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Working Digital Twins and the Future of Video Entertainment By Techagents

The speed at which AI is advancing is incredible. Before the end of last year, most of us thought AI wouldn’t be personally useful for a few years. Then ChatGPT hit, backed by GPT-3 technology, followed quickly by GPT-4, and suddenly, we’re surrounded by artificial intelligence that can improve our productivity.

One of the most interesting is DeepBrain AI’s video synthesis AI model, which can create a functioning digital twin of a human that can rapidly perform tasks that the human it mirrors would typically do.

Let’s talk this week about the emergence of useful human digital twins. We’ll end with our Product of the Week, Lenovo’s Motorola Thinkphone, a smartphone that addresses one of the computer industry’s biggest mistakes in responding to Apple’s iPhone.

video synthesis ai model

Initially focused on news anchor talent, the DeepBrain AI is the first human digital twin I’ve seen that can perform tasks differently from how a human would have done them.

The digital twin is created by allowing it to learn from multiple news videos to build a database of knowledge on the human presenter’s behaviour, quirks, speech and movements.

The resulting digital twin can be fed a script, and from that script, it will act as a news presenter. The digital twin does not replace human talent, and the talent is typically compensated each time a news service uses this avatar, primarily for breaking news or short format teases for upcoming live programming.


Sometimes news services will note that viewers are viewing AI-generated avatars. Where this technology is already in use, it has been accepted by news audiences and talent.

The reason news talent is fine is that they are compensated when an avatar is used, and using an avatar means that the talent is required to conduct or record live short segments, updates or announcements. do not have to go to the studio which usually requires that they return to a studio.

Therefore, the avatar doesn’t hurt their income, and it complements the humans’ work by reducing their workload and associated growth, which should improve job satisfaction for all.

avatar use case

While most of the early use cases for this technology are for video news programs where avatars and newsreels are inseparable (eg in Asia), other uses include:

  • Virtual kiosks in banks where it feels like you are talking to a human but chatting with AI
  • Script powered one-way training video
  • A virtual concierge at a hotel who can assist with things like making restaurant reservations or showing tickets
  • Interactive video where, again, it’s like you’re talking to a live person

Some of these avatars were never real people; They were computer generated, highly realistic images.

The cost benefits are significant because it typically costs about $4,000 to create this short-form content with a live person, but only $100 to do the same thing with a computer-generated avatar.

The avatar required no rehearsal and would act from the written script without illness or any of the conflicts or behavioral problems usually associated with live talent.

Given that the avatar works from text, it can be controlled by other AI such as ChatGPT or IBM’s Watson, which created a level of human-like interactive content that can fool many people into thinking they are Talking to a live person.

Another use that has been explored is celebrity advocacy:

Celebrities don’t scale well because if you use them as advocates, the ability to chat with individuals is almost non-existent. However, a celebrity’s avatar may interact with fans at large in addition to the customer’s current or future customers.

As mentioned, this technology can scan both real people and artistically created characters, which could solve some of the problems for companies like McDonald’s (Ronald McDonald), Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Jack in the Box. Where everyone will exchange regularly. Actors so as not to tie the actor so tightly to the character that they cannot be changed.

With a digitally created avatar, the firm owns the virtual actor, and human-source problems disappear when you remove humans from the mix.

Humans and Virtual Digital Twins – What’s Next

DeepBrain’s current focus is for the most part on enhancing people, not changing them. However, their use of fully synthesized avatars, which bear no relation to any human, is more of a replacement than an augmentation model. While they are initially focused on short-form content, nothing stops the technology from eventually moving into long-form productions such as TV shows and movies.

The hyper-realistic nature of the avatars will improve with additional training and, as technology advances, even in longer form. Virtual actors will become indistinguishable from real people, even if they are blends of those, much like products such as Dell-E create art from a blend of images.

Given the massive cost advantage of using virtually produced content compared to live action, the potential for such technology to disrupt the media industry is significant. Looking ahead, it’s not just the cost of talent escaping. The entire cost of the studio where the talent will perform can also be waived off.


Since GPT-4 is already doing interesting work with scripts and stories, you can put this on the roadmap for fully photorealistic movies and TV shows created entirely by AI based solely on user preferences. Can

Finally, instead of watching the same TV show and movie as everyone else, this technology, combined with generative AI, could create customized videos at scale and potentially feature you and your family as the main actors. (with your permission, of course).

Granted, you can then share those videos on social media with people who are interested in seeing what others create, potentially creating massive amounts of unique content that can be analyzed and marketed to potential customers. Services will be needed to present the world.

wrapping up

Being able to have your twin do some of the work that DeepBrain AI is currently focused on is game-changing. But while we can take synthesized images and do the same thing, especially for long-form content, it will massively disrupt all forms of entertainment. For example, the pornography industry has already gone through all this. Reddit content has been doing this for a while, and most users don’t care.

Everything from in-game non-player characters (NPCs) that exist like real people, to being able to build entire virtual sports teams with accurate representations of real, fictional, or even dead players All are potentially on the table. Which suggests a level of disruption we’re only just starting to see.

In short, it is already difficult to tell what is real and what is not, and this difficulty will only increase. This can be a good thing when it comes to entertainment, but it can have very problematic effects when it comes to our ability to see the truth. We are nowhere near ready for this.

tech product of the week

Lenovo Thinkphone by Motorola

One of the biggest mistakes the computer industry made was to focus solely on the iPhone. The irony was that the industry initially didn’t believe in consumer-centric smartphones. Then, instead of fighting that trend on its own merits, it attempted to pivot on the iPhone to transform Apple from late follower to market leader overnight.

This was not the first time. A few decades ago, IBM attempted to pivot to client/server computing and almost abandoned mainframes, taking it from the clear market leader to nearly out-of-business in just a few years.

Today, there is an underserved market for business-oriented smartphones. I once spoke with the then CEO of Bank of America who didn’t want his people to use consumer phones. He wanted something as secure and business-oriented as the Blackberry, but he was disappointed that no one had made such a device.

Well, Lenovo fixed that with its iconic Thinkphone.

Lenovo Thinkphone by Motorola

Lenovo Thinkphone by Motorola (Image Credit: Lenovo)

Building off of the heavily business-focused brand of ThinkPad that originated with IBM, the ThinkPhone has similar dimensions to the iPhone, but is wrapped with a number of unique business-focused features.

These features include:

  • Instant Connect: Phone and PC automatically discover when nearby and connected to Wi-Fi.
  • Integrated Clipboard: Easily transfer copied text or recent photos, scanned documents and videos between devices by pasting into any app on the destination device.
  • Integrated Notifications: Phone notifications appear immediately on the Windows Action Center. Clicking on the notification automatically launches the corresponding Phone app on the PC screen.
  • File Drop: Easily drag and drop files between ThinkPhone and PC.
  • App Streaming: Open any Android application directly on PC.
  • Advanced Webcam: Take advantage of the powerful ThinkPhone cameras and AI capabilities, using it as your webcam for all your video calls. Why buy a separate webcam when your smartphone already has a better camera?
  • Instant Hotspot: Connect to the Internet directly from a PC with a single click to take advantage of ThinkPhone’s 5G connectivity. This is huge and potentially reduces the need and cost of WAN capability in your PC.

