Microsoft wants to be part of Judgment Day, too: Introducing the Project Adam artificial intelligence Microsoft has unveiled Project Adam, its new artificial intelligence that it claims is 50 times faster than comparable state-of-the-art systems deployed by the likes of Google. Adam can look at an image of almost anything and tell you exactly what it is; it can even differentiate between a Pembroke and Cardigan corgi. While image classification is actually a bit old hat by this point, Adam is twice as accurate and uses 30 times fewer computers than other comparable systems. ExtremeTech (also, Expansion of Microsoft Research -- analysis and download of 1997 plan and Microsoft suggests new approach for users to manage web passwords)

IBM and Apple ties go way back IBM and Apple are no strangers to each other. IBM played a key role in turning the Macintosh into a successful hardware platform at a point when it – and the company itself – were struggling. Nearly 25 years ago, IBM was a part of an alliance that gave Apple access to PowerPC chips for Macintosh systems that were competitive, if not better performing in some benchmarks, than the processors Intel was producing at the time for Windows PCs. Computerworld

Ars editor learns feds have his old IP addresses, full credit card numbers In May 2014, I reported on my efforts to learn what the feds know about me whenever I enter and exit the country. In particular, I wanted my Passenger Name Records (PNR), data created by airlines, hotels, and cruise ships whenever travel is booked. But instead of providing what I had requested, the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) turned over only basic information about my travel going back to 1994. Ars Technica

Google tests new Chrome OS UI that's more Android than Windows Google-watchers may have already heard about "Project Athena," a Chrome OS-related experiment of Google's that has appeared in the Chromium source code a few times in the past. Today we got our first official look at the new interface via Francois Beaufort, a Chrome enthusiast who was hired by Google last year after leaking several high-profile Chrome features. Ars Technica

Meet the electric life forms that live on pure energy Stick an electrode in the ground, pump electrons down it, and they will come: living cells that eat electricity. We have known bacteria to survive on a variety of energy sources, but none as weird as this. Think of Frankenstein's monster, brought to life by galvanic energy, except these "electric bacteria" are very real and are popping up all over the place. New Scientist

'One giant leap': As Apollo 11 moon landing turns 45, NASA aims for Mars Forty-five years ago today (July 20), humanity took a giant leap from its birthplace onto the surface of another world. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong clambered down the ladder of the Apollo 11lunar lander and pressed his boot into the moon's gray dirt --- a simple if clunky step, witnessed by billions from afar, that stands as perhaps the most memorable moment in all of human history. Space.com

A convicted hacker and an Internet icon join forces to thwart NSA spying The internet is littered with burgeoning email encryption schemes aimed at thwarting NSA spying. Many of them are focused on solving the usability issues that have plagued complicated encryption schemes like PGP for years. But a new project called Dark Mail plans to go further: to hide your metadata. Wired

Nvidia preparing new GeForce 800M mobile graphics cards Nvidia is purportedly preparing brand new GeForce 800M(X) graphics cards. Nvidia is extending its mobile lineup according to the newest driver listing. Cards listed as N16 models are supposedly the GM204 variants, which might be used as MX variants in updated lineup. VideoCardz

How the team behind The Witcher conquered Poland He swings the sword over his head, then down quickly. A little grunt escapes his lips. His form, as near as I can tell, is perfect. Then he holds the pose, sword down, tip near the floor, until the woman manning the computer console tells him to stop. Then he does it again. Polygon

Ride of the Valkyrie: The rise of VR's posterchild Dinosaurs. Terminators. Aliens. Movies have the monopoly on things that make our eyes bulge -- but nothing has ever stamped its mark quite so much on a medium as two fighter pilots pew-pew-pew-ing the bells out of each other in the coldness of space. RedBull

Nanoporous silicon oxide is back in the race for resistive memory Resistive random-access memory (RRAM) has promised a new generation of computer memory by decreasing the size of memory cells through the storage of data as resistance rather than charge. IEEE Spectrum