Good morning!
This Wednesday edition features:
Althea AI is building a metaverse of NFT avatars
Facebook is planning to change its name
Google Play starts letting developers fill out ‘Data safety’ info
Alibaba unveiled one of China’s most advanced chips to date
And Google revealed the Pixel 6 line
It’s October 20, 2021.
1. NFTs
Mark Cuban-backed Althea AI is building a metaverse of NFT avatars (Fast Company)
Some of the best-known NFTs are unique avatars that people buy and sell, such as those in the CyberPunks series or Bored Ape Yacht Club. But NFTs don’t do much. Now, Alethea AI, backed by Mark Cuban, is wrapping avatars in AI that animates them, giving them conversation skills and knowledge.
Collectively, the company calls this the avatar’s “pod” or “soul.” Then, these intelligent NFTs, or iNFTs, become something like chatbots that can be owned, trained, or sold. Khan says his company originally used OpenAI’s GPT-3 natural language model to give the NFTs their speech and intelligence, but now uses an AI model it developed in-house.
“It’s a way of giving not only a personality to an avatar but to apply interactivity and to make it extensible,” Cuban said in an email to Fast Company. “You can take Alethea AI and let it grow into almost anything.” One of these NFTs, called “Alice,” already sold for $478,000 on Sotheby’s Natively Digital market in June.
Starting on October 14, people can bring their NFT avatars to Alethea’s new “Noah’s Ark” site, where the “soul” can be added. Khan says that the AI intelligence layer is contained in a new NFT that then binds with the avatar’s original NFT. Or, you can build your own intelligent NFT–or iNFT–starting from a number of template.
2. Facebook
Facebook is planning to rebrand the company with a new name (The Verge)
Facebook is planning to change its company name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse. The coming name change, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th, is meant to signal the tech giant’s ambition to be known for more than social media and all the ills that entail.
The rebrand would likely position the blue Facebook app as one of many products under a parent company overseeing groups like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and more. Facebook already has more than 10,000 employees building consumer hardware like AR glasses that Zuckerberg believes will eventually be as ubiquitous as smartphones.
A rebrand could also serve to further separate the futuristic work Zuckerberg is focused on from the intense scrutiny Facebook is currently under for the way its social platform operates today. Antitrust regulators in the US and elsewhere are trying to break the company up, and public trust in how Facebook does business is falling.
Facebook has been steadily laying the groundwork for a greater focus on the next generation of technology. This past summer it set up a dedicated metaverse team. More recently, it announced that the head of AR and VR, Andrew Bosworth, will be promoted to chief technology officer. And just a couple of days ago Facebook announced plans to hire 10,000 more employees to work on the metaverse in Europe.
3. Digital Privacy
Google Play starts letting developers fill out ‘Data safety’ info, section launching in February (9To5Google)
Back in May, Google announced a new Play Store requirement to have Android apps detail how they collect and use personal information. The Google Play “Data safety” section will go live in February as developers will soon be able to fill out the necessary information.
Starting yesterday, the “Data safety” form will appear in the Google Play Console. It will be fully available for “everyone within a couple of weeks,” while the company has provided additional guidance in the Help Center, developer guide, and Play Academy course.
Google is targeting April 2022 for when “all your apps must have their Data safety section approved.” After February, “No information available” will be shown for apps that have not been submitted or been rejected.
4. We’re Out Of Chips
Alibaba unveils one of China’s most advanced chips (Bloomberg)
Alibaba unveiled a new server chip that’s based on advanced 5-nanometer technology, marking a milestone in China’s pursuit of semiconductor self-sufficiency. The chip is based on micro-architecture provided by Arm. Alibaba, which is holding its annual cloud summit in Hangzhou, said the silicon will be put to use in its own data centers in the “near future” and will not be sold commercially, at least for now.
Tech giants worldwide are increasingly seeking ever-more powerful semiconductors to gain an edge. Alibaba’s server chip is one of the most advanced by a Chinese firm yet, as it joins global rivals like Amazon and Google in gradually replacing silicon from traditional chipmakers with products custom-designed for their data centers and workloads.
The development signals how China’s effort to build a homegrown semiconductor industry is bearing fruit. Xi Jinping’s government has made tech self-sufficiency a top national priority, setting aside billions in government funding and offering a wide range of policy support to help local firms overcome U.S. sanctions on the industry.
But with limited domestic manufacturing capabilities, Alibaba will likely still have to outsource production. While the company didn’t disclose its manufacturing partner, Taiwan Semiconductor and Samsung are the only two companies capable of mass-producing 5-nm chips. Each nanometer, equal to one billionth of a meter, measures the size of transistors within a chip.
5. Smart Phones
Google’s Pixel 6 bets on better cameras, homegrown chip (Axios)
Google's latest Pixel phones, announced Tuesday, pack a lot more than just a new processor, although the Tensor chip is a key to many of the new features. Google has been in the smartphone business for years, but with the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, it is finally striking out in a unique direction.
The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro both pack the Tensor chip, Google's first smartphone processor. The cameras are priced lower than much of the competition — $599 for the standard cellphone model and $899 for the Pro version.
The camera advances come from both larger sensors as well as new computational photography features that allow for some pretty advanced tricks. The Pixel 6 can create motion blur while keeping a subject sharp or it can remove blur from the subject by combining multiple images. It can even erase an unwanted person or object from the background with a "magic eraser" feature.
The Tensor is also put to work for other uses. When you call a company and get an automated system, the Pixel 6 can listen for you and turn the options into buttons with text. It can also wait on hold for you and alert you when a human finally comes on the line.
The design also aims to stand out from the competition, featuring a prominent raised camera bar on the back to make room for those larger image sensors, which include a 4x optical zoom on the Pro models.
The phones ship on Oct. 28, and pre-orders began yesterday.
6. Funding, IPOs, M&As
💰 N26 Secures $900 Million Series E: The fintech challenger bank is now valued at over $9 billion.
📦 Rent The Runway Seeks $315 Million In IPO: The fashion-rental company plans to sell 14 million shares for $18-$21 apiece.
💰 Zopa Announces $300 Million: Zopa is a P2P lending and savings neobank in the UK. It’s now valued at $1 billion.
📦 Gorillas Raises $235 Million: German grocery startup Gorillas is now a unicorn valued at over $1 billion.
⛵️ Saildrone Catches $100 Million Series C: Saildrone builds robo-boats called uncrewed surface vehicles.
📦 Primer Brings In $50 Million Series B: Primer has a framework to help merchants build payment stacks to sell online.
🔒 TripleBlind Banks $24 Million: The startup has a new approach to enterprise-level privacy-preserving data sharing.
☁️ Metrolink Gets $22 Million Seed: The Israeli startup has a dataflow infrastructure solution.
☁️ Insurights Raises $22 Million: The startup’s digital platform helps employees find lower-cost providers.
⚕️ Navina Secures $15 Million: Navina uses AI to assist primary care physicians in making complex decisions.
☁️ CoLab Lands $17 Million Series A: CoLab provides a web-based tool and issue tracking platform for engineering teams.
👩💻 OfficeRnD Grabs $10 Million Series A: OfficeRnD is a SaaS for managing hybrid workplaces.
🛌 X-trodes Completes $4.5 Million Seed: The Israeli startup has developed “smart skin” that helps people monitor sleep
As always, please feel free to share questions, feedback, or requests for future newsletters.
Cheers!
Eric
#BeAmbitious