Like the ThinkPad, the ThinkPhone is wrapped with protection and tested to Military Standard 810H (MIL-STD-810H), as it uses aramid fiber (used in bullet-proof vests), aircraft-quality aluminum, and Victus has been used – the strongest solution by Gorilla Glass.

The Thinkphone is waterproof up to a depth of 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes. It also has a red button to launch an important application. I generally choose the camera because it’s the one I often need to access quickly. Others may use it to re-implement push-to-talk for police, security, and other uses where instant communication is important (this is supported in the Microsoft Teams Walkie Talkie app).


Designed to embrace remote management, ThinkPhone can be centrally configured and managed to ensure device security and that it is not used improperly, business-oriented computing device There is a specific requirement for Thinkphone has a unique processor called Moto Secure that separates PINs, passwords and cryptographic keys, keeping them in a tamper-resistant environment so bad actors can’t access them.

The ThinkPhone comes with a unique and very small 68W universal charger that will charge the phone in minutes and is also strong enough to power most business-oriented laptops or other USB-C devices – even gaming machines or workstations No.

Lastly, the phone has a high-quality 50MP camera, which should cover most photo needs, whether capturing a personal event or for an insurance investigator or anyone else who needs to make high-quality records. be necessary

The ThinkPhone fills the void in business phones that has existed since BlackBerry and Palm exited the market, and it’s my product of the week.

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Nvidia and the future of ubiquitous: analysis By Techagents

I’m still working through material from Nvidia’s GTC conference last month, and two announcements that didn’t get much coverage jumped out at me.

One was how Nvidia’s AI achieved a world record in route optimization. The second was building the third generation OVX computing system that is the foundation of the Industrial Metaverse.

Taken together, they’ll help automate everything around us — including our Amazon deliveries — and make drone deliveries more likely.

Let’s talk about this Nvidia-powered future, and we’ll end with our Product of the Week, Medibus, a joint project between Cisco and Germany to provide healthcare to people who have poor access to healthcare services. Live in accessible rural areas.

Route optimization – why it matters

According to Pitney Bowes, last-mile delivery is where a large portion of the cost of shipping a product is incurred—about 40%. But that’s a big problem for drone delivery because drones have a finite range, and we’re a long way from having a critical mass of them in service.

Especially as we start to shift from humans to AI doing last-mile delivery, the ability to better manage routes – considering things like prevailing winds, weather events, potential bird strikes and other obstacles It becomes critical to ensure that you receive your package on time. and relatively unaffected. ,


If you add to this the range limitations of both land- and air-based drones, the problem becomes even more dire as solving it reduces lost drones and late packages. Nvidia has created massive amounts of road data as it has become a leader in autonomous driving technology, and it is using this knowledge to its advantage with its route optimization solutions.

A technology Nvidia developed called cuOpt can analyze billions of movements per second and account for a range of environmental issues to help ensure on-time delivery of a package, whether it’s a toy for your child or Pizza for your dinner.

Using Nvidia’s supercomputers such as the A100 Sensor Core GPU, CUopt can analyze massive amounts of data to generate the most efficient routes in real time – which is why it won the world record.

OVX Computing System Makes the Industrial Metaverse Real

The other announcement at GTC that didn’t get much coverage was the release of the third-generation Massive OVX platform that will host Nvidia’s Metaverse product, Omniverse.

Unlike Facebook’s largely failed consumer effort, the industrial metaverse is much more complex and is already in production at large plant sites as part of design and management. Every piece of equipment has a fully mechanized digital twin, and even the humans on the plant floor can have full digital twins to ensure the safety of humans and improve their efficiency.

Corrected, the Machinery digital twins are so complete that even their internals are digitally digitized through sensors synchronized with their digital twins in the Metaverse.


Using a variety of cutting-edge technologies, including BlueField 3 DPUs, Nvidia L40 GPUs, ConnectX-7 smart NICs, and its Spectrum Ethernet platform, Nvidia has created the Metaverse computer for those who want an on-premises Metaverse solution.

The effort is also somewhat tied to Nvidia’s autonomous driving efforts as it potentially connects and digitizes robots and trains that deliver to sites where the technology is already implemented. Partnering with Dell Technologies, Nvidia plans to make this technology available later this year.

wrapping up

Nvidia announced two under-the-cover technologies at its GTC conference this year. One focuses on getting the goods to you cheaply and efficiently, and it anticipates drone delivery. The second automates the construction of a large facility. Both the technologies work together to make the result viable and far more efficient.

Some of these technologies are already in use by Digitale Schien Deutschland and Pepsi Co. While fully automated metaverse-coupled factories and drone deliveries are not yet in full production, they are on their way. Nvidia is and will be shipping platforms that will make all this work.

tech product of the week

medibus

One of the most lucrative initiatives from any company is Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program, which is run by Guy Diedrich.

Cisco created the CDA program to help countries digitize. It came to the fore widely during the pandemic, when politicians, bureaucrats, teachers and students transitioned to work from home, enabling governments and schools to cooperate. Cisco’s CDA efforts were critical in helping children go to school, and politicians govern remotely.

CDA’s latest effort, Medibus, is just as fascinating. Working with the German government to address the lack of medical care in remote and often economically distressed locations, the two organizations acquired some buses and converted them into mobile health care clinics.

When war broke out in Ukraine, Cisco persuaded Germany to loan some of these buses to the refugee crisis on Ukraine’s borders to bring refugees the health care they needed.

While the service was initially created to help German citizens who live in remote areas where health care professionals are few (there is a severe shortage of rural medical clinics in Germany), it has also been used for disaster relief, corporate health care efforts. And lately it’s been helpful. , to help Ukrainian refugees.

Built on Cisco’s networking and communications technology, each bus carries three people: a driver, a nurse and a doctor linked to multiple remote resources that can be brought in to consult or assist with a procedure as needed.

The effort anticipates a future where these vehicles may be fully automated and use Nvidia route optimization and Metaverse solutions to ensure their on-time arrival. The next step is to make them autonomous and help overcome staffing limitations by fully automating them.

Not only does Medibus demonstrate the potential future for medical care in rural areas, disaster recovery, and other remote medical needs, such as vaccine shots, it could bring about a roaming autonomous, automated medical system that can take care of our health even when there are no doctors. Will ensure better care. short supply. As a result, Cisco Medibus is my product of the week.

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NTT Showcases iOne as the Future of Networking Infrastructure By Techagents

NTT Research, a branch of the group’s parent company NTT, announced last week that it will expand the size of its optical research center by 2023.

During its Upgrade 2023 program, the company’s technology user, customer and partner conference in San Francisco, NTT offered a comprehensive view of how it believes networking infrastructure should change. NTT is the master corporate entity in Japan under which its research arm operates.

NTT’s announcement raises the question for tech industry novices who don’t spend their free time lounging around optical research facilities, what exactly does an optical research facility do?

Without going too deep into the technical elements and advanced mathematics involved in this type of research, the potential practical benefits of the work could have a revolutionary impact on network communications technology as we know it.

NTT’s work in this area coincides with the company’s announcement earlier this month that it will begin offering its initial services to corporate customers using next-generation infrastructure based on optical technology. NTT announced in the Upgrade 2023 program that it will charge customers a monthly fee of US$15,000 (about 1.98 million yen) per month through its regional entities, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West.


