Coffee with Casner

WHAT IS IT?

The ambitious company wants TO become one of the world's leading merchants of surveillance technology, even as some lawmakers worry the company poses a dangerous threat to civil liberties and privacy rights.

WHY IMPORTANT

One hundred billion images in its' index of faces are the goal. Lawmakers worry the company poses a dangerous threat to Americans' privacy rights. Those images — equivalent to 14 photos for each of the 7 billion people on Earth — would help power a surveillance system used for arrests and criminal investigations by thousands of law enforcement and government agencies around the world.

The company wants to expand beyond scanning faces for the police, saying it could monitor "gig economy" workers. They are researching several new technologies that could identify someone based on how they walk, detect their location from a photo, or scan their fingerprints from afar.

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WHAT IS IT?
In a groundbreaking infection control innovation, a team of Korean scientists has created a novel material that, when applied to any surface, provides antibacterial/antiviral properties.

WHY IMPORTANT
Adding just a tiny amount of the additive to a range of resins increased the antibacterial properties to 99.99%. Antiviral properties were increased ten-fold in just two hours without modifying the existing products' optical, thermal, or mechanical properties. Additionally, the antibacterial/antiviral additive,  made from non-toxic substances, does not contain organic antibacterial agents and nano compounds.

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WHAT IS IT?

The Ark Big Ideas 2022 report has suggested some possible convergences and their specific applications. For instance, a mixture of robotics, battery technologies, Web 3.0, Blockchain, the Metaverse, and artificial intelligence can be leveraged to decrease the cost of transportation activities. Similarly, next-generation DNA sequencing, artificial intelligence, and gene therapies can together lead to better healthcare. At the same time, the convergence of application programming interfaces, social platforms, and blockchain technology could help cut out the middleman and allow for direct business collaboration between firms and markets.

WHY IMPORTANT

The report, along with having a bullish prediction of the total enterprise value of “disruptive innovation technologies” rising from $14 trillion in 2020 to $210 trillion in 2030, also identified several technologies we may see in the future.

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WHAT IS IT?

The Machine Learning Recommendation Algorithm Market study describes how the technology industry is evolving and how major and emerging players in the industry are responding to long term opportunities and short-term challenges they face.

WHY IMPORTANT

Analysis says that Machine Learning Recommendation Algorithm Companies that have continues to invest in new products and services including via acquisitions have seen sustainable growth, whereas one with slower R&D investment growth have become stagnant. Technology companies with annual R&D growth over 20% have outperformed their peer group in revenue growth.

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WHAT IS IT?

SageMaker Canvas, a visual point and click user interface for creating machine learning models.  SageMaker Canvas provides options for accessing datasets and performing explorations, such as data joins and SQL queries prior to data import for more control over the data being ingested. It can train multiple models automatically, returning a visual performance model for prediction analysis.

WHY IMPORTANT

SageMaker Canvas is meant more for business analysts to drive development while keeping costs low. Its only key competitor is Azure Machine Learning. It has similar no-code features to SageMaker, offering on moveable tiles in the interface to establish a machine learning process. 

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WHAT IS IT?
Solar PV systems that can be moved from one place to another to generate power generating more power than conventional setups while freeing up a good deal of space for other purposes.

WHY IMPORTANT
They generate 20-30% more power while requiring only 50-60% space compared to conventional mounting setups.

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WHAT IS IT?

A team of chemical engineers at MIT have created a new material that they claim to be stronger than steel — but still as light as plastic.

If the science holds up, it could be a huge advancement in material sciences, potentially giving objects like car parts or cell phones an extraordinarily durable skin. The team is even going as far as to say that it can be easily mass produced.

WHY IMPORTANT

The result is an extremely strong and thin material dubbed 2DPA-1 that is between four and six times more resistant to deformation as bulletproof glass. It is also twice as difficult to break than steel, despite having only one-sixth of the density.

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WHAT IS IT?

The intent of the office is to set up a strong foundation for data analytic and AI-enabled capabilities to develop and field at scale, the official said. 

 "This foundation includes the necessary people, platforms and processes needed to continuously provide business leaders and warfighters with agile solutions, so the CDAO will serve as a department senior official responsible for strengthening the integration of data analytics and digital solutions, as well as AI functions across the department," the official explained. 

WHY IMPORTANT

"The principal purpose for creating the CDAO is to elevate the importance of the issue sent to the secretary of defense, deputy secretary and other principals … while also ensuring unity of mission and strategic alignment in the department's enterprise level, data analytics, digital solutions and AI efforts."

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