in Istanbul that killed 44 people, many of them police.

The spectacle of 62-year-old Karlov's assassination by a member of the Turkish security forces at a photography exhibit meant to highlight Russian culture reinforced the sense of unease over the region's conflict and complex web of alliances and relationships.

It came a day before a key meeting about Syria to be held in Moscow. Those attending include the foreign and defense ministers from Turkey, an opponent of Assad, and Russia and Iran, backers of the Syrian regime.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the killing of Karlov as an attempt to damage Russia-Turkey ties "and to thwart a peace process in Syria which Russia, Turkey and Iran have been actively trying to promote."

Putin said he and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed in a phone call that Russian investigators would fly to Ankara to conduct a joint probe with their Turkish counterparts.

"We must know who was directing the killer," Putin said in televised remarks. He ordered top officials to strengthen protection of the Turkish Embassy in Moscow and asked Turkey to increase security at the Russian mission in Ankara.

In a video message shown on several Turkish TV channels, Erdogan said: "This is a provocation to damage the normalization process of Turkish-Russian relations. But both the Russian and Turkish administrations have the determination not to fall for this provocation."

Karlov was several minutes into a speech at the embassy-sponsored exhibition in Ankara when he was gunned down.

Altintas, the gunman, also fired shots in the air, sending panicked audience members running for cover, and smashed several of the framed photos hung for the exhibition. The floor was splattered with blood, and the ambassador's eye glasses lay a few feet from his body.

After shooting the ambassador, the gunman got into a 15-minute shootout with police before he was killed, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

The shooter's family home in the western province of Aydin was later searched and his mother, father and sister were detained, the news agency said, without citing sources. The man's house in Ankara was raided and his roommate, also a police officer, was also taken into custody, it said.

Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Altintas, who was born in 1994, had been an officer with Ankara's riot police squad for more than two years. He did not give a motive for the attack.

"It's a tragic day in the history of our country and Russian diplomacy," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

"Ambassador Karlov has made a lot of personal contributions to the development of ties with Turkey. He has done a lot to overcome a crisis in bilateral relations," she said. "He was a man who put his heart and his soul into his job. It's a terrible loss for us and also the world."

Karlov joined the diplomatic service in 1976. He served as Russia's ambassador to Pyongyang from 2001-2006, and later worked as the chief of the Foreign Ministry's consular department. He had served as the ambassador to Turkey since 2013.

The White House condemned the assassination, saying "this heinous attack on a member of the diplomatic corps is unacceptable," President Barack Obama was briefed by his national security team while on vacation in Hawaii

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also condemned what he called a "senseless act of terror," for which "there can be no justification."

Relations between Russia and Turkey were badly strained by the downing of a Russian warplane at the Syrian border in November 2015, but Turkey's apology earlier this year helped overcome the rift. Putin and Erdogan have held several meetings in recent months and spoken frequently over the phone.

Russia and Turkey have co-sponsored the evacuation of civilians and rebels from Aleppo and also discussed the prospect of organizing a new round of peace talks in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana.

Security threats to Turkey include the Islamic State group, and which has been blamed for attacks in Turkey. Additionally, Turkish security forces and courts remain preoccupied with purging state institutions of the supporters of an exiled Islamist cleric whom the government accuses of staging a failed coup attempt in July.

___

Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Zeynep Bilginsoy in Istanbul contributed to this report.

Police: Truck attack that killed 12 in Berlin 'intentional'

BERLIN (AP) — Police said Tuesday that the driver who rammed a truck into a crowded Christmas market in the heart of the German capital, killing at least 12 people and injuring nearly 50, did so intentionally and that they are investigating a suspected "terror attack."

The truck struck the popular Christmas market outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church late Monday as tourists and locals were enjoying a traditional pre-Christmas evening near Berlin's Zoo station.

"Our investigators are working on the assumption that the truck was intentionally driven into the crowd at the Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz," Berlin police said on Twitter.

"All police measures concerning the suspected terror attack at Breitscheidplatz are being taken with great speed and the necessary care," they said.

Numerous German media reported that the suspect, who was picked up about 2 kilometers (1½ miles) away from the crash site, was a Pakistani citizen. Berlin's public radio station RBB-Inforadio cited security sources saying the man entered Germany on Dec. 31, 2015. News agency dpa, also citing unnamed security sources, reported that he came to Germany as a refugee in February 2016. Berlin's Tagesspiegel newspaper reported that the man was known to police for minor crimes.

The Welt daily reported that police raided a large shelter for asylum-seekers at Berlin's defunct Tempelhof airport overnight.

