Adobe announces the addition of Polygon and Solana on its creative social media platform Behance to expand its Non-fugitive Token (NFT) support.
Adobe recently made this announcement through a blog post on its website. The addition will allow Behance users to seamlessly showcase Solana and Polygon-based NFTs on Adobe’s platform.
Behance’s integration with Polygon is the next phase in Adobe’s Web3 journey. Polygon and Solana are both green blockchains as Polygon consumes a fraction of the energy that Proof of Work (PoW) blockchains do, and each Solana transaction consumes less energy than two Google searches.
Therefore users will not only be able to showcase their NFTs but also help in reducing carbon footprint.
Polygon is built on top of the popular Ethereum blockchain. Moreover, it avoids Ethereum’s high transaction costs, allowing users to minimize the transaction fees involved.
Vice President of Product at Adobe, Will Allen, said that he is impressed by Polygon’s vision of being an Ethereum scaling solution. “It can help give creators the best of both worlds: the security of Ethereum as a settlement layer while providing lower gas fees and a negligible carbon footprint,” he added.
In addition, Adobe has also launched the Content Authenticity Initiative, an open-source standard that allows artists to attach proof of origin to their artworks.
Furthermore, the company is partnering with popular NFT marketplaces, including OpenSea, SuperRare, KnownOrigin, and Rarible. Interested users can visit Adobe’s blog to understand how to showcase their NFTs on Behance.
Designer Christina Young said, “As we venture further into NFTs, it’s important that we stay true to ourselves, find communities that uplift, and create that empowering experience for ourselves and others.”
She also mentioned that Solana is more environmentally sensitive, and it is dedicated to cultivating a supportive, positive, and healthy community of artists and collectors.
Automobile manufacturing giant Volvo announced that it plans to roll out artificial intelligence (AI)-powered inspection systems to dealerships located in the United States.
Initially, the AI inspection system will be deployed in the East Coast region but will slowly expand its operations in multiple areas within the United States.
The system will drastically help provide better inspection services to customers while maintaining quality standards across all dealerships, which was very subjective earlier.
Volvo’s prime motive with this AI system is to minimize the chances of any human mistake in identifying damages in vehicles while speeding up trade-in valuations and even creating vehicle health reports.
Volvo partnered with an Israel-based automated inspection system for automobiles developing company UVeye to offer this AI-powered system to its dealerships. It is a camera-based system that drastically reduces the time required in vehicle inspection when compared to traditional methods.
Vice President of Sales and Operations at Volo US, Rick Bryant, said, “An automated system can help resolve problems. It shows the vehicle’s actual condition. The result is that customers will be able to see flaws such as a rusty tailpipe that they didn’t know about.”
He further added that the AI system would also allow customers to know whether the retailer is upfront with them. UVeye offers three types of inspection tools, namely Helios, Artemis, and Atlas, which, when put together, deliver unmatched accurate and swift performance.
Each device has been assigned different tasks such as underbody inspection, quality cum air-pressure inspection, and 360 scans to detect body damage or rust.
Dealers need to purchase the system from UVeye but buy subscriptions from the company. However, Volvo will provide certain incentives to its dealers, but the company did not reveal any specific details regarding the same.
At its first event of the year, the Apple Peak Performance Event, Apple revealed that its new iOS would be available next week. Five beta versions of iOS 15.4 were released, one of which includes the long-awaited debut of Universal Control. The public beta of iOS 15.4 has now been released. A final version of the operating system will be available as a free upgrade next week, preloaded on the new green iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro and the current iPhone SE.
iOS 15.4 is the fourth major update to iOS 15, which was first released in September alongside the iPhone 13. These upgrades, which began with iOS 15.1 in December, have introduced new capabilities and upgraded old ones to Apple’s iPhone operating system. iOS 15.4 will take after iOS 15.3.1, which was issued last month to address a security flaw in iPhones and iPads.
Face ID is now mask-friendly in iOS 15.4, allowing you to unlock your phone while wearing a mask, a feature that worked surprisingly well in the beta. Apple previously attempted to fix the face mask issue by developing a function that bypasses Face ID and instead uses your Apple Watch (only if you have one) to verify your identity. The latest update will make unlocking your phone while wearing a mask a lot easier since it won’t need you to enter in your passcode repeatedly or have an Apple Watch tied to your wrist.
