Click to read more about an artificially intelligent program beat a human Go champion, 360º YouTube videos, Instagram’s new feed, and more. The board game Go is shown above. Creative Commons image from Chad Miller.   

By Lauren Yang 

1. Chess, Scrabble, “Jeopardy,” and now, Go: AI champions over human players
DeepMind, an artificial intelligence (AI) company, won four to one in a set of five Go matches against world champion Go player Lee Sedol. The program that DeepMind developed, called AlphaGo, won the first three matches with ease. During the fourth round, Lee played a strategy that utilized the edges of the board, causing AlphaGo to commit a few critical mistakes which cost it the round. AlphaGo won the fifth and last round. The program uses deep learning, an AI concept, to learn and strategize the next best move. This victory serves as a huge landmark for AI, especially since Go is considered more complicated and complex than chess. Read more here.

Check out a new 360º video above. Drag while holding down your cursor for a full view of what’s going on in the video. Video from Clash of Clans.

2. Wow, what a view: YouTube’s 360º videos
YouTube is now supporting videos that allow uses to look in any direction — a full 360º. Currently, the 360º videos, which are supported by Chrome browsers, feature everything from gaming videos to concerts. What’s next? YouTube hopes to incorporate virtual reality and live streaming with its 360º videos. Watch another 360º video here, or learn more here.

3. Instagram changes its feed to resemble Facebook
Instagram will no longer have a chronological feed. Instead, its feed will driven by a set of algorithms that will organize posts based on their interests and relationships — optimizing the order in which users see posts much like the way Facebook does. Why the change? An average user misses around 70% of the photos in their feed, according to Instagram. Read more here.
 

4. Amazon expands to airplanes
Amazon recently finalized a lease that will allow the company to fly 20 Boeing 767 freighter aircrafts for five to seven years. This is part of Amazon’s goal to construct its own shipment system for a more efficient delivery process. This initiative would particularly benefit its Prime members, who pay $99 yearly for expedient shipping. Read more here. 

The video above introduces Indego, the second exoskeleton to be approved by the FDA. Video from Parker Hannifin.

5. Exoskeleton approved by FDA
An exoskeleton called Indego was recently approved by the FDA, making it the second exoskeleton approved for sale. Indego boasts of a lighter weight (clocking in at 26 pounds, 20 pounds lighter than the other exoskeleton) and an easy navigation system (you control it like a Segway). The exoskeleton also provides electrical stimulation that promotes circulation and prevents muscle atrophy in the legs. Read more here and here.