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Butterfly, the inaugural eVTOL incorporating Optimum Speed Tilt Rotor and Individual Blade Control technologies, promises optimal efficiency and a refined ride.

In response to the dynamic demands of evolving personal mobility, the electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) industry has flourished in recent years. Numerous aviation startups are actively competing to be the pioneers in introducing their respective models to the market.

Aiming to make a significant impact in the eVTOL sector, California-based aerospace company Overair has successfully built and assembled the first-ever eVTOL aircraft utilizing Optimum Speed Tilt Rotor (OSTR) and Individual Blade Control (IBC) Technology. Named Butterfly, the firm claims that it features a “completely novel approach to aviation that unlocks a new standard in quietness, performance, and reliability,” according to a statement by the company.

Continue reading “Whisper in the sky: Massive electric plane ready to test vertical takeoff” | >

The robot is blind and cannot see its environment but can continue to balance and walk, even if an object is hurled at it.

UC researchers Ilija Radosavovic and Bike Zhang wondered if “reinforcement learning,” a concept made popular by large language models (LLMs) last year, could also teach the robot how to adapt to changing needs. To test their theory, the duo started with one of the most basic functions humans can perform — walking.

Transformer model for learning

The researchers started in the simulation world, running billions of scenarios in Isaac Gym, a high-performance GPU-based physics simulation environment. The algorithm in the simulator rewarded actions that mimicked human-like walking while punishing the ones that didn’t. Once the simulation perfected the task, it was transferred to a real-world humanoid bot that did not require further fine-tuning.

Continue reading “This AI transformer tech-powered robot taught itself to walk” | >

The deal comes a week after a jury found Google guilty of violating antitrust laws in a similar case brought by Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite game.

As part of the settlement, Google will pay $630 million to refund US consumers overcharged for in-app purchases made through the Play Store between August 2016 and September 2023. The estimated 102 million eligible consumers will receive at least $2 each and may get more depending on their spending. They will be automatically notified about how to claim their money.

Google will also pay $70 million in penalties and other costs to the states involved in the lawsuit.

Besides the monetary compensation, Google has also agreed to make some concessions to app developers and consumers to foster more competition and choice in the Android app market.

Continue reading “Google will pay 0 million to US states, users in Play Store settlement” | >

Google, the internet giant now a subsidiary of Alphabet, announced on Tuesday that it will limit the kinds of queries related to elections that its chatbot Bard and search generative experience can answer ahead of the 2024 U.S. Presidential election.

The company said that the new restrictions will be implemented by early 2024. The company recently made a landmark change to its location data privacy which has made it difficult for law enforcement agencies to access private location data of people near the crime scene and issue geofence warrants.

According to Reuters, the U.S. is not the only country that will witness crucial elections in 2024. India, the world’s largest democracy, and South Africa, among others, will also hold national elections in the same year.

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“I believe we have found one of the brain’s prototypes for building sequences” says Professor Edvard Moser.

Scientists at NTNU’s Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience in Norway have discovered a pattern of activity in the brain that serves as a template for building sequential experiences.

“I believe we have found one of the brain’s prototypes for building sequences,” says Professor Edvard Moser. He describes the activity pattern as “a fundamental algorithm that is intrinsic to the brain and independent of experience.”

Continue reading “Scientists discover a framework in the brain for organizing the order of things” | >

A supercomputer scheduled to go online in April 2024 will rival the estimated rate of operations in the human brain, according to researchers in Australia. The machine, called DeepSouth, is capable of performing 228 trillion operations per second.

It’s the world’s first supercomputer capable of simulating networks of neurons and synapses (key biological structures that make up our nervous system) at the scale of the human brain.

DeepSouth belongs to an approach known as neuromorphic computing, which aims to mimic the biological processes of the human brain. It will be run from the International Center for Neuromorphic Systems at Western Sydney University.

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Marvin Minsky is often called the Father of Artificial Intelligence and I have been looking for an opportunity to interview him for years. I was hoping that I will finally get my chance at the GF2045 conference in NY City. Unfortunately, Prof. Minsky had bronchitis and consequently had to speak via video. A week later, though still recovering, Marvin generously gave me a 30 min interview while attending the ISTAS13 Veilance conference in Toronto. I hope that you enjoy this brief but rare opportunity as much as I did!

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The ruling follows a similar decision denying patent registrations naming AI as creators.

The UK Supreme Court ruled that AI cannot get patents, declaring it cannot be named as an inventor of new products because the law considers only humans or companies to be creators.

It follows a similar decision in the US.

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