Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, plans to raise $177.6 million for a new fund focused on investments in cryptocurrency tokens.
The new fund, named Kryptós, will be the two-year-old firm’s first focused exclusively on crypto.
It will seek to take advantage of the recent monthslong sell-off in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum, which has extended to the digital tokens issued by blockchain startups.
“Now is potentially a unique opportunity to invest in strong founders at a discount,” according to the fundraising materials. The firm expects to launch the fund in October, according to the materials.
The new fund, named Kryptós, will be the two-year-old firm’s first focused exclusively on crypto.
It will seek to take advantage of the recent monthslong sell-off in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ethereum, which has extended to the digital tokens issued by blockchain startups.
“Now is potentially a unique opportunity to invest in strong founders at a discount,” according to the fundraising materials. The firm expects to launch the fund in October, according to the materials.
The Information
Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six Targets $177.6 Million for Crypto Token Fund
Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, plans to raise $177.6 million for a new fund focused on investments in cryptocurrency tokens, according to fundraising materials viewed by The Information. The new fund, named…
TSMC says 3D chip stacking packaging techs as vital as cutting-edge chip production. 3D stacking capacity will 20x by 2026. It will build 23 plants, more than 5 each year, from 2020 to 2023, compared with 2 on average in 2017-19.
Nikkei Asia
TSMC's Wei talks 3-nm chip plans and supply chain woes at forum
CEO says building plants is getting more expensive amid onshoring rush
Bitcoin’s rising correlation with the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 since November has been mirrored by falling relative performance.
The BTC to Nasdaq ratio has been declining since the start of the year. This suggests that BTC is clearly perceived as a riskier asset
The BTC to Nasdaq ratio has been declining since the start of the year. This suggests that BTC is clearly perceived as a riskier asset
All about AI, Web 3.0, BCI
Japan to improve its crypto tax system to prevent the overseas outflow of crypto startups
Japan’s regulator proposes tax breaks for investors, crypto
Japan’s financial regulator proposed easing corporate tax rules for crypto assets as well as lighter levies for individual stock investors in support of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s efforts to reinvigorate the economy.
Companies should be exempted from paying taxes for paper gains on crypto coins that they hold after issuing them, the regulator proposed in its annual tax-code.
The Financial Services Agency also called for boosting a program that gives tax breaks to individual investors.
The moves support Kishida’s “New Capitalism” vision, which seeks to boost the world’s third-largest economy. He has pledged to double the wealth of households while offering support to help the country’s so-called Web3 businesses grow.
Crypto lobbying groups have been calling for changes, saying high corporate taxes have raised the bar for launching projects in Japan, causing some companies to relocate to Singapore and elsewhere.
Currently, profit from cryptocurrency holdings, including unrealized gains, is subject to corporate tax of about 30%.
For retail investors, the FSA wants to expand a tax break initiative known as the Nippon Individual Savings Account, by raising its investment limits and making the program permanent. Under NISA, individuals can have some of their investment gains and dividends exempt from capital-gains tax over a period of time.
The move marks the latest in years of efforts to prod individuals to put their savings to productive use, such as investing in stocks for the benefit of the broader economy. Japanese households hold roughly half of their 2 quadrillion yen ($14.5 trillion) financial assets in cash and deposits, Bank of Japan data show.
The tax panel of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party makes decisions near the end of the year after reviewing proposals from government offices
Japan’s financial regulator proposed easing corporate tax rules for crypto assets as well as lighter levies for individual stock investors in support of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s efforts to reinvigorate the economy.
Companies should be exempted from paying taxes for paper gains on crypto coins that they hold after issuing them, the regulator proposed in its annual tax-code.
The Financial Services Agency also called for boosting a program that gives tax breaks to individual investors.
The moves support Kishida’s “New Capitalism” vision, which seeks to boost the world’s third-largest economy. He has pledged to double the wealth of households while offering support to help the country’s so-called Web3 businesses grow.
Crypto lobbying groups have been calling for changes, saying high corporate taxes have raised the bar for launching projects in Japan, causing some companies to relocate to Singapore and elsewhere.
Currently, profit from cryptocurrency holdings, including unrealized gains, is subject to corporate tax of about 30%.
For retail investors, the FSA wants to expand a tax break initiative known as the Nippon Individual Savings Account, by raising its investment limits and making the program permanent. Under NISA, individuals can have some of their investment gains and dividends exempt from capital-gains tax over a period of time.
