Here are some interesting stories in tech this week

The world of tech moves fast, it is hard to keep up with the latest news and developments. So, starting today, we are going to be giving you a summary of some of the interesting tech news of the week from across the globe.

Sciency stuff

Little device produces electricity continuously, day or night

TEGs are solid-state devices that use temperature differences to generate electricity without any moving parts.

The TEG is tiny, only a few centimetres squared.

This is a thermoelectric generator (TEG), it can produce electricity for small devices. The TEG works day and night and in cloudy conditions, making it more reliable than batteries, which need to be charged or replaced. The TEG could be used for remote sensors and wearable electronics.

It works by using an ultra-broadband solar absorber to capture sunlight, heating one side of the generator and a planar radiative cooling emitter (RCE) cooling down the other side by releasing heat. That temperature difference is used to generate electricity.

It is more efficient during sunny days but still produces power at night or on cloudy days.

For more on the TEG, click here.

Long distance teleportation

In sci-fi movies, we have been sold the idea of near-instantaneous transport from one place to another without actually travelling through the physical space between them. While we’re not yet there, scientists are teleporting some stuff.

Some researchers were able to teleport information over a distance of 1km. The process they used is called quantum teleportation, which is the transfer of quantum information between two distant quantum objects, a sender and a receiver.

The actual information is not transferred by sending quantum bits through a communication channel connecting the two parties; instead, the information is destroyed at one location and appears at the other one without physically travelling between the two.

This work on quantum teleportation will help integrate quantum technologies into current telecommunication networks.

Quantum technologies offer much better security than classical technologies and so this quantum teleportation work would help bring that improved security to very long distances when quantum tech is integrated with classical tech.

More about this quantum teleportation here.

AI stuff

AI generating videos and GIFS from text input

NVIDIA introduced a text-to-video conversion model called VideoLDM. You type in what you want and the AI creates a video or GIF of it. It can produce GIF-style moving images, 4.7 seconds long and at a 1,280 x 2048 resolution and at 24fps. It can produce longer videos but at a lower resolution of 512 x 1024.

NVIDIA demoed the AI creating a GIF from a text prompt that simply said, “a stormtrooper vacuuming on the beach.” Here is what it produced.

Click here to see it animated.

With how fast AI is improving, you will be able to type in a movie script and have AI create a movie for you. Remember there are AI that will write a screenplay for you from a text prompt.

Watch more of what VideoLDM can do here.

Google search could be getting its AI groove on soon

Microsoft did not waste time integrating ChatGPT with their search engine – Bing, calling the result an AI copilot. What do you know, I am using Bing now, something I never actually did before.

It’s not just me. It has been reported that Samsung is considering using Bing on its devices, instead of Google in the future. Samsung ships close to 300 million smartphones every year, and most have Google as the default search engine. Estimates say that business is worth around $3 billion annually.

Google would not want to lose that. This is but one real threat that Bing now poses to Google’s core business of search.

So, naturally, Google is working on what are being called ‘dramatic search changes’ so that they can stave off Bing.

Project Magi sees Google trying to update its search engine with more search features. Through Magi, Google wants to create a more personalised experience than they currently do, powered by AI of course.

Read more about Project Magi here.

Google CEO warns AI could be harmful

Google CEO, Sundar Pichai, joins Elon Musk in warning about the dangers of AI if it is deployed wrong. He is calling for a global regulatory framework, similar to the nuclear treaty.

Pichai is worried that the competition to advance AI could lead to security and safety concerns being ignored.

He gave an example of AI creating a video (much like the VideoLDM we talked about above) of a fictitious interaction between real people.

For example, you could tell VideoLDM to create a video of ‘Nelson Chamisa in a dark alleyway talking to a silhouetted individual, saying, “I talked to ED and as long as we keep our end of the deal, the mine is ours.” It would be interesting to see what happens after that video “leaks.”

Could the Google CEO be trying to halt OpenAI and Microsoft’s progress with ChatGPT and Bing so they can catch up? It is possible but his concerns may still have merit. Both things could be true.

Read more about Sundar Pichai’s concerns here.

Gadget stuff

Samsung to bring Exynos back with Galaxy S24

This year’s entire Galaxy S23 range packs Qualcomm processors. In the past, global models came with Samsung-made Exynos chips but users were treated to Qualcomm processors the world over this year.

