New Tech Innovations Provide Us with the Help We Didn’t Know We Needed

Emerging Tech Roundup — September 10

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

This week in tech: Matthew Ball shares his predictions for the Metaverse, GlobalData predicts a sharp increase in the value of AR, Amazon brings ‘Just Walk Out’ to Whole Foods, Google debuts new Meet features, the DOC forms a designated AI advisory committee, Fetch AI launches a parking assistant, and OpenAI develops technology that can help both inexperienced and experienced coders.

Venture Capitalist Matthew Ball Explains ‘Metaverse Vision’ and Trumpets Crypto

(Markets Insider, September 6)

The “metaverse” is a collective simulation created with various technologies including hardware, content, payments, networking and as of now, mainly games. Ball shared his belief that big tech companies have a huge responsibility and influence on the building of the metaverse, as they are the ones setting precedents in such early stages. As we near the fruition of the metaverse, Matthew Ball conveys his excitement for all of the education and innovation it will enable.

AR to See 22-Fold Revenue Growth by 2030

(Advanced Television, September 6)

GlobalData’s project manager, Rupantar Guha, predicts that one day, AR will replace smartphones in various forms with the help of voice-activated technologies and simulations. His team predicts the value of AR to increase 36% over the next ten years, from $7 billion in 2020. Since the Covid-19 hurdle has forced people to adapt to technology, AR has become more mainstream and will grow to be a vital piece of the future of work and our everyday lives.

Amazon’s Cashierless ‘Just Walk Out’ is Coming to Whole Foods Stores

(TechCrunch, September 8)

Whole Foods shoppers will soon be able to use Amazon’s ‘Just Walk Out’ feature to avoid the checkout line. Shoppers can either scan the app upon arrival or scan their palm using the Amazon One palm scanning system, and can pay within the app as they pick up items. The technology uses computer vision, sensors, and AI to operate and will allow Whole Foods employees to assist more customers around the store.

Google Debuts Meet Features, Including ‘Companion Mode’

(VentureBeat, September 8)

Google Workspace is launching various updates including enhanced search capabilities, Spaces collaboration dashboards, video conferencing devices from Logitech and Avocaor, and Meet calling, equipped with live-translated captions. Meet is also going to have ‘Companion mode’ which will provide users with a meeting whiteboard, chat, polls, Q&A, and more.

Commerce Establishes National AI Advisory Committee

(FedScoop, September 8)

The Department of Commerce has set up an advisory committee to help the White House with recommendations on “AI competitiveness, workforce equity, funding, research, international cooperation, legal issues,” and more. Through the formation and activity of the new committee, the DOC hopes to make sure that as AI grows in usage and development, citizens’ civil rights are still protected.

Fetch AI Demos Deep Parking Application in Tesla

(Yahoo! Finance, September 8)

Fetch AI is testing their new technology that allows drivers to find and rent parking spots in busy cities. The technology is a predictive model that is used to locate spots and allow drivers to reserve them using data from various sources including electric vehicle charging points. Fetch AI’s CEO mapped out the technology to help solve everyday economic, social, and environmental problems and plans to build off of this model in the future.

OpenAI Develops ‘Codex’ to Easily Train New Coders and Help Experienced Ones

(NY Times, September 9)

OpenAI has developed Codex to make coder’s lives easier and the tool is capable of completing coding tasks in record time. Users can request the tool do something in English, such as simulate a blue ball bouncing, and it will write a code to do so. The technology can mimic what it has done in the past, although it cannot yet think on its own. Codex is capable of creating and translating in 12 coding languages and is anticipated to greatly boost human productivity.