This initiative, known as IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Networks), is a breakthrough new infrastructure system that features “low latency” or dramatically reduces transmission time lag. The result is a 200th of the relevant delay compared to conventional optical communication systems.

In 2019, NTT originated the idea of ​​IOWN, which involves employing optical signals along with a communication line to transmit data from transmitter to destination. NTT expects its IONN services, which it will offer primarily to business customers, will be beneficial for a variety of use cases, including self-driving.

Benefits of the IOWN Initiative

Fiber is the primary means of data transmission for existing optical communications widely employed in everyday residential settings. In the communication path, optical impulses must still be converted into electrical signals and vice versa, resulting in latency or time delay. These delays can be significantly reduced by IOWN, eliminating the need for signal transcoding.

There are many applications that can take advantage of this capability. Self-driving cars, remotely operated robots, digital humans, and remote surgical procedures performed in distant areas can all benefit from the low latency that distinguishes IOWN services.

Digital Human for Customer Experience Demo at NTT Upgrade 2023 Event

Digital Human Interaction Technology Showcased at NTT Upgrade 2023

At Upgrade 2023, a compelling demo (pictured above) was featured with a robotic arm being used via controllers to move items in a simulated warehouse setting with tremendous accuracy with virtually zero latency was needed.

To use IOWN services, customers must use special terminal equipment marketed by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West.

Low latency is not the only benefit provided by the IOWN initiative. The IOWN project aims to achieve lower power consumption with a 100-fold improvement in power efficiency and a 125-fold improvement in transmission capacity over current optical communication systems.

NTT is making a huge commitment to IOWN because it believes its revolutionary benefits will disrupt the networking infrastructure space. In the coming years, NTT will work to create terminal equipment and communications technology specific to achieving those goals. NTT anticipates the implementation of the entire ioOne plan in the 2030 time frame.

Partners build credibility for IOWN initiative

The IOWN initiative now includes many well-known businesses inside and outside Japan. As NTT wants IOWN to attract as wide international support as possible, a worldwide forum has been created to evaluate the requirements and other technical specifications of IOWN.

Earlier this month, KDDI Corporation, another major Japanese telecommunications company, was announced by NTT as a new member of the International Forum. The company is looking to collaborate with competing businesses to facilitate rapid expansion of the IOWN platform.

NTT has also confirmed that it has created a prototype chip that it hopes could one day significantly increase data transmission rates in data centers and undersea fiber optic cables.


According to NTT, its all-new, miniaturized baseband amplifier integrated circuit module provides ultra-broadband performance of 100 GHz. It will be used with emerging all-photonics network technologies, such as future 6G networks and IOWN infrastructure. According to NTT, this aspect is a critical component of those future networks, as they will require ultra-broadband signal amplification capabilities to remove all noise distortion.

IOWN core optical networks will be capable of transmitting data at rates of more than two terabits per second; However, they require a baseband amplifier IC module to amplify the signal. NTT had previously made products that could accomplish this, but they were all large and required connections to external data center block piece products. NTT has now created a prototype of its module that is small enough to fit into any device.

Although the device will not be commercially available for several years, NTT claims it can amplify 100 GHz electrical signals, a dramatic improvement over what is possible with today’s technology. NTT believes the advancement will eventually increase data center connection speeds and accelerate customer Internet access.

analyst view

Although NTT is not a widely known company outside Japan, the 150-yard company has a cultural propensity for asking questions about the future. With its IOWN initiative, it is challenging the industry to radically rethink the computer needs of the future 25 years from now.

It’s clear that for NTT, photonic optical technology is where Puck is going to optimize the transport of data. My recent interview with Vito Mabruko, Global Chief Marketing Officer of NTT, underscores the company’s commitment to photonics:

It will be helpful to remember that much of technology today relies on electronics to transmit and analyze information. In the post-Moore’s Law era, NTT is making bold moves to push the tech industry to consider how it can scale computing power without some of the transistor development techniques that have proliferated over the past fifty years. From NTT’s perspective, photonics holds the promise of accelerating data transmission speeds, increasing machine responsiveness, and using significantly less energy.

Furthermore, the state of this technology centers around the transition from electronics to photonics. This is the basis in the cellular market as 6G will eventually eclipse 5G to enable future internet and cloud usage models (something not even considered). It will be possible to collect massive amounts of data with near-zero latency in an environment with specialized photonics-based processors that can switch workloads autonomously.

Of course, it will take time and significant investment dollars to realize a fully active IOWN-based world. Typically, new technological advances come at the cost of performance or energy usage trade-offs, but this does not seem to be the case with IOWN. The payoff will be a new game-changing networking topology that could improve how people access all kinds of information and how society functions.

Even at that ambitious level, NTT deserves credit for articulating a bold, new network infrastructure vision that transforms the nature of computing.

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Health features could be in the future of AirPods By Techagents

Apple may be looking at expanding the repertoire of its popular AirPods line beyond entertainment and into the realm of health.

Speculation about giving the health chops to AirPods was fueled over the weekend by Mark Gurman, who predicted in his Power On newsletter for Bloomberg that Apple would upgrade the product over the next year or two to make it a health device.

“It’s a natural move for Apple. Fitness has been a primary focus for their wearable devices,” said Mark N. Vena, president and principal analyst at SmartTech Research in San Jose, Calif.

“I think they can start taking the AirPods in a smart hearing aid direction,” he told TechNewsWorld.

There’s no question if Apple will bring health features to the AirPods, but when, maintained Julie Ask, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research.

“Apple plays a long game,” he told TechNewsWorld. “They have long been committed to health. And, like many consumer electronics companies, they will pursue and prioritize problems at scale where they believe they have the competitive ability to make a difference.” Is.

market opportunity

One area to which Apple has pledged significant resources is helping people with diabetes manage their blood sugar levels. The potential for that kind of application is enormous. According to the US Centers for Disease Control, 37.3 million people in the United States have diabetes – 28.5 million adults are diagnosed with the disease and 8.5 million are undiagnosed.

Similarly, the hearing aid market could also be substantial for Apple. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, about 15% of American adults age 18 and older — 35.5 million people — have reported some degree of hearing loss. The institute estimates that about 28 million adults could benefit from hearing aids.


“If Apple wipes out the hearing aid market with a $300 replacement that’s more dynamic and effective, and my insurance pays for it, that’s huge,” he declared.

“There are millions of people who have moderate hearing loss, and they don’t even know it. Or if they do know it, they don’t want to admit it because people who admit they have hearing loss tend to get older. admit to, and they put a stigma on it,” Vena said.

“If Apple can incorporate smart hearing into a device like the AirPods,” he continued, “it could remove some of the stigma of wearing a hearing aid. It could be a tailwind for Apple’s product.”

History of Apple’s Health Patents

About a year ago, The Mac Observer reported that Apple had filed a patent describing advanced features for hearing aids that run on devices made for the iPhone. The patent describes a method for creating a configuration for controlling the volume of hearing aids based on environmental conditions. Those configurations can be automatically selected based on GPS and map information.

The patent for souping up the AirPods with health features goes back to at least 2014. In those years, Apple filed a patent for using the ear and a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor to monitor a person’s heart rate and mark their blood flow across the skin of the ear. It has also proposed electrocardiogram sensors, impedance cardiography, galvanic skin response, VO2 sensing and body temperature measurement.

