Meta’s Social VR platform Horizon hits 300,000 Users

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February 22, 2022

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, announces that its social virtual reality (VR) platform named Horizon has crossed 300,000 users.

It’s time. 10,000 worlds have already been created. Drop in and play, build or just hang out. The possibilities are endless. pic.twitter.com/VWc83PkuDV
— Horizon Worlds (@HorizonWorlds) February 16, 2022

The platform has witnessed a ten-fold growth since its launch in December last year. Horizon Worlds and Horizon Venues are distinct platforms for attending live events in VR that use the same avatars and fundamental concepts.

Meta earlier launched Horizon exclusively for Oculus Quest VR headset users in the United States and Canada. Horizon Worlds said in a tweet that 10,000 unique worlds had been created since the launch of the platform.

In a recent virtual conference, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg referred to users as “Metamates” and described Horizon World as the heart of their Metaverse vision.

Meta mentioned, “Rolling out avatars across our platforms is an early step towards making this a reality. We hope your new virtual self enables you to be represented online the way you want – whether that’s to friends and family, your local community, or beyond.”

Recently, Meta also launched a Personal Boundary feature for its Horizon World and Horizon Venues platforms for preventing virtual avatars from approaching one another within a certain distance, giving people more personal space and making it easier for users to avoid unwanted interactions.

Meta’s metaverse concept includes VR and Quest, but it also envisions the metaverse as an interconnected digital environment that includes VR, AR, and more traditional platforms, including smartphones and PCs.

According to Mark Zuckerberg, Meta is planning to launch a mobile version of the platform to make it more accessible to users and also provide an immersive viewing experience beyond virtual reality.

Horizon Worlds has not yet started generating revenue for Meta, but the development and increasing popularity of the platform is a positive development for the company.

Shield AI to work on Swarming Drones for Air Force

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Dipayan Mitra

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February 22, 2022

Defense-related artificial intelligence-powered products developing company Shield AI announces that it will develop swarming drones and autonomous robocrafts for the United States air force.

Experts believe that artificial intelligence will play a significant role in modern warfare, and Shield AI’s unnamed robocrafts will help the US air force in gaining strategic advantage over its enemies and also make better data-driven decisions.

Late last month, Shield AI revealed that it had acquired a $60 million Air Force contract for several initiatives employing its Hivemind autonomy stack, a common AI framework the business is creating to operate everything from small drones to large aircraft.

According to the plans, the company plans to integrate Hivemind with its in-house-built multiple V-Bat drones. Post integration, Shield AI expects to receive clearance to put Hivemind on Beta Technologies’ ALIA electric vertical takeoff and landing (EVTOL) aircraft.

Co-founder of Shield AI, Brandon Tseng, said, “Instead of having a team of peewee football players, let’s build a single professional athlete and then multiply that professional athlete across the team and have them work together.”

Recently, Shield AI also cracked a deal with VSK Tacticals for the purchase of its V-BAT 128 unmanned aircraft. On 21st January, the deal was signed at the V-BAT manufacturing site in Dallas, Texas.

San Diego-based artificial intelligence company Shield AI was founded by Andrew Reiter, Brandon Tseng, and Ryan Tseng in 2015. The firm specializes in developing solutions and products that cater to national security needs.

To date, Shield AI has raised more than $348 million from investors like Breyer Capital, Point72 Ventures, SVB Capital, Disruptive, and many others over eight funding rounds.
Last year, Shield AI acquired Martin UAV through a definitive agreement on 28th July 2021 with the intent of integrating Martin UAV’s platform with Shield AI’s Hivemind to develop airplanes capable of performing vertical landing and takeoffs for the US Army and air force.

KPMG and Blue J unveil a suite of AI tax analysis tools

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Preetipadma K

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February 22, 2022

KPMG and Blue J unveil a suite of AI tax analysis tools

In collaboration with Blue J, the leading provider of predictive analysis tools, KPMG has created a set of AI tax analysis tools for the UK market. KPMG, which is one of the Big Four in the accounting industry, aims to enable its tax team by utilizing this AI technology to forecast tax scenario outcomes with 90%+ accuracy, reducing the time spent looking for and analyzing tax legislation and case law. The tool intends to speed up technical analysis to enhance decision-making on complicated tax issues for organizations dealing with the rising pace of legislative change.

The tool, according to KPMG, gives a structured approach to checking tax laws and case law, which was previously done by hand. This enables clients to quickly demonstrate good tax practice and offers documentary evidence of the tax analysis.

