Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: mobile phones – Page 40

The concept could prolong the usage duration among users while also increasing areas of application thanks to a lighter-weight device.

Microsoft’s recently approved patent for augmented reality (AR) glasses shows a swappable battery that could make it a top choice among buyers when it becomes available. The patent was published last week, MSPowerUser.

AR glasses are considered the next frontier of mobile technology that promises to replace smartphones today. About a decade ago, Google attempted to develop something along these lines and released its Glass to the public. However, high costs and limited functionality led to its ultimate demise, even though the concept continues to thrive.

Read more | >

It is now apparent that the mass-produced artifacts of technology in our increasingly densely populated world—whether electronic devices, cars, batteries, phones, household appliances, or industrial robots—are increasingly at odds with the sustainable bounded ecosystems achieved by living organisms based on cells over millions of years.

Cells provide organisms with soft and sustainable environmental interactions with complete recycling of material components, except in a few notable cases like the creation of oxygen in the atmosphere, and of the fossil fuel reserves of oil and coal (as a result of missing biocatalysts).

However, the fantastic information content of biological cells (gigabits of information in DNA alone) and the complexities of protein biochemistry for metabolism seem to place a cellular approach well beyond the current capabilities of technology, and prevent the development of intrinsically sustainable technology.

Read more | >

Each member works out within a designated station facing wall-to-wall LED screens. These tall screens mask sensors that track both the motions of the exerciser and the gym’s specially built equipment, including dumbbells, medicine balls, and skipping ropes, using a combination of algorithms and machine-learning models.

Once members arrive for a workout, they’re given the opportunity to pick their AI coach through the gym’s smartphone app. The choice depends on whether they feel more motivated by a male or female voice and a stricter, more cheerful, or laid-back demeanor, although they can switch their coach at any point. The trainers’ audio advice is delivered over headphones and accompanied by the member’s choice of music, such as rock or country.

Although each class at the Las Colinas studio is currently observed by a fitness professional, that supervisor doesn’t need to be a trainer, says Brandon Bean, cofounder of Lumin Fitness. “We liken it to being more like an airline attendant than an actual coach,” he says. “You want someone there if something goes wrong, but the AI trainer is the one giving form feedback, doing the motivation, and explaining how to do the movements.”

Read more | >

Picture a smartphone clad in a casing that’s not just for protection but also doubles as a reservoir of electricity, or an electric car where the doors and floorboard store energy to propel it forward. Such technologies may one day be a reality, thanks to recent work by engineers at the University of California San Diego.

The researchers have developed what’s called a structural supercapacitor—a device that provides both structural support and storage capabilities. Such a device could add more power to electronic gadgets and vehicles without adding extra weight, allowing them to last longer on a single charge.

While the concept of structural supercapacitors is not entirely new, it has been a longstanding challenge to create a single device that excels at both bearing mechanical loads and storing efficiently. Traditional supercapacitors are great at energy storage but lack the mechanical strength to serve as structural components. On the flip side, structural materials can provide support but fall short when it comes to energy storage.

Read more | >

Researchers at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) have designed an innovative pixelated, soft, color-changing system called a Morphable Concavity Array (MoCA).

Pixelated, soft, color-changing systems are malleable structures that can change color by manipulating light. They have applications in a wide range of industries, from medical bandages that change color if there is an infection, to foldable screens on smartphones and tablets, as well as wearable technology where sensors are integrated into the clothing fabric.

The research was co-directed by Professor Anderson Ho Cheung Shum from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at HKU, and Professor Mingzhu Li from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and led by Dr. Yi Pan from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at HKU.

Read more | >

This summer the federal government took steps to boost connectivity by expanding existing broadband infrastructure. In late June the Biden administration announced a $42.45 billion commitment to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, a federal initiative to provide all U.S. residents with reliable high-speed Internet access. The project emphasizes broadband connectivity, but some researchers suggest a more powerful cellular connection could eventually sidestep the need for wired Internet.

The 6G network is so early in its development that it is still not even clear how fast that network will be. Each new generation of wireless technology is defined by the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as having a specific range of upload and download speeds. These standards have not yet been set for 6G—the ITU will likely do so late next year—but industry experts are expecting it to be anywhere from 10 to 1,000 times faster than current 5G networks. It will achieve this by using higher-frequency radio waves than its predecessors. This will provide a faster connection with fewer network delays.

No matter how fast the new network turns out to be, it could enable futuristic technology, according to Lingjia Liu, a leading 6G researcher and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Virginia Tech. “Wi-Fi provides good service, but 6G is being designed to provide even better service than your home router, especially in the latency department, to address the growing remote workforce,” Liu says. This would likely result in a wave of new applications that have been unfathomable at current network speeds. For example, your phone could serve as a router, self-driving cars may be able to communicate with one another almost instantaneously, and mobile devices might become completely hands-free. “The speed of 6G will enable applications that we may not even imagine today. The goal for the industry is to have the global coverage and support ready for those applications when they come,” Liu says.