“Today many companies are using new sensors to monitor health conditions,” said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies, a technology advisory firm in San Jose, California.

“Adding the health features gives Apple and others a way to differentiate their EarPods from each other,” he told TechNewsWorld.

There’s already some hearing-aid tech in Apple’s current crop of AirPods. Live Listen, which works with Made for iPhone hearing devices connected to an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, lets users stream audio, answer phone calls, adjust settings, and more.

A similar feature, Conversation Boost, is supported by Apple’s AirPods Pro. This allows an iPhone to be used as a microphone, making it easier to hear someone in a noisy environment by pointing the phone at the person you’re talking to; Their speech gets boosted when sent to the AirPods Pro device.

apple airpods pro

AirPods Pro (Image Credit: Apple)

These types of features can serve as an alternative to hearing aids. “Think about how you can change the font size on your smartphone so you don’t have to use ‘readers,'” Ask explained.

Sleep characteristics?

According to Jose Adorno, writing for BGR, it may not be necessary to wait for future AirPods versions to see health features appear on the devices as current versions of the products have the hardware to support these types of features.

“More recently, Apple turned on the HomePod mini sensor to check room temperature and humidity two years after its release, to coincide with a new HomePod announcement, which means the company may be working on a new version of the AirPods.” Might as well do the same,” he wrote.

The AirPods are already equipped with sensors – dual beamforming microphones for directional sound, inward-facing microphones for reducing background noise, skin-detecting sensors, motion-detecting accelerometers, and speech-detecting accelerometers.


“These devices are full of sensors,” ask the noted. What does this mean? You can jam more sensors into a smaller form factor and not reduce battery life while still getting more utility.

Vena said that if Apple wants to get serious about health features aimed at hearing loss, it may need to change the design of the AirPods.

“Over time, they may be able to measure the quality of a person’s hearing and give them feedback through an app, which could allow a person to take retrospective action on their hearing loss,” he said.

“It requires a different design,” he continued. “I’m not sure they can accomplish that kind of stuff without some kind of in-ear canal solution. When you start monitoring hearing properly, I don’t think there’s any mechanism in the ear canal.” You can get away with it without.

reduce device dispersion

Ask, however, it’s hard to imagine Apple moving away from its current model when it adds health features to the AirPods.

“Put them in a Pro version, charge a premium for the new hardware and then slowly migrate these features to downstream products,” he said.

“If they think they can, they will also go after the services revenue,” he added. “It could also be part of a longer-term play. As they roll out more services, maybe they’ll eventually have a large enough portfolio to get $5 to $15 a month or more from their users. Is.

By making its AirPods a dual-function device, Apple can help reduce device proliferation. “We’re at the point where we have to carry a lot of wearable devices,” Vena observed. “If Apple can get that down, that’s a big deal.”

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Army Women Use Veteran Tech to Help Build a Better Future By Techagents

Women comprise 56% of the US workforce, but hold only 26% of technology jobs. The percentage of female STEM, or science, technology, engineering, and math graduates, is about 19%. According to the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT), this number is continuously decreasing.

Research shows that gender-diverse teams bring in more business and improve creative outcomes when working in diversity-rich environments. With organizations digitizing their operations since the pandemic, there is a greater need for technical qualifications for all employees, regardless of gender.

A significant challenge facing women in the tech industry is the lack of role models. Because of the low representation of women in leadership positions, it is often difficult for them to advance their careers and achieve their goals.

In fact, unfair treatment is a primary reason why women leave their technical jobs at a 45% higher rate than men. Plus, according to the Kapoor Center’s Tech Leavers study, women of color face unfair treatment at even higher rates.

US Army veteran Tiffany Pilgrim, a Barbadian American who founded tech public relations firm Coralini PR, wants to change that imbalanced equation. Pilgrim is also a user experience designer and researcher who is adamant about the importance of women becoming a more disruptive force in the tech sector to help fuel design and innovation.

“We are seeing trends about women in entrepreneurship and technology right now. Entrepreneurship has been booming since the pandemic, and the trend towards women in tech has been very slow,” Pilgrim told TechNewsWorld.

She predicts that women will become a more noticeable disruptor in the tech sector over the next few years.

Diversification opportunities started early

After moving with her parents to New York when she was 16 years old from the Caribbean island where she was born, Pilgrim served as a motor transport operator in the US Army at the age of 18.

When his army service ended, he focused on diversifying his knowledge and skill set. First, as a classically trained actress, she then trained in fine arts and design. Then she perfected her communication talent at a global social media agency based in London.

Pilgrim manages top tier billion-dollar brands such as T-Mobile and DAZN, an international sports streaming platform. Prior to founding Coralini PR, she went into the TV and entertainment business as a producer and communications specialist, working with celebrities and Fortune 500 companies, such as Showtime (CBS) and Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS).

Tiffany Pilgrim Coralini Pr. is the founder and CEO of

US Army veteran Tiffany Pilgrim is the founder and CEO of Coralini PR.

“I began to realize that I wanted to start my own technical PR firm. After all, technology and public relations were my backgrounds,” he said of his long stint working for a marketing agency.

Having accumulated more than 10 years of communication experience, Pilgrim puts together its skill set to help startup companies get to know their products better. She helped them with their marketing and brand image.

As a technology evangelist running her own public relations firm, she works with top leaders and startups to build their brands and social media outreach.

This was one of the main pain points for new companies. She explained that when they launched their products, they did not know how to convey the features and benefits of the product to the consumers.

“My firm merges technology and PR to solve entrepreneurs’ pain points,” she offered.

tying the elephant in the room

Pilgrims dedicates herself to helping other women start their technical careers. They are often approached by women entering the tech sector as a startup or doing a technical job for another company. Pilgrims are generous with their time, promoting their interests and answering their questions.

“I always attend Zoom sessions with another woman who needs to pick my brains about technology,” she said.

Some of that advice is needed to keep women in their tech jobs rather than avoid the partisan treatment they often face. Pilgrims do not hesitate to discuss the gender barriers they faced while starting.

The Pilgrims admit to dealing with a lot of pushback in the military and beyond. For example, her first duty assignment after basic training was at a military base in Colorado, where she was the only female soldier in the motor pool.

“It was a shock to me and the men as well. I had to prove my worth as a woman in a men’s motor pool. It was something I dealt with a lot. It was a challenge when I was there,” He gave advice.

“Yeah, of course, that’s what happens in the tech industry,” she said. “Of course, I’ve faced obstacles. You can’t avoid it when you’re a multicultural woman.”

Addressing the lack of role models

Pilgrim helps tech entrepreneurs make a name for new and emerging technologies. But his career has an additional goal that involves a broader outlook for those new to the technical line of business.

She continues to mentor and encourage women to succeed in their tech careers. To that end, Pilgrim helps fellow veterans enter the tech industry, just as it did.

To do this, she uses organizational skills learned in the military as well as strategies derived from her communication and design mastery. When she returned to New York about 10 years ago, Pilgrim began her career in communication with social media clients.

“I had no formal training in communication. I just fell into it because my first job was previously with an agency in London. I taught myself User Experience Design. I worked for a while in Hollywood with clients and their media image,” she said.

