Tom Cruise Isn’t On TikTok: It’s a Shockingly-Realistic Deepfake

Tom Cruise Isn’t On TikTok: It’s a Shockingly-Realistic Deepfake

A TikToker is using deepfake technology to impersonate Tom Cruise on the social media platform and the results are so realistic that some may mistakingly believe it actually is the famed actor. This latest situation has again raised concerns about the creation and use of deepfakes. While the account is clearly making folks aware that […]

SkyMul’s drones secure rebar on the fly to speed up construction

SkyMul’s drones secure rebar on the fly to speed up construction

There are many jobs in the construction industry that fall under the “dull, dirty, and dangerous” category said to be ripe for automation — but only a few can actually be taken on with today’s technology. One such job is the crucial but repetitive task of rebar tying, which a startup called SkyMul is aiming […]

Amazon issues rare apology in India over drama series

Amazon issues rare apology in India over drama series

Amazon on Tuesday issued a rare apology to users in India for an original political drama series over allegations that a few scenes in the nine-part mini series hurt religious sentiments of some people in the key overseas market. The series, called “Tandav,” has faced criticism from some people in India — including a few […]

Microsoft Azure expands its NoSQL portfolio with Managed Instances for Apache Cassandra

Microsoft Azure expands its NoSQL portfolio with Managed Instances for Apache Cassandra

At its Ignite conference today, Microsoft announced the launch of Azure Managed Instance for Apache Cassandra, its latest NoSQL database offering and a competitor to Cassandra-centric companies like Datastax. Microsoft describes the new service as a “semi-managed offering that will help companies bring more of their Cassandra-based workloads into its cloud.” “Customers can easily take […]

Daily Crunch: Microsoft unveils Mesh for AR/VR meetings

Daily Crunch: Microsoft unveils Mesh for AR/VR meetings

Microsoft shows off a new AR/VR meeting platform, Uber spins out a robotics startup and Compass files to go public. This is your Daily Crunch for March 2, 2021. The big story: Microsoft unveils Mesh for AR/VR meetings Mesh is a platform that allows for shared meetings between Microsoft’s HoloLens (augmented reality) and Windows Mixed […]

A Closer Look at the Mars Perseverance Rover’s Incredible Cameras

A Closer Look at the Mars Perseverance Rover’s Incredible Cameras

The Mars Perseverance Rover, which already has sent back some incredible images from the Red Planet, is equipped with 23 cameras designed for a host of tasks. Its main camera array is particularly impressive, able to see details as small as a tip of a pencil close by, and the size of an almond from […]

Tonal triples its physical stores with Nordstrom partnership

Tonal triples its physical stores with Nordstrom partnership

Tonal, maker of the smart home fitness trainer, announced it is more than tripling the number of physical locations it sells devices in through a new partnership with Nordstrom. Starting this month, Tonal will have 50-square-foot stations in the women’s activewear departments of at least 40 Nordstrom locations across the U.S., bringing the total number […]

AWS reorganizes DeepRacer League to encourage more newbies

AWS reorganizes DeepRacer League to encourage more newbies

AWS launched the DeepRacer League in 2018 as a fun way to teach developers machine learning, and it’s been building on the idea ever since. Today, it announced the latest league season with two divisions: Open and Pro. As Marcia Villalba wrote in a blog post announcing the new league, “AWS DeepRacer is an autonomous […]