The Daily Valet. - 11/10/23, Friday
✔️ AI Enters Its Wearables Era
Friday, November 10th Edition
By Cory Ohlendorf, Valet. Editor
We made it to Friday ... that's enough for me to celebrate.
Today’s Big Story
AI Wearables Are Here
There's a new OpenAI-powered Pin, But it’s not yet entirely clear what you’re supposed to use it for
Artificial intelligence moves incredibly fast. A confluence of innovations has spurred growth at a shocking speed. Breakthroughs in mathematical modeling, improvements in hardware and computing power, and the emergence of massive high-quality data sets have supercharged generative AI tools. Just this week, OpenAI announced that it's now letting users build custom versions of ChatGPT to accomplish specific personal and professional tasks as the artificial intelligence startup works to beat back competition in an increasingly crowded market.With the new option, users will be able to quickly create their own specialized versions of the chatbot—simply called GPTs—that can help teach math to a child or explain the rules of a board game, the company said on Monday. And no coding is required. OpenAI also plans to introduce a store later this month where users can find tailored GPTs from other users, like you might with apps in the App Store.So it's not all that surprising that AI has already jumped into the wearable space. On Thursday, after months of demos and hints about what the AI-powered future of gadgets might look like, Humane finally took the wraps off of its first device: the AI Pin. The device is being described as “a wearable smartphone without a screen,” that you clip directly onto your clothes. It features a projector that will turn any surface (even the palm of your hand) into a screen.If it looks a little Apple-ish, that's probably because the brand's founders are former Apple executives and designers. The $699 device also comes with a $24 monthly fee for a Humane subscription, which gets you a phone number and data coverage through T-Mobile's network. The company told Wired the device will start shipping in early 2024 and that preorders begin November 16th.Tech writers who got an early hands-on demonstration seemed impressed, if a tad confused. “It was, like any new technology, equal parts magic and awkward,” said one. “It took a few seconds of waving my hand in front of my chest to find the laser menu.” The Verge points out that over the last year, “we've seen a huge amount of functionality become available through a simple text command to a chatbot; Humane's trying to build a gadget in the same spirit.” But one thing is clear: Computing is always evolving, and that evolution is usually about getting faster, stronger and smaller. From oversized mainframes to handheld screens to now a mere projection onto our hands. That's pretty impressive.
AI Hallucinations:
When summarizing facts, ChatGPT technology makes things up about 3% of the time, a recent review found.
Israel Agrees to Humanitarian Pauses
Israel agrees to 4-hour daily pauses in Gaza fighting to allow civilians to flee, White House Says
Israel has agreed to put in place four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in its assault on Hamas in northern Gaza, the White House said Thursday, as President Joe Biden pressed Israelis for a multi-day stoppage in the fighting in a bid to negotiate the release of hostages held by the militant group.Going forward, an announcement will be made three hours before each pause and a second route along a coastal road will allow thousands more civilians to reach southern Gaza. Israeli officials told the U.S. there will be no operations in designated areas during those times. The decision is a clear shift in policy for Israel, which for weeks had largely resisted the Biden administration's push for pauses in Israeli forces' assault on Gaza for humanitarian reasons. Israeli officials initially saw the pauses as a pathway to a ceasefire that the Israeli public doesn't want.According to NBC News, Israel's military has been downplaying the White House announcement, saying that the pauses are very narrow—neighborhood by neighborhood—and that there's no commitment to stop attacks in Gaza altogether for any duration of time. Shortly after White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby made the announcement Thursday afternoon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement that the fighting was continuing “and there will be no cease-fire without the release of our hostages.”
The Future of Co-Working?
WeWork Flopped. But Have Flexible Offices?