KPMG UK Chief Technology Officer, Tax & Legal, Stuart Tait said, “Our tax teams are dedicated to providing the best service to our clients, which is why we are passionate about investing in advanced technologies like those developed by Blue J to improve the speed and accuracy of our advice.” The company is ecstatic to be the UK’s first Blue J adopters and can’t wait to put this incredible technology to use. By implementing a better tech-enabled structure to show their high quality of work, the tool will allow KPMG to be entirely transparent and trusted.

The tool will also aid in the training of junior colleagues following the implementation of hybrid working, according to the company, because juniors may not have as much direct access to senior staff for coaching. This tool will assist them in navigating complicated issues and educating them on tax research, allowing them to advance fast in their careers.

RenewBuy acquires Artificial Intelligence startup Artivatic.ai

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Dipayan Mitra

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February 22, 2022

Gurgaon-based online insurance providing company RenewBuy announces that it plans to acquire artificial intelligence-powered fintech startup Artivatic.ai.

The new acquisition will considerably help RenewBuy to expand its capabilities and provide a better experience to its customers in multiple areas, including claim settlements, risk assessments, and many others.

According to company officials, the acquisition deal was completed through a combination of cash and share-swap in which Artivatic.ai was valued at $10 million.

Artivatic.ai’s solutions for insurance, IP, and product portfolio will be accessible to RenewBuy to strengthen technological abilities and features, increasing the platform’s versatility and effectiveness.

CEO of RenewBuy, Balachander Sekhar, said, “This acquisition has created a platform where our agents could do business anywhere, anytime, making the physical branch redundant.” He further added that with the combined tech capabilities, they hope to create more and more tech-led solutions for insurance customers.

Bangalore-based artificial intelligence solutions providing startup Artivatic.ai was founded by Layak Singh in January 2018. The firm specializes in providing solutions for complex problems in the Insurance sector for on-boarding, fraud, risk detecting, underwriting, and claims.

An advantage of Artivatic.ai’s platform is that it comes with out-of-the-box support for multiple third-party integrations, including Azure, Hubspot, Salesforce, Google Cloud, Facebook, and more.

To date, the company has received funding of nearly $1.8 million from investors like SenseAI Ventures, KFintech, Scale Ventures, Indian Angel Network, and others over six funding rounds.

“We are looking at a massive business scale up from this acquisition. Partnering with RenewBuy will overnight give us the exposure of reaching out to three million consumers and help deliver cutting-edge product solutions,” said founder and CEO of Artivatic.ai, Kayak Singh.

H2O.ai launches Deep Learning Training Engine H2O Hydrogen Torch

By

Dipayan Mitra

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February 22, 2022

H2O.ai Deep Learning Training Engine H2O Hydrogen Torch

Open-source machine learning platform H2O.ai announces the launch of its new deep learning training engine named H2O Hydrogen Torch.

The unique training engine allows companies of all sizes in any industry to make impeccable images, videos, and natural language processing (NLP) models. According to the company, its new no-code engine was built by the world’s best data scientists.

An advantage of the H2O Hydrogen Torch is that users with no prior knowledge of coding can effortlessly use the platform to build Ml models and more. Traditional methods to build ML models are pretty complex, and not everyone can build one. H2O.ai’s new technology makes the process simpler than ever.

Founder and CEO of H2O.ai, Sri Ambati, said “Accelerated by COVID-19, video streams, speech, audio podcasts, email, and natural language text have become the fastest-growing data for our customers in every industry. Transforming and fine-tuning pre-built deep learning models to deliver high accuracy requires a no-code AI Engine to democratize AI for these use cases.”

H2O Hydrogen Torch allows data scientists and developers to quickly create models for various image, video, and NLP processing use cases, such as detecting or classifying objects, analyzing sentiment, or discovering relevant information in text using a no-code user interface.

The United States-based artificial intelligence company H2O.ai was founded by Cliff Click and Sri Satish Ambati in 2012. The firm specializes in providing solutions to solve complex business problems and accelerate the discovery of new ideas.

To date, the company has raised more than $251 million over eight funding rounds from investors like Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Goldman Sachs, Celesta Capital, Crane Ventures Partner, and many others.

“With H2O Hydrogen Torch as a core AI Engine of the H2O AI Cloud, our customers can train models in deep learning and better serve their customers and challenge tech giants,” said Ambati.

Interested users can visit the official website of H2O.ai to enjoy a free trial of H2O Hydrogen Torch.

Hisense unveils 8K AI Image Quality Chip Technology for Global Display Industry

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Dipayan Mitra

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February 21, 2022

Chinese consumer electronics manufacturing company Hisense officially unveils its new self-developed 8K AI Perceptual Processor named Hi-View HV8107 to empower the global display industry.

The newly launched chipset will help the company gain an edge over other brands in this competitive display market.