Berlin police declined to confirm the reports, but spokesman Winfried Wenzel said the suspect was being interrogated.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack German officials were cautious in characterizing what had happened. "I don't want to use the word 'attack' yet at the moment, although a lot speaks for it," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told ARD television late Monday. "There is a psychological effect in the whole country of the choice of words here, and we want to be very, very cautious and operate close to the actual investigation results, not with speculation."

Germany has not experienced any mass-casualty attacks by Islamic extremists, but has been increasingly wary since two attacks by asylum-seekers in the summer that were claimed by the Islamic State group. Five people were wounded in an ax rampage on a train near Wuerzburg and 15 in a bombing outside a bar in Ansbach, both in the southern state of Bavaria. Both attackers were killed.

Those attacks, and two others unrelated to Islamic extremism in the same weeklong period, contributed to tensions in Germany over the arrival last year of 890,000 migrants.

Far-right groups and a nationalist party seized on Monday's attack, blaming German Chancellor Angela Merkel for what had happened.

"Under the cloak of helping people Merkel has completely surrendered our domestic security," Frauke Petry, the co-chairwoman of the Alternative for Germany party wrote.

Manfred Weber, a member of Merkel's conservative party and leader of the European Parliament's biggest political grouping, cautioned against reaching sweeping verdicts following the attack. But he said it was important to ensure that extremists didn't enter the country among those seeking refuge in Europe.

"The state must be able to check every refugee who comes here," he told German public broadcaster ARD.

The White House condemned "what appears to have been a terrorist attack." It came less than a month after the U.S. State Department called for caution in markets and other public places across Europe, saying extremist groups including Islamic State and al-Qaida were focusing "on the upcoming holiday season and associated events."

The Islamic State group and al-Qaida have both called on followers to use trucks in particular to attack crowds. On July 14, a truck plowed into Bastille Day revelers in the southern French city of Nice, killing 86 people. Islamic State claimed responsibility for that attack, which was carried out by a Tunisian living in France.

After the Berlin attack, dozens of ambulances lined the streets waiting to evacuate people, and heavily armed police patrolled. Authorities on Twitter urged people to stay away from the area, to keep the streets clear for rescue vehicles.

Among the dead was a man in the truck, who succumbed as paramedics treated him, police spokesman Wenzel said. Police said later that the man was a Polish national, but didn't give further details of who he was or what happened to him.

The Polish owner of the truck said he feared the vehicle may have been hijacked. Ariel Zurawski said he last spoke with the driver, his cousin, around noon, and the driver told him he was in Berlin and scheduled to unload Tuesday morning. "They must have done something to my driver," he told TVN24.

Federal prosecutors, who handle terrorism cases, took over the investigation, according to German Justice Minister Heiko Maas. In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the United States was ready to help in the investigation and response.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump Islamic extremists must be "eradicated from the face of the earth" and pledged to carry out that mission with all "freedom-loving partners."

Berlin's mayor, Michael Mueller, planned to hold a news conference on the attack at 1 p.m. (1200 GMT). The archbishop of Berlin, Heiner Koch, said he would hold prayers for the victims at the St. Hedwig Cathedral at noon.

___

Associated Press writers David Rising and Geir Moulson in Berlin and Lori Hinnant in Paris contributed to this report.

Rob Kardashian Apologizes for Blac Chyna Blow-Up, Is ‘Seeking Help’ to Be a Better Dad to Daughter Dream

Rob Kardashian is making amends.  After the Rob & Chyna star had a social media meltdown over the weekend that led his fiancée Blac Chyna to pack up, take 5-week-old daughter Dream and move out of the couple’s shared home, the star says he’s “seeking help” for emotional baggage that has haunted him through his tumultuous relationship with Chyna, 28.  “This weekend I was in an emotional bad place and did some things that embarrassed myself and my family,” Kardashian, 29, wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. “I apologize and I’m seeking help to deal with my flaws/issues. Please pray for me and I’m sorry @blacchyna. You are a great mother to our child and I love you.”  He posted a second tribute to his baby girl: “I am going to get better for you Dream. You are my life and gave me a new start on being a better me. Love you.”  Less than an hour after Kardashian’s post, Chyna apparently accepted his mea culpa, regramming his first post with a simple heart emoji next to Kardashian’s Instagram handle.  Kardashian and Chyna first hinted at their whirlwind romance in late January, got engaged in April and welcomed Dream in November. In less than a year, they’ve seen several highs and lows including this weekend’s hack of Chyna’s personal messages, which she alleged Kardashian might have been behind.  A source told PEOPLE over the weekend that one persistent problem in the relationship is that Kardashian’s “emotional problems take over and he lashes out at Chyna over ridiculous stuff.”  The source added, “Rob is a dad and that should be his focus … but he isn’t mature enough to not start fights with Chyna in the first place. It’s just a crazy mess. A very sad crazy mess.”  Chyna’s mother, Tokyo Toni, told a different story on social media Sunday.  “They will be fine,” she wrote. “I love Rob and I am going to try to help them manage their relationship through love and wise words. At the end of the day they will still be together I promise you. Rob just have to get Mr. Insecure off of his back! Everything will be fine.”