In almost all years, top-end Qualcomm processors have been better than Exynos ones and so this move was applauded. Unfortunately for us global users, it looks the S24 will be packing an Exynos processor.

Reports say that the 4nm Exynos 2400 which would be in the S24 has impressed both those inside and outside Samsung. So, the hope is it will be able to hang with the next generation Qualcomm but I wouldn’t bet on that.

The main reason Samsung is considering bringing the Exynos back is that they lost negotiating power when they moved to Qualcomm exclusively. As a result, they spent 49.9% more on processor purchases than they did in the previous year.

Bad news on the Exynos front is somewhat assuaged by the fact that the base storage on the S24 is said to be 256GB and the base RAM is 12GB.

Find out more about all that here.

Pixel 7a leaks

Google just cannot keep any information on their products under wraps. We already know that Pixel 7a is likely coming with a Tensor G2 chip, a 90Hz FHD+ display, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of last-generation UFS 3.1 storage. If you care about wireless charging, it will have that too.

Those improvements come with a higher price. Leaks show that the Pixel 7a will start at $499, which is $50 more than the starting price of last year’s Pixel 6a. It’s still a good price for what the phone packs in my opinion.

More on that, here.

Services

Snapchat+ subscription plan breaches 3 million mark

Snap recently announced that its Snapchat+ paid plan has more than 3 million users. 

3 million subscribers still represent less than 1% of the 375 million daily active users on the platform.

Snapchat has added a number of new features in the past few months like custom notification sounds, story expiration controls, customizable chat wallpapers and a plan gifting option. It has also promised that it will allow paid users to freeze their Snap Streaks.

The company has additionally focused on bringing generative AI features to subscribers. In February, it launched My AI chatbot for Snapchat+ users.

As the company is making My AI bot available to all Snapchat users, it said that Snapchat+ users will later this year gain a feature where the bot will reply to them with a visual Snap — essentially generating an image based on the conversation.

Instagram now allows 5 links in user bio

Instagram’s latest update is making life (and influencing) a little easier: You can now link to multiple sites in your bio as of Tuesday.

“You can now add up to 5 links in your Instagram bio,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced through his Instagram broadcast channel, adding it’s “probably one of the most requested features we’ve had.”
Here’s how to add multiple links to your Instagram bio:
1 Open the Instagram app on your device
2 Tap on your account
3 In the top left corner under your profile picture, tap the Edit profile button
4 Tap Add link
5 Tap Add external link
6 Type in the URL and title of the link you want to include
7 Hit the blue tick
8 Then tap Add external link again to keep adding more links.

Zanu PF says CCC infiltrating their software

By software, they mean their WhatsApp groups.

CCC supporters have allegedly infiltrated ZANU PF constituency WhatsApp groups to campaign for their leader Nelson Chamisa, reported NewsDay.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa reportedly created scores of constituency-based WhatsApp groups after secretly obtaining voters’ mobile numbers and would post his campaign messages in the groups to lure voters.

But CCC members reportedly joined the same WhatsApp groups which were open to all registered voters and started campaigning for Chamisa and trolling ZANU PF.

The description of one of the ZANU PF WhatsApp groups was later changed to Chamisa Chete Chete (Chamisa only).

ZANU PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa accused CCC supporters of cyber-bullying, saying this will however not affect voting patterns. He was quoted by NewsDay as saying:

“We are being trolled. They are infiltrating our software. The WhatsApp groups were created by some ZANU PF members who wanted to interact with the people on behalf of the President. We have the support of people. Cyber war games against ZANU PF won’t work.
It will not affect the outcome of the poll. There are hardly a million on social media. The majority of Zimbabweans don’t have smartphones, especially in rural areas so social media won’t be effective to remove ZANU PF. Social media is not our main battlefront. It is just a sideshow.”

Still on WhatsApp

WhatsApp now allows you to save disappearing messages. The feature is called ‘Keep in Chat.’

However, in typical WhatsApp fashion, the sender will be notified that you intend to save the message and they have to consent. If they don’t consent, you won’t be able to save the message.

You could always take a screenshot and not have to go through the trouble of asking for permission to save messages. However, it clutters your gallery and is not ‘in the spirit’ of disappearing messages.

The Keep in Chat feature will be rolling out gradually and so don’t worry if you don’t see it yet. It is coming.