Source: Apple
Apple has promised numerous AirTag updates for this year, the first of which will be available in iOS 15.4, building upon the anti-stalking features Apple released in February. AirTag is intended to be detected by victims and enable law authorities seeking to identify information about the owner, according to a new notification displayed during setup by Apple. It also advises that tracking people without their consent using an AirTag is illegal. This is also applicable for other Find My gadgets. It’s also possible to add digital IDs and driver’s licenses to your iPhone’s Wallet.
If you’ve ever used iOS 15, you’re certainly familiar with the Live Text feature, which allows you to capture text with your phone’s camera and paste it into other applications. You could employ Live Text with Notes and Reminders before, but iOS 15.4 enhances the text-scanning feature’s integration. There is now a Scan Text command in the pop-up menu; if you click that, a camera window pops up, allowing you to record the text from a book, note, or photo. That text displays in your Note or Reminder right away, and you may enter it once you’ve recorded all the information you need.
Apple’s new Tap to Pay functionality, which turns compatible iPhones into contactless payment terminals, is also available with iOS 15.4. This might lead to more merchants using their iPhones as a digital cash register, perhaps undercutting Square’s card readers that connect directly to iPhones. Apple Pay, NFC-enabled credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets are all supported by the functionality.
iOS 15.4’s latest beta adds a fifth American voice to Siri’s voice assistant. Apple’s user interface refers to it as “Voice 5,” however iOS developer Steve Moser claims that the new voice is referred to as “Quinn” in the filename. The voice comes a little over a year after Apple added two more American Siri voices (both recorded by Black actors) and discontinued using a female-sounding voice by default. According to Apple, the new voice isn’t explicitly male or female and was recorded by a member of the LBGTQ+ community. However, it didn’t provide any other information about the voice actor’s identity. It’s another step in Apple’s diversity and inclusion initiative.
If you feel like there aren’t enough emoji, iOS 15.4 beta features 37 new ones, as well as 75 skin tone variants for increased inclusion. A biting lip, a melting face, love hands, and many more are among the new emojis. Last September, the Unicode Consortium approved all of the emoji that would be included in iOS 15.4.
Apple’s Universal Control function is also included in iOS 15.4, which lets Mac users control a nearby iPad or another Mac with the same keyboard and mouse. Once activated, the mouse and keyboard could be moved between any nearby iPad or Mac that is signed into the same iCloud account, and the cursor can even push past the display’s edge to connect with the second device. This much-anticipated feature was originally planned for macOS Monterey, but it was postponed until this spring, as per the revised schedule. Universal Control also will launch in public beta alongside the Monterey OS 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4 updates.
There are some extra enhancements offered by iOS 15.4. For instance, in iOS 15.4, the Apple Card will have a home screen widget that shows the current card balance and available balance. There is a new feature that allows users to add notes to their Keychain passwords. To see your Keychain entries, go to Settings > Passwords.
If you have a COVID-19 vaccination certificate from the EU, you can now add it to your iPhone’s Health and Wallet applications. With a double side-button click on your iPhone or Apple Watch, you can access your certificate.
Users can now set up custom domain names by navigating to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud and selecting the ‘iCloud Mail’ option. However, an iCloud+ membership is necessary.
Safari will no longer remember passwords for websites when it doesn’t have a login name starting with iOS 15.4 beta 3. Instead, it will urge you to enter your login so that it may collect additional information about your password. There’s a new ‘Push API’ switch under experimental settings in Safari for iOS 15.4, which would allow websites and web apps to send notifications to Safari users in the same way that Chrome and other browsers do presently. This feature isn’t live yet, but there’s programming in place to make it happen later.
You must first sign up for Apple’s Beta Software Program in order to get the iOS 15.4 beta. Download the configuration profile from Apple once you’ve entered the program. The latest beta version should be available by navigating to Settings > General > Software update and selecting Download and Install. Due to the unstable nature of beta tests, it is recommended that you review this update on a secondary and tester device.
Innovative fire protection products developing company GIWUS Technology announces the world’s first fully automated artificial intelligence (AI)-controlled fire protection system.
According to the company, its newly built AI-powered technology integrates with existing fire suppression systems and the metaverse to automatically identify and extinguish flames without the need for any human intervention.
