BMI

Click by Brain

Facebook is developing a companion device to its future AR glasses. Not just any accessory, but a neural interface that would (kinda) read your mind.

????

We just read your mind. You’re thinking: What??? But, believe it or not, this has been an open secret for a while:

• In 2017, FB said it was working on technology that would let you type with your brain, supposedly at speeds faster than a keyboard. 
• In 2019, FB acquired NYC neural interface startup CTRL-labs (we’ve demoed their tech). Our then-hypothesis for FB’s M&A goals: “Miniaturize CTRL-labs's prototype. Get more developers involved. Scale production. Integrate the tech into upcoming AR and VR products, like the rumored Ray-Bans.”

Looks pretty accurate. Yesterday, Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) shared more details on the state of its “intelligent click” research. With the CTRL-labs team, FRL is developing a wrist-worn wearable that could decode nerve impulses and turn them into inputs: swipe, type, click, what have you. The device won’t actually be “reading” your thoughts. 

Why the wrist? 

1. Works well. There, an electromyography (EMG) device can theoretically decipher the electrical motor nerve signals that travel through your arms and move your hands. An algorithm could then translate that into text on an AR “screen.”
2. Looks good. “The wrist is a traditional place to wear a watch, meaning it could reasonably fit into everyday life and social contexts,” FB writes. Social acceptance is key for AR adoption...just ask Google Glass.

Input is another unsolved piece of the hardwARe puzzle

Facebook has a headstart in developing what could be the primary input for the next dominant tech platform—rather than keyboard, mice, controllers, or voice. An even more important use case could be extending accessibility to physically impaired people. These are still hypotheticals, because the technology is in the R&D phase. 

Zoom out: Should intelligent click be productized, FB may have an uphill battle in convincing users to opt in to another dimension of persistent personal data-sharing. The company knows that, and has been preemptively outlining privacy plans with each new wave of AR announcements.  

EVS

When the Electricity Bill Comes Due

One of President Biden’s earliest announcements was an ambitious pledge to build 500,000 EV chargers across the US by 2030, up from ~100,000 today. That could solve a key bottleneck in EV adoption—currently, charging stations are harder to find than a lost TV remote. 

But big plans beget bigger questions...

Who’s gonna pay to 1) build and 2) sustain these chargers?

Biden hasn't committed specific $$$ amounts yet, but House and Senate progressives introduced a bill yesterday that would earmark at least $150 billion over a decade to electrifying infrastructure, buses, and commuter lines. TBD how much would go specifically to charging networks—and whether the bill will even pass as is. 

On the private side is a gaggle of SPAC-happy EV charging companies in search of a sustainable business model. Some simply sell electricity, others deal in equipment and services, and at least one slings ads, reports the FT.  

• That last one, Volta, offers free car juice, subsidized by running digital ads on its 55” charger station screens. 

Big picture: The question of financial viability comes for every emerging technology eventually. For EV charging tech, the problem is being tackled by public and private sources alike.

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HARDWARE

Let's Get Digital

Google’s servers are migrating South in 2021. And East. And North. And Midwest. 

Yesterday, CEO Sundar Pichai announced Google’s plan to invest $7+ billion in offices and data centers across the US. On the list: data facilities in South Carolina, Virginia, Texas, Nebraska, and Nevada.  

Physical footprint 

We pitched this story on a Hangouts video call, researched it via Google Search, and wrote it in a Google Doc; you might be reading it in Gmail. Those tools—plus web advertising, third-party cloud services, and more—are powered by Google’s data centers. 

If you somehow sneaked into one of these cinder block buildings, before being tackled by security, you’d see a data hall full of blinking black servers. 

• Google was operating more than 2.3 million servers as of 2015. Given the growth of Google Cloud alone, that number has likely shot up since. 

The flip side: These facilities have staggering environmental costs. Data centers consume 10x to 50x more energy per square foot than your average commercial office building, according to Energy.gov—and altogether, they’re responsible for ~2% of all US electricity use. 

• Just one Google data center reportedly uses 1-4 million gallons of water a day to cool servers. 

BITS & BYTES

Stat: The Fibonacci sequence, an age-old mathematical formula, may predict Bitcoin’s rise to $70,000. 

Quote: “The technological progress we make in the next 100 years will be far larger than all we’ve made since we first controlled fire and invented the wheel.”—Sam Altman, co-founder and president of OpenAI, in a blog post

Read: Emerging Tech Brew + Harris Poll = the inside scoop on how US adults feel about self-driving vehicles. 

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WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• PlayStation’s next VR headset will have impressive-looking controllers, featuring adaptive triggers, haptic feedback, finger-touch detection, and more. 
• Facebook is expanding support for security key two-factor authentication to iOS and Android. It’s also launching Red Team X, an internal hacking/bug-hunting team similar to Google’s Project Zero.  
• The Justice Department is asking around the ad industry: Is Google’s phase-out of third-party cookies an antitrust concern? (h/t Reuters)
• SAIC Motor, one of China’s largest carmakers, says it will use Luminar’s lidar. 

GOING PHISHING

Three of the following news stories are true, and one...we made up. Can you spot the odd one out?

• An artist remotely tattooed someone using a teleoperated robotic arm and 5G. 
• A Tesla on autopilot crashed into a police car. 
• A robotic pet “bit” its owner by accident.
• A helicopter named Elvis is being reborn as a drone. 

TECH THROWBACK

Twenty years ago, Google Images launched. You can thank Jennifer Lopez. 

So many people searched for photos of the green Versace dress she wore to the 2000 Grammy Awards that it inspired Google to design a dedicated tool. Call it the dress searched round the world.

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions: 

• Poll: US adults have mixed feelings about self-driving vehicles 
• Meet ASML, the world’s leading semiconductor equipment supplier
• Update on Big Tech v. antitrust: Facebook’s latest move and more 

GOING PHISHING ANSWER

No robotic pet owners were harmed in the making of this newsletter. 

✳︎ A Note From eToro

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