64:34, the US Senate preliminary voted to pass the $52 billion “Chip Act”
Beijing time on the evening of July 20th, the US Senate initially voted to pass the $52 billion “Chip Act”, clearing a key procedural hurdle with a “64 votes to 34 vote” result, paving the way for the final passage of the bill the road.
The bill will go to a final vote later this week or next, before being sent to the House of Representatives and signed into law by President Biden.
The bill aims to strengthen the construction of chip factories in the United States to enhance market competitiveness, and specific measures include $52 billion in subsidies and investment tax credits. The bill is a manifestation of the multi-partisan cooperation in the United States, taking into account interests ranging from national security to the economy.
According to reports and analysis, the bill mainly benefits chip makers such as Intel, Texas Instruments and Micron Technology, while chip designers such as AMD, Qualcomm and Nvidia will not directly benefit from it. (Source: Sina Technology)
Tesla sells most of its bitcoin assets, cashing out nearly $1 billion
Beijing time on July 21 news, in the case of the cryptocurrency market plummeting, Tesla seems to be abandoning its bet on Bitcoin. “As of the end of the second quarter, we had converted approximately 75% of our bitcoin purchases into fiat currency,” the company said in a recent shareholder letter. “This conversion added $936 million in cash to our balance sheet. ”
Tesla disclosed in February 2021 that the company had invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and subsequently sold 10% of its Bitcoin holdings in April of that year. Tesla said on July 20 this year that the value of its digital assets had shrunk to $218 million, with the impairment of bitcoin affecting profitability in the second quarter.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has become a huge influencer in the cryptocurrency space, hailing Dogecoin as an alternative on Twitter. In April, Tesla threw a big party for its new factory in Austin, and Dogecoin was also featured at the drone show at the time. (Source: Phoenix Network Technology)
Tencent plans to shut down digital collection business “phantom core”
On July 20, according to Tencent insiders, Tencent is planning to abolish the “Magic Core” business this week.
“Magic Core” is a digital collection platform under Tencent. It was launched in August 2021, and it has been less than a year. Previously, Tencent News App also suspended the sales service of digital collections since July 1. (Source: Financial Associated Press)
Netflix announces all-cash acquisition of animation studio Animal Logic
Beijing time on July 20th news, Netflix announced on the 19th local time that it has acquired Australian animation and visual effects studio Animal Logic.
Animal Logic was established in 1991 and currently employs approximately 800 people with offices in Sydney and Vancouver. The studio has worked on projects such as The Lego Movie, and has also produced visual effects for films such as The Matrix and The Great Gatsby.
Netflix said in its second-quarter letter to shareholders that the acquisition “will help us accelerate the development of our animation capabilities and strengthen our commitment to building a world-class animation studio.” Netflix did not disclose the purchase price, but said it would complete the acquisition in cash. The acquisition is expected to close later this year, subject to certain regulatory approvals. (Source: The Verge)
TikTok surpasses YouTube for the first time on average
The latest report from research firm data.ai shows that TikTok’s average monthly usage time per household in the first quarter of this year was 23.6 hours, surpassing Alphabet’s video site YouTube’s 23.2 hours for the first time. This means that TikTok users spend an average of 47 minutes a day on the platform.
The report also pointed out that TikTok had more than 1.5 billion average monthly users in the first quarter of this year, ranking fifth among global apps. Quarterly spending by users on the platform was $840 million, up 40% year over year. The U.S. was the biggest source of growth for the platform, with spending by U.S. users on TikTok increasing 1.25 times quarter-on-quarter. (Source: Interface News)
NASA selects SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to launch next-generation ‘Roman’ space telescope
On July 20, NASA chose SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch its next large space telescope, Roman. This is a wide-field telescope that will complement the just-launched James Webb Space Telescope.
Roman was originally called the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). NASA recently named the Hubble Space Telescope Roman in honor of Nancy Grace Roman, an important contributor behind the Hubble Space Telescope.
The basic design of Roman is similar to the Hubble Space Telescope in many ways, but it has decades of technological leadership in electronics, electromechanical equipment, and space telescope instruments, and its performance far exceeds that of the Hubble Space Telescope. (Source: IT House)
Virtual reality company MetaX files trademark infringement lawsuit against Meta
According to foreign media reports, American virtual reality company MetaX recently sued Facebook’s parent company Meta for trademark infringement in federal court in Manhattan, accusing Meta of embezzling its name and then turning to the development of the Metaverse, saying that this has caused a serious blow to its own company’s business.