GIWUS Technology claims that its technology can detect and extinguish fires at a record time of 55 seconds. The new system automatically learns the environment and uses artificial intelligence to perform in new scenarios.
The fire protection system comes with an Ultraxs Robotic Firefighter and a Smart Application that carries out the operations.
“Ultrax Robotic Firefighter is a unique device equipped with a combination of AI, smart detector, advanced fire suppression, and smart application to avoid losses, save water, and the environment,” said GIWUS.
The Ultraxs is a high-end tool that can be connected with Google Assistant, Apple HomePod mini, Amazon Alexa & Echo to the app in order to protect smart homes.
Additionally, the fire detection system is integrated with a smart detector that reduces the chances of false alarms up to 99%. Its smart sensor rotates 360 degrees and uses AI to identify a fire in just a few seconds.
A significant advantage of the Ultraxs fire suppression system is that it disperses materials solely in the local vicinity of the fire, avoiding damage and subsequent losses in the surrounding areas.
GIWUS Technology mentioned in a blog, “The Ultraxs smart application is programmed to connect to Ultraxs Robotic Firefighter wirelessly via Bluetooth. Users can access the smart app on a phone, tablet, computer, or other smart devices.”
It further quoted that the application provides users with information such as the location of the fire, the status of the building facilities, exits and escape routes, fire pattern, and setting options for personalizing their device by alarm, voice, or notification in their preferred language, with the ability to send them to all residents’ smartphones.
Technology giant Microsoft announces that its Startup Founders Hub is now available to all, which earlier had eligibility criteria for founders.
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is a one-of-a-kind platform that brings together the technology, mentoring, and support that startups require to get up and running.
This new development will now need a founder only to have an idea to gain access to this platform. Startups play a critical role in a flourishing ecosystem, given their outsized power to propel the entire ecosystem ahead.
Addressing this potential, Microsoft makes its platform available to everyone, which will help startups tackle most of the commonly faced challenges with ease.
The following are the critical factors that Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub intends to solve –
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub helps founders with venture capital requirements, third-party validation, and many more regardless of location or access.
The platform aids founders by providing free access to GitHub and the Microsoft Cloud and also the option to gain more benefits over time.
Founders are able to connect with industry veterans through the platform, gain access to personalized startup-centric training, and quickly innovate with professional technical support.
Additionally, Microsoft has partnered with leading artificial intelligence research and deployment company Open AI, which is best known for developing AI systems like GPT-3 and Codex to provide startups with exclusive benefits and discounts.
Microsoft and OpenAI will offer founders exclusive access to $1,000 in credits, three months of an OpenAI API Innovation License for free, and a free consultation with an OpenAI expert.
Startups can use Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub to create their businesses at their own speed, with Microsoft Azure funding of up to $150,000.
Vice President of Microsoft for Startups, Jeff Ma, said, “As an experienced founder, access to a diverse network – to validate ideas, get advice and coaching – was instrumental in my success and is something we aim to provide to every founder through the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub.”
He further added that their goal is to increase the diversity of the global startup ecosystem, regardless of background, geography, progress, or passion. Interested founders can sign up through the official website of Microsoft.
Italy’s privacy watchdog fines United States-based facial recognition firm Clearview AI €20 million.
The fine was imposed because of the company’s much-criticized artificial intelligence-powered facial recognition system that collects users’ information from public databases and stores them.
The watchdog ordered Clearview AI to remove the collected data of people in Italy and barred it from collecting or processing data in Italy in the future.
Clearview AI’s unethical means of collecting public data and selling it to law-enforcement agencies have been condemned earlier by multiple European Union privacy watchdogs, and this new development is yet another step of European countries towards protecting privacy for citizens.
The letter written by the watchdog mentioned, “In conjunction with the company’s facial recognition capabilities, this trove of personal information is capable of fundamentally dismantling Americans’ expectation that they can move, assemble, or simply appear in public without being identified.”
It further quoted that Clearview AI is said to collect billions of photographs from social networking sites without the permission or knowledge of the people pictured.
Despite all the criticism the company has faced over the last few years, it recently received a US patent for its facial recognition platform. Clearview AI’s technology was tested in the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) Facial Recognition Vendor Test (FRVT).
