Fitness tech startup Insane AI launches AI-powered fitness training app

By

-

October 13, 2022

Insane AI launches AI-powered fitness training app

Fitness tech startup Insane AI has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) powered fitness training app. According to a release, the Bengaluru-based startup has developed a mobile app that transforms the phone’s front camera into an intelligent workout companion.

The AI-powered Workout Tracking technology of the app enables precise motion tracking with any smartphone, allowing it to identify how well the user performs each exercise and helps fix posture and form in real time.

Insane AI, a 2021 started venture, was founded by two batchmates from IIT Bombay and backed by $900,000 seed funding from pi Ventures, Anupam Mittal, Sameer Pitalwalla, and other angels in sports, fitness, and tech. It has been built based on definitive habit formation science and rewards users for staying fit with real-life products.

The mobile version for IOS and Android users will be available on the App Store and Google Play Store, respectively. The app has been designed with the combined efforts of certified fitness trainers, AI engineers, and gamification experts and has been in development and testing for more than one year.

Tested on more than 100k registered users across India and Europe, it is used by working professionals and athletes for their training and sports conditioning. Currently, Insane AI has a waitlist and is offering a free 6 month subscription.

The app offers a huge range of guided body workouts such as HIIT, Cardio, Muscle Training, Yoga, Balance, and unique Agility drills. The interactive workout screen keeps users engaged with visual cues and live feedback. The app also gives users insights into their workout and performance history.

Google Announced Multiple Updates to its Cloud Security Offerings

By

Disha Chopra

-

October 13, 2022

Google announced multiple updates to its cloud security offerings due to increasing cloud data breaches that pose a challenge for enterprises. Such breaches have resulted in many tools and services that secure working environments and data mobilization.

Growing industry requirements and concerns about cloud security have started to act as barriers to the growth of cloud investments. Google’s major security initiatives, unveiled at Google Cloud Next 2022, focus on finding ways to overcome those barriers. These updates will cater to supply chains, cloud security, digital sovereignty, and secure collaborations.

Announcements

Software Delivery Shield

Google Cloud is debuting a new product to address supply chain security. This will assist in avoiding picking up or transmitting malware or potentially hazardous data when content is routed through several partners that ordinarily wouldn’t collaborate in the same computing environment.

Building new “Sovereign Solutions” to focus on Digital Sovereignty

Google is working with more than 20 companies, including DataIKU, Dell, Siemens, GitLab, and others, to develop their integrations more concretely into Google’s cloud platform for a seamless work experience. The implication is that several of Google’s current and potential clients already utilize one or more of these companies’ services. Integrating them with Google Cloud would provide everything under one roof.

Confidential Space

It is a new product that Google is introducing as a part of its Confidential Computing initiative, a drive to create and offer more secure environments for people collaborating in the cloud and exchanging data by encrypting it.

Focusing on SecOps with the expansion of Chronicle Security Operations

This announcement discusses expanding the software suite to monitor, investigate, and respond to cyber threats. Chronicle was already performing well, but now Google plans to bring more products and services under its umbrella. Google has been acquiring many startups, including Mandiant and Siemplify, to build on cybersecurity in this area.

Google introduces Translation Hub and two news features in Document AI

By

Sahil Pawar

-

October 13, 2022

Google on Tuesday said it is updating its AI agent-based technology to add an enterprise-scale translation service and to automate document processing further.

The services announced at the Google Cloud Next conference are being delivered through two new features in Google’s Document AI offering and a new AI-based translation service called Translation Hub. According to the company, the Translation Hub is an AI agent-based service that provides self-service document translation in 135 languages.

The company said that the service uses a combination of Google technologies such as neural machine translation and AutoML to translate documents, Translation Hub will support Google Docs, Slides, PDFs, and Microsoft Word documents.

“It not only preserves layouts and formatting but also provides granular management controls such as support for post-editing human-in-the-loop feedback and document review,” said June Yang, vice president of cloud AI and industry solutions at Google.

Using Translation Hub, enterprises can share their translated findings across the world cost-effectively, Yang added. To make document processing easier for enterprises, Google has added two new features to its Document AI services, including Document AI Workbench and Document AI Warehouse.

