Top 10 in Tech – July 2022

CEO of $4.8 billion fintech Wise faces investigation over tax breach

The £3.9 billion ($4.8 billion) fintech firm Wise CEO and co-founder Kristo Kaarman is being investigated by U.K. regulators after tax authorities found he failed to pay a tax bill worth over £720,000.

The Financial Conduct Authority has now opened an investigation into the matter. The probe could have significant ramifications for Wise and its chief executive.

source: CNBC

Amazon announced its first fully autonomous warehouse robot!

Have you met Proteus? Amazon introduced its first fully autonomous mobile robot called “Proteus”. The robot will be used to carry heavy loads in Amazon warehouses. The goal is to keep human workers safe and prevent any possible injuries in the warehouse.

According to Amazon, Proteus has advanced safety, perception, and navigation technology and is totally safe to use around humans. Proteus stops moving when it detects a human around. The company is also working on other robot technologies to create injury-free, safe warehouses.

Would you like to know more about the possibilities that the future of the mobility industry holds? What is the limit for autonomous technologies, if there are any?

source: the verge

The world’s largest chip to democratize AI

How would you like your #AI #chip to be served?

Chip start-up Cerebras announced its foot-wide, dinner plate size chip, and compared to the other millimetric chip models, it is the largest chip ever built.

Cerebra’s model makes training AI cheap and easy. According to the CEO, Andrew Feldman, a single-foot-long chip can be used to train 20 billion parameters. The chip breaks the record for the largest AI models trained on a single device.

The goal of the company is, to produce cheap and performative chips, and AI tools for researchers and organizations with low budgets.

source: protocol 

The metaverse is said to have the potential to add $3 trillion to the global economy within a decade!

The metaverse has come and it has the potential to transform sectors like education, communication, manufacturing, retail, entertainment, and so on. As more companies increase their investment in immersive technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and hardware devices, the platform’s breakthrough is getting closer.

According to analysts, if metaverse pulls up to the same adoption rate as mobile technology adoption, the platform will contribute $3 trillion to the global economy within the next decade.

source: euronews

Lego and Epic Games teamed up for a family-friendly Metaverse.

Many companies increasing their investments in Metaverse to get ready when the platform finally arrives. Just recently, Epic Games and Lego companies announced their partnership to create a metaverse-family friendly.

The platform will aim to create a secure place for children and provide tools to parents over the platform for their children. Even though family-friendly platforms exist like Minecraft, Roblox, etc. the platform aims to sustain more parental control and game companies are heavily investing in the new platform to claim their stake from the upcoming platform.

source: protocol 

Giant tech companies just finished their worst quarter in years

If you had a rough quarter, not to worry, you’re not alone. Join the club where big technology stocks like Tesla, Amazon and Microsoft are a member as well.

Tesla, which reached a trillion-dollar market capitalization in 2021, experienced its worst decline since its initial public offering in 2010 in the second quarter.

Amazon stock tumbled nearly 35%.

Apple’s stock fell almost 22% in the second quarter in the stock’s worst performance since the fourth quarter of 2018.

source: CNBC

Musk’s journey to Mars is getting closer!

Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX finally received its anticipated environmental approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to expand its Starbase facilities in South Texas. Musk is planning the area to be a central transit hub for SpaceX’s journeys to Mars. The location of the site had been criticized by locals and environmental activists due to the facility’s possible negative effect on rare birds and other animal species.

15 pages long environmental plan lists mitigations that SpaceX will establish in order to decrease its effect on the environment and locals’ life. Yet, trials for the Starship Super Heavy rocket will need to wait until FAA gives the final license.

source: protocol

Holographic patients train doctors in world first in Cambridge

For the first time in the world, holographic patients are being used by medical students in Cambridge University to improve their technical and practical knowledge. Holographic patients are stated to be realistic and able to interact with the students via augmented reality headsets.

“It feels very much more that you’re connected to the scenario and we’ve spent a lot of time trying to get that exactly right.” said Dr Jonathan Martin, from Addenbrooke’s Hospital, on this technological advancement.

It is hoped the technology – developed by the University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke’s Hospital and American firm GigXR – will be sold all around the world.

Source: bbc

DroneSeed: swarms of drones to reseed forests after devastating wildfires.

DroneSeed is a Seattle-based startup that claims it can begin to restore thousands of acres of wildfire-ravaged land just 30 days after the fire is out.

The company uses seeds as well as seedlings, or young plants, from its own nurseries. The company uses heavy-lift drone swarms to spread seeds from its own nurseries across the damaged territories. The drones drop the seeds in contained vessels, where they then root and begin to grow into seedlings.

Forest restoration is now becoming a focal point for an increasing number of investors in climate resilience, including Shopify, which states that “the climate benefit of planting those trees and drawing down carbon is what they are purchasing through their carbon credit purchase”.

Source: CNBC

Major crypto broker Voyager Digital suspends all trading, deposits, and withdrawals

Digital asset brokerage Voyager Digital is pausing all customer temporarily suspending customer trading, deposits, and withdrawals, according to a statement released Friday afternoon.

“This was a tremendously difficult decision, but we believe it is the right one given current market conditions,” said Stephen Ehrlich, CEO of lending company Voyager.

source: CNBC