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The Apple Vision Pro launched on Friday, and I was the first person in part of the DC area to get a demo and buy the device.

As someone who has been working in the XR industry for a long time, I know this day was years in the making and will be a catalyst for future experiences to come.

After being quickly seated at the Apple store near me, I received the first demo of the day.

What sets Tong Tong apart from other models is that she can assign herself tasks.


Chinese scientists have unveiled what they are calling the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI) child.

Developed by the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence (BIGAI), Tong Tong or Little Girl’s virtual AI avatar was recently introduced for the first time in Beijing.

BIGAI sees Tong Tong as a giant step toward achieving a general artificial intelligence (AGI) agent when a machine can think and reason like a human being.

Mastercard has announced that it has developed an in-house generative AI to help combat fraud on its payment processing network.


Instead of relying on textual inputs, Mastercard’s algorithm uses a cardholder’s merchant visit history as a prompt to determine whether a transaction involves a business that the customer would likely visit. The algorithm generates pathways through Mastercard’s network, akin to heat-sensing radar, to provide a score as an answer.

A lower score indicates a behavior that deviates from the cardholder’s usual pattern, while a higher score reflects typical behavior. Mastercard claims that this entire process takes only 50 milliseconds. And, it turns out, the AI appears to be very good at its job.

NASA has set its sights on sending human crews back to the moon and establishing a permanent base on the lunar surface. The agency wants to return to the moon, build a lunar outpost, and eventually send humans to Mars. But these missions come with risks and challenges.

As humans venture deeper into space and explore other worlds, they face daunting challenges.

How will they survive the harsh and unpredictable environments they encounter? What if meteorites, radiation, or other hazards damage their habitats? Delegating routine tasks to machines could save them time and resources, but how will they make sure these machines are reliable? These are just some pressing questions that must be answered to travel safely and sustainably beyond Earth’s orbit.

SNAP’s 144 gold-coated silicon microneedles, each shorter than a hundredth of an inch, can bypass pain receptors and ensure comfort during prolonged wear.


Engineers from Korea and the United States have developed a wearable patch, which is slated to have the potential to further technologies related to human-machine interaction and healthcare.

Like a Band-Aid, the stretchable microneedle adhesive patch (SNAP) sticks to your skin and detects signals from muscles. In tests, people used it to control robotic exoskeletons better. These machines copy and improve the strength of human muscles and bones.

The collaborative study was led by Jianliang Xiao, an associate professor in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder, and Jaewoong Jeong, an associate professor in the School of Electrical Engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).