According to the company, the Document AI Workbench allows enterprises to custom-select the fields of interest while parsing a document. The company said that the Document AI Warehouse feature brings Google’s search technologies to Google Document AI, adding that the feature is expected to make it easy to search and manage documents, including their workflows within the enterprise.

Cloud Networking Innovations Unveiled at Google Cloud Next 2022

By

Disha Chopra

-

October 13, 2022

networking innovations at google cloud next 2022

Google unveiled more than 20 cloud networking innovations at the Google Cloud Next 2022 conference. With AI/ML-powered services and built-in security, the series of updates to Google Cloud networking is intended to meet customers where they are.

Updates to Accelerate Modernization

Updated Content Delivery Network (CDN)

To ingest and bundle source content into HTTP-Live Streaming and DASH codecs for efficient live streaming, Media CDN now supports the Live Stream API.

Two new developer-friendly integrations (yet in preview)

Both third-party Ad Insertion through Video Stitcher API and Dynamic Ad Insertion with Google Ad Manager, which offers individualized video ad placements, are available. With these choices, content creators can give their streaming services more alternatives for monetization and customization.

Network Actions (in preview)

It is a fully managed serverless solution that enables users to deploy custom code directly in the request/response flow at the edge and is built on open-source web assembly.

Many enhancements were announced for the Private Service Connect that are yet in preview.

L7 PSC

It gives users access to consumer-controlled telemetry, routing, and security to provide a more flexible and uniform policy across all services.

Private Service Connect for hybrid environments

It can allow access to managed services from the cloud or on-premises and secure the connections between producers and customers.

Private Service Connect over interconnect

It will enable on-premises traffic via Cloud Interconnects to PSC endpoints.

Comprehensive Network Security Solutions

Expanding Cloud Firewall

Cloud Firewall Essentials and Cloud Firewall Standard are two new expansions that Google is adding to its Cloud Firewall product line.

In order to protect your cloud infrastructure and workloads, the new Cloud Firewall Standard (in preview) includes enhanced policy objects for firewall rules that can make configuration and micro-segmentation easier.

New configuration structures for Cloud Firewall Essentials and Global and Regional Network Firewall Policies have just been added by Google. These configuration structures support batch rule changes and include integrated IAM controls.

Updated Google Cloud Armor

Google has updated Google Cloud Armor, its network security product that protects APIs and web apps from DDoS attacks and exploit attempts. Consecutively, in The Forrester Wave™: Web Application Firewalls, Google Cloud Armor was declared a “Strong Performer.”
For more information, you can visit the Google Cloud Blog.

Microsoft Relaunches Syntex with Several AI-based Content Management Tools at Ignite 2022

By

Disha Chopra

-

October 13, 2022

microsoft relaunches syntex at ignite 2022

Microsoft relaunches Syntex, as it rebrands the application with several AI-based content management tools. Microsoft refers to this new technological area as “content AI.” Microsoft Syntex, previously known as SharePoint Syntex, was unveiled at the Microsoft Ignite 2022 conference on Wednesday.

Over the decade, as procedures have grown more digital, many firms have moved all of their papers to the cloud. According to Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft’s collaborative apps and platforms, millions of documents are added to Microsoft 365 daily, which has multiplied tenfold in the last five years.

Syntex uses AI to read, tag automatically, and index large volumes of content. Then, it connects the tagged and indexed content where it is needed in context and integrates services from across the Microsoft Cloud, including Microsoft 365, Azure, Power Platform, and Microsoft Purview.

Syntex offers 11 core capabilities.

No code AI: improves content to make it easier to comprehend and organize, streamlining your operational processes.
Document processing: integrates AI from Microsoft Azure, AI Builder, and other Microsoft sources to assist in understanding, tagging, and securing information.
Summarization: uses AI to provide content summaries that highlight essential topics automatically.
Content assembly: assists users in creating documents automatically with templates and metadata.
E-signature: to transmit requests for electronic signatures using Syntex, Adobe Acrobat Sign, DocuSign, or any other e-signature partner product from Microsoft.
Search: give users practical tools for searching, reshaping, and discovering the content in your files.
Connect: to connect with AI-powered search.
Annotation: for adding links, notes, stamps, comments, etc., without changing the source file.
Accelerators and templates: for standard use cases.
Image, audio, and video processing: enables the processing of photos and the tagging of approximately 10,000 automatically recognized objects.
Content rules processor: for building simple rules to define actions and tasks.

