Geekly Update - 01 February 2024

The AskBobRankin Geekly Update

Neurotechnology startup Prophetic wants to pump AI-generated ultrasound holograms into your brain. They claim their Morpheus-1 AI software can help users enter and maintain a lucid dream state, in which the dreamer is aware that they are dreaming and can control some aspects of the dream. Who wants to volunteer?

Time Magazine says the rooftop solar industry could be on the verge of collapse. Customers are complaining about deceptive marketing practices, and over 100 solar energy dealers in the U.S. declared bankruptcy last year.

Google’s Bard, an AI chatbot that competes with OpenAI's ChatGPT, has added AI image generation capable of generating high-quality, photorealistic images from natural language prompts. It seems to do a better job of rendering text in multiple languages to create images with accurate text overlays. Try something like this: "create an image of a strawberry yogurt cup embossed with the word 'yummy', sitting on a wooden table, next to a banana."

AT&T and TransUnion are working together to add company logos to the caller ID display on smartphones, in an effort to help customers see if an incoming call is legit or a robocall scam. Companies that sign up for TransUnion's "Branded Call Display" can have their logos appear on Caller ID. Hopefully other mobile carriers will join in the effort.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is joining the fight against robocalls. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel today proposed new rules to make calls with AI-generated voices illegal under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Recently a robocall targeted New Hampshire residents with an AI-generated voice purporting to be President Joe Biden, telling people not to vote in the state’s primary election.

Elon Musk says Neuralink has implanted a brain chip in a human for the first time. The operation uses a surgical robot to insert a
computer chip and over 1000 super-thin conductors into the cerebral cortex. The goal of the Telepathy project is to allow a person with paralysis to operate a computer.

U.S. senators grilled tech CEOs from Meta, Tiktok, and Snapchat over concerns their social media platforms were causing harm and sometimes death to young people. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stood and gave a "hollow" apology to parents who attended the hearing. A bi-partisan coalition of senators has vowed to pass the Kids Online Safety Act, which would create a legal duty of care for large platforms to make their services safe for kids.

Super Bowl 58, the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the San Francisco 49ers, will take place on Sunday, Feb. 11. The game will air on CBS. If you don't have cable, you can stream it on Paramount Plus, YouTube TV, Hulu, Fubo, or DirecTV Stream.

Verizon is "adjusting rates" on some of its older unlimited data plans. And you know that means "raising prices," right? Some customers will see increases of $4/mo per line starting March 1. Check your email for a notice from Verizon.

Bad news: The FBI director says state-sponsored Chinese hackers known as Volt Typhoon are preparing to 'wreak havoc' on critical US systems, including telecommunications, water facilities, transportation, and the military. Good news: The U.S. government announced Wednesday it had disrupted a China-backed hacking operation targeting U.S. critical infrastructure. More bad news: U.S. cybersecurity head says “very basic” flaws underpinning critical infrastructure in the U.S. have “made it easy” for China-backed hackers to target its systems.

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