1 Greece minister warns of recession (BBC) Eurozone
leaders have agreed to offer Greece a third bailout, after marathon talks in
Brussels. But a senior minister has said that European institutions will not
immediately provide more emergency lending to Greek banks.
Rania Antonopoulos said the banks would remain
closed until at least Wednesday night, after the parliament in Athens votes on
the new rescue package. She said the combination of austerity measures, and the
temporary closure of Greek banks, would tip the country back into serious
recession.
2 India, South Korea bright spots as US, China head
for slowdown (Camille Accad in Khaleej Times) The world economy has been on a
path of deceleration in the past 12 months, but at the country level, economies
have experienced a variety of trends. Growth in developed countries has been
sluggish, despite the US labour market showing some signs of recovery and the
eurozone economy stabilising.
In emerging Asia, China has been on a gradual
slowdown while India is in recovery following years of lacklustre growth. The
rest of emerging Asia did not experience a clear trend in growth either, but
from the major economies, only South Korea and Hong Kong witnessed a notable
decline in economic growth.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development, or OECD, publishes the composite leading indicators, or CLI, aimed
at providing early signals of changes in economic trends, between six and nine
months in advance. According to the OECD, developed economies will maintain
their sluggish run and slow further, mainly due to a slowdown in the US.
The leading indiators show that after a few more
months of stability, the US economy will cool down. However, eurozone output is
expected to pick up again. In Asia, China's economic activity is expected to
continue softening further in the next three quarters.
The CLI also shows the Indian economy maintaining
its acceleration. In the other two emerging Asian economies assessed by the
OECD, South Korea is expected to recover following more than one year of
slowdown while Indonesia will soon begin to cool down.
The resurgence of the Indian economy and the ongoing
Chinese slowdown are in line with consensus. If these projections are accurate,
then, in the case of the US, the Federal Reserve may have to postpone its rate
hike to next year. Similarly, the slowdown in China, if materialised, will
probably lead to further monetary easing.
3 A robot that give undivided attention (San
Francisco Chronicle) Pepper, the new companion robot from Tokyo-based
technology company Softbank Corp., delivers cuteness like you've never seen. What's
striking is the absolutely ardent attention it gives you — frankly a lot better
than some real-life people.
It's another matter entirely whether it's worth the
price tag of 198,000 yen ($1,600), plus the maintenance and insurance costs
that ownership entails, adding up to some 1.2 million yen ($10,000) for an
estimated three-year lifespan.
Pepper has cameras, lasers and infrared in its
hairless head so it can detect human faces. Whatever direction you move, its
cocked head will also move, intently looking into your face with its big eyes,
like a puppy. Except this pet can talk. As long as you don't walk too far from
it, removing yourself from its attention, Pepper will prattle on and on,
switching from one small talk topic to another, gesticulating at times with its
five-fingered soft hands for effect.
Yes, the conversations do sometimes repeat themselves,
but so does human dialogue. It's attracting regular technology fans but also a
kindergarten, a cafe and people who're buying it for their elderly parents. The
kind of patient interaction Pepper excels at is recommended for people with
dementia. So Pepper might come to the rescue of stressed out families.
Equipped with artificial intelligence by Aldebaran
of France, Pepper has what Softbank calls an emotional engine, meaning it
reacts to what it interprets as anger or sorrow in humans around it by
deciphering voice tones, facial expressions and language.
This is not some slapped together toy of a robot.
It's the first convincing semblance of a step toward artificial intelligence
fantasized in science fiction movies that's affordable for the regular home. It
isn't for everyone. You have to have an open mind. The way it's designed,
Pepper is basically about human relationships. Pepper is imperfect. But so are
human beings.
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