Tech News Digest Week 19: Top Ten Biggest Tech News

From year to year, the evolution of technology is one of staggering promise and opportunity – as well as uncertainty. The future may be unknown, but digital advancement continues to reshape our world in ways that encourage people to form new habits, find new ways to work together, and become better human beings. And, in most cases, these changes translate into a range of opportunities and disruptions across every industry. Our top ten list of tech news are a truly reflective of the disruptive future we could dare to dream.

I. Fined for a million dollars

Tesla has been fined for a million dollars for 33 notices of air quality management violations dating back to 2015. To settle the air quality violation at its Fremont, California plant, Tesla has agreed to pay a fine of $750,000 directly to the air district’s general operating fund and installation of a community microgrid system worth $250,000 which includes rooftop solar panels. (source)

II. Crypto surge

For those in the world of Cryptocurrencies - On May 5, 2020, one Ether token was worth one hundred and eighty-six dollar. A year later, the cryptocurrency hit four thousand dollars for the first time, a rise of over two thousand one hundred percent. Though Dogecoin is sucking up most of the world's cryptocurrency attention, it has been a huge May for Ethereum already, as this milestone comes just a week since the cryptocurrency hit three thousand dollars for the first time. (source)

III. Tip. Tweet. Repeat.

Twitter has launched a new "tip jar" feature that lets people send money to others on the social network. Twitter says the feature is "an easy way to support the incredible voices that make up the conversation". To begin with, only a select group of people can receive tips. This new function essentially adds a small icon to a user's profile - on mobile devices only for now - with a drop-down menu for other payment providers such as PayPal, Venmo, or the Cash App. (source)

IV. 2nm breakthrough

The process used to make computer chips is measured in nanometres (nm) - with a lower number usually signifying a leap forward. Current high-end desktop chips such as AMD's Ryzen processors are based on the 7-nanometer process.

IBM recently announced their new 2 nanometre chip has made a significant breakthrough in computer processors and claims to improve performance by 45% OVER the current 7nm and use 75% LESS energy to match current performance. This could "quadruple" mobile phone battery life, and phones might only need to be charged every four days. (source)

V. Two-step compulsion

Currently, Google gives an option of enrolling in two-step-verification to its users which, if enrolled, gives them a prompt on their smartphone when signing in to verify if they are the ones signing into their account.

It is more like an opt-in feature – however Google has just announced that they will soon be making the two steps authentication as a default feature. Google says that this change is essential to increase security. Having said that this will be an opt-out feature, allowing the users to disable it after using it once. Also there is no precise timeline for when it will start activating this new rule. (source)

VI. Clubhouse' Android association

The invite-only audio chat app, is now available for Android devices after more than a year on iOS. Beta testing would begin rolling out immediately in the US, followed by other English-speaking countries and eventually the rest of the world. Launched in March 2020, Clubhouse was developed by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth.

The app houses virtual rooms where you can listen in or speak on specific topics and conversations. It has already spawned a host of competitors - Twitter has been testing on an audio chat product known as Spaces, while Reddit is also planning to launch a new audio chat feature, called Reddit Talk. (source)

VII. Detecting sarcasm

Properly understanding and responding to customer feedback on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms is critical for success – this is where sentiment analysis comes in – the term refers to the process of identifying whether emotion associated with the text is either positive, negative, or neutral. While artificial intelligence refers to logical data analysis and response - sentimentanalysis is related to correctly identifying emotional communication, this was incredibly labour intensive. Computer science researchers at the University of Central Florida have newly developed artificial intelligence algorithm that can accurately detect sarcasm in comments written on social media platforms. Effectively the team taught the computer model to find patterns that often indicate sarcasm and combined that with teaching the program to correctly pick out cue words in sequences that were more likely to indicate sarcasm. They taught the model to do this by feeding it large data sets and then checked its accuracy. (source)

VIII. Industrial IOT capabilities

Arduino may not be a household name - it was born at the Ivrea Interaction Design Institute as an easy tool for fast prototyping, aimed at students without a background in electronics and programming. Arduino has just introduced the latest member of its Pro line-up, the Portenta Machine Control, a fully centralized, low power, industrial control unit able to drive equipment and machinery. It can be programmed using the Arduino framework or other embedded development platforms. The Portenta Machine Control adds Industrial IoT capabilities to standalone industrial machinery. It enables the collection of real-time data from the factory floor and supports the remote control of equipment, even from the cloud, when desired. Its computing power enables a wide range of predictive maintenance and AI use cases. (source)

IX. Therapeutic alternative

Carmat, a Denmark based developer of next generation advanced total artificial heart, announced the first successful implantation of its bioprosthetic artificial heart. Carmat's device is designed to fulfill an unmet medical need by providing a therapeutic alternative to heart transplants in people suffering from end-stage biventricular heart failure. The device uses highly biocompatible materials, offers a unique self-regulation system and its pulsatile nature are expected to reduce or eliminate the risk of rejection by patients’ bodies. (source)

X. Under display patent

Xiaomi is developing an under-display flip camera for smartphones. This technology would enable the company to use the phone’s main sensor as both a front-facing one and a rear-facing one. The company can still include several cameras on the back, and only make the main one rotatable. As you can see it in the below image. (source)