MetaX said that since Facebook changed its name to Meta, its AR and VR businesses have been severely affected. As a large company, Meta will naturally seize the market influence and share of MetaX, and it will also be mistakenly regarded by the public as an affiliate of Meta.
MetaX accuses Meta of infringing its “Meta” trademark, asks the other party to deactivate the name, and asks for a court order prohibiting the social media company from monetizing the use of the “Meta” trademark in goods and services that overlap with itself, and the specific amount of damages requested Unknown. (Source: TechWeb)
Lexus’ new cheapest SUV launched: priced from 267,800
It was reported on July 20 that the new Lexus UX 260h was launched with a total of four models, priced from 267,800 to 337,800 yuan. The UX 260h adopts the classic spindle-shaped front air intake grille, and with the sharp headlight group design, it looks extraordinarily young.
The new car has added 6 exterior paint colors, including two metallic texture car paints, “Supersonic Iridium Silver” and “Supersonic Streamer Metallic”, which were introduced for the first time. In the interior, the new car is equipped with a full LCD instrument panel and a three-spoke multi-function steering wheel, and the entire system comes standard with a 12.3-inch touch screen that supports voice control and functions such as CarPLay and CarLife. Some models are also equipped with digital keys.
In terms of power, the new car is equipped with a gasoline-electric hybrid system consisting of a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine and an electric motor. The system can output 184 horsepower. The transmission system is matched with an E-CVT continuously variable transmission.
In terms of safety configuration, the new car has upgraded the intelligent safety system LSS+, which includes the newly added intersection steering assist function and ESA emergency steering assist function in the pre-collision safety system PCS, which can actively identify dangerous situations during the turning process and give early warnings. The adaptive cruise control system ACC has also recently introduced a cornering deceleration function. (Source: Fast Technology)
Xiaomi Redmi G 2022 gaming laptop starts pre-sale on July 21
Xiaomi Notebook officially announced that the new Redmi G gaming notebook series adopts a new e-sports design, and will start pre-sale at 10:00 on July 21.
In September last year, Xiaomi launched the Redmi G 2021 Ryzen Edition gaming notebook equipped with AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, equipped with RTX 3060 graphics card, supporting 130W full power consumption, storage of 16GB+512GB, battery capacity of 80Wh, and support for independent display. Direct connection, the starting price is 6999 yuan.
In terms of screen, the Redmi G 2021 uses a 16.1-inch 144Hz gaming screen, which has passed the German Rheinland low blue light certification. In addition, the Redmi G 2021 has a new upgrade of “Hurricane Cooling 3.0”, with dual 12V large fans, five all-copper heat pipes and four air outlets.
As of press time, Xiaomi officials have not disclosed more details about the Redmi G 2022. (Source: IT House)
Wearables use voice to track facial expressions
Engineers at Cornell University have developed a new wearable device that monitors a person’s facial expressions via sonar and reproduces them on a digital avatar.
Dubbed “EarIO,” the device consists of a headset with a microphone and speakers on either side that can be connected to any regular headset. The speaker emits pulses of sound beyond the range of human hearing at the wearer’s face, and the echoes are picked up by the microphone.
As the user makes various facial expressions or speaks, the echo profile changes slightly with the way the user’s skin moves, stretches and wrinkles. Specially trained algorithms can recognize these echo profiles and quickly reconstruct the expression on the user’s face to display on a digital avatar.
Sonar monitoring has advantages over cameras, the team said. Acoustic data requires less energy and processing power, meaning devices can be smaller and lighter. In addition, sonar also pays more attention to protecting user privacy than cameras. The technology could be a convenient way for people to replicate facial expressions on digital avatars in virtual worlds. (Source: cnBeta)
2022 Baidu World Congress is about to start, live on video at 14:00 on July 21
The 2022 Baidu World Congress is about to start, and the new sub-column “AI Visibility” will also meet you! The founder of Geek Park @ Zhang Peng will serve as the host of the column, opening two special sessions of “Cloud Intelligence Integration” and “Digital Humans”.
Industry leaders gathered to explain in depth how the “integration of cloud and intelligence” can empower the real economy, and how “digital people” can transform from cool to practical, and become a new engine for corporate growth. Please lock the live broadcast of Geek Park Video at 14:00 this afternoon.
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