Tech Tango: Drones, AI, and the Dance of Tomorrow! šš¼
Tech Tango: Drones, AI, and the Dance of Tomorrow! šš¼
Join us for a whirlwind tour through the quirky world of tech, where drone dreams crash, AI sparks debates, and innovation keeps us on our toes!
The Thin Wisps of Tomorrow
There Goes Your Drone ā Remember the days when drone delivery was all the rage? I distinctly recall sitting in the audience at a National Retail Federation event when a Walmart exec excitedly narrated a promo video showing one of the companyās drones delivering ketchup to a backyard BBQ (yep, if that sounds stupid, you might not be wrong). Turns outāthat vision didnāt quite pan out: The retail giant just shut down its pilot in three states as it wasnāt āsustainable.ā Shocking. (link ā)
A Tale of Two Companies āĀ COVID-darling Zoom just announced that they raised the limit of participants in a single call to a staggering 1 million viewers (after the Harris/Walz fundraisers across the US broke Zoom records (link ā)). Meanwhile, Microsoftās competitor Teams proudly announced that their app finally allows for your private and work accounts to be used by a single appāpreviously, you needed to have two versions of Teams installed to separate your personal from your work calls (link ā). I guess that tells you everything you need to know about Zoom and Teams.
Not Everybody Loves AI āĀ The CEO of the popular iPad illustration app Procreate doesnāt mince his words when it comes to the use of AI in the creative process and the prospect of using AI inside Procreate: āI really f*cking hate generative AI.ā As bold a statement as this might beāit makes me wonder if this is truly a long-term viable strategy. My bet is that we see AI-enhanced tools (such as Adobeās suite of products) proliferate and artists become more discerning about when and how to use these tools as they learn their pros and cons. In the end, no artist in their right mind would draw a curve by hand and not use the Bezier tool in their favorite graphics program. (link ā)
AI = Accusation Inadvertent ā A journalist, reporting on cases of child molestation and husbands cheating on their wives, gets falsely reported by Microsoftās Copilot AI as the perpetrator, instead of merely a reporter. A case that might make you shake your headābut also a dire consequence (and good reminder) of the fact that GenAI simply has no actual understanding of context. (link ā)
AI Speaks āĀ As much as the latest voice models are all the rage (from crazy-good and thus super-scary deepfakes to ChatGPTās new voice mode which, as the company warns, might make you fall in love with it (link ā)), there is another use case for AI in combination with voice that is truly life-changing: Brain-to-Speech. Recently, a patient with ALS gained access to speech by implanting sensors in his brain, hooking them up to an AI system, and pairing it with a text-to-speech interface. Amazing! (link ā)
Thereās An AI ā Still looking for a specific AI tool or just confused about which one to use? Here is a nifty website with a curated list of the best AI tools out there. (link ā) And if you are interested in or concerned about the risk AI poses to you, your business, and society, the AI Risk Repository is a comprehensive database cataloging everything that could go wrong. (link ā)
Thereās a Deepfake ā It might be ironic (or divine justice depending on whom you ask), but the most deepfaked scammer on the Internet is free-speech absolutist Elon Musk. This WSJ article goes into the details of how scammers approach their āworkā and shows, with examples, how good deepfakes have become. You truly shouldnāt trust anything you see or hear on the Internet anymore. (link ā)
Thereās Another Deepfake ā Google introduced some truly outstanding AI features with their latest Pixel line of phones. As cool as it may be that you can remove that pesky tourist from the otherwise perfect shot of your dog on the beach, or have a hot air balloon magically appear in your landscape shot of the Alps, it can also lead to some very, very concerning results when used for things like fabricating images of accidents, terror attacks, violence, or drug use. As The Verge concludes: āWe are f***ed.ā (link ā)
There Once Was a Job ā More than pretty much any other area, AI is taking over software development. Which isnāt too surprising, given that AI systems are built by software developers, and that demographic is particularly fond of creating automations for themselves. In a recent internal session, Matt Garman, Amazon Web Servicesā CEO, expressed the strong opinion that soon most code will be written by AI. Which makes you wonder where the education darling of the late 2010s, the coding bootcamp, will go? (link ā)
What We Are Reading
š Should Your Company Build An Open Or Closed Ecosystem? From coffee makers to electric cars, the battle between open and closed ecosystems is reshaping industries, challenging companies to strike a delicate balance between innovation, control, and strategic differentiation. @Jane
š The US Lays Out A Road Safety Plan That Will See Cars ātalkā To Each Other The DOTās next bet: Deploying vehicle-to-everything tech (V2X) that enables vehicles to stay in touch with each other as well as pedestrians, cyclists, and other road users in an effort to reduce roadway fatalities. @Mafe
āļø Competing In Search Unpacking the recent court ruling against Google in the larger context of the āsearch warsā raises a lot of interesting questions that, for the most part, still await clear answers. @Jeffrey
š¦ Business-in-a-box 2.0 At a time when more people want to start a business and technology makes it incredibly feasible, itās only logical that the opportunities to meet that demand are plenty. In addition to the long-established niche SaaS companies, ābusiness-in-a-boxā providers are offering new holistic suites to make it even easier ā for everyone. @Julian
š½ļø āKuchisabishiiā Is The Japanese Word That Explains Why Weāre Eating Mindlessly Thereās no direct English equivalent, but āpeckishā comes close to this unique Japanese word that embodies mindless eating, but itās much more about the actual action than the feeling of hunger. @Pedro
š° Roblox Is Already The Biggest Game In The World. Why Canāt It Make A Profit (and How Can It)? You know Roblox, right? Your kids may play it (or play in it)ābut did you know how insanely big it is? If there is a Metaverse, it is, without a doubt, Roblox. And yet, the company isnāt making money. @Pascal
The Fun Stuff
šŗ Tired of algorithm-curated recommendations? Hereās a handy Netflix hack: a comprehensive list of all categories, neatly linked for easy browsing. (link ā)