Image used with permission by copyright holderWith the exception of a select few locations, most of Africa is is beyond the range of traditional fixed and mobile terrestrial network connections. As result, only about 20 percent of the population is able to connect to the Internet. Facebook hopes to change those statistics with a new project in its Internet.org initiative. As part of this program, Facebook is partnering with French satellite communications provider Eutelsat to beam an Internet connection to remote parts of Africa. “I’m excited to announce our first project to deliver Internet from space,” wrote Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in a Facebook posting.
Facebook is working with Eutelsat to provide Internet access to sub-Saharan portions of Africa via Eutelsat’s new AMOS-6 geostationary satellite, which will cover West, East and Southern Africa. Amazingly, the satellite will deliver affordable broadband Internet using off-the-shelf consumer equipment for connectivity — so it’ll be easy and cheap to build more of these satellites in the future. Eutelsat is setting up a new company in London to oversee its African broadband business, while Facebook will work locally in Africa to deliver Internet service to rural communities. The satellite-based service is expected to go online in mid-2016
The African satellite project is part of Facebook’s broader Internet.org initiative which debuted in 2013. Through Internet.org, Facebook wants to connect the world by providing internet access to developing countries worldwide. When it launched, Internet.org was highly criticized for providing access only to Facebook and a handful of other web sites and services instead of the full, open internet. Available in countries such as India, Indonesia and Bolivia, Internet.org responded to critics by recently expanding its service to include any sites that meet Facebook’s development criteria.
Let there be no doubt: CES isn’t just alive in 2023; it’s thriving. Take one glance at the taxi gridlock outside the Las Vegas Convention Center and it’s evident that two quiet COVID years didn’t kill the world’s desire for an overcrowded in-person tech extravaganza -- they just built up a ravenous demand.
From VR to AI, eVTOLs and QD-OLED, the acronyms were flying and fresh technologies populated every corner of the show floor, and even the parking lot. So naturally, we poked, prodded, and tried on everything we could. They weren’t all revolutionary. But they didn’t have to be. We’ve watched enough waves of “game-changing” technologies that never quite arrive to know that sometimes it’s the little tweaks that really count.
CES is more than just a neon-drenched show-and-tell session for the world’s biggest tech manufacturers. More and more, it’s also a place where companies showcase innovations that could truly make the world a better place — and at CES 2023, this type of tech was on full display. We saw everything from accessibility-minded PS5 controllers to pedal-powered smart desks. But of all the amazing innovations on display this year, these three impressed us the most:
Samsung's Relumino Mode
Across the globe, roughly 300 million people suffer from moderate to severe vision loss, and generally speaking, most TVs don’t take that into account. So in an effort to make television more accessible and enjoyable for those millions of people suffering from impaired vision, Samsung is adding a new picture mode to many of its new TVs.
[CES 2023] Relumino Mode: Innovation for every need | Samsung
Relumino Mode, as it’s called, works by adding a bunch of different visual filters to the picture simultaneously. Outlines of people and objects on screen are highlighted, the contrast and brightness of the overall picture are cranked up, and extra sharpness is applied to everything. The resulting video would likely look strange to people with normal vision, but for folks with low vision, it should look clearer and closer to "normal" than it otherwise would.
Excitingly, since Relumino Mode is ultimately just a clever software trick, this technology could theoretically be pushed out via a software update and installed on millions of existing Samsung TVs -- not just new and recently purchased ones.
AI turned Breaking Bad into an anime — and it’s terrifying
These days, it seems like there's nothing AI programs can't do. Thanks to advancements in artificial intelligence, deepfakes have done digital "face-offs" with Hollywood celebrities in films and TV shows, VFX artists can de-age actors almost instantly, and ChatGPT has learned how to write big-budget screenplays in the blink of an eye. Pretty soon, AI will probably decide who wins at the Oscars.
Within the past year, AI has also been used to generate beautiful works of art in seconds, creating a viral new trend and causing a boon for fan artists everywhere. TikTok user @cyborgism recently broke the internet by posting a clip featuring many AI-generated pictures of Breaking Bad. The theme here is that the characters are depicted as anime characters straight out of the 1980s, and the result is concerning to say the least. Depending on your viewpoint, Breaking Bad AI (my unofficial name for it) shows how technology can either threaten the integrity of original works of art or nurture artistic expression.
What if AI created Breaking Bad as a 1980s anime?
Playing over Metro Boomin's rap remix of the famous "I am the one who knocks" monologue, the video features images of the cast that range from shockingly realistic to full-on exaggerated. The clip currently has over 65,000 likes on TikTok alone, and many other users have shared their thoughts on the art. One user wrote, "Regardless of the repercussions on the entertainment industry, I can't wait for AI to be advanced enough to animate the whole show like this."