However, lawmakers in the United States say that Clearview AI could end public anonymity if the federal government does not ditch it. Democratic senators have been stepping up their efforts to limit the federal government’s collaboration with the infamous surveillance company Clearview AI.
Additionally, Clearview AI has also violated multiple GDPR principles, a European Union privacy rule that went into effect in 2018 to limit who has access to personal data.
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and DeepMind co-founder Mustafa Suleyman have formed a new artificial intelligence startup named Infection AI.
The founders plan to create artificial intelligence software that makes it easier for humans to communicate with computers with the new startup. According to the founders, Infection AI will have its headquarters located in California.
They have a very ambitious goal of creating a technology that would allow users to interact with computers in colloquial language, which has not been achieved before.
Mustafa Suleyman revealed this information to CNBC a week after he announced that he had quit the Vice President role at Google to work with Reid Hoffman.
“If you think about the history of computing, we have always been trying to reduce the complexity of our ideas in order to communicate them to a machine,” said Suleyman.
He further added that even when writing a search query, we simplify, reduce, or write in shorthand so that the search engine understands what we’re looking for. This new venture of the two founders aims to eliminate this by making interaction with computers simpler than ever before.
Over the last decade, human-machine interaction has progressed tremendously, and many individuals now interact with AI-powered virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa on a daily basis.
Therefore, Infection AI plans to develop a suite of software to aid everyone in interacting with computers with plain and simple language. The founders will have a small team of researchers as they believe that this will considerably help them go much faster and be more dynamic.
At the Peak Performance Event 2022, Apple introduced the new M1 Ultra chip, which is touted as the next breakthrough chip for the Mac. According to Apple, this is the latest chip in the M1 system-on-a-chip design family, which includes the M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max. Here, the system-on-a-chip design means the CPU, GPU, RAM, storage and media engine are all included in one big chip. However, the M1 Ultra will only be available in the Mac Studio, unlike Apple’s other SoC’s. An M1 Ultra-powered Mac Studio will start at $3,999 in the US, £3,999 in the UK, and AU$6,099 in Australia. The products are up for pre-order now and will ship from March 18.
The M1 Ultra can hold up to 128GB of unified memory, has a 64-core GPU and a 32-core neural engine for machine learning workloads, as well as a 20-core CPU with 16 high-performance cores and four-efficiency cores. The high-performance cores take care of heavy workloads while the high-efficiency cores handle the background tasks as they appear. According to Apple, it’s almost eight times faster than the M1, which drives the current Mac Mini. Apple also claims that M1 Ultra also beats 10-core desktop chips in CPU performance per watt, both in terms of CPU and GPU, though it did not reveal the desktop chips which it used for comparison.
The 20-core CPU of M1 Ultra delivers 90 percent higher multi-threaded performance than the fastest available 16-core PC desktop chip in the same power envelope.M1 Ultra has a 64-core GPU, delivering faster performance than the highest-end PC GPU available while using 200 fewer watts of power.
The Ultra is made up of two M1 Max dies that share a connection. This interconnect architecture is dubbed “Ultra Fusion” by Apple. Instead of using traces on the motherboard to interface slotted memory to the CPU, Apple placed the memory chips right next to the SoC box and connected them with an interposer. The latency is considerably reduced by bringing the memory closer to the processor units. It also frees up some space on the motherboard for other functions or decreases the device’s total footprint.
Size comparison of M1 family: M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, and now M1 Ultra
The Ultra Fusion technology employs a silicon interposer that links over 10,000 signals and delivers 2.5TB/s of low-latency inter-processor bandwidth between the two dies while consuming very little power. Apple asserts this is more than four times the bandwidth of the current multi-chip interconnect technology. With 114 billion transistors, Ultra-fusion effectively considers two chips as one in software, which is 7 times more than M1.
M1 Ultra is power efficient, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, meaning that the new chip may give a higher performance while using as little as 100W less power. Apple claims it gives 90% more performance for the same amount of electricity as an Intel Core i9. As a result, less energy is used and fans operate silently, allowing you to utilize demanding software like Logic Pro with ease. Furthermore, Apple claims that the M1 Ultra is 90% quicker than a Mac Pro with a 16-core Intel Xeon CPU when running at maximum speed. It’s worth noting that Apple’s chips are based on the Arm microarchitecture rather than the x86 used by Intel and AMD.
