Games I've played (or seen a family member play) from
@eurogamer.bsky.social top 50:
- 42 Pokémon Legends: Z-A
- 37 Old Skies
- 23 Mario Kart World
- 11 Hades 2
- 10 Donkey Kong Bananza
- 6 Split Fiction
- 2 Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
- 1 Blue Prince
Full list: www.eurogamer.net/the-50-best-...
I understand that a lot of folks have been misled by fear-mongering and powerful regressive voices but it’s still astonishing to me that so many have fallen for the idea that oppressively policing other people’s gender identity and expression could in any way be part of an enlightened future.
Actually, I misread the number, it would have been 355 TRILLION entries if it had worked -- so I don't blame Java (although I'm sure there are Python data science libraries that would happily process this and more).
Initially attempted to brute-force Part 2 of today's #adventofcode puzzle but it turns out Java doesn't like it if you try to create a set with 355 billion entries. :)
I have now solved the problem in a (slightly) more principled way.
adventofcode.com
Update November 22. We’ve updated this article after realising we contributed to a perfect storm of misunderstanding around a recent change in the wording and placement of Gmail’s smart features. The settings themselves aren’t new, but the way Google recently rewrote and surfaced them led a lot of people (including us) to believe Gmail content might be used to train Google’s AI models, and that users were being opted in automatically. After taking a closer look at Google’s documentation and reviewing other reporting, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Gmail does scan email content to power its own “smart features,” such as spam filtering, categorisation, and writing suggestions. But this is part of how Gmail normally works and isn’t the same as training Google’s generative AI models. Google also maintains that these feature settings are opt-in rather than opt-out, although users’ experiences seem to vary depending on when and how the new wording appeared. It’s easy to see where the confusion came from. Google’s updated language around “smart features” is vague, and the term “smart” often implies AI—especially at a time when Gemini is being integrated into other parts of Google’s products. When the new wording started appearing for some users without much explanation, many assumed it signalled a broader shift. We’ve revised this article to reflect what we can confirm from Google’s documentation, as it’s always been our aim to give readers accurate, helpful guidance.
If you have been sharing that Malwarebytes article on the Gmail thing, you should note the giant correction up top.
www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/20...
Okay, for the folks who asked: here's the majority AI view, writing up the reasonable, thoughtful view on AI that the vast majority of people in tech hold, that gets overshadowed by the bluster and hype of the tycoons trying to shill their nonsense. anildash.com/2025/10/17/t... Please share!
Shaul Ashkenazi of the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Socially Intelligent Artificial Agents and the Furhat robot used in the project.
Displaced people seeking to start new lives in Scotland could be helped to settle in the country with the support of a new social robot being developed by Shaul Ashkenazi (@shauliash.bsky.social) at @socialai.bsky.social and colleagues.
Read more here: www.gla.ac.uk/news/headlin...
Me standing next to a poster
A futurist skyscraper with greenery in the balconies, contrasted against old industrial pipelines
The UFO shaped Evoluon
The a wooded walkway through the TU/e campus
Lovely time spent getting to know the IEEE RO-MAN community here in Eindhoven :)
Foster Lab at IEEE RO-MAN 2025: Full papers Andrew Blair, Peggy Gregory, Mary Ellen Foster. “A Blessing or a Burden? Exploring Worker Perspectives of Using a Social Robot in a Church” Tuesday 26 August, 13:14-13:26, Auditorium 4, “Applications of Social Robots II” Shaul Ashkenazi, Gabriel Skantze, Jane Stuart-Smith, Mary Ellen Foster. “The Multilingual Student Support Robot” Tuesday 26 August, 15:32-15:44, Auditorium 7, “Robots in Families, Education, Therapeutic Contexts & Arts II” Alan Lindsay, Andrés Ramirez-Duque, Bart Craenen, David A. Robb, Emanuele De Pellegrin, Laurence Boé, Andrea Munafò, Ron Petrick. “Bridging the Human-Agent Representation Gap for Decision-Making Explanations in Autonomous Robots” Tuesday 26 August, 15:44-15:56, Auditorium 2, “Explainable Human-Robot Interaction” Amelie Voges, Mary Ellen Foster, Emily S Cross. “What Was I Made For? Evaluating the Effectiveness of Layperson-Designed Robots” Tuesday 26 August, 16:30-16:44, Auditorium 1, “Design Methodologies in Social Robotics II”
