Technology Takes Flight This Week
Emerging Tech Roundup — December 16
The Quantious team’s top picks for timely trending news in the tech world.
This week in tech: Global Metaverse Carnival 2022 Proves to be a Success, Sonos and Ikea Announce Their Floor Lamp Speaker, Nillion Raises Millions For Web3 Infrastructure, the Results of World-Record Fusion Experiment Are Released, Twitter’s Community Notes Feature Rolls Out, Flying Taxis Launch in NY and New Tech Combats Invasive Mice.
Recap of Global Metaverse Carnival 2022
(Cointelegraph, December 14)
The Global Metaverse Carnival 2022 was a success, held December 6th through the 8th. The carnival featured talks on the global Metaverse policies, development, investment opportunities, technology innovations, case studies, and collaboration opportunities. The event hosted over 2,900 international attendees, 580 Chinese participants, and 150 global partners from around the world.
Sonos and Ikea Made a Floor Lamp Speaker That Could be Perfect for Surround Sound
(The Verge, December 8)
Sonos and Ikea announced the ‘Symfonisk’ floor lamp speaker, the latest addition to their collaborative product lineup. The new floor-standing lamp speaker is the two brands’ latest innovation to enhance life at home, integrating high-quality sound into home furnishing products. Following their partnership, Sonos will enter a new product category and release a long-awaited, high-end desk speaker.
Nillion Raises Over $20 Million to Build New Web3 Infrastructure
(Tech Crunch, December 12)
Web3 startup Nillion has closed an oversubscribed round of more than $20 million. The company aims to build a non-blockchain, decentralized network, providing a new internet infrastructure for securing storage and data computation. In two weeks, Nillion will have an end-to-end prototype that will be launched as a public network by the end of next year.
World-Record Fusion Experiment Produced Even More Energy Than Expected
(Tech Crunch, December 13)
Earlier this week, a U.S. Department of Energy lab produced a controlled nuclear fusion reaction that released more energy than it consumed. The reaction is considered net positive in technical terms and produced far less power than what would be expected of a commercial power plant. The team suggested there is plenty of room for improvement, and urged the private sector to get into the game.
Twitter’s Community Notes Feature Starts Rolling Out Globally
(Engadget, December 11)
Twitter has begun rolling out ‘Community Notes’ to all of its users globally. A means for the social media platform to combat misinformation, Community Notes takes a crowd-sourced approach to debunking misleading tweets. This rollout comes only days before the relaunch of Twitter Blue, with added security measures and review processes.
Startup Unveils Flying Taxis Expected to Soar Over NYC in 2025
(Freethink, December 8)
Archer Aviation has just unveiled its first production aircraft, an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle. Expected to run similarly to today’s Uber and Lyft services, eVTOLs will one day be hailed by using an app and meeting at a rooftop, where the pilot or AI then transports the traveler. United Airlines plans to use the aircraft to bring users to and from airports as early as 2025.
New CRISPR Tech Makes it Possible to Wipe out Invasive Mice
(Freethink, December 11)
Australian researchers have developed a gene drive that renders female mice infertile and allows male mice to pass the mutation on to their offspring. The goal for the tech is to eliminate pests from islands where they have devastated the local ecosystem. The research is continuing lab testing for now and eventually, researchers hope to test in the wild.
