Google And Kairos Agree on Power Supply Deal

On 14 October, Google reportedly signed a deal to get electricity from small nuclear reactors to help power artificial intelligence.

The agreement to buy energy from reactors built by Kairos Power was agreed upon just weeks after it the media was informed that Three Mile Island, the site of America's worst nuclear accident, will restart operations to provide energy to Microsoft.

"We believe that nuclear energy has a critical role to play in supporting our clean growth and helping to deliver on the progress of AI," Google senior director of energy and climate said during a briefing.

"The grid needs these kinds of clean, reliable sources of energy that can support the build out of these technologies."

No financial details were made available yet, but the information may be made public soon for transparency.

At present, several tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are tryig to expand their data center capabilities to meet the AI revolution's computing needs while also scouring the globe for sources of electricity.

The first of a series of small modular reactors (SMRs) developed by Kairos as a result of its deal with Google is projected to be online by the end of this decade, according to the companies.

Additional small reactors are expected to go online through 2035, generating a combined total of 500 megawatts of power.

SMRs are more compact and potentially easier to deploy -- with big investments by Microsoft founder Bill Gates in the sector.

However, the technology is still in its infancy and lacks regulatory approval, leading companies to seek out existing nuclear power options.

"We view this as a really significant partnership," Kairos co-founder and chief executive Mike Laufer said in the briefing.

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High-Res AR Headset from Leap Motion

Leap Motion has been in kind of a weird place for quite a while now. They were able to raise north of US$ 100 million for their tightly focused computer vision work hell-bent on replicating real-time hand movements. Their work has all been very convincing in demos, but after eight years, the company itself still feels like a bit of a demo.

Recently, the SF startup is seemingly expanding its ambitions in the AR/VR space with the announcement of a new augmented reality headset which it likely won't produce. Project North Star is just a prototype reference design, but the company is open-sourcing its schematics and, despite the fact that it makes the wearer look like a giant bug, it seems fairly interesting.

The startup says that the low-cost headset can be built for under US$ 100 at scale. The savings here versus other AR headset systems relies on the simplicity of the optical system which promises a high quality experience in a form factor that's hardly low-key but is on-par with the bulk we're used to seeing in most of today's ugly VR headsets. The dual 1600x1440 LCD displays run at 120 hertz and bring a combined 100 degree field-of-view image into the user's periphery. The headset also integrates the necessary hand-tracking sensors of course.

The scenario basically seems like Leap Motion needed a wide field-of-view headset that integrated the necessary sensors to demo their hand-tracking tech and realized that there wasn't anything out their that fit the bill entirely, so they built their own.

"We hope that these designs will inspire a new generation of experimental AR systems that will shift the conversation from what an AR system should look like,to what an AR experience should feel like," Leap Motion CTO David Holz wrote in a blog post.

The company has released a host of very intriguing videos over the past several weeks that highlight the company's work on adapting its hand-tracking tech for augmented reality. What they've shown off is deeply convincing.

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Drone To Address Japan's Overtime Woes

Japan has a very deep culture that encourages overtime out of a sense of loyalty, and in some cases, it is considered a serious problem. It not only cuts into family and social life, it leads to entirely avoidable deaths.

Taisei (the company behind the main Tokyo 2020 Olympic stadium) aims to fix that in an unusual way: having a drone nag workers into going home.

Its newly unveiled T-Frend is ostensibly a security drone that surveils the office with its camera, but its specialty is blasting workers with "Auld Lang Syne" (commonly used in Japan to indicate closing time) to force them out of the office. In theory, the music and the drone's own buzzing make it impossible to concentrate.

The drone is autonomous, and doesn't need GPS to find its position. It'll be available in Japan in April as a ¥50,000 (US$ 443) per month service, which largely limits it to mid- and large-sized businesses that can easily justify the cost through improved worker health.

Whether or not T-Frend is effective remains to be seen - it is expected that stubborn workers donning noise-cancelling headphones. However, it could contribute to a national effort to create more balanced lifestyles. And it might even be more effective than existing strategies.

Right now, overseers at companies frequently find themselves working overtime as they urge staff to avoid those extra hours - the drone might let everyone punch out on time.

