Welcome to The Tech Blueprint!

In today’s Tech and AI updates:

• 🚄 Launch of the world’s first trackless train in China

• 📱 Microsoft secretly launches their copilot app on IOS and Android Store

• 🎥 Apple creates revolutionary tech to create digital human avatars from video

• ⌚ Andrej Karpathy’s Baby Llama2 launched on a Galaxy watch creates history!

Read Time: 5 minutes

🌎 Transformational News 🖊️

Updates from around the world that have the potential to change the world!

What is the news?

• Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART) is launched in Zhuzhou, China.

• It is developed by CRRC Corporation, and features rubber wheels with a plastic core.

• It’s a trackless train that runs on guided paths on roads, carries up to 300 passengers.

• Being Electric-powered with a 25 km range on a 10-minute charge, it reaches a top speed of 70 km/h.

Why should you care?

• This is a sustainable and efficient urban transport solution.

• It also lowers construction and maintenance costs due to no physical tracks.

• Also, this aligns with global sustainability goals and reduces carbon emissions which is a huge step in the right direction.

• Having a long lifespan (25 years), this makes it an eco-friendly option.

Where and How can you use it?

• Ideal for cities needing mass transit upgrades or new systems.

• Adaptable to different urban settings, especially in congested areas.

• Offers scalability and flexibility in route planning.

• Could be adopted globally for modern, sustainable urban transportation.

You can read more here.

☄️ Educational News 📚

Learning Medium, Productivity Hacks, etc that help you evolve to the next version of yourself.

What is the news?

• Microsoft has launched the Copilot app, a ChatGPT-4 based AI chatbot, on both Android and iOS platforms.

• It was previously known as Bing Chat and offers advanced chat functionalities, including features similar to OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 for image creation.

• The app is optimized for iPads on iOS and focuses on delivering an advanced chat interface.

Why should you care?

• The Copilot app represents a significant advancement in AI chatbot technology, powered by OpenAI's latest GPT-4 model.

• It's not just another chatbot; it offers diverse functionalities like email drafting, story crafting, language translation, and proofreading for free.

• The app's integration of DALL-E 3 for image creation and third-party plugin support makes it a versatile tool for both personal and professional use.

How can you use it?

• The Copilot app is freely available for download on the Google Play Store for Android devices and the Apple App Store for iOS devices.

• Users can utilize it for a wide range of tasks, from professional work like email writing and document summarizing to creative tasks like story writing and image creation.

• Its mobile platform availability makes it a handy tool for on-the-go use, providing powerful AI assistance anytime, anywhere.

  This release by Microsoft significantly enhances the accessibility and functionality of AI chatbots, bringing powerful AI capabilities to a wider audience through mobile devices

💥 Creativity Corner 🗡️

Creative Use of Technology that can touch lives!

What is the news?

• Andrej Karpathy, known for his work in deep learning, created a project named Baby Llama, a simplified version of the Llama 2 model.

• The project involves training the Llama 2 LLM architecture from scratch and then running it with a minimalistic 500-line C code, making it lightweight and efficient.

• Remarkably, this model has been successfully run on a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4, showcasing its ability to function on low-powered devices.

Why should you care?

• This development is significant because it demonstrates the feasibility of running sophisticated AI models on resource-constrained devices, which is a notable advancement in the field of AI and machine learning.

• Karpathy's approach, which doesn't require GPUs, challenges the conventional belief in the machine learning community and expands the possibilities for AI applications on various devices.

• The project's success with a relatively smaller model (15 million parameters) achieving around 100 tokens per second on an M1 MacBook Air in fp32 shows the potential for interactive rates and fast inferences on low-powered devices.

Where and How can you use it?

• While the Baby Llama project is not intended for production-grade deployment, it sets a precedent for future AI developments on smaller devices.

  • Developers and AI enthusiasts can explore the Baby Llama code and experiment with it on their own devices, especially those with resource constraints.

  • This project could inspire further innovations in AI, making it more accessible and implementable on a wider range of devices, including wearables and other edge devices.

  In summary, Karpathy's Baby Llama project marks a significant step in the ability to run AI models on low-powered devices, broadening the scope of AI applications and making it more accessible.