Camila Cabello Breaks Her Silence: 'I Did Not Intend to End Things With Fifth Harmony This Way'

 

Sign in Mail Music Home Follow Us Holiday Grammys Reality Rocks Chart Watch New This Week Interviews Performances Photos Videos News News Camila Cabello Breaks Her Silence: 'I Did Not Intend to End Things With Fifth Harmony This Way' [Billboard] BillboardDecember 19, 2016 Camila Cabello Quits Fifth Harmony Fourth Harmony it is, then. Harmonizers were stunned late Sunday when they learned via Fifth Harmony's Twitter account that Camila Cabello would be leaving the group. In her first statement since the announcement, Cabello painted a different picture from that tweet, saying the other four members were aware of her intentions for the future and that she "did not intend to end things with Fifth Harmony this way." "I was shocked to read the statement the Fifth Harmony account posted without my knowing," Cabello writes in her Twitter note. "The girls were aware of my feelings through the long, much needed conversations about the future that we had during tour. Saying that they were just informed through my representatives that I was 'leaving the group' is simply not true. Just like the other girls said in their statement about their plans, I had also planned to continue with my own solo endeavors in the new year but I did not intend to end things with Fifth Harmony this way. "As sad as it is to see this chapter ending this way, I will continue to root them all on as individuals and as a group, I wish nothing but the best for them, all the success in the world and true happiness." The ongoing she said-they said has been a hotly debated topic for much of Monday, with Harmonizers debating the circumstances of the split. In speaking with multiple sources, Billboard has been able to confirm that talks among the group members had broken down some time ago, even after prompting an intervention-like sit-down with both Simon Cowell and Epic Records chief L.A. Reid to get all five members back on board and moving forward as a group. "It was made very clear on numerous occasions that [Cabello] wanted out," says an insider close to the situation. The group was informed on December 18, the last day Cabello was contractually bound to Fifth Harmony, and via her manager Roger Gold, that Cabello was, in no uncertain terms, "done." Fifth Harmony have been together since 2012, when the five members were placed together in a group by Simon Cowell on the second season of the American X Factor. In addition to two top five albums (Reflection and 7/27) and a top five Billboard Hot 100 hit ("Work From Home"), Cabello has two hits outside the group: the top 20 song "I Know What You Did Last Summer" with Shawn Mendes and her current Machine Gun Kelly duet "Bad Things," which cracked the Hot 100 top 10 last week. Read Cabello's full statement below: When I turned 15, I had the blessing of being put into a group with four very talented girls. We were 5 strangers that weren't even aware of each other's existence that were given a shot at one dream together. It's been almost 5 years and the most important chapter of my life thus far. I am so proud of everything we've achieved together as a group and will always be proud of being a part of it. I was shocked to read the statement the Fifth Harmony account posted without my knowing. The girls were aware of my feelings through the long, much needed conversations about the future that we had during tour. Saying that they were just informed through my representatives that I was "leaving the group" is simply not true. Just like the other girls said in their statement about their plans, I had also planned to continue with my own solo endeavors in the new year but I did not intend to end things with Fifth Harmony this way. As sad as it is to see this chapter ending this way, I will continue to root them all on as individuals and as a group, I wish nothing but the best for them, all the success in the world and true happiness. For more celebrity videos visit Yahoo View, available now on iOS and Android. Just as I said to them during those conversations, and just like I try to encourage you guys, I just want to lead by example when I say to each of you guys to be courageous in the pursuit of what makes your heart pound and what makes you come alive with purpose. Our happiness is our own responsibility. We only have one life and we never know ho much time we really have. WE don't carry money, trophies, social media followers, fame, or success with us. We carry the memories that made us feel alive and the moments that made us fall in love with life. New chapters are scary, but conforming to what's safe and looking back with regret is even scarier. Next year I will be working on my own music and giving you a big chunk of my heart. To

mmm-depositors-optimistic-of-getting-trapped-funds

As Guider, Super-Guiders hold meeting to reduce panic By Charles Kumolu LAGOS—


 