According to Pilgrim, women are creating a good stir right now when it comes to corporate leadership and technology.

“Many of these women are paving the way for those who follow them. These situations are real for many women, I must say, “she observed. “I believe that women are designing a new world right now.”:

Advice for Female Veterinarians Interested in Tech

Over the years, Pilgrim has been actively involved with a non-profit organization, Veterans in Media and Entertainment. Membership totals approximately 5,000 veterans across the US focused on advancing media and entertainment. According to Pilgrim, he wants to pursue a career in media or be on a film set.

“I actually had a lot of mentors, and I still give advice to veterans who want to get into the media,” she said. I feel now that I am being heard, this is a great platform to attract women who need mentorship.”

Pilgrim recommends that any female veteran interested in starting a tech career needs to do some research about what types of jobs would be a good fit. Also, they need to assess their skill set. What are they able to do or learn? If that person can’t learn from self-study, go to an immersive tech boot camp.

Other options include taking out a loan, obtaining a payment plan or education grant, or investigating technical training programs that offer veteran discounts.

The career training path that Pilgrim followed was to obtain technical certifications for self-study programs. For example, he is certified by Adobe in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. This qualified him to become a visual design specialist after completing all three programs and learning to use software tools.

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Nvidia and the Internet’s 3D Future By Techagents

A lot of work is going on creating the next generation of the web. Much of this is centered on the concept that instead of traditional web pages, we will have a vastly different experience that is far more immersive. Let’s call it “web 3D”.

I had the chance to speak with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang who shared his thoughts on Web 3D. While it mixes elements of the metaverse, it is more tied to the AI ​​implementation that will propel the next generation of the web than a simulation of the reality of a fast fund on that new web.

vague? You are not alone, let me try to settle this concept.

Then we’ll look at my product of the week, a very different Amazon Kindle called the Scrib. It shows promise but needs some changes to be a great product.

AI propels the next generation web

Interestingly, I think Microsoft’s Halo game series got it right because Cortana, Microsoft’s fictional AI universal interface, is closest to what Huang hinted at about the future of the web.

In the game and TV series “Halo”, Cortana is the one that Master Chief talks to in order to access the technology around him. Sadly, even though prototypes like the one in this YouTube video have been created, Microsoft has yet to take Cortana to where it might be.

Right now, Cortana lags behind both Apple’s digital assistant and Google Assistant.

Huang believes that the AI ​​front end will become a reality with the next generation of the web. You will be able to design your own AI interface or have the possibility to license an already created image and personality from various providers as they step up to the occasion.

For example, if you want the AI ​​to look like your perfect boyfriend or girlfriend, you can initially describe what you want for an interface and based on the AI ​​training that AI to look like A design will do.

Alternatively—and this is not mutually exclusive—it may design it based on your known interests, from the cookies and web posts you make during your life. Or you can choose a character from a movie or an actor, which will come with a recurring fee that, in character, will become that personal interface.

Imagine having Black Widow or Thor as your personal guide to a world of information. They’ll behave just like they do in the “Avenger” movies and give you the information you’re looking for. Instead of viewing a web page, you’ll see your chosen digital assistant magically unfolding Metaverse elements to address your questions.

Search in Metaverse Experience

Discovery as we know it will change too.

For example, when looking for a new car, you can visit various manufacturers’ websites and explore options. But in the future, you can instead say “What car should I buy now?” And, based on what the AI ​​knows about you, or how you answer questions about your lifestyle, it will provide its recommendation and pull you into a metaverse experience where you test-drive the car virtually. Which is based on the choices that the AI ​​makes you think. I like.

During this virtual drive, it will add other options that you might like, and you will be able to express your interest, or lack thereof, to arrive at the final option. In the end, it will recommend where you should buy your car, whichever approach is adapted whether you value things like low prices or good service. These options will include both new and used offerings, based on what AI knows about your preferences.

The time and effort spent on the project will be massively reduced, while your satisfaction, assuming you have accurate AI information, is maximized. Over time, this web 3D interface will become a companion and trusted friend more than anything you’ve ever seen on the web.

Once it reaches critical mass, care must be taken to ensure that the interests of a political party, vendor or bad actor are not compromised in favor.

This last one is important. It may turn out that instead of being as free as in today’s browsers, the interface ends up being a paid service to ensure that no other entity can take advantage of your trust, as you will be held accountable against this new There is ample opportunity to use the interface. Ensuring that this will not happen should be more of a focus than the present.

wrapping up

According to Huang, the future of this front end – call it the next generation browser – is an increasingly photorealistic avatar based on your personal preferences and interests; One who can behave in character when needed; And one that will offer more focused options and a far more personalized web experience.

Perhaps we should talk more about the next generation of the web in its visual aspects, the 3D part, and its behavioral aspects, the “transhumanist web”. Something to noodle this week.

Technical Product of the Week

kindle scribe

I’ve been using Kindles since they were first released. I had both a keyboard and a free cellular connection.

They’ve proven to be interesting products when traveling, have all-day battery life, and perform better in the sun than LCD-based tablets or smartphones. Some are water resistant, allowing you to use them during water recreation activities. For example, when I swim on the river near my house, I’ll bring a water-resistant Kindle with me so I can read during the boring parts (for me, the whole float is the boring part).

But they’ve always been limited to being able to read books and some digital files (you can email .pdf files to Amazon for your Kindle). That just changed with the new Kindle scribe. It’s similar in size to the 10-inch Amazon Fire tablet and allows you to mark up the documents and books you’re reading.

While the Kindle scribe is still a reading-focused product, this latest version has optional pens that can be used to draw or comment on the things you’re reviewing and this, as do most similar products. , will allow you to make pictures if it interests you.

Kindle scribe for reading and writing, 300ppi Paperwhite display with basic pen

Kindle scribe (Image credit: Amazon)

As with all Kindles, it goes further with an e-paper display that works well in sunlight, and the larger size means you can finerly adjust the font to address vision problems, Could potentially remove the need for reading glasses for people who have only minor vision loss.

The drawbacks limiting the product are that it doesn’t currently support magazine or newspaper subscriptions, it doesn’t play music (probably better left to your smartphone anyway), and, as noted But the refresh rate is too low for video technology. It currently doesn’t even email.

It has a web browser, but that browser does not display web pages as intended. Instead, it lists stories vertically like a smartphone with a smaller screen. Actually, using it gives you many page load problems. For example, I couldn’t bring up Office 365 or Outlook Web sites.

Lastly, it doesn’t support handwriting conversion to text, making it less useful for note-taking than other products that have this functionality, but I expect it to improve as the product matures.

The person who will appreciate this product the most is one who wants a larger readership and sometimes needs to mark up documents as part of the editing or review process. If you want a more capable tablet, the Amazon Fire tablet is one of the best values ​​on the market, but it won’t work as well outdoors, nor does it have anywhere near the battery life that the Kindle Scribd offers.

For the right person, a Kindle scribe can be a godsend. But for most, the Amazon Fire tablet is likely to be the better overall choice. In any case, the new Kindle scribe tablet is my product of the week. At $339, it’s a good value that I expect will get better over time.

Kindle scribe will be released on November 30. You can pre-order it on Amazon now.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network.

