Ever wondered how optical illusions actually work? Wonder no more. A new study by University of Exeter visual ecologist Jolyon Troscianko, and neuroscientist Daniel Osorio from the University of Sussex in the UK has weighed in on the debate over whether we perceive things weirdly because of certain errors in the ways our brain processes colour, shade, and shape or because of our eye's function or the brain's neurological wiring. They reckon it is all in the eyes. The pair found ways our visual neurons – cells that process information coming in from the eyes – work, showing how they can affect our perception of patterns on different scales. "Our eyes send messages to the brain by making neurons fire faster or slower," said Troscianko. "However, there's a limit to how quickly they can fire, and previous research hasn't considered how the limit might affect the ways we see colour." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The new model suggests limits in processing and metabolic energy force neurons to compress visual data coming in through our eyes when looking at simple patterns. "Our model shows how neurons with such limited contrast bandwidth can combine their signals to allow us to see these enormous contrasts, but the information is compressed – resulting in visual illusions," said Troscianko. "The model shows how our neurons are precisely evolved to use every bit of capacity." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 2023--

Google has scrapped its latest augmented reality (AR) headset that was meant to rival headsets from Apple and Meta, according to reports. The search giant’s ‘Project Iris’ was abandoned earlier this year, Insider reported, making it the second major set of smart glasses to be ditched following Google Glass. The latest AR glasses were first teased last year at Google I/O, with a video showing wearers using the device to translate conversations in real-time. “What we’re working on is technology that enables us to break down language barriers,” Max Spear, a product manager at Google, said in the video. “Making access to information just instant and intuitive, and by doing that technology fades into the background.” Since the glasses were teased, Apple has unveiled its Vision Pro headset and Meta has shown off its latest Quest 3 goggles, which will be available later this year. Google’s aborted project comes eight years after the firm discontinued its Glass smart glasses for consumers, and just months after it stopped producing the enterprise version. It follows the departure of Clay Bavor, Google’s chief of augmented and virtual reality, with the company’s focus now switching to AR software rather than hardware. One AR software platform is Android XR, which is being built for a headset under development at Samsung. A Micro XR platform is also rumoured to be in the works, which is expected to run on AR smart glasses rather than larger mixed reality goggles. One unnamed employee told Insider that Google was aiming to created the “Android for AR”, referring to the tech giant’s hugely popular mobile operating system. A spokesperson for Google declined to comment. Samsung announced at its Galaxy Unpacked event in February that it had partnered with Google and Qualcomm to make a mixed reality platform. No details were given about what the product might look like, with the company saying more information would be given later this year. “We are working to create a new era of highly immersive digital experiences that blur the line between our physical and digital worlds,” said Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon. “With our Snapdragon XR tech, Samsung’s amazing products, and Google experiences, we have the foundation to make this opportunity a reality.” Read More ‘I saw the future. It left me in tears’ Apple releases urgent update to iPhone and iPad users Apple starts letting developers make apps for its upcoming headset The Apple Watch is getting some major changes this year – here’s why

Shares in Orsted A/S fell the most in more than a month after New York regulators ruled against

Posts on X carrying any misinformation that is corrected by the platform’s crowd-sourced fact-checking system will now be “ineligible for revenue share”, the social media company’s owner Elon Musk has said. “Any posts that are corrected by Community Notes become ineligible for revenue share,” the multibillionaire posted on X on Sunday. Mr Musk said the change aims to “maximise the incentive for accuracy over sensationalism”. The Tesla titan also noted that any attempts to “weaponise Community Notes to demonetise people will be immediately obvious, because all code and data is open source.” Some users were quick to criticise the change, observing that the feature is used not just to correct misinformation, but also to add essential context even if there is nothing wrong with the initial post. The Community Notes feature was first launched by Twitter co-founder and former chief Jack Dorsey in 2021 as a way to debunk misleading tweets. Currently, eligible users on the social media platform can sign up to contribute to Community Notes, which involves sharing a short note of context for any post, including correcting an error or providing essential information that has been omitted. An account can sign up for Community Notes, according to X, if the user has not recently violated the platform’s rules and has been on the platform for at least 6 months. Other users who view the note can then rate the helpfulness of notes with the note garnering the largest consensus surfacing to the top. Then earlier this year, Twitter/X started paying creators on the platform for the first time via a revenue-sharing program that provided them compensation for the ads appearing in their reply threads. But the social media platform has come under increasing scrutiny for its handling of misinformation since Mr Musk bought Twitter for $44bn last year and cut nearly two-thirds of the company’s workforce. The platform’s handling of misinformation has particularly been on focus following the conflict in Israel and Gaza. The European Union also raised concerns that amid the conflict Twitter was not quick to take down problematic content even when it had been flagged by relevant authorities. EU commissioner Thierry Breton noted that Twitter was hosting “fake and manipulated images and facts ... such as repurposed old images of unrelated armed conflicts or military footage that actually originated from video games”. The EU has also opened an investigation into X on the issue, while the company maintained that it has removed hundreds of Hamas-linked accounts in response to the concerns. Read More Twitter takeover: 1 year later, X struggles with misinformation, advertising and usage decline Tesla’s profits dip as Elon Musk goes on rant against staff working from home ‘He brought so much joy’: Heartbroken Friends stars among those paying tribute to Matthew Perry Twitter adds video calling – and lets strangers ring you Elon Musk was ‘almost in tears’ on Tesla earnings call, analyst claims Slack to retire its status account on Elon Musk’s X

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 6, 2023--

Kazutaka Yonekura dreams of a world where everyone will have their very own digital “clone,” an online avatar that's updated in real time with information about a person's tastes and habits

Facebook users have reported that the social media platform is down in the US. Thousands of users reported an outage with Mark Zuckerberg’s platform at around 11.45am PST, according to DownDetector, which monitors tech outages. Users in Indiana, Washington state, Florida, Nebraska and New York all stated on DownDetector that their service had been impacted. Thousands of users also complained about an issue with Facebook Messenger, while Twitter users posted that they were experiencing issues with WhatsApp and Instagram, which are both also owned by Meta. The Independent has reached out to Facebook for comment. Read More Meta scrambles to fix Instagram algorithm connecting ‘vast paedophile network’ Google revenue from anti-abortion campaigns and ‘fake’ clinics ‘topped $10m’ Police warn about dangerous emergency setting on Android phones

Madison Beer's Twitch chat was filled with crazed viewers posting explicit content in the form of ASCII art

To get 90 OVR Victor Wembanyama for free in NBA 2K24 Season 2 MyTEAM, players must reach Level 1 in the new Season Pass to unlock the reward.

The stock market will need more than positive macroeconomic conditions to drive it to 10,000, DataTrek Research says.

By Julia Harte and Nate Raymond (Reuters) -The U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights is investigating whether Harvard racially