OLDaily

Unity vs Unreal Engine for XR Development: Which One Is Better?
Dejan Gajsek, Circuit Stream, 2019/12/30

The answer is, as it always is in comparisons like this, it depends. The article offers a quick outline of each engine, compares the asset stores, links to documentation and training, talks about the development community, illutrtes (with examples) the development process, and notes that "there’s one major difference between UE4 and Unity3D. Unreal Engine 4 is an open source engine. Unity3D is not." Also, Unreal is based on C++, while Unity is based on C# (C sharp).

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Algorithmic Puzzles: History, Taxonomies, and Applications in Human Problem Solving
Anany Levitin, Journal of Problem Solving, 2019/12/30

This is a fun read from a couple of years ago that turned up in an O'Reilly mailing list this week. While it will be of interest to psychologists and computer scientists, it will also give teachers ideas for class discussion or computation projects. The paper (15 page PDF) considers the nature or algorithmic puzzles, identifies two typologies based on the question posed and the generality of the input, and offers a list of 12 such puzzle that might be good subjects for future research. Or class projects. You decide.

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I Killed My Teenager’s Fancy College Dreams. You Should, Too.
Melody Warnick, Slate, 2019/12/30

A middle-income family prevents their daughter from taking on massive student loans for art school. I read this as a "poor people shouldn't aspire to rich people things" story. But for an artist especially, a network of rich friends is a much-needed asset, and one her local college won't provide. There are no easy choices here.

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The Invention of “Ethical AI”: How Big Tech Manipulates Academia to Avoid Regulation
Rodrigo Ochigame, The Intercept, 2019/12/30

According to this article, "Silicon Valley’s vigorous promotion of 'ethical AI' has constituted a strategic lobbying effort, one that has enrolled academia to legitimize itself." Playing a key role in this was Joi Ito and the MIT Media Lab. "The corporate, academic, and military proponents of 'ethical AI' have collaborated closely for mutual benefit," writes Rodrigo Ochigame. "For example, Ito told me that he informally advised Schmidt on which academic AI ethicists Schmidt’s private foundation should fund." I'm sure a lot of that happens all the time, and not just in the field of ethics. Via John Moravec.

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