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Tesla's new wireless charging mat isn't quite a Cybertruck, but it'll feel like one when you're charging your phone.
The company announced its new Wireless Charger—a flat pad that will charge Qi-enabled devices at 15 watts each. You'll be able to charge up to three devices at once, which is slower than the 45-watt maximum charging speed of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus and Ultra (or even more in other Android phones), but is still decent compared with the 5 watt and 10 watt wireless chargers out there.
The best part is that it looks so small that it might be hard to cram three phones on it. But the value of Tesla's mat is in charging your device wherever it's placed, thanks to a charging tech that uses 30 Qi coils and is called FreePower. That's the new name for Aira, a technology that had previously been used in charging mats released by Nomad, which had tried to succeed where Apple's AirPower failed with multi-device wireless charging mats. While it did charge devices regardless of orientation, according to a MacRumors review the Nomad Base Station Pro had quirks and reduced charging for newer iPhones.Read more...
The night is dark and full of terrors, the day bright and beautiful and full of hope. It’s fitting imagery for AI, which like all tech has its upsides and downsides.
Art-generating models like Stable Diffusion, for instance, have led to incredible outpourings of creativity, powering apps and even entire new business models. On the other hand, its open source nature lets bad actors use it to create deepfakes at scale — all while artists protest that it’s profiting off of their work.
What’s on deck for AI in 2023? Will regulation rein in the worst of what AI brings, or are the floodgates open? Will powerful new forms of AI emerge from companies like Prisma Labs that disrupt industries once thought safe from automation?
With the success of Lensa (the AI-powered selfie app from Prisma Labs) you can expect a lot of me-too apps along these lines. And expect them to also be capable of being tricked into creating NSFW images and disproportionately sexualising women.Read more...
Artificial intelligence is evolving rapidly, with projects like OpenAI’s DALL-E 2, Google’s MINERVA, and DeepMind’s Gato all pushing new technological boundaries. Until now, national governments have been slow to adopt this cutting-edge technology. In 2023, however, the opportunities to provide effective, targeted, and affordable services to citizens will prompt them to finally embrace AI, making government more transparent, accessible and effective.
In some countries, AI is already being used to improve people’s interaction with the state. This year, the Estonian government launched a new AI-based virtual assistant called Bürokratt. Taking inspiration from Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, Bürokratt provides Estonians with a voice-based way to navigate key services provided by the state.
In 2023, governments will also finally start using AI and big data to tackle some of society’s biggest problems. In education, for instance, companies like the UK-based CENTURY Tech are helping governments deliver personalized learning. Its system essentially acts as a personal tutor, complementing the in-person teaching a child gets by tracking progress and analyzing areas for improvement.
Done right—and with the proper privacy protections in place—such projects can generate a trove of data that is itself a competitive asset, helping research and innovation to flourish. Just consider the UK Biobank, one of the most important government-led biomedical initiatives worldwide. Read more...
Lamina1 launches Ecosystem Fund to help Web3 builders fund their metaverse ventures
The team behind Lamina1, a metaverse-focused layer 1 blockchain dreamed up by science-fiction author Neal Stephenson and blockchain expert Peter Vessenes, has launched the Lamina1 Ecosystem Fund (L1EF) to provide Web3 builders with a capital-raising tool for their open metaverse ventures and to offer investors a chance to get in on projects at the ground level.
Led by Vessenes, the company said in a press release its first-of-its-kind publicly accessible ecosystem fund "is designed to provide broad economic access to global accredited investors looking to support the next era of the internet."
"Lamina1 is in a unique position given the incredible volume of inquiries we receive from those building the open metaverse every day," said Vessenes. "The team has a front-row seat to all happening in the ecosystem and essentially gets a ‘first look’ at what many of the most compelling creators and storytellers of our time are doing, building, making, and producing around the world."
L1EF has launched on AngelList, a venture platform that allows startups to raise money from angel investors. Notably, the platform offers rolling funds, which allow interested investors to fund projects through quarterly subscriptions. L1EF is offering a subscription starting at $2,500 quarterly over a minimum period of four quarters.Read more...
Solana's NFT projects are leaving the building.
Y0Uts and DeGods have announced that they're packing up and moving on from Solana, and it's not just because Samuel Bankman-Fried is their favorite blockchain.
The two top NFT collections on Solana had more sales volume than all of the top 4-10 collections combined in the last 30 days. That's like if Superman and Batman left DC Comics, or if Steph Curry and Klay Thompson left the Warriors, or if Peanut Butter and Jelly left bread.
So where are y0Uts & DeGods taking their talents? y0Uts is going to Polygon, while DeGods is going to Ethereum. Both will migrate away from Solana starting in 2023. (Bye Felicia!)
This is a big blow for the Solana blockchain, which has already been on the hot seat for stuff like questionable projects artificially pumping value to the chain, going out of service more than the McDonald's ice cream machine, and being Samuel Bankman-Frieds' favourite blockchain. And now it just lost its two most valuable NFT projects? Read more...
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