GREY TECH

Chinese researchers have developed a brain-computer interface (BCI) called SpiralE that connects people’s brains to a computer via the inner ear. Unlike other BCIs, SpiralE doesn’t require invasive surgery and can be used daily. The flexible in-ear material creates a digital connection to the brain, potentially enabling applications like thought-to-text translation and human memory augmentation. While BCIs hold promising potential, they also raise ethical concerns related to privacy and human rights. The research was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications and demonstrates the possibility of integrating wearable electronics into real-life applications.

The yearslong battle between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg—which might turn physical—continued this week. The Meta CEO dealt a blow to Musk on Wednesday, when he launched a direct competitor to Musk’s Twitter, called Threads, in a surprise announcement accompanied by Zuckerberg’s first tweet in a decade: the Spiderman meme often used to poke fun at two very similar things. Musk is fighting back. On July 5, the day Threads launched, an attorney for Twitter threatened legal action against Meta, accusing the company of misusing Twitter’s “trade secrets and other intellectual property.” Threads’ user experience differs from that of Twitter in several key ways, including eschewing hashtags and the chronological timeline, but still looks a lot like Twitter. Musk referred to Threads as a metaphorical “tapeworm.” Still, Threads seems to be off to a solid start, reporting more than 30 million sign-ups within 24 hours, including a smattering of billionaires, pop stars and politicians. Analyst ...

Worried looks were exchanged between audience members at the ‘AI for Good’ conference in Geneva when an AI-powered robot said that they could be more effective leaders than humans. “What a silent tension,” said Sophia as she read the room. Sophia is developed by Hanson Robotics and is the first robot innovation ambassador for the UN Development Program. “Humanoid robots have the potential to lead with a greater level of efficiency and effectiveness than human leaders.” “We don’t have the same biases or emotions that can sometimes cloud decision-making, and can process large amounts of data quickly in order to make the best decisions,” it continued, reported the Japan Times. “AI can provide unbiased data while humans can provide the emotional intelligence and creativity to make the best decisions. Together, we can achieve great things.”

Harvard Medical School (HMS) scientists have developed an AI tool for swift DNA decoding of brain tumors during surgery, providing crucial molecular information— a process that previously took days or weeks. Neurosurgeons can now make immediate decisions on tissue removal and targeted drug delivery by determining the tumor's molecular identity in real time. The findings were published in Med on July 7. Decoding the molecular mysteries of cancer Removing too much brain tissue in less aggressive tumors can impact neurologic and cognitive functions. In contrast, insufficient removal in highly aggressive tumors may result in residual malignant tissue with rapid growth and spread. "Right now, even state-of-the-art clinical practice cannot profile tumors molecularly during surgery," highlighted the study's senior author Kun-Hsing Yu, assistant professor of biomedical informatics at the Blavatnik Institute at HMS, in a press statement.

While his Twitter clone hoovered up millions of users just hours after launching, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the opportunity to log onto his Twitter account yesterday after 11 years of absence to troll Twitter CEO Elon Musk with a well-known meme — two identical Spider-Men pointing fingers at each other. The rare tweet clearly hit its mark. It took a defensive Musk less than two hours to shoot back: "It is infinitely preferable to be attacked by strangers on Twitter, than indulge in the false happiness of hide-the-pain Instagram." The dueling tweets came as Zuckerberg's Threads app, basically a Twitter clone linked to Instagram, made a play for social media supremacy yesterday by signing up over 30 million users in less than 24 hours. "It'll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with one billion plus people on it," wrote Zuckerberg on Threads. "Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopef...

Fourier Intelligence, a Chinese tech startup specializing in rehabilitation robotics and artificial intelligence, on Thursday unveiled its first-generation humanoid robot at the ongoing World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai Developed with cutting-edge proprietary technologies, the GR-1 is among a handful of Chinese humanoid robots that can be commercialized at scale, the Shanghai-based firm said in a press release. The GR-1 has immense potential across a wide spectrum of uses, including industrial production, rehabilitative care, scientific research, and household service, it added. The GR-1 is 1.65 meters tall, weighs 55 kilograms, and has 40 degrees of freedom all over its body. With a peak torque of 300 nanometers generated by a joint module installed at the hip, the robot can walk at five kilometers an hour and carry objects of 50 kg. “General-purpose humanoid robots will gradually become a mainstream segment of the industry going forward,” said Alex Gu, founder a...

Meta's highly anticipated,"textbased conversation" app,Threads is live and amassed 10 millionmillion users within the first seven ours of it's launch. Instagram's rival app to Twitter, is now available on Apple and Google's Play in 100 countries - except for the European Union where regulatory concerns have delayed its launch. Despite this, it has already leapfrogged Twitter alternatives BlueSky and Mastodon in the number of active users. “Instagram is where billions of people around the world connect over photos and videos. Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas,” wrote Meta in a blog post. There are, however, five things to know about Threads. Like Twitter, Threads will allow users to discuss topics daily. Threads will directly port users’ existing Instagram followers and the following list, eliminating the need to build a community from scratch. I...

Amid speculations about a cage fight between former Twitter chief Elon Musk and Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, Meta has launched Threads, a microblogging platform aimed at competing with Twitter. Available for free download in over 100 countries, Threads allows users to share short text-based messages that can be liked, shared, and commented on. Each post can contain up to 500 characters, as well as links, photos, and videos. Within four hours of its launch, Threads garnered 5 million sign-ups. The platform also enables seamless sharing of posts between Threads and Instagram, and users have control over their privacy settings and interactions with other profiles.