Foster Lab at IEEE RO-MAN 2025: Late-Breaking Reports Shaul Ashkenazi, Bonnie Webber, Maria Wolters. “Effective Recovery Strategies in Conversations with Older Adults” Tuesday 10:30-17:30, Wednesday 12:50-15:10, Senaatszaal/Voorhof Amelie Voges, Emily S Cross, Mary Ellen Foster. “A Robot of One’s Own: The Impact of User-Driven Customization on Human–Robot Interactions” Tuesday 10:30-17:30, Wednesday 12:50-15:10, Senaatszaal/Voorhof
Foster Lab at IEEE RO-MAN 2025: Workshops Monday 25 August, Morning Workshop on Robotics and Autonomous Systems for Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Migrants (RAS4RASM) Organisers: Shaul Ashkenazi, Martim Brandão, Mary Ellen Foster, Masoumeh Mansouri, Jane Stuart-Smith, Tom Williams Accepted paper Shaul Ashkenazi, Rawan Srour-Zreik, Gabriel Skantze, Jane Stuart-Smith, Mary Ellen Foster. “Crossing Borders Together: Co-Designing Robots with Refugees and Asylum Seekers” Friday 29 August, Full-Day Workshop on Real-World HRI in Public and Private Spaces: Successes, Failures, and Lessons Learned (PubRob-Fails) Organisers: Ana Müller, Mary Ellen Foster, Caterina Neef, Sara Cooper, Ron Petrick, et al. Accepted papers Andrew Blair, Peggy Gregory, Mary Ellen Foster. “Observations of atypical users from a pilot deployment of a public-space social robot in a church” Shaul Ashkenazi, Gabriel Skantze, Jane Stuart-Smith and Mary Ellen Foster. “Into the Wild: When Robots Are Not Welcome”
Check out the schedule for my research group's contributions to #RO-MAN2025 in Eindhoven later this month. Full programme available at www.ro-man2025.org
(Spoiler: it's going to be a busy Tuesday afternoon!)
FINALLY DRAFTED THE PUMP ROOM NEXT TO A POWER SOURCE!!! Wow that took a long time and a lot of RNG. @blueprincegame.bsky.social
Rebel of the regency: the scandalous saga of Caroline of Brunswick, Britain’s uncrowned Queen, by Ann Foster. Now available for preorder!!
My book is available for preorder! REBEL OF THE REGENCY is a funny biography of Caroline of Brunswick, the lesser-known British queen. It’s coming in Feb 2026 from @hanoversquarepress.bsky.social Get all the info (including about the PAPER DOLLS) at rebeloftheregency.com
I beat @blueprincegame.bsky.social today!!! Room 46 achieved!!!
... So now I guess just need to complete all the other half finished puzzles from my notes then?
So I bought Blue Prince @blueprincegame.bsky.social on Thursday and I just checked and I have over 18 hours in the game so far ... I may have a bit of a problem? Glad this is a long weekend anyway. Love this game so much.
First Call for Papers: RO-MAN 2025 Workshop on Robots and Autonomous Systems for Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Migrants (RAS4RASM)
WEBSITE: ras4rasm.github.io
Super excited for the @sicsa-scotland.bsky.social pre CHI day next week, especially now that the programme is up. So much cool Scottish HCI work going on! sicsa.ac.uk/pre-chi-day-...
Child Hospital pain
Check out this #PRFNews article from PRF Correspondent Jéssica Ding about a research collaboration between Samina Ali, @maryellenfoster.bsky.social, Frauke Zeller, and colleagues attempting to relieve distress for children during painful hospital procedures bit.ly/3EUGthE #PRF
The @sicsa-scotland.bsky.social Pre-CHI Day 2025 will take place in Glasgow (and online) on 10 April. This is your chance to get a preview of the great work from Scottish authors that will be presented at the CHI 2025 conference in Japan.
More information here: sicsa.ac.uk/pre-chi-day-...
Currently involved in writing ... (checks notes) ... about 8 papers at the moment with various deadlines. My brain hurts.
This is amazing, thanks so much! Coincidentally, I just gave a lecture on NLG earlier this week in my Conversational Interfaces course and I'll definitely share the link with the students.
(NB I've also asked the university library to order the ebook but that's still in progress ...)
Really interesting conversation, looking forward to part two! And, trivially, thanks for resolving my ongoing inability to identify your accent :)
Video Friday: Aibo Foster Parents https://spectrum.ieee.org/video-friday-aibo-foster-parents
I mostly don't mind the Discover feed but why does so much Anime fan art keep showing up -- some borderline NSFW, but none that I'm remotely interested in. There seems to be no way to block it, especially as most posts don't include words or tags that could be muted ...
Looking to do PhD in AI? Our CDT program AI for Robotics (CDT-D2AIR) offers funding & a supportive research environment -- september 2025 intake now open!
#GenAI #NLProc #HRI #ELLISforEurope #AI #ML #PhD @heriotwattuni.bsky.social
Learn more & apply here: www.edinburgh-robotics.org/apply
I was reading random old posts from @askamanager.org and did a huge double take on this one that included suggested language "I’m trying to be more social in 2020”. Posted in mid February 2020 ... Wonder how that worked out :)
www.askamanager.org/2020/02/ever...
I've found it liberating to be off Twitter/X since November, but I am definitely missing the professional conversations ... let's see if this works better.