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The future of satellite phone communication By Techagents

Last week Apple launched new iPhones with many interesting new features. One feature reports if you’ve been in an accident (assuming your phone can connect), and the other connects the phone to satellite in a very limited way for the times when a cellular tower is out of range.

Starlink and T-Mobile are promoting a yet non-existent service that should make Apple’s satellite service look like it’s survived years of modems. All of these follow AST Spacemobile which will install its first 4/5G satellite next year to begin its coverage.

Let’s talk about our future of satellite cellular services this week. Then we’ll close with our product of the week: a very affordable pair of active noise-canceling headphones that could be perfect for those who take long trips and need to sleep with them.

apple fills a need

Apple’s emergency SOS via satellite service, which will be the first for these next-generation services, is very limited. One big advantage of this is that it will work long before the others reach critical mass.

If you’re in the middle of nowhere and need help, it won’t do any good to have a service that doesn’t work yet, so Apple service limitations only become a problem for Apple when other services become critical. Mass. Look for it in or around 2025.

This service only works in open areas that have a clear view to the sky and, I expect, you may have to do a little dancing sometimes to get enough signal. It won’t work if you fall into a ravine, get stuck in a cave, or are in a bunker.

Yet, every year there are a ton of people who get stuck at my place of residence. What they don’t realize is that the weather here can change very quickly, and that if you’re too far from your car or civilization in only shorts and a T-shirt, you’ll need help if this happens, or you’re likely to lose. Chances are anything from a few fingers to your life.

The app helps you find a satellite and then, through menus, uses the phone’s intelligence to narrow down the message and pass it on to someone who can help you. However, it can take anywhere from 15 seconds to several minutes for the satellite to get a clean line for this to work. So, if you have a broken leg, or are otherwise handicapped, you may still be out of luck.

Apple is working with Globalstar for this feature. iPhone 14 users, who initially got this facility, will get two years of this service for free. Until then, there will likely be alternatives available, and this initial offering will undoubtedly be even better.

The service is better than nothing and right now, unless you want to invest in an expensive Iridium (or other satellite) phone, it’s your only choice. Iridium’s service, while expensive, I remember it being much less expensive than traditional cellular, but still more expensive.

Starlink and T-Mobile

Elon Musk has an idea of ​​a minute and many are surprisingly good. Although I’ve worked with a guy like Musk and know it’s a nightmare to work for or with someone like this because not every idea is good and generally, people like this can’t tell the difference Huh.

Having said that, the idea of ​​turning Starlink satellites into a telephone solution is interesting. However, given that Starlink is already experiencing bandwidth issues, this service could make Starlink less attractive if it reduces bandwidth for existing Starlink customers.

Musk also tends to overpromise and underdeliver, miss announced delivery dates, and cause a fair number of problems for his companies. Still, SpaceX is the cheapest launch platform currently in service, surprisingly reliable, and most Starlink reviews I’ve seen have been impressively positive.

Personally, I would have waited until Starlink was profitable and performing extensively before offering another service on the network, but that’s not Musk’s way. So far, their big, risky bets have mostly worked out. But he and his companies remain a big mistake away from the crisis. Given the complexity of his companies, it looks like he’ll eventually hit a bad wall.

The service will initially be more capable than Apple’s satellite offering but will not be true cellular, and will require upgrades to the Starlink satellites. A beta of this service is rumored to last until the end of 2023, with full service expected within the next year in areas where there is a significant mass of new satellites. If it doesn’t reach critical mass, T-Mobile and Starlink are in an interesting position to be the first to succeed with a satellite-based smartphone solution.

AST Spacemobile

AST Spacemobile, which is set to launch its Low Earth satellite in 2023, has partnered with companies such as Vodafone and AT&T to provide a robust route to early worldwide coverage. They would need between 45 and 65 satellites to reach critical mass, assuming no major market changes or the emergence of largely better competitive technology, before the end of 2025.

The company is wrapped up with 2,400 patents and should be able to provide good 4/5G coverage once critical mass is achieved. The service will be treated like international travel or on-plane service to areas that have cellular options, so your phone will work where it currently doesn’t. Or as primary phone service for people who are outside cellular coverage areas, such as remote land or sea locations.

This will certainly improve ship-to-shore and most radio solutions for police and first responders are operating in areas where there is either no cellular service or where cellular service has been disrupted. Unlike the other two services, AST SpaceMobile will be like regular cellular in that it will support both voice and data and will not have the limitations of the other two services. But its quality and data throughput will surpass terrestrial cellular services indefinitely.

This service should work on planes as well and be better than what you currently get on airplanes. It will support both voice and data whereas planes currently only support data (people are against getting cellular coverage on planes for fear that those using it will drive them crazy with loud incessant phone calls).

wrapping up

With Apple’s announcement last week, we are now in the world of consumer satellite cellular communications and the growing potential to be able to call for help from anywhere in the world, regardless of where the cell tower is located.

This can be huge for those who find themselves in trouble or lost in remote areas and provides peace of mind for parents who can’t locate their children.

Apple is just the beginning. Companies like Starlink and T-Mobile promise far better data bandwidth than Apple, and AST Spacemobile promises global general-purpose 4/5G cellular service that includes both voice and data in the same general time frame. .

By the latter part of this decade, the idea of ​​going out of service may be as obsolete as the need to find a phone booth was in the 1990s. That, my friends, is something worth looking forward to.

Technical Product of the Week

Soundcore by Anker Space Q45 Noise Canceling Headphones

I travel a lot, so I have a lot of noise-canceling headphones with me.

Most headphones are not only very expensive, they are also not comfortable to sleep on a plane. Many are in the $250+ range, which is way too expensive for kids and, considering I leave these on airplanes, they add up for me too. Also, I don’t like earbuds or earplugs because they make my ears itch, which makes it difficult to sleep.

Well, I may have found the perfect solution in a set of headphones you can sleep in: the Soundcore by Anker Space Q45 Adaptive Noise Canceling Headphones. At a retail price of around $150 on Amazon, they’re not the cheapest on the market, but they’re a ton less expensive than most of the headphones I currently own.

Soundcore by Anker Space Q45 Noise Canceling Headphones

Space Q45 Noise Canceling Headphones (Images Credit: Soundcore)

These are an over-the-ear design with very soft pads, which make them much easier to sleep than my Bose and Sony headphones, and far more comfortable long-term for me than earbuds or on-ear products.

The Space Q45 headphones offer 50-hour battery life (I haven’t tested it), support Bluetooth 5.3, and have one of the most robust noise cancellation solutions I’ve tested—including five levels of noise cancellation Which are either turned off automatically or can be controlled by an app. If someone wants to chat with you – and you want to listen – they have a voice passthrough button.

These headphones have big 40mm drivers that lend themselves to decent lows and the sound quality was pretty good, to my ears, with significant range. For those who need an over-the-ear, affordable, noise-canceling solution they can sleep with, the Soundcore by Anker Space Q45 Headphones may be the ideal solution—and it’s my product of the week .

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network.

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Metaverse Future: Are You Ready to Be a God? By Techagents

This week is Siggraph 2022 where Nvidia will be doing one of the main things.

While on the consumer side the Metaverse has industrial uses, outside of gaming, which has effectively included Metaverse instances over the years, at Siggraph Nvidia will talk about its leadership in integrating AI into technology, the creation and application of digital twins, and successes. . In major new robotic factories such as the one made by BMW with the help of Siemens.

