Good morning! This is your daily ☕️ Techpresso.
On this day, 21 years ago, Pioneer 10, an interstellar probe now among the furthest human-made objects, last made contact on its journey towards the star Aldebaran which it would reach in 2 million years assuming the star did not move.
In today's Techpresso:
🎮 Disney unveils its latest VR innovation
🩸 Samsung races Apple to develop blood sugar monitor that doesn't break skin
🤔 Amazon fined for 'excessive' surveillance of workers
🤖 AI too expensive to replace humans in jobs right now, MIT study finds
⚛️ Microsoft just hired a 'director of nuclear development acceleration'
🎁 + 9 other news you might like
🔮 + 4 handpicked research papers and tools
🎮 Disney unveils its latest VR innovationLINK
Disney Research introduced HoloTile, an innovative movement solution for VR, featuring omnidirectional floor tiles that keep users from walking off the pad.
The HoloTile system supports multiple users simultaneously, allowing independent walking in virtual environments.
Although still a research project, HoloTile's future application may be in Disney Parks VR experiences due to likely high costs and technical challenges.
🩸 Samsung races Apple to develop blood sugar monitor that doesn't break skinLINK
Samsung Electronics Co. is developing noninvasive blood glucose and continuous blood pressure monitoring technologies, competing with rivals like Apple Inc.
The company plans to expand health tracking capabilities across various devices, including a Galaxy Ring with health sensors slated for release before the end of 2024.
Samsung's noninvasive glucose monitoring endeavors and blood pressure feature improvements aim to offer consumers a comprehensive health tracking experience without frequent calibration.
🤔 Amazon fined for 'excessive' surveillance of workersLINK
France's data privacy watchdog, CNIL, levied a $35 million fine on Amazon France Logistique for employing a surveillance system deemed too intrusive for tracking warehouse workers.
The CNIL ruled against Amazon's detailed monitoring of employee scanner inactivity and excessive data retention, which contravenes GDPR regulations.
Amazon disputes the CNIL's findings and may appeal, defending its practices as common in the industry and as tools for maintaining efficiency and safety.
🤖 AI too expensive to replace humans in jobs right now, MIT study findsLINK
The MIT study found that artificial intelligence is not currently a cost-effective replacement for humans in 77% of jobs, particularly those using computer vision.
Although AI deployment in industries has accelerated, only 23% of workers could be economically replaced by AI, mainly due to high implementation and operational costs.
Future projections suggest that with improvements in AI accuracy and reductions in data costs, up to 40% of visually-assisted tasks could be automated by 2030.
⚛️ Microsoft just hired a 'director of nuclear development acceleration'LINK
Microsoft has hired Erin Henderson as the Director of Nuclear Development Acceleration to explore nuclear energy for powering data centers amidst rising AI-induced energy demands.
Henderson brings experience from the Tennessee Valley Authority and aims to create a strategy for small modular reactors (SMRs) for Microsoft's global data centers.
The company's collaboration with Terra Praxis on AI models aims to streamline the nuclear regulatory process, indicating a strategic move towards nuclear energy.
Other news you might like
Alphabet is downsizing its X division, focusing on spinning out projects as startups and aligning resources to top product priorities amidst broader cost-cutting efforts.LINK
MrBeast said he made $260,000 from posting one video on X but called it a 'facade'.LINK
Google's next AI update for Gmail could let you ask it to write emails with your voice.LINK
The "Mother of All Breaches" exposed 26 billion records from platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn, posing serious risks of identity theft and cyberattacks.LINK
WhatsApp is developing a "Nearby File Sharing" feature enabling encrypted transfers without displaying phone numbers, alongside fixing a recent camera bug.LINK
Apple Music is offering artists up to a 10% royalty bonus for tracks in spatial audio to encourage its adoption.LINK
Law designed to stop AI bias in hiring decisions is so ineffective it's slowing similar initiatives.LINK
Google and AT&T invest in Starlink rival for satellite-to-smartphone service.LINK
Modder re-creates Game Boy Advance games using the audio from crash sounds.LINK
Latest research and tools
ML Engineering Online Book: a digital resource for learning about machine learning engineering practices, with a specific commit not linked to the main repository, possibly from an external contributor's version.LINK
StatusPage Project: a self-hosted, straightforward status page solution for monitoring online services' health.LINK
Sendenv: a command-line tool designed to share environment variables between systems.LINK
Is the emergence of life an expected phase transition in the evolving universe? the emergence of life could be a natural and predictable event in the universe's evolution.LINK
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