Intel Looks to a New Chip to Power the Coming Age of AI   Microsoft researchers recently built an artificially intelligent system that seems to recognize conversational speech as effectively as a human. Yes, this research comes with caveats, but it’s part of a very real and very rapid leap in artificial intelligence over the past several years, a leap driven by deep neural networks.These sweepingly complex algorithms can teach themselves very particular tasks by analyzing vast amounts of data. Microsoft’s system learned to recognize words by looking for patterns in old tech support calls. But it’s not just the algorithms that are driving the recent revolution in AI. It’s also the hardware behind these algorithms. Microsoft’s speech rec system relies on large farms of GPU processors, chips that were originally designed for rendering graphics but have proven remarkably adept at running artificial intelligence models. Giant Corporations Are Hoarding the […]

Hands on with Lenovo’s unique Yoga Book convertible tablet: Is it time for an Android laptop? One of the best things about the Android and Windows ecosystems is the wide variety of innovative products brought to market. Many of them don’t survive for long, but some, like Microsoft’s Surface, persist and eventually thrive. Lenovo is hoping the same is true of its unique Yoga Book clamshell-style convertible; it’s a combination mini-laptop and tablet. Available with either Windows 10 ($549.99) or Android 6.01 ($499.99), the Yoga Book is a small, sleek tablet, with a permanently attached front side called a Create Pad. If you like Wacom tablets, you’ll likely love the Yoga Book I tested the Android version of the Yoga Book. The Create Pad half of the Yoga Book is first and foremost a well-implemented, pressure-sensitive Wacom tablet. As with most desktop tablets, you write or draw on the tablet and the […]