The move marks the latest in years of efforts to prod individuals to put their savings to productive use, such as investing in stocks for the benefit of the broader economy. Japanese households hold roughly half of their 2 quadrillion yen ($14.5 trillion) financial assets in cash and deposits, Bank of Japan data show.
The tax panel of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party makes decisions near the end of the year after reviewing proposals from government offices
Yahoo
Japan’s Regulator Proposes Tax Breaks for Investors, Crypto
(Bloomberg) -- Japan’s financial regulator proposed easing corporate tax rules for crypto assets as well as lighter levies for individual stock investors in support of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s efforts to reinvigorate the economy.Most Read from BloombergJapan…
When Peter Thiel said "AI is communist," it was true that AI benefited from extreme centralization and access to insanely expensive resources.
BUT after 1 week of explosive Stable Diffusion open-source innovation, it's clear centralized AI is no longer the only game in town.
BUT after 1 week of explosive Stable Diffusion open-source innovation, it's clear centralized AI is no longer the only game in town.
Why self-supervised learning is a medical AI game-changer
Self-supervised learning has been a fast-rising trend in artificial intelligence (AI) over the past couple of years, as researchers seek to take advantage of large-scale unannotated data to develop better machine learning models.
In 2020, Yann Lecun, Meta’s chief AI scientist, said supervised learning, which entails training an AI model on a labeled data set, would play a diminishing role as self-supervised learning came into wider use.
“Most of what we learn as humans and most of what animals learn is in a self-supervised mode, not a reinforcement mode,” he told a virtual session audience during the International Conference on Learning Representation (ICLR) 2020. And in a 2021 Meta blog post, LeCun explained that self-supervised learning “obtains supervisory signals from the data itself, often leveraging the underlying structure in the data.”
Because of that, it can make use of a “variety of supervisory signals across co-occurring modalities (e.g., video and audio) and across large datasets — all without relying on labels.”
Growing use of self-supervised learning in medicine
Those advantages have led to the notable growing use of self-supervised learning in healthcare and medicine, thanks to the vast amount of unstructured data available in that industry – including electronic health records and datasets of medical images, bioelectrical signals, and sequences and structures of genes and proteins. Previously, the development of medical applications of machine learning had required manual annotation of data, often by medical experts.
This was a bottleneck to progress, said Pranav Rajpurkar, assistant professor of biomedical informatics at Harvard Medical School. Rajpurkar leads a research lab focused on deep learning for label-efficient medical image interpretation, clinician-AI collaboration design, and open benchmark curation.
Highlighting self-supervised learning
In a recent review paper in Nature Biomedical Engineering, Rajpurkar, along with cardiologist, scientist and author Eric Topol and student researcher Rayan Krishnan, highlighted self-supervised methods and models used in medicine and healthcare, as well as and promising applications of self-supervised learning for the development of models leveraging multimodal datasets, and the challenges in collecting unbiased data for their training.
The paper, Rajpurkar said, was aimed at “communicating the opportunities and challenges that underlie this the shift in paradigm we’re going to see over the upcoming years in many applications of AI, most certainly including medicine.”
With self-supervised learning, Rajpurkar explained that he, “… can learn about a certain data source, whether that’s a medical image or signal, by using unlabeled data. That allows me a great starting point to do any task I care about within medicine and beyond without actually collecting large labeled datasets.”
Self-supervised learning across modalities
For example, another soon-to-be-published paper showed that even with zero-annotated examples of diseases on chest X-rays, Rajpurkar’s team was actually able to detect diseases on chest X-rays and classify them nearly at the level of radiologists across a variety of pathologies.
Momentum to apply methods
These possibilities have created momentum toward developing and applying self-supervised learning methods in medicine and healthcare, and likely for other industries that also have the ability to collect data at scale, said Rajpurkar, especially those industries that don’t have the sensitivity associated with medical data.
Self-supervised learning has been a fast-rising trend in artificial intelligence (AI) over the past couple of years, as researchers seek to take advantage of large-scale unannotated data to develop better machine learning models.
In 2020, Yann Lecun, Meta’s chief AI scientist, said supervised learning, which entails training an AI model on a labeled data set, would play a diminishing role as self-supervised learning came into wider use.
“Most of what we learn as humans and most of what animals learn is in a self-supervised mode, not a reinforcement mode,” he told a virtual session audience during the International Conference on Learning Representation (ICLR) 2020. And in a 2021 Meta blog post, LeCun explained that self-supervised learning “obtains supervisory signals from the data itself, often leveraging the underlying structure in the data.”