Larry Cannell, a senior director analyst at Gartner, said that rebranding SharePoint Syntex as Microsoft Syntex would significantly change Microsoft’s AI portfolio with the latter’s AI capabilities.

Microsoft partners with Meta to bring its range of products to metaverse

By

Sahil Pawar

-

October 13, 2022

Microsoft partners with Meta to bring its products to metaverse

Microsoft announced a partnership with Meta Platforms on Tuesday to bring its Microsoft Office 365 products to Meta’s virtual reality (VR) platform to lure companies into working in virtual environments.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, revealed the new collaboration during Meta’s Connect 2022 keynote on October 11. Nadella said the Teams video calling app would integrate with Meta’s “Quest” and newly launched “Quest Pro” VR headset, enabling people to come together in a virtual space like a boardroom.

Microsoft Teams will be cross-compatible with Meta’s VR space for business meetings named Horizon Workrooms. The company’s enterprise-level identity management applications and mobile device will be compatible with Quest Pro and Meta’s Quest headsets, according to Nadella, which will allow companies to manage and secure VR headsets in their corporate networks similarly as they do with computers or phones.

Other popular Microsoft productivity applications, including PowerPoint, Outlook, Word, Excel, and SharePoint, will also be available within Meta’s VR. The feature to stream a Windows Cloud computer to Meta’s headsets is being planned for the future.

Nadella highlighted the increase of remote working following the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said has created a “once-in-a-lifetime” chance to shift the landscape of formerly office-based work environments.

Last week, Microsoft internally revealed its new Industrial Metaverse Core team, which will focus on creating immersive software interfaces for use in industrial control systems that power electrical plants, industrial robotics, and transportation networks, among other applications.

Microsoft Announces Azure Updates at Ignite 2022

By

Disha Chopra

-

October 13, 2022

microsoft announced azure updates at ignite 2022

The tech giant Microsoft has announced several updates to Azure, the company’s public cloud platform, at Microsoft Ignite 2022. The event attendees will get a first-hand experience with training skills to get value from Microsoft technologies.

The company has announced the following updates to Azure Cognitive Services:

Azure OpenAI Service

Despite being available with limited access in the preview, it will provide access to Dall-E 2, a model that enables users to create distinctive pictures using text or images. Users can produce material, graphics, and code from selected clients to increase productivity while carrying out mission-critical operations.

Azure Cognitive Service for Language

It improves summarization and broadens language support across all language skills with more capabilities for natural language understanding (NLU) and natural language generation (NLG), allowing users to quickly implement business apps for scenarios involving the digitalization of documents and conversations.

The company also announced several machine learning features that are yet in preview.

Azure Machine Learning Registries

It will aid machine learning experts in promoting, sharing, and discovering artifacts like models, pipelines, and environments across various workspaces in a company.

Azure Container for PyTorch and Data Science Virtual Machines for PyTorch

These updates, in preview, are curated settings and customized pictures that incorporate cutting-edge Microsoft technology to set up, create, accelerate, and assist PyTorch model training at its best.

Responsible AI dashboard

It will soon be freely accessible, enabling users to quickly adopt Responsible AI through machine learning model debugging and data-driven decision-making.

Apache Spark pools integration

This feature will allow data preparation on Spark clusters within the Azure Machine Learning platform to be quickly iterated upon by machine learning experts.

Huggin Face

Hugging Face will provide the community with access to BLOOM, the biggest open multilingual language model, on AzureML Managed Endpoints for performance testing.

For more announcements made at Ignite 2022, you can refer to the Book of News posted on the Microsoft website.

OECD creates new global tax transparency framework for crypto assets

By

Sahil Pawar

-

October 13, 2022

OECD creates new global tax transparency framework for crypto assets

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has created a new global tax transparency framework for automatically exchanging information related to crypto assets between countries.

Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) would allow countries to track the cross-border transfer of crypto assets. According to the OECD statement, CARF will be presented to G20 Finance Ministers this week in Washington, DC. The G20 had in April 2021 mandated the OECD to develop a framework for the automatic exchange of tax-relevant information on crypto assets.

Sudhir Kapadia, Partner, tax & regulatory services, EY India, said, “Regulators and tax authorities around the world have been grappling with the question of tracking, regulating and taxing crypto transactions given the proliferation and increasing dispersion of this form of exchange.”

The new transparency initiative, developed with G20 countries, comes against the backdrop of the rapid adoption of crypto-assets for a wide range of financial uses and investments.

While some forward-looking countries have spotted an opportunity to attract crypto entrepreneurs to set up a base by providing an enabling environment for crypto operations, other countries have been more concerned about the potential misuse of crypto assets to fuel money laundering, and prohibited end uses.

Meta debuts its virtual reality headset Meta Quest Pro

By

Sahil Pawar

-

October 12, 2022

Meta debuts its virtual reality headset Meta Quest Pro

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday that his company’s newest virtual reality headset, dubbed the Meta Quest Pro, will cost $1,500 and start shipping on Oct. 25. Zuckerberg debuted the device at Meta’s Connect conference, geared toward VR and augmented reality developers.

The new headset costs $1,100 more than Meta’s Quest 2 headset. It contains new technologies, like an advanced mobile Snapdragon computer chip developed with Qualcomm, that helps the device produce more advanced graphics. The Quest Pro also has improved touch controllers that contain embedded sensors, allowing for better hand tracking and new lenses for improved reading experiences.

The new headset contains some mixed-reality features that can blend elements of the virtual world with the physical world. Zuckerberg has touted that as an essential feature in creating the metaverse, which refers to digital worlds that people can access via VR and AR headsets.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also appeared during the online event and discussed a partnership with Meta to bring some of his company’s work-collaboration apps to Quest VR devices. Some Microsoft apps that people can access with a Quest device include the Team’s chat app, the Microsoft 365 suite of work software, and the company’s Xbox cloud gaming service.

“You will be able to play 2D games with your Xbox controller projected on a massive screen on Quest,” Nadella said. Meta shares were down about 4.5% in midday trading to $127.85, underscoring a muted response from investors about the new VR headset.

Listen to AI-Generated Joe Rogan and Steve Jobs Podcast interview

By

Disha Chopra

-

October 12, 2022

steve jobs and joe rogan AI-generated interview

Synthetic voice generated by Play.ht allows you to hear your favorite topics in voices from the past. In an episode posted by Podcast.ai, an AI-generated podcast platform, people can listen to (fake) Steve Jobs’s interview with (fake) Joe Rogan!

Based in Dubai, Play.ht created a podcast series called “Podcast.ai” whose first episode features digitally cloned voices of Joe Rogan and Steve Jobs. The interview begins with Rogan introducing Jobs as a guest who is “difficult to describe,” “weird,” and yet has made some “great technological products of our age,” all in a very realistic voice.

The replicated voice is generated by voice cloning technology using deep learning models, where existing samples are used. Rogan is a top candidate for deep learning AI voice training because his podcasts contain a lot of isolated recordings of his voice.

Further in the episode, listeners can hear Steve Jobs share his experience at Reed College, his courses, and learning about Hinduism and Buddhism. Jobs’ synthetic voice continues to describe how several odysseys and spiritual foundations come from the Indian subcontinent.

In a later section, listeners can also hear him re-iterate the launching of the Macintosh and his criticism of Microsoft. The section is very akin to what (real) Steve Jobs delivered in an interview in 1995. Following the critique, Jobs explains how Apple was formed with a vision of working to improve its products in the “long run” and seeking their betterment with every next thing that is produced.

After hearing the entire episode, one can realize that while the synthetic voices are similar, they are not entirely indistinguishable. Listeners can tell the difference between real and fake if they compare.

It’s unclear whether it is allowed to use Rogan or Jobs’ voices in this way, especially to advertise a business product. People are looking at a future when media artifacts from any past will probably be entirely fluid and flexible, suitable to fit any narrative, with speech synthesis becoming more common and possibly undetectable.