NVIDIA’s move into robotics took another major step. It’s now selling for $1,999 the new Jetson AGX Orin developer kit, a palm-sized computing device up to eight times more powerful than its old Jetson AGX Xavier (275 trillion operations per second, or TOPS). It’s capable of these dizzying speeds thanks to its 12-core ARM CPUs, Ampere-based GPU and upgrades in plenty of other places. NVIDIA is also helping robot creators with a new Isaac Nova Orin platform that includes two Jetson AGX Orin modules and the sensors needed for a robot to detect the world around it. The platform can handle up to six cameras, three LiDAR units and eight ultrasonic sensors.
You might have to wait for NVIDIA’s robot innovations, though. Most of this will come before the end of 2022, with a $399 for a basic Orin NX kit set to debut in Q4. Prospective clients are probably not you and me, but NVIDIA’s past robot brain tech has been used in John Deere’s autonomous tractor and Hyundai Robotics’ projects.
— Mat Smith
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That beachside background isn’t funny anymore. But a cow face?
Zoom has introduced avatars that replace your head with a 3D character that mimics your facial expressions. Effectively, it's Apple's Animoji for virtual offices and classrooms. Only animals like cats, dogs and foxes are available for now, but more are incoming. The company stressed this doesn't use facial recognition. The feature is available now on Zoom 5.10.0 or later on iOS, Mac and Windows devices.
US Justice Department says Google misuses attorney–client privilege to hide documents
The DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google in 2020.
The US Department of Justice has accused Google of training its employees on how to shield business communications from discovery in cases of legal disputes "by using false requests for legal advice." The DOJ has told the judge overseeing its antitrust case against the tech giant that Google instructs employees to add in-house lawyers to written communication, apply attorney–client privilege labels to them and make a request for legal advice even when it's not needed.
Microsoft and Okta are investigating potential hacking attacks
Okta is an authentication company, so that’s not good.
South American hacking group Lapsus$ claims to have stolen source code for Bing, Cortana and internal Microsoft projects from a server. Lapsus$ released a torrent on Monday that's said to contain 37GB of source code for around 250 projects. “We are aware of the claims and are investigating," a Microsoft spokesperson told Engadget.
The same group has also targeted Okta, though the company says it has not yet found evidence of a breach following an incident in January. Lapsus$ posted screenshots of what it claimed was Okta’s internal systems.
Amazon's Kindle sale brings the Paperwhite back to an all-time low
Pick one up for 25 percent off.
Amazon's latest Kindle Paperwhite is one of the nicest e-readers out there, benefiting from a bigger screen with 300 pixels-per-inch and a glare-free surface. Now, you can pick one up at an all-time low of just $105 — it’s usually $140. There are also deals on the base Kindle model and Kindle Kids.
Insta360's new modular action cam has built-in video stabilization
The new 4K Boost Lens apparently offers improved image capture.
The new Insta360 One RS is yet another modular action cam from the company, but this time it packs an upgraded processor to support onboard FlowState Stabilization (this used to be handled by the app, which took time) as well as Active HDR video capture — one apparently powerful enough to handle action sports without ghosting issues. A new 4K Boost Lens features a larger 1/2-inch 48MP sensor. This can capture 4K 60 fps footage and 1080p clips at up to 200 fps. You can get this One RS 4K Edition kit for $299.99. And if you already own a One R, you'll be pleased to know this 4K Boost Lens is backward compatible, too.