| |
| Welcome to Inside Tech! Here are today's top stories: - Amazon introduced new Echo, Fire TV, and Alexa updates today.
- Elon Musk's brain-chip startup, Neuralink, is recruiting for its first human trial.
- Microsoft is set to unveil new Surface devices and AI features tomorrow.
If you find value in this newsletter, kindly consider sharing it with friends and colleagues. Your support is appreciated! Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | Amazon unveiled new AI features, Echo devices, and Fire TV sticks during its Fall Devices event today. The company also announced the integration of generative AI into some products, including making Alexa more intuitive and conversational. Highlights: - The updated Echo Show 8 (3rd Gen) offers enhanced video calling, sound, spatial audio, and room adaptation tech.
- Improved Echo Frames smart glasses have a better design, sound quality, and extended battery life.
- Amazon also announced a new Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, and Fire TV Soundbar.
- The Echo Hub, an 8-inch wall-mounted display, is designed to manage home gadgets, offering voice control, live camera feeds, and support for the Matter and Thread smart home protocols.
Other announcements include: |     | |
| 2 | | Neuralink, the brain-chip startup owned by Elon Musk, has started recruiting patients for its first human clinical trial. The study marks a big step for Neuralink and the broader brain-computer interface (BCI) market, which is expected to surpass $9.4B by 2032. 
What's happening: People with quadriplegia from cervical spinal cord injuries or ALS may qualify for the six-year PRIME Study, which involves 18 months of at-home and clinic visits and five years of follow-ups. Neuralink aims to implant its brain-computer interface (BCI) into patients via a surgical robot, allowing the participants to control a computer cursor or keyboard with their thoughts. Who's participating: The company initially targeted 10 patients but is negotiating with the FDA for a lower number due to safety concerns. The exact number of participants and start date remain undisclosed. Why it matters: The trial will assess the safety and functionality of Neuralink's N1 implant, its R1 surgical robot, and the N1 User App, which translates brain signals into computer actions. Even if confirmed as safe for humans, experts believe the device could take over a decade to receive commercial clearance. As of this month, no BCI company has secured the FDA's final approval. | | | |
| A message from our sponsor, Optimizely. |  | | Big Book of Experimentation Every touchpoint with a customer is an opportunity to win that customer’s loyalty. With the power of experimentation, businesses can leverage it for their strategies toward improving relationships with customers, increasing conversions, constantly improving their websites, etc. We’ve put together this collection of case studies highlighting how some of the world’s leading brands are utilizing experimentation to deliver exceptional customer experiences. In this ebook, we include: - A formal introduction to experimentation
- Real stories from organizations that have benefitted from experimentation
- Key results that demonstrate the success of testing different variants
- The opportunity to gain greater insight into experimentation and how it can improve operations going forward
Download Now | |
|
| 3 | | Microsoft is expected to unveil three new Surface devices and new AI features during its special event tomorrow, September 21. Likely announcements include an upgraded Surface Laptop Studio 2, the Surface Go 4 with an Intel N200 processor, and the Surface Laptop Go 3 featuring Intel's 12th-gen CPUs. More: - New AI-powered upgrades are also expected for Windows 11.
- Microsoft has already announced Windows Copilot, its AI-powered assistant for the OS, set to launch to all users later this year.
- The company could announce AI-powered features for several Windows apps, including Photos, Camera, and Paint.
Zoom out: - Panos Panay, Microsoft's former Windows and Surface chief, won't be presenting, but it's likely that his replacement, Yusuf Mehdi, will take the stage.
- While the company is not livestreaming the event, it will post a recording to watch starting at 1 p.m. ET on Microsoft's website.
Q: For Windows users, what AI enhancements would you like to see in the OS? Share your thoughts here. | | | |
| 4 | | Apple store employees in France plan to strike this Friday and Saturday to demand higher pay. The national strike coincides with the new iPhone 15 lineup going on sale in stores. More: - Unions representing the French employees rejected Apple France's offer of a 4.5% pay increase, calling for a 7% raise to offset inflation.
- A call for the strike was sent this week to Apple's 20 French stores.
- In addition to a work stoppage, a protest is scheduled on Friday at Opera Garnier, next to Apple's flagship Paris store.