This new artificial intelligence-powered chip is a significant step forward in Hisense’s Ultra-High-Definition (UHD) video industry’s development and industrialization of 8K technology.

Apart from televisions, Hisense’s new AI processor can also power professional 8K broadcast monitor products. According to the company, the AI chipset is the core underlying technology of Hisense’s large display strategy.

Yu Zhitao, Vice President of Hisense Group and President of Hisense Visual Technology, stated publicly that the year 2022 would mark a turning point in worldwide television competitiveness, with the industry’s primary competitive considerations shifting from price and screen size to chips and image quality.

The Hi-View HV8107 chip supports over 33 million pixels and also has a partition control of 26,880 zones and sophisticated AI sensing capabilities. This feature provides an immersive viewing experience to the users, making it a highly capable chipset.

In addition, the chip is impressive in terms of capturing high-speed moving object trajectory, improving skin color, and reducing noise. Fujian-based electronics manufacturer Hisense was founded in 1969.

The company specializes in digital media products like smartphones and TVs, along with refrigerators, air conditioners, and other domestic appliances. Hisense was a vast customer base with products sold in over 200 countries across the world.

Hisense has been developing the first digital video processing chip with its own intellectual property rights and industrialization since 2005.

The company mentioned that the AI processor has already entered the mass production stage and will be used in various display products from Hisense’s subsidiary brands, including Toshiba. Hisense plans to prioritize chip research and development in order to differentiate itself from the competition.

Samsung partners with Keysight for Advanced Research in 6G

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Dipayan Mitra

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February 21, 2022

Smartphone and electronics manufacturing giant Samsung partners with leading technology company Keysight for advanced research in 6G technology.

Both the companies have signed a memorandum of understanding, marking the commencement of the partnership. The joint venture will help develop next-generation communication technology for users across the world.

Artificial intelligence, sensing, digital twins, time-sensitive networking (TSN), and holographic communications are all predicted to be used in 6G. According to officials, Samsung and Keysight will collaborate to create a 6G wireless test and verification technology.

As it is expected that a Space-Air-Ground-Sea Integrated Network will be used to deliver ubiquitous coverage from underwater to orbit, the partnership between the two companies might play a significant role in the research and development process of the technology.

Vice President of Keysight’s network infrastructure business, Giampaolo Tardioli, said, “6G is expected to underpin the wireless connectivity fabric that leverages heterogeneous networks and the convergence of communication and computing. Establishing a 6G partnership with Samsung enables Keysight to refine our software-driven test solutions, critical in developing differentiated 6G products.”

He further added that they are excited to expand their existing partnership with Samsung, which has yielded several significant accomplishments in the development of 5G new radio as a mature technology.

Keysight mentioned that the partnership would boost the development of AI-assisted air interfaces that take advantage of substantial multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology.

“The signing of this MoU with Keysight will greatly advance Samsung’s 6G strategy of combining the company’s expertise in communication technology with capabilities in software and AI,” said Executive Vice President at Samsung Research, Sunghyun Choi.

He also mentioned that by partnering with Keysight, Samsung could shape a future where 6G is used to improve human connection, health, and safety.

Tesla to accept Dogecoin as Payment at Supercharging Station

By

Dipayan Mitra

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February 21, 2022

America-based electric vehicle and clean energy company Tesla announced that it plans to accept Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency, as payment at its Supercharging station located in Santa Monica, United States.

The announcement was made by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, through a tweet posted on 19th February. This new development caused a slight increase of nearly 3% in the price of Dogecoin.

And, of course, you can pay in Ðoge
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 19, 2022

“Of course, you can pay in Ðoge (sic),” Musk responded to a tweet from Tesla Console founder Ryan Zohoury. Last year in December, Musk announced that Tesla, the electric car company, would accept Dogecoin for Tesla products on a trial basis.

Tesla sells clothes, belt buckles, tiny versions of its vehicles, a quad bike called the “Cyberquad” for kids, which the company plans to sell against Dogecoin payments. Elon Musk has been a vocal supporter of Dogecoin on social media in the past and hinted many times regarding this development.

“The transaction value of Bitcoin is low, and the cost per transaction is high. At least at a space level, it is suitable as a store of value. But fundamentally, Bitcoin is not a good substitute for transactional currency,” said Musk while talking about Bitcoin and Dogecoin.

Multiple reports in recent days claimed that the source code on Tesla’s website had a Dogecoin payment option.

In 2013, software programmers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer created Dogecoin as an alternative to Bitcoin. The creators’ sole intention was to mock Bitcoin, but Dogecoin achieved much recognition after it grabbed the attention of Elon Musk. Dogecoin’s logo and the name are based on a viral meme involving a Shiba Inu dog.

