Shweta Taneja

Published on Jan 12, 2025 07:31 AM IST

The most spectacular technologies you’ll see in 2025

Technology is rushing towards us and will change our worlds whether we like it or not. Here’s a glimpse of the most exciting technologies we will see in 2025

We’re standing at cusps of technology breakthroughs that’ll change our lives and societies forever and we will need to make sense of it.

Seeing Silicon: Cosplaying with fibre optics and servos

Fans are increasingly using techniques in 3D printing, animatronics and new materials to build elaborate cosplay homages

Though costuming and masquerade has been a thing in most civilisations, cosplaying in its modern sense started in 1970s

Seeing Silicon: Robo cops are here. Do you trust them?

Robots are already part of my and your life. What will you do when confronted by an autonomous security robot late at night?

Science

Published on Dec 02, 2024 10:49 AM IST

Seeing Silicon | In the Valley, you’ve to ruck to network

Driven by algorithms, techies self-optimise their bodies, talking shop as they run, bike and ruck.

Rucking, the latest biohacking crazy on the streets, is something that came from the military, where it was doled out as a punishment(Pixabay)

Published on Nov 17, 2024 08:00 AM IST

Musk’s bold move in backing Trump paid off — and how

Elon Musk's influence surged after Trump’s election win, boosting Tesla shares and positioning Musk for significant power in U.S. governance.

In July, Elon Musk publicly supported Donald Trump, bringing with him at least $130 million in a pro-Trump campaign effort. (REUTERS)

Updated on Nov 13, 2024 12:21 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja, San Francisco

Seeing Silicon: The prophesies of AGI

We’re being flooded with manifestos on how the future will look like once we achieve superintelligence in AI. Are the billionaires trying too hard?

For representational purposes only. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Business

Published on Nov 01, 2024 01:22 PM IST

Seeing Silicon | How to fly a balloon into a hurricane

A startup wants to send 10,000 balloons into space to map hyperlocal weather through AI. And they’ve just raised $15 million to do it.

A weather balloon of WindBorne Systems(LinkedIn/Windborne Systems)

Published on Oct 20, 2024 08:00 AM IST

Stealth layoffs: In the Valley, you’re out of a job, but silently

Meet the era of stealth layoffs, where tech companies are letting employees go, without the fuss or the headlines.

If 2023 was the year of splashy layoffs, 2024 seems to be the year of stealth layoffs in tech companies.(Pexel)

Published on Oct 06, 2024 08:00 AM IST

A quest of the rich for eternal life (and anti-ageing creams)

From gamification, and longevity startups to anti-death activism, the rich entrepreneurs of the world are investing billions in immortality.

Why are billionaires so interested in elongating life (versus many other health sciences startups that they could be investing in)?(Unsplash)

Published on Sep 22, 2024 08:00 AM IST

MR Rangaswami: Meet the man who lobbies for the Indian diaspora

Rangaswami wants to increase Indian representation in the American Congress. And he runs a forum to do it.

MR Rangaswami, Founder, Indiaspora(File)

Published on Sep 19, 2024 08:00 AM IST

Seeing Silicon | The ones who found quarks

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory shows that modern science needs new technology, money and infrastructure

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory(SLAC/Stanford/Wikimedia Commons)

Published on Aug 25, 2024 08:15 AM IST

Seeing Silicon | Do cyborgs think of themselves as slaves?

Is our quest for intelligent, human-like, and AI-powered machines, are we cruel to the robots we create?

Honda's humanoid robot, ASIMO. (Picture shown is for illustrative purposes)

Published on Aug 11, 2024 08:00 AM IST

Seeing Silicon | Concerns for society are high among AI researchers

At ICML 2024, scientists are divided between pushing the possibilities of machine learning and reflecting on how this technology affects society.

Published on Aug 04, 2024 08:30 AM IST

How India’s first garage startup became a heavyweight in the tech industry

Co-founder Arjun Malhotra reminisces about starting HCL Technologies in the 1970s out of his grandmother’s spare room.

Analysis

Published on Jul 23, 2024 08:00 AM IST

Seeing Silicon | The ultimate battle between dogs and cats for VC money

VCs prefer dog-related businesses but cat startups are fast catching up in the competitive pet startup industry in the US

The entertaining playoff between dog and cat startups reminded me of the 2001 movie ‘Cats & Dogs’ where both sides – the dogs and cats - use spying tactics to play up an intense rivalry. Who will win this war, I wondered? (ADOBE STOCK)

Published on Jul 07, 2024 07:30 AM IST

Seeing Silicon | Going beyond the Indus

It started as a network for the Indian diaspora in Silicon Valley but The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) of today have global ambitions

Silicon Valley; specifically, the North First Street area of San Jose, looking southbound down Interstate 880 towards downtown San Jose.(Coolcaesar/Wikimedia Commons)

Published on Jun 23, 2024 08:30 AM IST

A startup in Berkeley is decarbonising air to solve global warming

In Berkeley, a startup is building a carbon capture device to trap CO2 from the air. And their working material comes from Home Depot.

