Rimac Made a Taxi, Google Made a Quantum Computer, and Meta Made New Glasses…Again.

We’re halfway through the year, Questers. The last 6 months have been insane to say the least. Starting the second half off strong, we have Claude making development a breeze, Meta/Ray-Ban glasses purposefully styled for women, and Figma AI enhancements that have some designers shaking in their boots…or maybe not?

Be sure to check out the intersection of sports and technology that we’re seeing, the latest quantum computer from Google, and the taxi made by a hyper-car manufacturer. What are you waiting for! Go. Read it!

Artificial Intelligence

Claude is a cheat code, its time to start using it if you aren’t already!

While the Apple Vision Pro captivates attention, the Ray-Ban Meta Skyler collection deserves notice. As the first smart glasses designed for women, they mark a significant step in wearable tech. Despite initial skepticism due to previous models and unisex designs, the Skyler's style and functionality impressed me. Launched this spring, their design is chic and practical, making them appealing for daily use and events like the Augmented World Expo. They offer an AI assistant, photo and video capabilities, and seamless audio integration, enhancing convenience without detracting from real-world interactions.

Although not yet a replacement for professional photography tools, they are an excellent companion device. Some concerns remain, such as potential security risks and battery life, but overall, the Skylers represent a significant leap in making smart glasses accessible and appealing to a broader audience, especially women.

Figma is introducing a suite of AI-powered features to enhance creativity and efficiency, currently in limited beta. Users can join the beta through Figma and access features like Visual Search, AI-enhanced Asset Search, and tools for text and image generation, prototyping, and layer renaming. These features aim to streamline design tasks, making it easier to find and use components, generate realistic content, and automate tedious jobs. The beta is free until the end of 2024, with potential usage limits.

Figma ensures data privacy, allowing admins to control content sharing for AI training, and emphasizes that customer data is protected and not used for training models. The goal is to integrate AI seamlessly into the design process, improving workflow and enabling designers to focus on creative tasks.

The Metaverse and Spatial Computing

Check out this Godzilla animation created using Unreal Engine 5. This is truly a masterclass in animation using one of the best tools out there for getting it done! Unreal Engine 5 is also the future of video games and this is just one example of how realistic the graphics are becoming for our favorite games and entertainment.

Gaming

Deadpool and Wolverine are (probably) coming to Call of Duty! This Marvel Studios/Modern Warfare Collab is sure to be a money maker.

Sports

Modern sports are increasingly enhanced by technology. From tennis replay graphics to golf's shot tracer, tech innovations are making sports more engaging and easier to follow. The video highlights the extensive use of cameras, lasers, radar, and drones in golf broadcasts, offering a detailed look at how these technologies work together.

This convergence of advanced tech not only improves the viewing experience but also demonstrates the incredible precision and capabilities now available in sports broadcasting.

Quantum Computing

And you thought your computer was fast? Sycamore from Google is now 241 million times faster than the last Quantum computer that developed.

Robotics

Transportation

Croatian automaker, Rimac, is normally known for its electric hyper-cars, but this week they dropped a Level 4, fully autonomous, robotaxi named Verne. Verne is expected to launch in 11 cities in 2026.