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WeChat and Taobao Integration Has Started

Social media in China is breaking new grounds after Tencent Holdings has begun letting users shop on Alibaba Group Holding's Taobao e-commerce platform directly through its WeChat app. This deal is significant since it is step towards the integration of two of China's biggest internet giants.

WeChat users can now open Taobao links and complete purchases within the Tencent multipurpose app, according to the report of the South China Morning Post last 9 October. When users buy or add a product to their shopping cart, they are asked to link their WeChat account to Taobao to access their delivery addresses stored in the shopping app.

Payments can be made via Tencent's digital wallet service WeChat Pay, known as Weixin Pay on the mainland, allowing users to complete their shopping without leaving the Tencent app. Users who choose other payment methods, such as Ant Group's Alipay, will be redirected to the Taobao app to finish their transaction.

The move comes just weeks after Taobao and its sibling Tmall, the two largest online marketplaces in China, began accepting WeChat Pay for online purchases. Merchants on Taobao and Tmall were given the choice to add WeChat Pay to their shops.

It also follows the conclusion of the Chinese market regulator's antitrust review of Alibaba in late August, which gave the e-commerce giant full recognition after it was hit with a record US$ 2.8 billion fine in 2021.

For years, Tencent had limited the sharing of links to Alibaba stores on WeChat. But following a call by the Chinese government for tech firms to tear down their "walled gardens", Tencent and Alibaba have taken measures over the past three years to integrate their services.

Tencent, for example, started allowing WeChat users to share Taobao links and browse product pages within the messaging app. It has also enabled users to open a variety of links and content from other rival platforms.

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Top Celebrity Names Being Used In Scams

All should be aware that these names can put you in a big trouble: Scarlett Johansson, Taylor Swift and Johnny Depp. These are just the celebrities whose identities are most often exploited for online scams.

Computer security company McAfee released its annual list (below) of the top 10 celebrity names with search results that tend to get compromised by hackers trying to rip off unsuspecting fans.

It's the actors’ likenesses that are being used without their permission on fraudulent schemes that peddle movie or song downloads, deals on celebrity-backed products, cryptocurrency investments or tickets to high-demand concerts.

The scammers also sometimes use convincing-looking deepfake videos of the actors to get a fan’s bank account information or to install malware on their devices that could result in identity theft.

Here is the list of the celebrities whose names and likenesses were most frequently fabricated this year for online scams — all without their permission. Also included is the type of fraud the names were used for. The celebrities are more diverse than one might expect, ranging from older male actors to younger female stars to singers with plenty of teenage fans.

1. Scarlett Johansson: "The Black Widow" star’s name and likeness were used for advertisements and endorsements. Johansson has also spoken out against nonconsensual AI-generated content, having threatened legal action against OpenAI for allegedly copying and imitating her voice.
2. Kylie Jenner: The reality star and influencer’s name and likeness were used for social media giveaway scams and fake Kylie Cosmetics products and websites.
3. Taylor Swift: The megastar singer’s name and likeness were used for celebrity endorsements, ticket scams and product giveaway scams, as well as for disinformation (Donald Trump sharing an AI fake suggesting Swift had endorsed him).
4. Anya Taylor-Joy: The Furiosa star’s name and likeness have been used for a giveaway scam, and her Twitter/X account was hacked to spread fake Queen’s Gambit sequel news.
5. Tom Hanks: The Oscar winner’s name and likeness have been used to promote "miracle cures and wonder drugs."
6. Sabrina Carpenter: The "Espresso" singer’s name and likeness have been used in fake ticketing scams and to advertise an app for creating sexually explicit images.
7. Sydney Sweeney: The "Anyone but You" star’s name and likeness have been used for crypto scams.
8. Blake Lively: The "It Ends With Us" actress’ name was used in a weight loss gummy scam.
9. Johnny Depp: "The Pirates of the Caribbean" star’s likeness has been used without permission in giveaway, crypto and fundraising scams.
10. Addison Rae: The "Diet Pepsi" singer’s likeness has been used without permission for fake endorsements, giveaways and crypto scams.

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