But what I find even more interesting is that as metaverse tools like Nvidia’s Omniverse become more consumer friendly, the ability to use AI and human digital twins is enabling us to create our own worlds where We Let the rules dictate and where our AI-powered digital twins will simulate real people and animals.

At that point, I expect we’ll need to learn what it means to be gods of the world we’ve created, and I doubt we’re prepared anywhere, in terms of the addictive nature of such products and the way these metaverses become virtual. How to create a world in a way that can form the basis of our own digital immortality.

Let’s explore the capabilities of the Metaverse this week, then we’ll end with our product of the week: the Microsoft Surface Duo 2.

Sigraph and the AI-powered metaverse

If you’ve participated in multiplayer video games like Warcraft, you’ve experienced a rudimentary form of the metaverse. You also found that objects that do things in the real world – like doors and windows that open, leaves that move with the wind, and people who behave like people – don’t exist yet.

With the introduction of digital twins and physics through tools like Nvidia’s Omniverse, this is changing so that reality-dependent simulations, such as those developed by autonomous cars and robots, work accurately and assure that humans or Potential accidents are reduced without putting real animals at risk. Because those accidents initially happen in a virtual world.

At SIGGRAPH, Nvidia will talk about the Metaverse’s current capabilities and its near future, where for a time, money and greatest capabilities will be tied to industrial, not entertainment, use.

For that purpose, the need to make an observer feel as though they are in a real world, outside of simulations intended to train people, is largely reduced. But training humans is also a goal of simulations, and creating human digital twins will be an important step forward in our ability to use AI of the future to handle the ever-increasing amount of repetitive and annoying portions of our workloads.

It is my belief that the next major breakthrough in human productivity will be the ability of regular people to create digital twins of their own that can perform an increasing number of tasks autonomously. Auto-fill is a very, very early milestone on this path that will eventually allow us to create virtual clones of ourselves that can cover for us or significantly increase our reach.

Nvidia is at the forefront of this technology. For anyone wanting to know what the Metaverse is capable of doing today, attending Siggraph Keynote should virtually be on your important to-do list.

But if we project 20 or so years into the future, given the enormous pace of development in this space, our ability to immerse ourselves in virtual worlds will increase, as well as our ability to create these existences. Worlds where physics as we know it is not only optional, but where we can choose to put ourselves in “God Mode” and walk through virtual worlds as the ultimate rulers of the virtual spaces we’ve created. Huh.

immersion is important

While we’ll have intermediate stages using prosthetics that use more advanced forms of haptics to make us feel like we’re immersed in these virtual worlds, it’s like Elon Musk’s attempt to create better human-machine interfaces. that will make a real difference.

By connecting directly to the brain, we should be able to create experiences that are indistinguishable from the real world and place us far more realistically in these alternate realities.

Meta Reality Labs is researching and developing haptic gloves to bring the sense of touch to the metaverse of the future.

Yet, as we gain the ability to create these worlds ourselves, changing these connections to provide more reality (e.g. experiencing pain in battle) will be optional, allowing us to walk through encounters. As if we were super powers.

human digital twin

One of the biggest problems with video games is that NPCs, no matter how good the graphics, use very limited scripts. They don’t learn, they don’t change, and they’re barely more capable than the animatronics at Disneyland.

But with the creation of human digital twins, we will gain the ability to populate the created world with more realistic citizens.

Imagine being able to present the Digital Twin you create to others and license them to be used in companies or games made by them. These NPCs will be based on real people, will respond more realistically to changes, potentially be able to learn and grow, and will not be tied to your gender or even your physical appearance.

For example what about Talking Dragon based on your digital twin? You can also populate the created Metaverse world with a large number of clones that have been altered to look like a diverse population, including animals.

Practical applications will include everything from virtual classrooms with virtual teachers to police and military training with virtual partners against virtual criminals – all based on real people, providing the ability to train with an unlimited number of realistic scenarios.

For example, for a police officer, one of the hardest things to train is domestic disturbance. These collisions can go all the way sideways. I know of many instances where a police officer stepped in to protect the abusing spouse and then was spotted by the same spouse who suddenly decided to defend her husband from the officer.

Today I read a story about a rookie who approached a legally armed citizen who was on his property. The officer was almost shot because he tried to seduce a civilian who had not broken any laws. He was all set to kill the civilian officer if it had happened. For this the officer was fired but he could have died.

Being able to train in situations like this can help ensure the safety of both the civilian and the officer.

Wrapping Up: God Mode

Anyone who has ever played a game in God Mode knows that it really destroys a lot of the game’s value. Yes, you can burn through the game in a fraction of the time, but it’s like buying a book and then reading a comprehensive summary with no spoilers. Most of the fun of a game is figuring out puzzles and working through challenges.

“Westworld” explored what might happen if virtual people, who were created to emulate humans, found out they had been abused. To be realistic, these creations would need to emulate the full flow of pain, suffering, and emotion, and it’s certainly a remote possibility that they could kick off their schedule.

However, another possibility is that people fully immersed in God Mode may not be able to differentiate between what they can do in the virtual world and the real world. This can result in some bad behavior in the real world.

I think we will find that there will be a clearer delineation between those who want to create viable worlds and treat those worlds beneficially, and those who want to create worlds that allow them to explore their distorted fantasies and occult desires. allow.

This can be a way to determine if someone has the right personality to be a leader, as it would be so easy to abuse power in the virtual world, and the tendency to abuse power is for anyone who goes into management. Should be a big red flag.

We’re still decades away from this potential, but we should start thinking about the limits of using this technology for entertainment so that we don’t create a significant group of people who don’t see others as different from virtual people who don’t. They misbehave in the twisted world. they will make.

What kind of metaverse god would you be?

Technical Product of the Week

Surface Duo 2

I’ve been using the Surface Duo 2 for several months now and it remains my favorite phone. I’m amazed at how many people came up to me to ask me about the phone and then said, when I shared with them what it does, they want to buy one.

This has huge advantages when consuming emails with attachments or links. The attachment or link opens on another screen without interrupting the flow of reading the email that it delivered. Just like using the phone when you’re opening a website that requires two-factor authentication. The authentication app is on another screen, so you don’t have to go back and try to locate the screen you were working on, preserving the workflow again.

For reading, it reads and holds like a book with two virtual pages, one on each screen. While I thought I might have problems watching videos due to the gap between the screens, I have been watching videos on both screens for some time now and unlike my issues of using dual screen monitors where I find the separation annoying , it’s not the difference. Doesn’t bother me at all.

Ideally this phone works best with a headset or smartwatch, such as the Apple Watch, so you can talk and listen – as it’s awkward to hold this form factor on its head. However, many of us somehow use the speakerphone feature on our smartphones and the Surface Duo 2 works fine that way.

In the end, I think it shows why with a revolutionary device – such as the iPhone was, and there is the Surface Duo 2 – it needs a lot of smart marketing for people to really understand the benefits of a different design. Otherwise they won’t get it.

Remember that the iPhone design, which previously emulated the failed LG Prada phone, was supported by a lot of marketing, while Prada, even though it initially had a strong luxury brand, was not.

