Lifeboat Foundation

D-ID, the Tel Aviv-based startup best known as the tech behind those viral videos of animated family photos, is bringing its AI video technology to a new mobile app, launching today. Originally available as a web platform, D-ID’s Creative Reality Studio allows users to upload a still image and script and then turn that into an AI-generated video. The technology can be used to create digital representations of themselves, historical figures, fictional characters, presenters or brand ambassadors.

Early use cases the company had been targeting involved corporate training and education, internal and external communication from companies, and product marketing and sales, TechCrunch previously reported.

Now available on mobile, users will download the D-ID app from the App Store or Google Play and then create an account or log in, if already registered. On the selection screen, you can either pick a premade “digital person” that D-ID provides or upload an image from your phone’s photo library. You’ll then enter the text you want the digital person to say, choosing from 119 languages, as well as pick between male and female voice options. You can also choose the tone of the speech — like cheerful, excited, friendly, hopeful, newscast, sad, shouting, terrified, unfriendly, whispering and others.

Training generative AI models is challenging. It requires an infrastructure that can move and process data with performance characteristics unheard of outside of traditional supercomputing environments. Nobody better understands the demands that AI puts on infrastructure than the service providers that specialize in the space.

Lambda and VAST Data have engaged in a new strategic partnership that brings the VAST Data Platform to Lambda. This follows similar announcements from CoreWeave and G42 Cloud, both of which unveiled similar relationships with VAST over the past few months. This makes VAST Data the top choice for dedicated AI service providers.

Lambda Labs and VAST Data have engaged in a new strategic partnership that brings the VAST Data Platform to Lambda Labs.

Continue reading “VAST Data Extends AI Infrastructure Leadership with Lambda Partnership” »

NASA engineers tested a half-scale version of the Dragonfly rotorcraft that will eventually explore the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter is a massive success story, far exceeding its original mission goals.

Now, NASA is taking lessons from the first rotorcraft to fly on another planet and applying it to a larger machine exploring Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.

HyperloopTT’s groundbreaking Express Freight system is redefining shipping with speed and sustainability.

In a groundbreaking development, HyperloopTT, a prominent player in the transportation and technology licensing industry, has revealed details of its cutting-edge HyperloopTT Express Freight design, poised to transform the world of freight transportation, in a press release.

Partnering with the award-winning design consultancy Tangerine, HyperloopTT has introduced a revolutionary freight capsule system designed to offer unprecedented speed, efficiency, and sustainability to the shipping industry.

Toyota claims that both concepts offer “superior handling stability and ride comfort.”

Toyota has been stepping up its efforts to create and manufacture BEVs in recent times to compete with EV-focused efforts from brands like Tesla and General Motors. In July, Toyota unveiled its electric roadmap, including a lineup of EVs with a cruising range exceeding 621 miles (1,000 kilometers).

To that extent, the Japanese automaker has now taken the wraps off the Toyota Land Cruiser Se, EPU Pickup EVs. Both are in their concept forms, with the former being a three-row electrified version of its iconic Land Cruiser. These are part of its lineup at the upcoming Japan Mobility Show 2023 that begins on October 25.

Four teams using Rivian EVs were featured in the top 20 list, with 55 teams participating.

EVs are believed to be relatively less practical when compared to ICE vehicles. Limitations in range, charging time, and placement of a high-voltage system under the car often prevent users from pushing it to its limits.

Now, an EV has gone ahead and won the 2023 Rebelle Rally, the longest off-road rally conducted in the United States. The vehicle that achieved this feat was the Rivian R1T pickup truck, which made it the first all-electric to have won the 4X4 category of the rally since its inception in 2015.

The company which describes itself as the data infrastructure company for AI, bagged a $249 million contract in 2022 to provide a range of AI tech to the US Department of Defence.

Traditionally, the United States has been viewed as the top dog in global military applications, but over the last three decades, it’s been facing competition from a strong opponent in the Indo-Pacific area. China has been bullishly making its space by modernizing its weapons and forces and denting the US’ dominance in developing advanced technologies.

Nastco/iStock.

Continue reading “Could ScaleAI secure US supremacy over China in the AI arms race?” »

For the first time ever, researchers at the Surgical Robotics Laboratory of the University of Twente successfully made two microrobots work together to pick up, move and assemble passive objects in 3D environments. This achievement opens new horizons for promising biomedical applications.

Imagine you need surgery somewhere inside your body. However, the part that needs surgery is very difficult for a surgeon to reach. In the future, a couple of robots smaller than a grain of salt might go into your body and perform the surgery. These microrobots could work together to perform all kinds of complex tasks. “It’s almost like magic,” says Franco Piñan Basualdo, corresponding author of the publication.

Researchers from the University of Twente successfully exploited two of these 1-millimeter-sized magnetic microrobots to perform several operations. Like clockwork, the microrobots were able to pick up, move and assemble cubes. Unique to this achievement is the 3D environment in which the robots performed their tasks.

NASA has revealed that it has already processed 70.3 grams of rocks and dust collected by the OSIRIS-REx mission from asteroid Bennu. That means the mission has way exceeded its goal of bringing 60 grams of asteroid samples back to Earth — especially since NASA scientists have yet to open the primary sample container that made its way back to our planet in September. Apparently, they’re struggling to open the mission’s Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism (TAGSAM) and could not remove two of its 35 fasteners using the tools currently available to them.

The scientists are processing the samples inside a specialized glovebox (pictured above) with a flow of nitrogen in order to keep them from being exposed to our atmosphere and any contaminants. They can’t just use any implement to break the container’s fasteners open either: The tool must fit inside the glovebox, and it also must not compromise the samples’ integrity. NASA has sealed the primary container sample for now, while it’s developing the procedure to be able to open it over the next few weeks.

If you’re wondering where the 70.3 grams of rocks and dust came from, well, NASA collected part of it from the external sample receptacle but outside TAGSAM itself. It also includes a small portion of the samples inside TAGSAM, taken by holding down its mylar flap and reaching inside with tweezers or a scoop. NASA’s initial analysis of the material published earlier this month said it showed evidence of high carbon content and water, and further studies could help us understand how life on Earth began. The agency plans to continue analyzing and “characterizing” the rocks and dust it has already taken from the sample container, so we may hear more details about the samples even while TAGSAM remains sealed.