Have a good weekend, Tumblr
More you might like
How to love a horse:
- Clean up after it.
- Don’t stop for anything.
- If you stop cleaning it will END.
- You can pet your horse sometimes, but not for too long.
- Take a picture of it.
- Put it away when you’re done.
Cabana, by Tumblr.
Hang out and watch stuff.
Get the iOS app
Hey! We made a new iPhone app. It’s called Cabana and it’s for hanging out with friends and watching videos.
Wait, a whole new app?
Yup, a whole new app.
Really?
Yeah! It’s good. You just open it, video chat with up to five friends, and watch stuff together.
Hey, neat. Anything else I should know?
Nah, it’s pretty simple. It looks like that👇 . We’ve got some ideas about where to go with it, but hey, all in good time.
<3 Tumblr
Oh, p.s., the Android version should be out in a few weeks. Enjoy.
Fighting “Follow Spam”
A quick update on one of our priorities right now: Getting rid of spammy followers.
We’ve recently made a lot of headway, including shutting down several large spam rings that were responsible for most of these spammy follows.
We’re always improving our algorithms to catch these annoying bots, but one of the best tools we have are your reports. If you ever catch someone spammy following you, you can use this icon to report them:
Not only will you stop that bot from bothering anyone else, you’ll help our team catch thousands of stupid bots just like it. (Easier reporting is coming soon to our mobile apps too.)
Thank you for your vigilance, Tumblr.
New paint colors invented by neural network
So if you’ve ever picked out paint, you know that every infinitesimally different shade of blue, beige, and gray has its own descriptive, attractive name. Tuscan sunrise, blushing pear, Tradewind, etc… There are in fact people who invent these names for a living. But given that the human eye can see millions of distinct colors, sooner or later we’re going to run out of good names. Can AI help?
For this experiment, I gave the neural network a list of about 7,700 Sherwin-Williams paint colors along with their RGB values. (RGB = red, green, and blue color values) Could the neural network learn to invent new paint colors and give them attractive names?
One way I have of checking on the neural network’s progress during training is to ask it to produce some output using the lowest-creativity setting. Then the neural network plays it safe, and we can get an idea of what it has learned for sure.
By the first checkpoint, the neural network has learned to produce valid RGB values - these are colors, all right, and you could technically paint your walls with them. It’s a little farther behind the curve on the names, although it does seem to be attempting a combination of the colors brown, blue, and gray.
By the second checkpoint, the neural network can properly spell green and gray. It doesn’t seem to actually know what color they are, however.
Let’s check in with what the more-creative setting is producing.
…oh, okay.
Later in the training process, the neural network is about as well-trained as it’s going to be (perhaps with different parameters, it could have done a bit better - a lot of neural network training involves choosing the right training parameters). By this point, it’s able to figure out some of the basic colors, like white, red, and grey:
Although not reliably.
In fact, looking at the neural network’s output as a whole, it is evident that:
- The neural network really likes brown, beige, and grey.
- The neural network has really really bad ideas for paint names.
1. @lewisandquark is doing brilliant things with neural networks. 2. You should probably take this opportunity to tag yourself.
And we’re back.
A lot has happened:
- (Music) Support for both Ariana Grande (No. 1) and Manchester came pouring in after the attack that took place at her concert. Our hearts go out to everyone who was there that night.
- (Television) Twin Peaks (No. 14) returns to the Black Lodge after a mere two and a half decades.
- (K-Pop) Sistar is breaking up, and people are not happy. When they find out they’re at No. 12, will they stay together?
- (Video Games) Pokémon: Magikarp Jump (No. 6) is a new mobile game where you grow Magikarp and teach them to jump. That’s, uh, that’s about it.
- (Movies) Dirty Dancing (No. 19) did a remake, but it seems fans are only here for the original.
- (Web Stuff) Anna Akana’s Answer Time got her a debut at No. 14.
- (Music) We know Nicki Minaj refuses pickle juice, but how does she feel about coming back at No. 15?
The Star Wars Effect
Star Wars had a big week, even for Star Wars. Vanity Fair (@vanityfair) celebrated the franchise’s 40th anniversary with a special edition cover and a brand new photo series. This led to a huge influx people and entities relating to the Star Wars franchise:
- (Ships) Reylo (Rey & Kylo Ren) join the Ships list at No. 16.
- (Movies) Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi is back yet again, this time at an impressive No. 2.
- (Celebs) The incredible Carrie Fisher came back to us at No. 5, Mark Hamill at No. 9. New school actors Adam Driver (No. 11), John Boyega (No. 13), and Daisy Ridley (No. 20) all experienced a lofty rise in engagement, too.
Hey. It’s Pride Month!
Over the next 30 days, we are actively encouraging you to share your LGBTQ+ pride with all of Tumblr. You deserve to be proud of who you are 365 days a year, but these next 30 days, we’re going all out. There’s no wrong way to do it. Upload an illustration. Write a poem. Make a GIF. Take a selfie and slap a Pride sticker on it. Maybe send a sticker to a friend. These precious babies are in your app right now:
Do one thing, do 100 things—whatever feels right. Just tag it with #TumblrPride so other people can find it. And, hey, if you can’t do any of these things, know that we still support you. You have every reason to feel proud this month, even if you aren’t ready to show it. <3
We’ll also be signal boosting other influential LGBTQ+ voices all month long. We’ve secured some really amazing people for Answer Time and Issue Time:
- 6/23—Gavin Grimm, 17 year old activist fighting for the equality of transgender students, held on Action (@action).
- 6/29—Becca McCharen, queer fashion designer and founder of fashion label Chromat (@chromat).
- 6/30—Trans Rights & Community, focusing on urgent issues that affect trans people, like violence, access to health care, and unemployment, held on Action (@action).
Have a safe and beautiful Pride Month, Tumblr.