An absorption column at the Climeworks AG Mammoth carbon removal plant in Hellisheioi, Iceland, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. Once fully operational, Mammoth will be capable of capturing up to 36,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year using a technique known as direct air capture (DAC). Photographer: Heida Helgadottir/Bloomberg(Bloomberg)

Published on Jun 09, 2024 10:30 AM IST

OpenAI’s voice scandal sounds larger AI alarm

OpenAI CEO announced GPT-4o, a new AI model, resembling Scarlett Johansson's voice, sparking a dispute on AI's use of copyrighted material without consent.

Sky’s intonation and personality also sounded like the sultry AI voice in a film called Her, portrayed by actress Scarlett Johansson (REUTERS)

Updated on May 27, 2024 06:48 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja, San Francisco

AI is way beyond our expectations, says Google co-founder Sergey Brin

From a surprise visit by the company’s co-founder to a hologramlike video chat product and an AR glass cameo, the best at Google I/O was delightful.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at a Google I/O event in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)(AP)

Published on May 26, 2024 09:00 AM IST

Seeing Silicon | California's new gold rush

In the posh Los Altos Hills at an AI symposium, founders from across the world gather with the latest AI products in hopes of getting funded. And some do.

Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken in March.(REUTERS)

Published on May 12, 2024 08:00 AM IST

Seeing Silicon | Cracking the case with eDNA

Move over camera traps, environmental DNA is a new technique to survey species and protect biodiversity.

Environmental DNA or eDNA is an approach where researchers collect environmental samples such as a scoopful of soil, a pail of water or a handful of air from an ecosystem

Published on Apr 28, 2024 08:30 AM IST

How Elon Musk keeps ticking along

A visionary technologist and a ruthless businessman, Elon Musk is a legend that viral media can’t get enough of. And now he’s coming to India.

Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk (REUTERS)

Updated on Apr 25, 2024 05:34 AM IST

Seeing Silicon | How I was scammed by an AI on LinkedIn

AI-created profiles have become a headache for LinkedIn. Here’s how the world’s biggest social network for professionals is combating it.

Published on Apr 14, 2024 08:10 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja | Edited by Anish Yande

Seeing Silicon | Can AI turn you into Picasso or take over the world?

The Misalignment Museum in San Francisco aims to demystify artificial intelligence one artwork at a time, but what it does to art is another matter altogether

Audrey Kim, curator and artist, talks about the piece

Published on Mar 31, 2024 12:19 AM IST

‘We have enough time to experience, and adapt to AI,’ says AI researcher

Today Parmar is the reigning queen of AI, one of a handful of women founders in the ultra-alpha, ultra-competitive global AI space

Niki Parmar sat down for an interview with HT in the noisy but cosy Farley’s Cafe in San Francisco’s trendy Potrero Hill Valley on a rainy Saturday afternoon in February. (HT PHOTO)

Updated on Mar 14, 2024 06:36 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja, San Francisco

Apple’s VisionPro promises a superhero vision — but are you ready for it?

With their enhanced technological abilities, augmented reality devices are here to stay. And it’s only a matter of time (and money) before you put one on.

Published on Mar 03, 2024 08:00 AM IST

Seeing Silicon | Why Sam Altman and other tech magnates are banking on fusion

We haven’t been able to calculate the carbon footprint of a ChatGPT query. But Silicon Valley is looking at fusion as the sustainable answer to its AI models

TOPSHOT - This undated handout image taken and received by the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) on December 1, 2023 shows the JT-60SA, the world's biggest nuclear fusion reactor constructed to date, before its planned inauguration in the city of Naka, Ibaraki prefecture on December 1. Harnessing nuclear fusion, the same process which powers the Sun, has been described as potentially humanity's best energy source for the future but the technology is in its infancy. (AFP)

Published on Feb 18, 2024 08:00 AM IST

Seeing Silicon | Driverless cabs or robotaxis face a unique challenge. A cone.

On the wild streets of San Francisco in the United States, a dramatic human versus autonomous vehicle conflict plays out

The city of San Francisco, home to tech hub Silicon Valley, gave self-driving cabs or robotaxis from two companies — Cruise owned by GM and Waymo owned by Google (pictured above) — the permit to operate within city limits in August 2023.(AP File Photo)

Analysis

Published on Feb 04, 2024 11:52 AM IST