Because of that, it can make use of a “variety of supervisory signals across co-occurring modalities (e.g., video and audio) and across large datasets — all without relying on labels.”
Growing use of self-supervised learning in medicine
Those advantages have led to the notable growing use of self-supervised learning in healthcare and medicine, thanks to the vast amount of unstructured data available in that industry – including electronic health records and datasets of medical images, bioelectrical signals, and sequences and structures of genes and proteins. Previously, the development of medical applications of machine learning had required manual annotation of data, often by medical experts.
This was a bottleneck to progress, said Pranav Rajpurkar, assistant professor of biomedical informatics at Harvard Medical School. Rajpurkar leads a research lab focused on deep learning for label-efficient medical image interpretation, clinician-AI collaboration design, and open benchmark curation.
Highlighting self-supervised learning
In a recent review paper in Nature Biomedical Engineering, Rajpurkar, along with cardiologist, scientist and author Eric Topol and student researcher Rayan Krishnan, highlighted self-supervised methods and models used in medicine and healthcare, as well as and promising applications of self-supervised learning for the development of models leveraging multimodal datasets, and the challenges in collecting unbiased data for their training.
The paper, Rajpurkar said, was aimed at “communicating the opportunities and challenges that underlie this the shift in paradigm we’re going to see over the upcoming years in many applications of AI, most certainly including medicine.”
With self-supervised learning, Rajpurkar explained that he, “… can learn about a certain data source, whether that’s a medical image or signal, by using unlabeled data. That allows me a great starting point to do any task I care about within medicine and beyond without actually collecting large labeled datasets.”
Self-supervised learning across modalities
For example, another soon-to-be-published paper showed that even with zero-annotated examples of diseases on chest X-rays, Rajpurkar’s team was actually able to detect diseases on chest X-rays and classify them nearly at the level of radiologists across a variety of pathologies.
Momentum to apply methods
These possibilities have created momentum toward developing and applying self-supervised learning methods in medicine and healthcare, and likely for other industries that also have the ability to collect data at scale, said Rajpurkar, especially those industries that don’t have the sensitivity associated with medical data.
VentureBeat
Why self-supervised learning is a medical AI game-changer
Self-supervised learning in healthcare and medicine is growing, thanks to the vast amount of unstructured data available in that industry.
Synthesizing theories of human language with Bayesian program induction
A fantastic piece of work by Kevin Ellis.
70 datasets from 58 diverse languages, synthesizing human-interpretable models for core aspects of each language’s morpho-phonology
A fantastic piece of work by Kevin Ellis.
70 datasets from 58 diverse languages, synthesizing human-interpretable models for core aspects of each language’s morpho-phonology
Nature
Synthesizing theories of human language with Bayesian program induction
Nature Communications - Humans can infer rules for building words in a new language from a handful of examples, and linguists also can infer language patterns across related languages. Here, the...
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"Binance looks to bolster lead position in crypto market with free trading. Binance has a 55% trading market share in cash trading, according to CryptoCompare. Its nearest rivals, Coinbase and FTX, have shares of less than 10%."
SEC and CFTC want help building new crypto reporting regime for hedge funds — link
The Block
SEC and CFTC want help building new crypto reporting regime for hedge funds
The request for comment lays out some core questions about how to define and classify different digital assets.
Qualcomm just announced a multiyear partnership with Meta to develop custom VR chips for future Quest headsets.
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the news during a press conference at Berlin's IFA tech show.
Qualcomm's already made the chips in Meta's VR headsets going back to the Oculus Go, and announced a partnership with Microsoft to make next-gen chips for its future AR smart glasses January's CES in Las Vegas.
The Qualcomm partnership promises "multiple generations of premium devices and experiences powered by custom VR platforms in the years to come," according to a statement from Qualcomm.
In a comment from Mark Zuckerberg provided by Qualcomm, the partnership will bring "customized virtual reality chipsets -- powered by Snapdragon XR platforms and technology -- for our future roadmap of Quest products."
When asked for further comment on the partnership via email, a Qualcomm representative clarified that the new customized chips will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR platform, but won't use Snapdragon Spaces, an AR software toolkit that Qualcomm's building to bridge phones and AR glasses. Instead, these future products will use Meta's Presence Platform for VR.