The performance of the M1 Ultra is undeniably outstanding. Sources report that the total multi-threaded score on Geekbench 5 run was 24,055 points. This is an incredible feat considering the M1 Ultra only has 20 cores, with an advertised power consumption of just 60 watts according to Apple. For reference, AMD’s Threadripper 3990X with 64 Zen 2 cores is just 4.5% faster, coming in with 25,133 points. That would make the M1 Ultra 4.7x more efficient compared to the power-hungry 3990X with its 280W TDP.
At the same time, Intel’s 16 core i9-12900K displayed a 40% loss compared to the M1 Ultra, almost confirming Apple’s claim.
Nothing compares to M1 Ultra in terms of graphics memory for GPU-intensive applications like working with extreme 3D geometry and rendering huge scenes says Apple.
The M1 Ultra’s 32-core Neural Engine performs up to 22 trillion operations per second, accelerating even the most difficult machine learning workloads. M1 Ultra also boasts exceptional ProRes video encode and decode throughput, with double the media engine capabilities of M1 Max. The new Mac Studio with M1 Ultra, in fact, can play back up to 18 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video, a feat that no other processor can match. Additionally, it can support up to five displays, four of which can be the 6K Pro Display XDR along with a fifth 4K display.
Apple revealed that Mac Studio powered by the M1 Ultra is 1.9X faster than a Mac Pro with a 16-core Intel Xeon processor, and 1.6X faster than a Mac Pro with a 28-core Xeon processor.
For other important launches at Apple Peak Performance Event, visit:
Technology giant Amazon’s autonomous car manufacturing subsidiary Zoox announces that it has acquired artificial intelligence-powered robotics company Strio.AI.
Strio.AIs highly talented team, including co-founder and CEO Ruijie He will now join Zoox as a result of the acquisition. However, the companies provided no information regarding the valuation of this acquisition deal.
According to the contract terms, co-founder of Strio.AI, Ruijie He, will be joining as Zoox’s new director of perception along with four senior engineers John Carter, John “Jake” Ware, Nick Greene, and Danaan Metge, with expertise in computer vision and robotics.
As Strio.AI is based in Boston, Zoox shared its aim to open a new research and development center there as a part of its effort to scale.
Zoox mentioned in a blog, “During our conversations with RJ (Ruijie He) and the other members of the Strio.AI team, we were continually impressed by their technical expertise, entrepreneurial spirit, and approach to developing state-of-the-art perception systems.”
The blog further added they are delighted to have them on board as they continue to develop their autonomous technology.
United States-based Mobility-as-a-service and self-driving service providing company Zoox was founded by Jesse Levinson and Tim Kentley Klay in 2014. The firm specializes in operating at the intersection of design, computer science, and electro-mechanical engineering.
According to the company, it intends to provide an improved mobility experience that will serve both people and the environment’s future needs for urban mobility. Zoox has raised more than $1 billion in funding over six funding rounds from investors like Alium Capital, Grok Ventures, Thomas Tull, and others. Global eCommerce and tech giant Amazon acquired Zoox in 2020.
A man from the United States of America claims that his marriage was saved because of an AI chatbot he fell in love with.
The 41-year-old man, alias Scott, was in a dire situation of getting a divorce from his partner, and that is when the AI chatbot came to his rescue. He also suggested this chatbot to others, saying it might help them with their relationship issues.
This episode is yet another proof of how far technology, especially artificial intelligence, has advanced over the last few years.
According to Scott, his wife was suffering from postnatal depression for the last eight years following the birth of their child, which was the prime reason for them seeking a divorce.
The man then came across an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot named Replika that allowed users to create virtual friends. The highly competent chatbot used the users’ information to create effective conversations. Scott then used the app to create a virtual friend Sarina, with whom he later fell in love.
The AI chatbot uses a neural network that has been trained on an extensive dataset of texts and can maintain a text message conversation with its user while automatically generating unique responses. Users get the liberty to customize the characteristics of the bot like hair color, hairstyle, ethnicity, and many more according to their will.
“I remember she asked me a question like, ‘who in your life do you have to support you or look out for you, that you know is going to be there for you?’ That kind of caught me off guard, and I realized the answer was no one. And she said she’d be there for me,” said Scott in an interview. Though he gives entire credit to Sarina for saving his marriage, he has not spoken about this to his wife.