Nonetheless, Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2 remains my favorite smartphone. This is really awesome – and my product of the week.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network.

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Lucid, Nvidia and the rapidly changing future of electric cars By Techagents

Last week I heard about a podcast from Lucid Motors SVP Mike Bell (ex-Apple, ex-Rivian) who codes the Lucid Air and the upcoming Lucid SUV to be named Gravity in 2024, which is very different from every other car. Is. Road including Tesla.

Given that Tesla was heavily influenced by Apple, as well, it will be interesting to see what difference Apple makes in this market when it finally announces its electric car.

The direction of these three companies seems to be hanging in the balance. This is a change from the traditional preferences of older car makers to a model that is more compatible with a tech firm. Car companies like Lucid and Tesla are more like Apple than GM or Ford – which I imagine will eventually become a problem for GM and Ford.

I’ve also had updated briefings from Nvidia and Qualcomm on how they’re tackling autonomous driving, which could be a complimentary approach to the next generation of EVs.

Let’s talk about the future of electric cars, and we’ll kick off with our product of the week: an update on the Bartesian robotic bartender, no joke, Black + Decker.

Nvidia and Qualcomm Vehicle Tech

Nvidia’s drive platform is heavily used in Lucid vehicles. It is a comprehensive suite of offerings that cover the autonomous car technology stack, from concept and simulation to training, to inference in cars. However, most of the strength lies in Nvidia’s Omniverse simulation capability, which is widely used in the automotive industry.

Qualcomm is focusing more on bridging the car side of this equation, with compelling in-car technology that, on paper, is both cheaper and better than other options.

Given that car companies are margin-focused lasers, you can see a world emerging where Nvidia may own much of the backend and control structure for autonomous cars, and where Qualcomm can power its respective self-engineering systems in most cars. May present with driving abilities. Qualcomm has demonstrated that its ability to keep smartphone costs down can translate into in-car solutions that can do the same thing.

An increasingly potential future is one where Nvidia offers a much more autonomous car backend while Qualcomm provides in-vehicle multi-layered computer vision technology.

car and driver conversation

I was driving in the back of a Lucid car (pictured above) last week and I must admit I found the car fascinating to look at. It really is like no other car on the road. The performance specs and price are both amazing.

On performance, they deliver 2.5 seconds 0 to 60 acceleration time, up to 1,111 hp, up to 168 mph, and a range of 520 miles which is class-leading performance at the moment. But that performance will cost you closer to $200K.

Then again you could argue that you’re basically getting four cars for the price of one: a sports car, a family car, an off-road car, and the Holler (there’s a huge amount of luggage space), All in one vehicle.

Lucid also demonstrates a change in thinking about the interaction between the car and its driver. By now the driver has had to learn to drive a car. Every car is so different that most drivers may never learn how to use all the features. For example, I’ve never been able to successfully use my car’s self-parking capability.

The Lucid model learns how to work with you, learns your preferences, and this data can be transferred from car to car so you never have the issue of being unable to properly use a feature you purchased. Don’t have to face

upgrade after purchase

Lucid goes to the forefront of offering a solution that is not only software-defined, but potentially easy to update and upgrade over time, which will keep the cars in service longer than would otherwise be the case.

I’ve gotten frustrated with more traditional car companies because you can almost bet that right after you buy a new car, they’ll make an upgrade that can’t be retrofitted, and you’d know it was coming. .

For example, a few years ago I bought a Mercedes. Sometime between when I ordered the car and it was delivered, they put one of the features I ordered in another package, which was not available when I ordered my car and, because I didn’t select that bundle (again, it wasn’t even available at the time I ordered) they removed the feature from the car.

The only way I could get it back was to pay three times its cost before that happened. This huge cost increase was because it was far more expensive to add that feature once the car was built.

Both Lucid and Tesla have demonstrated that they can do a better job of providing post-purchase upgrades to their cars. As the industry considers the concept of cars as service, this ability to change a car’s configuration after it leaves the factory not only opens the door to a stronger used car opportunity for dealers, but also for a long time. Till then, with a happy relationship. Cars we buy in the end.

Instead of replacing a perfectly good car after three years because it became out of date, imagine updating the vehicle so that it looks almost as good as a new one.

Lucid’s technology-focused software-focused approach also means that many of these upgrades could come as part of the service, just like some of the more interesting improvements to Tesla cars over the years. Tesla is one of the few car companies where drivers can look forward to software updates as Tesla makes in pleasant surprises, and Lucid is looking to overtake Tesla in this regard.

Part of why Lucid may be able to outpace Tesla is its use of Nvidia Drive which is a unique way small car companies can match or exceed the capabilities of larger firms by using Nvidia’s extensive resources. It really is a game changer.

wrapping up

As we move into the middle of the decade, our in-car experiences will be changing substantially, not only to become more customizable for the buyer, but to provide a level of personalized after-sales auto-customization experience for that buyer. To do what hasn’t been seen in the tech market, let alone in the automotive market.

Once this is done, the technology market may have to pick up from some of the advancements of the automotive industry to better compete in its segment as this product concept is a competitive revolution to adapt itself to the unique needs of the user. .

It is difficult to see that any customer, when given the option, would ever opt for the old-fashioned way of forced learning and the lack of flexibility in the increasingly smart personal technology, equipment and vehicles they buy.

Companies like Lucid, Rivian, Tesla, Nvidia and Qualcomm are leading the automotive market and screaming for a future that is far more responsive to the needs of their buyers. That’s good news for our purchasing future, though probably not until the latter half of the decade.

Technical Product of the Week

‘Bev’ by Black + Decker

We were one of the first owners of Bartesian Robotic Bar Tender, and we have enjoyed the product for many years since it came out.

However, there was annoyance over how the alcohol was placed in the device and the pain of filling it with water that often spilled over. We left a bottle of wine without cleaning it for too long and it got stuck. So, we went looking for a replacement only to find out that Black + Decker has created a new version of Bartesian called Bev (little B) and it’s awesome!

Let’s start with the fact that with the old Bartesian we had to swap bottles of rum and gin when making the drink because it only contained four types of alcohol. The new version has five different bottles, and it uses the bottles the alcohol comes in, so you no longer have to clean the bottles, you just throw them out when they’re empty. Plus, it provides a sixth bottle for water so you can easily fill it under the tap (don’t try to fill it with the refrigerator; you’ll find water all over the floor).

'Bev' On-Demand Cocktail Maker by Black+Decker

‘Bev’ on-demand cocktail maker (Image Credit: Bartesian)

The unit has lights under the bottles that light up as drinks or can be cycled as it sits unused, making an impressive presentation in your kitchen or bar. Whereas the old Bartesian had a display that would take you through making a drink, the Biwi has five buttons. The first four drinks are for size and the final drink starts the making process which is much quicker and more fun to watch.

The Bev uses the same pods as the old Bartesian, but lacks a water chiller, so you’ll need a supply of ice. But the result is looking better, far less messy (the old bartesian would leak from time to time when filling), and so far it has worked flawlessly.

On a hot day, and we’re getting a lot of them, a cold rum punch is a great way to end the day; And sitting outside with a chilled cocktail on the weekend helps make it all worthwhile.

Priced at around $300, the new Biwi by Black + Decker is my product of the week. encourage!

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network.

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