Read more | >

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Researchers at MIT have achieved a significant breakthrough in quantum computing, bringing the potential of these incredible thinking machines closer to realization. Quantum computers promise to handle calculations far too complex for current supercomputers, but many hurdles remain. A primary challenge is addressing computational errors faster than they arise.

In a nutshell, quantum computers find better and quicker ways to solve problems. Scientists believe quantum technology could solve extremely complex problems in seconds, while traditional supercomputers you see today could need months or even years to crack certain codes.

What makes these next generation supercomputers different from your everyday smartphone and laptop is how they process data. Quantum computers harness the properties of quantum physics to store data and perform their functions. While traditional computers use “bits” (either a 1 or a 0) to encode information on your devices, quantum technology uses “qubits.”

Read more | >

In case you missed the hype, Humane is a startup founded by ex-Apple executives that’s working on a device called the “Ai Pin” that uses projectors, cameras and AI tech to act as a sort of wearable AI assistant. Now, the company has unveiled the AI Pin in full at a Paris fashion show (Humane x Coperni) as a way to show off the device’s new form factor. “Supermodel Naomi Campbell is the first person outside of the company to wear the device in public, ahead of its full unveiling on November 9,” Humane wrote.

The company describes the device as a “screenless, standalone device and software platform built from the ground up for AI.” It’s powered by an “advanced” Qualcomm Snapdragon platform and equipped with a mini-projector that takes the place of a smartphone screen, along with a camera and speaker. It can perform functions like AI-powered optical recognition, but is also supposedly “privacy-first” thanks to qualities like no wake word and thus no “always on” listening.”

Read more | >

It wouldn’t shock me if all the buzz around searching for the ‘locus of consciousness’ merely fine-tunes our grasp of how the brain is linked to consciousness — without actually revealing where consciousness comes from, because it’s not generated in the brain. Similarly, your smartphone doesn’t create the Internet or a cellular network; it just processes them. Networks of minds are a common occurrence throughout the natural world. What sets humans apart is the impending advent of cybernetic connectivity explosion that could soon evolve into a form of synthetic telepathy, eventually leading to the rise of a unified, global consciousness — what could be termed the Syntellect Emergence.

#consciousness #phenomenology #cybernetics #cognition #neuroscience

In summary, the study of consciousness could be conceptualized through a variety of lenses: as a series of digital perceptual snapshots, as a cybernetic system with its feedback processes, as a grand theater; or perhaps even as a VIP section in a cosmological establishment of magnificent complexity. Today’s leading theories of consciousness are largely complementary, not mutually exclusive. These multiple perspectives not only contribute to philosophical discourse but also herald the dawn of new exploratory avenues, equally enthralling and challenging, in our understanding of consciousness.

In The Cybernetic Theory of Mind (2022), I expand on existing theories to propose certain conceptual models and concepts, such as Noocentrism, Digital Presentism (D-Theory of Time), Experiential Realism, Ontological Holism, Multi-Ego Pantheistic Solipsism, the Omega Singularity, deeming a non-local consciousness, or Universal Mind, as the substrate of objective reality. In search of God’s equation, we finally look upward for the source. What many religions call “God” is clearly an interdimensional being within the nested levels of complexity. Besides setting initial conditions for our universe, God speaks to us in the language of religion, spirituality, synchronicities and transcendental experiences.

Continue reading “What Constitutes Your Stream of Consciousness?” | >

ChatGPT is a hot topic at my university, where faculty members are deeply concerned about academic integrity, while administrators urge us to “embrace the benefits” of this “new frontier.” It’s a classic example of what my colleague Punya Mishra calls the “doom-hype cycle” around new technologies. Likewise, media coverage of human-AI interaction – whether paranoid or starry-eyed – tends to emphasize its newness.

In one sense, it is undeniably new. Interactions with ChatGPT can feel unprecedented, as when a tech journalist couldn’t get a chatbot to stop declaring its love for him. In my view, however, the boundary between humans and machines, in terms of the way we interact with one another, is fuzzier than most people would care to admit, and this fuzziness accounts for a good deal of the discourse swirling around ChatGPT.

When I’m asked to check a box to confirm I’m not a robot, I don’t give it a second thought – of course I’m not a robot. On the other hand, when my email client suggests a word or phrase to complete my sentence, or when my phone guesses the next word I’m about to text, I start to doubt myself. Is that what I meant to say? Would it have occurred to me if the application hadn’t suggested it? Am I part robot? These large language models have been trained on massive amounts of “natural” human language. Does this make the robots part human?

Read more | >