According to Qualcomm, the chips could show up in other, non-Meta devices, too. "The VR chipsets that are being designed as part of this collaboration are not exclusive to Meta, but we're excited to work together on a deeper engineering level that's a first for both companies. It's this type of collaboration that's foundational for the metaverse and we can't wait to show you what we'll build together."
Although Meta is working on future AR glasses of its own, Qualcomm hasn't confirmed any involvement in that part of Meta's metaverse roadmap: "At this time, we are strictly only talking about VR."
Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the news during a press conference at Berlin's IFA tech show.
Qualcomm's already made the chips in Meta's VR headsets going back to the Oculus Go, and announced a partnership with Microsoft to make next-gen chips for its future AR smart glasses January's CES in Las Vegas.
The Qualcomm partnership promises "multiple generations of premium devices and experiences powered by custom VR platforms in the years to come," according to a statement from Qualcomm.
In a comment from Mark Zuckerberg provided by Qualcomm, the partnership will bring "customized virtual reality chipsets -- powered by Snapdragon XR platforms and technology -- for our future roadmap of Quest products."
When asked for further comment on the partnership via email, a Qualcomm representative clarified that the new customized chips will be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon XR platform, but won't use Snapdragon Spaces, an AR software toolkit that Qualcomm's building to bridge phones and AR glasses. Instead, these future products will use Meta's Presence Platform for VR.
According to Qualcomm, the chips could show up in other, non-Meta devices, too. "The VR chipsets that are being designed as part of this collaboration are not exclusive to Meta, but we're excited to work together on a deeper engineering level that's a first for both companies. It's this type of collaboration that's foundational for the metaverse and we can't wait to show you what we'll build together."
Although Meta is working on future AR glasses of its own, Qualcomm hasn't confirmed any involvement in that part of Meta's metaverse roadmap: "At this time, we are strictly only talking about VR."
CNET
Meta's Future Quest VR Headsets Will Use Custom Qualcomm Chips for Years
A new multiyear agreement focuses on VR headsets; no word on AR, though.
All about AI, Web 3.0, BCI
Coinbase Venture’s POV on the Web3 Developer Stack.
Web3 developer stack
As Web3 gains momentum, there’s an opportunity to invest in more robust developer tools and infrastructure that will unlock the next stage of Web3 innovation and adoption.
This landscape is a framework for thinking about the Web3 developer stack as it continues to evolve.
The Web3 Developer Stack as a nascent ecosystem of promising companies that empower developers with infrastructure and tooling to build on top of crypto network primitives.
Today, Web3 developers represent <1% of the global software developer community (~31.1M global software devs as per SlashDataHQ) given a fragmented developer experience and skepticism on blockchain's long-term viability.
Electric Capital compiled a report which shows that the number of monthly active Web3 developers reached all-time highs in 2021 (*Note: the report doesn’t count work on proprietary projects).
Compared to Web2, building in Web3 requires specialized expertise to interface with complex infrastructure and commonly involves redundant processes.
That said, the tooling that will help onboard the next 1M+ web3 developers is rapidly improving.
Coinbase segmented the Web3 developer stack into the following four layers:
-Protocols
-Infrastructure
-Developer Tools
-Application Enablement
Protocols are the underlying main blockchain architecture and settlement layer
-Layer 1
-Layer 2
-Bridges & Swaps
The infrastructure layer consists of foundational building blocks for creating Web3 apps on top of crypto network primitives
-Node Providers
-Wallet/Key Management
-Identity
-Decentralized Compute
-Decentralized Storage
-Oracles
-Interoperability Protocols
Developer Tools consist of platforms and services that are highly reliable at doing specific tasks across the Web3 developer journey
-Frameworks & IDEs
-Low-code / No-code
-Index & Query
-Test, Simulate & Monitor
-Secure & Audit
-Messaging
-Analytics
The application enablement layer consists of point solutions that provide user-facing applications access to Web3 use case primitives
(i.e, dev tooling for NFTs, DeFi, DAOs, Metaverse/GameFi).
While the framework and layers we highlighted will likely remain unchanged, we continue to see new developer tooling primitives emerge and expect the entire stack to evolve dramatically in the coming years
As Web3 gains momentum, there’s an opportunity to invest in more robust developer tools and infrastructure that will unlock the next stage of Web3 innovation and adoption.
This landscape is a framework for thinking about the Web3 developer stack as it continues to evolve.
The Web3 Developer Stack as a nascent ecosystem of promising companies that empower developers with infrastructure and tooling to build on top of crypto network primitives.
