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MTA Utilizes AI to Document Fare Dodgers

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      This Week in Tech             July 20th, 2023       MTA Utilizes AI to Document Fare Dodgers           NYPD and MTA have announced that they will be using AI facial recognition software to identify fare evasion and keep count of avoiding paying subway fares by either jumping the turnstiles or just sneaking on. Reports found that MTA lost $690 million to fare evasion in 2022.   They estimate that around 10% of riders skip paying for their ride, with some claims estimating it could be closer to 14%.   It is very hard to enforce these rules on the metro, with it not being worth committing officers to check that people are paying for their rides.         This AI software currently just documents incidents of fare evasion and creates data to show where it is most prevalent, but people believe that in the future, NYPD could use it to track facial identification and fine fare hoppers. This would be similar to China's surveillance program which can identify individuals and pull up da
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FedNow's Rollout Puts Pressure on Finance Apps

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    This Week in Tech             July 20th, 2023      FedNow's Rollout Puts Pressure on Finance          Apps         At 10 AM today, The Federal Reserve started the rollout of its new instant payment service. FedNow has been met with mixed feelings by consumers and is starting a slow rollout this first week. It is currently live and working with 16 unnamed banks, but assumptions can be made that large banks such as JPMorgan, Chase, US Bancorp, and Wells Fargo have the app working on their systems. FedNow claims it does not intend to compete with apps such as Venmo or Cash App as they are person-to-person based, but as more banks enter into FedNow, person-to-person payment will be made easier and with fewer fees than other apps. FedNow also allows for transfers of up to $500,000 dollars, much more than most payment apps.          Some are hesitant to use FedNow. There is some worry that FedNow is just going to be used to spy on the American People's transactions and cash flows
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Meta Launches Threads to Compete With Twitter

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    This Week In Tech             July 16th, 2023     Metal Launches Threads to Compete with              Twitter                 On July 5th, 2023, Meta launched Threads. Threads is Meta's Twitter competitor, being a text-based social media app. Thread is tied to users' Instagram accounts, allowing people to sign up and log in using their Instagram account instead of a separate account. Threads differ from Twitter as it has no paid tier system and no ads on the app. It is the fastest app to reach 100 million users, achieving this feat in just five days.                                                                                                                                                      Meta-Facebook 2023                 Many people believe that Threads is a direct response to Elon Musk's acquisition and subsequent changes to Twitter. Meta started the development of the app just months after Musk bought Twitter. Both apps have many similarities, with both bei
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First Cybertruck Rolls Off Plant

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       This Week In Tech             July 16th, 2023       After Delays, Tesla Builds First Cybertruck                    After over two years of delays, Tesla announced yesterday that the first Cybertruck had been built in their Giga Texas plant. This comes as a relief to the 1.7 million people who put down a preorder for the vehicle. With preorders starting 2019, people were skeptical as to whether the Cybertruck would ever be a reality and more than just a flashy floor model.                                                                                                                    https://twitter.com/Tesla/status/1680121747910148099                  Tesla founder Elon Musk announced the Cybertruck in November 2019 at a Tesla show, where infamously threw a weighted ball at the truck's "armor glass", breaking it instantly. However, even with this blunder, there was mania over Musk's newest vehicle. With an unprecedentedly low deposit of $100 for a preorder, h
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Lab-Grown Meat Receives FDA Approval

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     This Week in Tech         July 2nd, 2023      Lab-Grown Meat Receives FDA Approval             On June 21st, both the FDA and USDA approved Eat Just and Upside to produce and sell Lab-Grown meat in US markets. This is a first for the meat industry, with some seeing it as the future of animal products. The long-imagined idea of producing food out of seemingly thin air is closer than ever before.         The growth process used by Eat Just and Upside utilizes animal cell cultures and steel tanks. The cell cultures are fed a cocktail of nutrients to grow into fat and muscle tissue. While the process may sound unappealing, the end product is biologically indistinguishable from regularly farmed meat. In a blind taste test, participants couldn't determine a visible difference, but the lab-grown chicken has been described as "Richer and more chickeny taste". This has been labeled a great success by the companies creating the meat, as they intend to create a meat alternative
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NVIDIA's Newest Budget Graphics Card Offers Great Value

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 This Week in Tech        July 1st, 2023 NVIDIA's Newest Budget Graphics Card Offers Great Value          NVIDIA's release of its new RTX 4060 & RTX 4060 Ti graphics cards has been met with mixed responses from users and reviewers. The 4060 and 4060 Ti are the successor of NVIDIA's previous budget card in the RTX 3060 and demonstrates an immense boost in performance. The 4060 and 4060 Ti 8 GB were released in May at prices of $299 and $399 respectively, with a 4060 Ti 16 GB set to release in July for $499. While they may lack in power when compared to the top-of-the-line models, for a thousand dollars less they still provide an amazing experience for their users.          The 4060 and 4060 Ti are not going to blow people's minds with their performance. As NVIDIA's budget model, that isn't their point. What they do provide is a high-quality graphics card at an affordable price. The 4060 models make vast strides in their efficiency when compared to their prede
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NVIDIA ACE Looks to Disrupt Gaming Industry

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 This Week in Tech   June 18th, 2023   NVIDIA ACE Looks to Disrupt Gaming Industry          At the end of May, NVIDIA announced NVIDIA Avatar Cloud Engine, or ACE, an AI development interface designed to dominate the gaming industry. ACE can provide real-time AI solutions for the development and deployment of interactive avatars and applications. It will have a large impact on the creation and usage of internet avatars and allow for more human-appearing artificial intelligence entities with more humanistic speech and responsiveness.                                  Nvidia founder Jensen Huang's AI-generated avatar                                             NVIDIA 2023 ACE has been demonstrated to have three major capabilities. Its first is its ease of use in creating avatars. It understands realism as well as different art styles to create an AI avatar best suited for its use. Some examples are a more friendly and cartoonish avatar for a customer service AI or a more human-esque a
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