Writing in the London Review of Books (Reg. Req.), Evgeny Morozov clued me onto how “scientists at UCLA – with funding from the Chinese government – have built an ‘image to text’ system that automatically produces text summaries of what is taking place in captured video.” A similar technology was also developed by NYU student Matt Richardson, whose “descriptive camera” can “automatically describe the scene in a camera’s viewfinder, which, when the image was uploaded, would make it easier to find.” Meanwhile one Twitter is describing typical Instagram shots in 140 characters or fewer.
The Camera is an Author
Valleyspeak
Curious to know what the new Most Irritating Word is? Not many people agree on the number one offender, but for a while a top choice was “literally,” which evolved so much over the past few decades that the Oxford English Dictionary revised its official definition. At Slate, Katy Waldman proposed that we give the title to “amazeballs.” Now, in The New Republic, Judith Shulevitz makes the case for “disruptive,” the scourge of the tech world.
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“Elbowing, nudge-nudge, wink-winking”
Recommended Listening: Alissa Nutting discussing her new novel on Brad Listi’s Other People Podcast.
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Oh, Mr. Rochester!
Move over, Mr. Darcy and Edward Cullen: The readers of Mills & Boon romance novels (the UK’s answer to Harlequin romances) have voted Mr. Rochester of Charlotte Bronte‘s Jane Eyre the most romantic hero in literature.
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Reading with the Jetsons
Ever dreamt of using a sophisticated library where robots fetch your books for you? Well, you bespectacled futurist, guess what. (h/t The Paris Review)
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