Today, Web3 developers represent <1% of the global software developer community (~31.1M global software devs as per SlashDataHQ) given a fragmented developer experience and skepticism on blockchain's long-term viability.
Electric Capital compiled a report which shows that the number of monthly active Web3 developers reached all-time highs in 2021 (*Note: the report doesn’t count work on proprietary projects).
Compared to Web2, building in Web3 requires specialized expertise to interface with complex infrastructure and commonly involves redundant processes.
That said, the tooling that will help onboard the next 1M+ web3 developers is rapidly improving.
Coinbase segmented the Web3 developer stack into the following four layers:
-Protocols
-Infrastructure
-Developer Tools
-Application Enablement
Protocols are the underlying main blockchain architecture and settlement layer
-Layer 1
-Layer 2
-Bridges & Swaps
The infrastructure layer consists of foundational building blocks for creating Web3 apps on top of crypto network primitives
-Node Providers
-Wallet/Key Management
-Identity
-Decentralized Compute
-Decentralized Storage
-Oracles
-Interoperability Protocols
Developer Tools consist of platforms and services that are highly reliable at doing specific tasks across the Web3 developer journey
-Frameworks & IDEs
-Low-code / No-code
-Index & Query
-Test, Simulate & Monitor
-Secure & Audit
-Messaging
-Analytics
The application enablement layer consists of point solutions that provide user-facing applications access to Web3 use case primitives
(i.e, dev tooling for NFTs, DeFi, DAOs, Metaverse/GameFi).
While the framework and layers we highlighted will likely remain unchanged, we continue to see new developer tooling primitives emerge and expect the entire stack to evolve dramatically in the coming years
Medium
A simple guide to the web3 developer stack
A guide to the projects and companies working to make web3 development as easy as web2
Substack 2021 gross revenue: $100m
Onlyfans 2021 gross revenue: $4.8bn
Onlyfans 2021 gross revenue: $4.8bn
The Information
OnlyFans’ Sustained Pandemic Boom; Twitter Finally Tests Edit Button
OnlyFans’ business boomed last year, with revenue surging 160% to $932 million year-over-year, according to financial results the adult content site released on Thursday for the year ending November 2021.The results show that 2020—when reported revenue rose…
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Saudi Arabia's Central Bank hires crypto chief
Saudi Arabia’s banking regulator recently appointed Mohsen AlZahrani to lead its virtual assets and central bank digital currency program in a sign of the Gulf state’s potential crypto ambitions.
Saudi Arabia has until now taken a more cautious approach on virtual assets, with officials raising concerns about their speculative nature. Yet the emergence of the neighboring United Arab Emirates as a global crypto hub has created some urgency in Riyadh to draft more formal rules for the asset class,
AlZahrani, a former managing director at consultancy Accenture, reports to Ziad Al Yousef, the Central Bank’s deputy governor for development and technology.
Saudi Arabia’s banking regulator recently appointed Mohsen AlZahrani to lead its virtual assets and central bank digital currency program in a sign of the Gulf state’s potential crypto ambitions.
Saudi Arabia has until now taken a more cautious approach on virtual assets, with officials raising concerns about their speculative nature. Yet the emergence of the neighboring United Arab Emirates as a global crypto hub has created some urgency in Riyadh to draft more formal rules for the asset class,
AlZahrani, a former managing director at consultancy Accenture, reports to Ziad Al Yousef, the Central Bank’s deputy governor for development and technology.
Bloomberg.com
Saudi Central Bank Hires Crypto Chief to Boost Digital Ambitions
Saudi Arabia’s banking regulator recently appointed Mohsen AlZahrani to lead its virtual assets and central bank digital currency program in a sign of the Gulf state’s potential crypto ambitions.
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Nigeria, Binance in early-stage talks for crypto-friendly economic zone
The proposed partnership aims to build a crypto-friendly digital city similar to the virtual free zone in Dubai.
The Nigerian government has held a preliminary meeting with crypto exchange Binance to potentially establish a special economic zone aimed at supporting crypto and blockchain-related businesses.
According to a Friday post from the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), the authority has held preliminary talks with Binance and technology infrastructure company Talent City to discuss the proposed digital city, referred to as a “Virtual Free Zone.”
NEPZA managing director Adesoji Adesugba said the proposed zone will be a first in West Africa and act similar to Dubai’s virtual zones, which are designed to provide crypto-friendly laws, regulations and tax incentives for crypto businesses.
