Lifeboat Foundation

Cortical Labs, an Australian startup developing a new type of artificial intelligence that combines lab-grown human brain cells with computer chips, has raised $10 million in a funding round led by Horizons Ventures, the private investment arm of Hong Kong’s richest person, Li Ka-shing.

Blackbird Ventures, Australia’s leading venture capital fund, has also taken part in the financing round, Cortical Labs said in a statement on Wednesday. Other investors include In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of the Central Intelligence Agency, as well as U.S.-based LifeX Ventures and Australia-headquartered Radar Ventures, among others.

Cortical Labs said it will use the capital to commercialize its biological computer chips—human brain cells derived from stem cells that are grown on top of microelectrode arrays. Cortical Labs refers to their system as DishBrain, and says it’s capable of performing goal-directed tasks.

Banks can attach SWIFT Codes and bank accounts to a UMU digital currency wallet and transaction SWIFT-like cross-border payments over digital currency rails completely bypassing the correspondent banking system at best-priced wholesale FX rates and with instantaneous real-time settlement.

In an IMF interview with Tobias Adrian, Financial Counsellor at the International Monetary Fund, he states “Cross-border payments can be slow, expensive, and risky. In today’s world of payments, counterparties in different jurisdictions rely on costly trusted relationships to offset the lack of a common settlement asset together with common rules and governance. But imagine if a multilateral platform existed that could improve cross-border payments—at the same time transforming foreign exchange transactions, risk sharing, and more generally, financial contracting.”

According to Darrell Hubbard, the Executive Director of the DCMA, and the chief architect of UMU, “This vision expressed by the IMF is the exact solution the DCMA is delivering to central banks worldwide.”

We flew out to Salt Lake City, Utah, to get an exclusive look at the company behind some of the most advanced implantable neurotechnologies, Blackrock Neurotech. Brain implants are here, and they’re becoming more and more advanced every day. The Utah Array and Neuroport system allows for high-quality data recording and stimulation. It has the most in-subject research hours of any brain-computer interface on the market and has been a part of the most advanced BCIs since 2004, inspiring hope in persons with movement disorders. We also saw their newly announced Neuralace interface debuted in November 2022. Learn what it takes to work at a company at the forefront of brain-computer interface development.

Thanks to Blackrock Neurotech for sponsoring this video. The opinions expressed in this video are that of The BCI Guys and should be taken as such.

Continue reading “Behind the Brain Chip: An Inside Look at Blackrock Neurotech” »

The travel and tourism sector has become a prime focus for cyberattacks in recent times, resulting in ransomware incidents arising from data breaches. Against this backdrop, cybersecurity concerns within the industry have escalated with a 4 pc year-on-year (YoY) rise in 2022, reflecting the prevailing sentiment, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

In its report, Company Filing Analytics Database, GlobalData says that sentiment for airlines, travel services, and lodging rose by 6 pc, 4 pc, and 1 pc, respectively, in 2022 over 2021.

“Companies are consistently working on information and network security projects to set up a reliable technical protection and security management mechanism to ensure customer security and prevent data leakage. A severe data security incident can lead to operational disturbances and cause significant financial damage to the business,” says Misa Singh, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData.

Malicious loader programs capable of trojanizing Android applications are being traded on the criminal underground for up to $20,000 as a way to evade Google Play Store defenses.

“The most popular application categories to hide malware and unwanted software include cryptocurrency trackers, financial apps, QR-code scanners, and even dating apps,” Kaspersky said in a new report based on messages posted on online forums between 2019 and 2023.

Dropper apps are the primary means for threat actors looking to sneak malware via the Google Play Store. Such apps often masquerade as seemingly innocuous apps, with malicious updates introduced upon clearing the review process and the applications have amassed a significant user base.

While much-debated AI tools will not automate or elevate every digital assault, phishing scheme or hunt for software exploits, NSA’s Rob Joyce said April 11, what it will do is “optimize” workflows and deception in an already fast-paced environment.

“Is it going to replace hackers and be this super-AI hacking? Certainly not in the near term,” Joyce said at an event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. “But it will make the hackers that use AI much more effective, and they will operate better than those who don’t.”

Continue reading “AI tools like ChatGPT likely to empower hacks, NSA cyber boss warns” »

US banks are slamming the doors on innocent customers with zero notice, according to a new report.

Supposedly suspicious activity is triggering abrupt account closures, leading to customers to discover something is wrong then they try to spend their money, reports the New York Times.

One such member of Chase named Naafeh Dhillon tried to pay for dinner in December and had both his credit and debit cards declined.

CNBC’s Eunice Yoon reports on news that Alibaba is releasing a chatbot similar to ChatGPT. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/2NGeIvi.

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Continue reading “Alibaba plans to roll out A.I. bot rival to ChatGPT” »

Can we connect human brains together? What are the limits of what we can do with our brain? Is BrainNet our future?
In science fiction movies, scientists’ brains are downloaded into computers and criminal brains are connected to the Internet. Interesting, but how does it work in real life?
Original title: The greedy brain.
Scientific journalist Rob van Hattum wondered what information we can truly get from our brain and came across an extraordinary scientific experience.
An experiment where the brains of two rats were directly connected: one rat was in the United States and the other rat was in Brazil. They could influence the brain of the other directly. Miguel Nicolelis is the Brazilian neurologist who conducted this experiment. In his book ‘Beyond Boundaries’ he describes his special experiences in detail and predicts that it should be possible to create a kind of BrainNet.
For Backlight, Rob van Hattum went to Sao Paulo and also visited all Dutch neuroscientists, looking for what the future holds for our brain. He connected his own brain to computers and let it completely be scanned, searching for the limits of reading out the brain.
Originally broadcasted by VPRO in 2014.
© VPRO Backlight July 2014

On VPRO broadcast you will find nonfiction videos with English subtitles, French subtitles and Spanish subtitles, such as documentaries, short interviews and documentary series.
VPRO Documentary publishes one new subtitled documentary about current affairs, finance, sustainability, climate change or politics every week. We research subjects like politics, world economy, society and science with experts and try to grasp the essence of prominent trends and developments.

Continue reading “Connecting Brains: The BrainNet — VPRO documentary” »