🤖 Hi-Tech News 📌

The latest updates in AI and Tech from around the globe.

What is the news?

• Apple has introduced a new generative AI technology called HUGS, capable of creating digital human avatars from a brief video in about 30 minutes.

• The technology uses a method called 3D Gaussian Splatting to generate an animatable human within a scene, requiring only a short video clip of the subject, typically in motion, to capture as many surfaces as possible.

Why should you care?

• This innovation represents a major leap in neural rendering techniques, which were previously more suited for static scenes rather than dynamically moving humans.

• HUGS can significantly reduce the time and resources required to create high-quality digital human avatars, making the technology more accessible and efficient.

• It achieves state-of-the-art rendering quality at a speed of 60 frames per second (FPS) and is approximately 100 times faster to train compared to existing methods.

Where and How can you use it?

• While primarily a research project at this stage, the implications of HUGS are vast for industries like gaming, film, virtual reality, and augmented reality where digital human representation is crucial.

• The technology could be used for creating digital doubles in movies or games, enhancing virtual meetings with realistic avatars, or even in developing personalized AI assistants.

• For developers and researchers, the underlying method and approach offer a new way to create and manipulate digital human avatars in various digital environments.

The HUGS project, resulting from a collaboration between Apple and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, signifies a significant stride in the field of AI and machine learning, particularly in the creation and animation of digital human avatars​.

You can read more here.

🔮 Magical Productivity Hack 🔮 

The productivity hack of the week

What is the Six Thinking Hats Technique?

• The Six Thinking Hats is a method that provides a means for groups to plan thinking processes in a detailed and cohesive way.

• Each "hat" is a different style of thinking, represented by a color:

  • White Hat: Focuses on available data and information, seeking gaps in knowledge and analyzing past trends.

  • Red Hat: Signifies feelings, hunches, and intuition. When using this hat, individuals share emotions and fears without justification.

  • Black Hat: Involves critical thinking, looking at all the bad points of the decision. It is a crucial hat for identifying risks and problems.

  • Yellow Hat: Symbolizes optimism and explores the positives and benefits of the decision.

  • Green Hat: Represents creativity. Under this hat, one explores new ideas and possibilities.

  • Blue Hat: Used for managing the thinking process. It ensures the guidelines of the hats are observed and helps to focus the conversation.

How do I apply it?

1. Define the Problem or Decision: Start by clearly stating the problem or decision at hand. This helps in focusing on the application of each hat.

2. Blue Hat – Managing the Process: Begin with the Blue Hat to set the agenda. Decide the sequence of hats and the time limit for each. The Blue Hat is revisited throughout the process to keep the discussion on track and to facilitate the transition between hats.

3. White Hat – Information Gathering: Use the White Hat to objectively look at the data and information available. What do you know? What do you need to know? How will you get the information you lack? This hat focuses on facts, figures, and historical data without interpretations or opinions.

4. Red Hat – Emotional Insight: Switch to the Red Hat to share feelings and intuitions without the need for justification. This is important for capturing the group's or individual's emotional responses, which can be significant in decision-making.

5. Black Hat – Critical Analysis: Apply the Black Hat for critical thinking. Look at the weaknesses of the decision. What could go wrong? This helps in understanding the risks and preparing for potential problems.

6. Yellow Hat – Optimistic Viewpoint: With the Yellow Hat, explore the positives. Why will it work? What are the benefits? This optimistic perspective can reveal the value and potential of the decision.

7. Green Hat – Creative Thinking: The Green Hat focuses on creativity. What are some alternative solutions? How can the problem be solved differently? This hat encourages thinking outside the box and looking for new ideas.

8. Return to Blue Hat: Conclude with the Blue Hat to summarize what has been covered. Reflect on the decision or solution from each hat's perspective and develop an action plan. The Blue Hat helps in synthesizing all viewpoints and in reaching a final decision.

9. Review and Action Plan: Finally, review the decision made. Ensure that there is a clear action plan on how to implement the decision, who will be responsible for what, and set timelines for review and follow-up.

By cycling through these hats, individuals or groups can explore problems or decisions from different perspectives, leading to a more thorough understanding and better decision-making. This method ensures that emotions, facts, cautiousness, optimism, creativity, and process management are all given due consideration.

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