Related: - Also in France, the country's radiation watchdog suspended iPhone 12 sales last week due to radiation levels exceeding its standards.
- To address the problem, Apple has pledged to issue a software update for iPhone 12 users in France, which hasn't been released yet.
| | | |
| A message from our sponsor, Nudge Security. |  | | Take control of SaaS sprawl with Nudge Security SaaS sprawl getting out of control? We can help. Our patented approach to shadow IT discovery gives you a full inventory of all cloud & SaaS accounts ever created by anyone in your org, in minutes. With this data, you can: - Curb wasteful SaaS spending
- Ensure complete IT offboarding
- Audit use of SSO, MFA and OAuth grants
- Rein in cloud spending and rogue dev accounts
Start taking control of SaaS sprawl now with our free 14-day trial. Try it free | |
|
| 5 | | The FTC has opened up applications for "Fortnite" players to claim refunds as part of a $245M settlement with Epic Games. The company is paying the fine after it was accused of using "dark patterns" or design tricks that duped players into unwanted in-game purchases. More: - Epic faced allegations of using deceptive tactics, including confusing interfaces, resulting in unintended purchases by players.
- On Tuesday, the FTC opened up refund claims for the settlement, reaching out to 37 million people.
- The refunds, which cover in-game purchases like outfits and V-Bucks, apply to unwanted purchases from January 2017 to September 2022, or unauthorized charges made by children from January 2017 to November 2018.
- Claims can be submitted through January 17, 2024, on the FTC's website.
Zoom out: - Separately, the FTC accused Epic of violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) for collecting personal data from younger players without parental consent, among other claims.
- Epic faces an extra $275M fine for COPPA violations, for a total of $520M.
| | | |
| 6 | | Google is expanding the capabilities of Bard by integrating the chatbot with Gmail, Maps, YouTube, and other apps. Google's new "Bard Extensions," similar to ChatGPT's plug-ins, allow the chatbot to pull information from Google's consumer apps and answer questions. More: - For example, users could ask for Bard to search for files in Google Drive or Docs, summarize their Gmail inbox, find directions on Maps, or discover new videos on YouTube.
- Bard can simultaneously access different apps during a single conversation.
- Google also announced other improvements for Bard, including an update to its underlying language model and new fact-checking capabilities.
- The "Google It" button now lets users gauge the accuracy of Bard's responses and check for "hallucinations."
- Clicking the button highlights segments where Google Search results align or differ from Bard's responses.
Zoom out: | | | |
| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Big ideas demand a proven approach to product development. Revelry's process helps dev teams form and deliver 30-40% faster than industry standards.*
- OpenAI has released DALL-E 3, the third interation of its AI-powered image generator. DALL-E, which creates art from text prompts, now integrates with ChatGPT.
- Saudi Arabia and Tesla are reportedly having early conversations about developing an electric vehicle production facility in the country.
- Cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike has officially acquired Bionic.ai, a cloud security posture management platform, for $350M.
- Optimize your cloud costs today. This practical guide explains the steps to implement FinOps practices and how to get buy-in from your team.*
*This is sponsored content. | | | |
| Upcoming Events | | SEP
28 | | Join TruEra's Webinar on AI Observability with former CMU professor Anupam Datta. | | | | | | | OCT
4 | | Join this free online and onsite event in Amsterdam and you'll hear from industry experts at Meta, Opera, AdGuard, Mozilla, Google, and more. | | | | | | | OCT
16 | | Meet Our Fund 5, Building and Investing in AI | | | | | | * This is a sponsored event | | | |
Term of the Day Agtech: The revolution in agriculture, where technology is used to improve production, efficiency, and sustainability, is called agtech. Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation Today's Knowledge Hub Is Brought To You By Ready to take your career to the next level? Apply to join Sidebar, a highly-vetted and private community of small peer groups designed to support exceptional senior leaders in doing their best work. |
INSIDE TECH LEADERBOARD (7 DAYS) |
 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is the writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters, with a career spanning journalism and editing since 2007. She has written for publications including The Arizona Republic, USA Today, and others, and authored a book on the solar industry in 2016. Reach out to her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
| |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
