How Tech Is Seamlessly Integrating into New Aspects of Daily Life

Emerging Tech Roundup — July 8

The Quantious team’s top picks for timely trending news in the tech world.

This week in tech: Apple joins the buy now, pay later space, OpenAI makes its predictive language tool publicly available, smart contact lenses are in development, Lowe’s helps further development of the metaverse, Twitter starts testing CoTweets, Meta open sources its AI translation tool, AR helps deliver a successful shoulder surgery.

Apple unveils Apple Pay Later

(CNBC, June 10)

Apple has immersed itself in the buy now, pay later market with its new offering, Apple Pay Later. The tech giant will be offering its borrowers interest-free loans, giving users an easy-access dashboard in the Wallet app. The move puts Apple in a much larger role within the financial services industry, and increases competition for competitors like PayPal, Klarna, and more. However, with rising inflation, higher interest rates, and slowing economic growth, the entire buy now pay later industry is facing an uncertain future.

How to use OpenAI Playground, the viral tool that lets an AI write nearly anything for you

(Business Insider, June 24)

Research lab, OpenAI, has made its new predictive language tool, Playground, available to everyone. Playground features AI trained to complete or respond to whatever someone types. With it, users can ask Playground AI questions, chat with it, write stories, and more. Another unique feature is that users can enter text someone else has written and have the AI edit it, or insert new text within it.

Mojo’s smart contact lenses begin in-eye testing

(CNET, June 28)

Mojo Vision is in early prototyping stages for smart contact lenses, which have a MicroLED display onboard, short-range custom wireless radio, tiny ARM processor, and motion tracking. Currently being worn by the company’s CEO, Drew Perkins, the lenses temporarily require a neck-worn processor that relays information to the lens and back to computers, as well as a special cap with a built-in antenna.

Lowe’s Opens 3D Product Library to Metaverse Developers

(ARPost, July 8)

Home improvement retailer, Lowe’s, is helping to further its vision for the future in which AR and VR are seamlessly integrated into daily life. With Lowe’s Open Builder, the company is providing metaverse developers and creators free access to over 500 3D digital assets from its product library. Lowe’s Open Builder lets users download the assets, as well as edit them (so long as the original character of the asset remains intact). These assets can be leveraged not only in metaverse projects, but also across gaming development, designs, and other applications.

Twitter begins testing ‘CoTweets’ to allow users to co-author tweets

(TechCrunch, July 7 )

Twitter is testing a new feature on select accounts that enables users to author tweets together. The feature, “CoTweets,” lets eligible accounts easily invite another user to co-author a tweet. If eligible, the invited co-author would then accept or reject the invitation to be a part of that particular “CoTweet.” This move signals Twitter may be considering alternative ways its platform can be used for collaboration.

Meta open sources early-stage AI translation tool that works across 200 languages

(The Verge, July 6 )

Meta has developed and open-sourced a single AI model that can translate across 200 different languages. While the project helps Meta to better understand its users, it also helps translate many languages currently unsupported by other tools. Although translation quality provided by this tool may be called into question, this effort is a big step forward in learning more about machine translation and its capabilities in the future.

Voice-Controlled Augmented Reality Headset Assists Successful Surgery

(Voicebot.ai, July 6 )

Scripps Clinic in California performed its first voice-enabled, augmented reality-aided shoulder surgery. Wearing a special AR headset, the hardware projected a 3D holographic view of the surgical plan onto the patient for the surgeon. Through voice commands, the surgeon was able to rotate and zoom in or out without needing to use their hands, which is crucial during surgery. This surgery is a major win for the medical industry, as well as the future of augmented reality in healthcare.