 DESPITE being left heartbroken by the one month freezing of accounts of participants of Mavrodi Mundial Moneybox, MMM, most investors in the money-doubling scheme are hopeful of getting their trapped funds when the scheme eventually resumes. Vanguard observed that the optimistic disposition of affected participants was only informed by the reasons adduced for the development by the management of MMM. Notwithstanding, most participants, who spoke to Vanguard in Lagos yesterday, were still in a state of shock, as they regretted being taken unaware by the turn of events. While many certainly believed that MMM would resume operations on January 12, 2017, as promised by its management, a few were doubtful of getting their trapped investment, citing the fate of South Africans, who had a similar experience. Amid this uneasy calm, there are fears that those who invested huge funds may resort to suicidal reactions since they relied on the expected bonus to meet their economic needs amid the current hardship in Nigeria. Speaking to Vanguard, a Lagos-based business woman, who pleaded anonymity, said: “I am yet to believe that MMM has crashed. It did not crash, people only misunderstood what the management is doing. It is in our interest. “But I am scared, because no one is sure of what will happen if it eventually resumes. I have a huge amount of money in the scheme. I am hopeful but not too sure of what might happen because I have read about the plight of South Africans, whose money was not refunded at the end of this kind of incident.” mmm On his part, Mr. Chukwujekwu Mouneke, who owns an electronics shop in Alaba International Market, said: “MMM has not crashed; it is only on a break from December 12 to January 12 for data upgrading and a few other features for the benefit of participants. ‘’The media is doing more harm than good. If people can wait for 30 days to collect 30 percent, what stops them from having patience for system upgrading? After all, APC administration finds it difficult paying salaries as at when due.” Guider, Super-Guiders hold meeting to reduce panic Meanwhile, further inquiries revealed that to reduce the panic in the system, some leading members of the scheme, known as guiders and super-guiders convened a meeting yesterday. At the forum which was held on a social media video conferencing virtual platform, Zoom, yesterday at 9 am, certain decisions were taken to ensure the scheme comes back to retain participants’ confidence. The agreed measures sighted by Vanguard read: “Programmers are working to implement a new model of our platform. One objective of this new model would be to prevent massive GH(Get Help) at any particular point in time. “New model will be explained to all after its implementation, not before. Programmers are pushing to implement it in less that a month. So the freezing of Mavros might not last up to a month. No promises. A notification/clarification of our current situation would be put on POs ‘probably’ before the end of the week. “Releasing Mavros in batches would be taken into consideration. Encourage downlines not to panic. What is being done is for all our benefits. Change of guider button for all ordinary participants would be put on participants PO next week. “MMM news update would commence this week on all POs. Mavros will grow on a daily basis during the freeze. Just that the dispersion process (creation of PH and GH orders) is put on hold for now. This period would be used to handle all problems currently on the table.”

Green Party U.S. election recount bid comes to a close

(Reuters) - The recount effort by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein in three crucial U.S. states came to an end on Monday, after weeks of legal wrangling yielded only one electoral review in Wisconsin.  A U.S. judge in Pennsylvania rejected Stein's request for a recount and an examination of that state's voting machines for evidence of hacking in the Nov. 8 election won by Republican Donald Trump.

 

 Meanwhile, Wisconsin election officials said on Monday they had completed their 10-day recount with only small changes to the vote total.  Stein, who finished fourth in the election, challenged the results in those two states as well as Michigan, where the state's top court on Friday denied Stein's last-ditch appeal to keep a recount going. All of those traditionally Democratic strongholds supported Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton.  Even if all three recounts had taken place, they were always unlikely to change the outcome.  Stein argued that the use in many Pennsylvania districts of electronic voting machines with no paper trail left the system vulnerable to hacking.  In a 31-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond in Philadelphia said it "borders on the irrational" to suspect hacking occurred in Pennsylvania. He also emphasized that the deadline to certify the state's electoral votes is Tuesday, making it impossible to hold a recount in time.  While there is no evidence of large-scale voting machine hacking, U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia targeted Clinton in a series of cyber attacks on Democratic Party groups. Trump has questioned those reports.  In response to Diamond's ruling, Stein said in a statement that Pennsylvanians' right to have their votes counted had been "stripped from right under them."  In Wisconsin, Trump’s margin over Clinton increased by 131 votes to 22,748 from 22,617 following the recount, according to the state elections commission.  "Based on the recount, they (voters) can have confidence that Wisconsin’s election results accurately reflect the will of the people, regardless of whether they are counted by hand or by machine," Wisconsin Elections Commission chair Mark Thomsen said in a statement.  Trump won Pennsylvania by more than 44,000 votes and Michigan by more than 10,000 votes, according to the latest figures.  Despite winning the national popular vote by more than 2 percent, Clinton would have had to sweep those states to win the presidency under the U.S. Electoral College system, which assigns electoral votes state-by-state rather than by overall national totals.  (Reporting by Joseph Ax in New York; Additional reporting by Timothy McLaughlin in Chicago; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Bill Trott and Andrew Hay)