It's something of a paradox: Demand for flexibility is strong as companies try to strike a balance between the traditional office and letting employees work at home. But co-working spaces that tout flexibility are struggling even more than traditional landlords in the post-pandemic office market. According to real estate brokers Cushman & Wakefield, flexible office space accounts for less than 2% of all office space in the 20 largest U.S. markets—which was about its share before the pandemic.In its heyday a few years ago, WeWork said it would reinvent offices. But the company never created a sustainable business or changed how most people worked. Experts say that it's because the spaces mainly appeal to startups, particularly in the tech sector. Big companies do sometimes use co-working space—if they are opening a regional hub, say—but never took to it in big numbers.Well-designed, brightly-lit co-working spaces promise a more inspiring place to get things done. They say they foster creativity and boast freebies like kombucha and coffee on tap. But the truth is that they often feel like working out of a hotel lobby—albeit, a nice hotel. And once people perfected their at-home workspace, they don't need to commute to another place just to work alone. And, of course, there's a growing consensus that there are benefits to going into the office, especially for younger members of the team.
Meanwhile:
WeWork certainly created a few financial losers. But founder Adam Neumann certainly wasn’t one of them.
New Noise-Canceling Technology
What if it didn't have to cancel out everything?
I love my noise-canceling AirPods. Pop 'em in the ears and the roots of a lot of my daily distractions and annoyances are gone. Just like that. But, I'll admit, sometimes the feeling can be a little isolating and disorienting. Which is why I appreciate Apple's “transparency mode” when I'm riding my bike or at the gym.That's because hearing the right noise at the right time can be vital. You might want to erase car horns when working indoors, but not when walking along busy streets. Only people can't choose what sounds their headphones cancel. Well, not yet, anyway. Researchers at the University of Washington have developed deep-learning algorithms that let users pick which sounds filter through their headphones in real time. The team is calling the system “semantic hearing.”The system, which is still in prototype, lets users opt back into certain sounds they’d like to hear, such as babies crying, birds tweeting or alarms ringing. What's more, it connects off-the-shelf headphones to a smartphone app. Researchers have long tried to solve the “cocktail party problem”—that is, to get a computer to focus on a single voice in a crowded room, as humans are able to do. Experts say this new method is a significant step forward, and could pave the way for smarter hearing aids and earphones.
FYI:
Does the technology save us from annoying distractions, or does it close us off from the world? The Wall Street Journal investigates.
In Other News
It took a team of 140 surgeons over 21 hours.
Have you heard about ...
A Weekend Pairing
‘The Killer’ + a White Negroni Cocktail
David Fincher can't get enough of that dark, dangerous, murderous stuff—his filmography bleedeth over with miscreants (Gone Girl), home invaders (Panic Room) and all sorts of maniacs (Se7en, Zodiac and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo). And let's not forget the criminally underrated Netflix drama, Mindhunter. Now he's back on the streamer, with his latest film—The Killer, based on the French graphic novel series of the same name—centered around a man who's grown comfortable—if not lazy—working as a cog in a murderous machine.We never learn the killer's name—played perfectly by Michael Fassbender—he has countless aliases and fake passports, which he uses to travel the globe, killing rich, powerful people at the behest of other rich, powerful people. After the first job in the movie goes bad, the killer finds that he's now a target, which adds a bit of tension and mystery as he dodges threats (and bullets) from rival assassins. On the upside, it provides for splashy entrances and exits from the other generic types: the Lawyer (Charles Parnell), the Client (Arliss Howard), the Expert (Tilda Swinton), the Brute (Sala Baker). With this cast and crew, you don't need me to make a case for the film, but reviewers are loving it. One appreciated the beauty of Fincher's meticulous filmmaking, while another said you can't look away from Fassbender's dull yet compelling character. The Ringer says the film provides a “uniquely unsentimental approach to a familiar setup.”
Pair It With
Looking for French ingredients, I stumbled upon Suze, the French brand of bitters flavored with the roots of the plant gentian. It makes a killer white Negroni, since it easily subs in for the bitter twinge of Campari.
Also Worth a Watch:
‘The Curse’ on Paramount+; ‘The Buccaneers’ on Apple TV+
Shopping
What We’re Buying
Something under $20
You may have the retail itch in your wallet, and we're here to help scratch that. I've been told I'm a bad influence whenever it comes to retail therapy, but we all need a treat sometimes, right? But who said that to find something nice you have to spend a lot? We've rounded up a few items that are budget approved and all under 20 bucks. These cost-conscious picks will have you smelling good and feeling good while keeping plenty of money in your pocket.
Get a deal:
Morning Motto
Let it go.
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