AI Innovation Surge: Luma's Dream Machine and More in This Week's Tech

Welcome to This Week in Tech! This edition explores the rapidly evolving text-to-video AI landscape, with Luma’s Dream Machine leading the charge and challenging OpenAI’s Sora. We delve into the latest updates from Apple’s visionOS 2, Meta Quest 3’s Travel Mode, and Ford’s expanding low-cost EV team.

Additionally, we cover Japan's new law requiring Apple and Google to open their platforms to third-party app stores and payment providers, aiming to foster a more competitive smartphone market.

Artificial Intelligence

The world of text-to-video AI is heating up quickly. Luma’s AI stole the show this week but there are more announcements coming out that competitors are tired of waiting for Sora. They are taking their shot at the crown while OpenAI keeps Sora to themselves.

Luma AI's Dream Machine has quickly become a significant player in the AI video generation market, surpassing OpenAI's Sora in user demand and functionality. Dream Machine, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, allows users to create high-quality, realistic videos from text prompts, leading to hours-long wait times due to high traffic.

It competes with other models like Google's Lumiere and China's Kling, offering advanced features such as smooth motion and realistic physics. This surge in AI video technology points to a future where creating detailed, cinematic videos from simple text inputs becomes widely accessible​

Additional resources

The Metaverse and Spatial Computing

Apple's visionOS 2 for Vision Pro enhances user experience with spatial photos, intuitive hand gestures, and new productivity features like Mac Virtual Display and Travel Mode. It introduces tools for developers to create volumetric and shareable apps, boosting the potential for innovative health, fitness, and gaming applications.

With over 2,000 spatial apps and new APIs, visionOS 2 significantly advances spatial computing capabilities, offering users and developers powerful new ways to engage with digital content.

The battle for flight mode is on…your face!

Meta Quest 3’s Travel Mode significantly enhances long-haul flights by adapting to airplane movements and offering a bright 4K+ display, accurate hand tracking, and over 500 apps. Unlike Apple Vision Pro, Meta Quest 3 provides a seamless experience without tracking errors and is easier to navigate with controllers.

This VR headset transforms in-flight entertainment, making long-distance travel more enjoyable and efficient, surpassing Apple Vision Pro in practicality and user experience.

Meta Quest 3's Augments feature is being rebuilt from scratch after Meta's CTO, Andrew Bosworth, confirmed the original approach was inadequate. Initially announced at Meta Connect 2023, Augments were meant to be persistent, interactive digital objects in physical space. Bosworth explained that system architecture limitations made it feel like a toy, prompting a complete redesign.

This will delay the feature's release but aims to provide a more powerful and compelling user experience.

Virtual Reality Stylus

Robotics

Unitree Robotics introduced the G1 Humanoid agent, an AI avatar priced at $16,000. The G1 is 127 cm tall, weighs 35 kg, and can perform dynamic movements like stand-ups and dance. It features 23-43 joints with a maximum torque of 120N.m and uses deep reinforcement learning.

The advanced G1 EDU model offers additional capabilities like a force-controlled dexterous hand and NVIDIA Jetson Orin module for further development.

Latest drone shows in South Korea are impressive!

Software

Windows 11 has a built-in activity tracking feature, similar to the removed Timeline feature in Windows 10, which logs everything you do on your PC. This feature is enabled by default but can be disabled for privacy. To turn it off, go to Settings > Privacy & security > Activity history, and toggle off "Store my activity history on this device." Additionally, clear recent data if the option is available​.

Transportation

Ford's secretive low-cost EV team has grown to around 300 employees, with significant hires from Rivian, Tesla, Canoo, Lucid Motors, and Apple's Project Titan. This expansion, aimed at driving down EV costs to compete with Tesla and Chinese manufacturers, includes talent like senior aerodynamicists from Formula 1 and engineers skilled in advanced manufacturing techniques like Tesla’s gigacasting.

The team is focused on developing a new low-cost electric vehicle platform to enhance Ford's competitive edge.

Industry News

Japan has passed a law requiring Apple and Google to allow third-party app stores and payment providers on their devices. The Act on Promotion of Competition for Specified Smartphone Software mandates non-preferential treatment in search results, prohibits using competitor data, and ensures equal access to OS features.

This law aims to enhance competition and innovation in the smartphone market and will be enforced within eighteen months after Cabinet approval.