The proposed partnership aims to build a crypto-friendly digital city similar to the virtual free zone in Dubai.
The Nigerian government has held a preliminary meeting with crypto exchange Binance to potentially establish a special economic zone aimed at supporting crypto and blockchain-related businesses.
According to a Friday post from the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA), the authority has held preliminary talks with Binance and technology infrastructure company Talent City to discuss the proposed digital city, referred to as a “Virtual Free Zone.”
NEPZA managing director Adesoji Adesugba said the proposed zone will be a first in West Africa and act similar to Dubai’s virtual zones, which are designed to provide crypto-friendly laws, regulations and tax incentives for crypto businesses.
Voice of Nigeria
NEPZA, Binance to develop virtual free trade zone in Nigeria
In its drive to further deepen the country’s economy, the Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) is seeking partnership with Binance and Talent City for Nigeria to develop the first Virtual Free Zone in West Africa. NEPZA’s Managing Director Mr.…
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Many aspects of the visa/passport/residency/citizenship system for fiat countries are applicable to thinking about what migration between crypto countries looks like.
The v0 is a passport stamp on your ENS by a given DAO that grants access to allied DAOs.
Each NFT-gated digital community needs to work on its own, but eventually you get circulation between allied communities.
Like “login with FB”, but decentralized.
The v0 is a passport stamp on your ENS by a given DAO that grants access to allied DAOs.
Each NFT-gated digital community needs to work on its own, but eventually you get circulation between allied communities.
Like “login with FB”, but decentralized.
Ethereum activates Bellatrix upgrade as last step before The Merge — link
The Block
Ethereum activates Bellatrix upgrade as last step before The Merge
Ethereum developers have activated Bellatrix, a key upgrade that will prepare the Beacon Chain for The Merge.
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Meta Boosts Virtual-Reality Ambitions
Recent events reveal how the murky concept of the metaverse is being refined and shaped through immersive technology, but also deals and legal battles.
Meta acquired Berlin startup Loefelt, maker of tools specializing in haptic technology, which can replicate the experience of touch in a virtual setting.
The news comes as the company remains locked in a legal battle with the Federal Trade Commission over a bid for virtual-reality studio Within Unlimited.
The FTC in July said that Meta was already a key player at each level of the virtual-reality sector and was trying to use its financial might to dominate the industry. The technology is considered a key component for building and supporting immersive online experiences.
Can you feel it?
Asked in a recent interview with podcast host Joe Rogan if Meta could use haptic feedback in virtual-reality games to make users feel experiences like those of the film “The Matrix,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said “I just think that so much of our experience is our body and not just our mind.” Read the story.
Recent events reveal how the murky concept of the metaverse is being refined and shaped through immersive technology, but also deals and legal battles.
Meta acquired Berlin startup Loefelt, maker of tools specializing in haptic technology, which can replicate the experience of touch in a virtual setting.
The news comes as the company remains locked in a legal battle with the Federal Trade Commission over a bid for virtual-reality studio Within Unlimited.
The FTC in July said that Meta was already a key player at each level of the virtual-reality sector and was trying to use its financial might to dominate the industry. The technology is considered a key component for building and supporting immersive online experiences.
Can you feel it?
Asked in a recent interview with podcast host Joe Rogan if Meta could use haptic feedback in virtual-reality games to make users feel experiences like those of the film “The Matrix,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said “I just think that so much of our experience is our body and not just our mind.” Read the story.
WSJ
FTC Seeks to Block Meta Platforms From Acquiring Within Unlimited
The Federal Trade Commission is seeking to block Meta Platforms Inc. from acquiring Within Unlimited Inc. and its virtual reality dedicated fitness app, Supernatural.
"AI And The Limits Of Language" good article on a big open question in my mind - how much can an AI learn from internet text alone? what if added a lot of images/videos from the internet? do we have to reach all the way to embodied agents?
NOEMA
AI And The Limits Of Language | NOEMA
An artificial intelligence system trained on words and sentences alone will never approximate human understanding.
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Google AI introduce an ML-generated sensory map that relates thousands of molecules and their perceived odors, enabling the prediction of odors from unseen molecules and providing a potential tool to address global health issues like insect-borne disease.
research.google
Digitizing Smell: Using Molecular Maps to Understand Odor
Posted by Richard C. Gerkin, Google Research, and Alexander B. Wiltschko, Google Did you ever try to measure a smell? …Until you can measure their ...