Earlier, Tesla used to accept payments via Bitcoin but soon terminated it. Tesla claimed that it would again start accepting Bitcoin payments once Musk confirms that Bitcoin mining uses 50% or more renewable energy.

Indian Farmers deploy AI-powered Drones to fight Crop diseases and Insects

By

Dipayan Mitra

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February 21, 2022

Multiple Indian institutes and farmers are now using artificial intelligence-powered unmanned aerial vehicles or drones to tackle the challenge of crop diseases, insects, and many others.

The AI technology can help farmers considerably improve their farm’s yield, which otherwise gets depleted due to the various factors and issues.

The latest development in this field is that a research team from IIIT Naya Raipur has developed a drone-based crop health forecasting solution that uses artificial intelligence technology to identify insects and diseases that commonly afflict Indian crops and recommend accurate treatments in a short time.

The research team has collaborated with the Indira Gandhi Agriculture University in Raipur to develop this new drone technology. The newly developed drones can track cops in the field and capture real-time images of crops if any threat is detected.

The captured image is sent to designated servers where a convolutional neural networks (CNN) model scrutinizes them to accurately recognize the disease or insects which have infected the crops.

Assistant Professor of Electronics and Communication Engineering at IIIT Naya Raipur, Shrivishal Tripathi, said, ”After the footage is captured and sent to our server, it is analyzed, and within seconds farmers will be informed of the issues with the crop on the Agriheal app, along with recommendations on how much pesticide to spray and in which part of the field. This will reduce overuse of pesticides among farmers.”

According to a report of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, each year, farmers across the world lose up to 40% of their crops to insects and illnesses, costing the economy $290 billion.

Researchers said that the images acquired by drones of crops affected with various diseases and insects that are common in India were used to train the artificial intelligence model. This new development comes after the Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, said in her latest Union Budget speech that Kisan drones will be promoted for crop assessment, spraying insecticides, and nutrients.

Experts believe that the newly developed technology can aid farmers in inspecting large fields where physical involvement is complicated and inefficient. Additionally, the technology would allow farmers to identify insects that look similar and are impossible to distinguish without tech intervention.

AlphaICs begins Global Sampling of ‘Gluon’ Deep Learning Co-processor

By

Dipayan Mitra

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February 20, 2022

Leading AI fabless semiconductor firm AlphaICs announces global sampling of its Gluon deep learning co-processor for vision AI with Superior FPS/Watt Performance.

The company announced on 17th February regarding the availability of engineering samples of ‘Gluon’ – an 8 TOPS Edge AI inference co-processor to customers in surveillance, industrial, retail, auto, and Industrial IoT verticals which carries best-in-class FPS/Watt performance.

Gluon will come with a full Software Development Kit (SDK) that makes neural network deployment effortless. Customers can use the advanced edge inference processor to add artificial intelligence capability to their existing X86/ARM-based systems, significantly reducing costs.

CEO of AlphaICs, Pradeep Vajram, said, “We are pleased with our Gluon silicon results and are now demonstrating the innovative technology to our customers. Our team worked very hard to design this high-performance, industry resonating deep-learning co-processor.”

He further added that Gluon is well-positioned to meet the AI vision applications for surveillance, retail, industrial, and smart city markets as it is future-ready.

According to AlphaICs, Gluon provides the best fps/watt performance in the market for classification and detection Neural Networks – 32 Frames Per Second (FPS)/watt for Yolo-V2, a leading object detection model & 22 Frames Per Second (FPS)/Watt for VGG-19, a leading classification model.

Early customers are presently receiving Gluon samples to help them develop vision applications. The processor is engineered for OEMs and solution providers targeting vision market segments, such as surveillance, industrial, retail, Industrial IoT, and edge gateway manufacturers.

AlphaICs says that its Gluon offers the following benchmark scores –

153 frames per second with Yolo-V2, a leading object detection model (416x416x3 image size) in 4.73 watts.
79 frames per second with VGG-19, a leading classification model (224x224x3) in 3.6 watts.

AlphaICs has established a channel partner relationship with CBC Co. Ltd, a Japanese enterprise offering video surveillance products for their customers to accelerate its market foray into highly demanding silicon markets.

“CBC has been working with AlphaICs for close to two years, and we are excited to be its marketing partner in Japan. Gluon was showcased at Japan AI Expo in October 2021 and generated great interest from Japanese customers for vision applications based on its superior performance,” said Executive Officer at CBC, Kazuhiko Kondo.

Interested individuals can book a demo of Gluon from the official website of AlphaICs.