Category: Technology

A new startup called Skylark has driven today – and TNW gives an additional set of wing.

The company starts with a central mission: authorization of the non-technical founders, to quickly create high-quality minimal, viable products (MVPS).

In order to bring their plans to life, Skylark has created an AI-reinforced frame that promises fast, efficient iteration cycles. Freelance developers apply the framework for the construction of the MVP. While coding, the Skylark team takes care of the customer acquisition.

Each solution is adapted for the goals of the founder. By drawing a pool of freelancers, Skylark can then find developers that meet the specific requirements of each project.

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The MVPs are designed in the real world. Throughout the build, Skylark founders offers strategic knowledge and expert support.

“We will help you to start faster, cheaper and better than traditional agencies,” Steven Kleinveld, CEO and co -founder of the startup told TNW. “And we do that mainly because of our framework.”

Kleinveld has strong connections to TNW. He recently completed an internship as a startup scout for TNW programs, which he writes the kick start of his plans for Skylark. He also selected TNW City for Skylark's headquarters.

He developed a roadmap from the Amsterdam office to deliver MVPS quickly.

The process begins with an evaluation of the customer's needs and goals. After Skylark has presented the results and schedules, he analyzes the market and the competition to refine the project plan. Developers then create a flexible, code -based prototype.

Finally, the prototype is refined in a polished MVP. Customers also receive the full code base – and advice for use. In addition, Skylark offers further instructions on functions, design, SEO and strategy.

The plans aim to solve common problems for non -technical founders.

Kleinveld (right) and Skylark co-founder Arshad Khan in the city of TNW. Credit: Skylark

Technical problems for founders

Many of the most successful startups in the world had non-technical founders, from Ben Silbermann's Pinterest and Airbnbs Brian Chesky to Tinder Whitney Wolfe Herd and Snaps Evan Spiegel. But there could have been much more. Countless great ideas never become big business, because the heads behind it are hardly any coding skills.

Kleinveld has first -hand experience with the topics. During his studies at the University of Amsterdam, he tried to encode his own projects.

“I am not excessively technical and I needed months to not even build MVPs, but only apps. And it frustrated me because I had so many ideas, ”he said.

He discovered that many other entrepreneurs had similar problems. A common problem was that lengthy development cycles caused them to miss the ideal time for the market entry. Another lacked the technical know -how for evaluating and collaboration with developers.

Skylark aims to solve these problems.

The key to the plans is a number of AI improvements in the development process. Among them are lovable – one of Europe The fastest growing startups – The Code Builder Cursor and the versatile Chatgpt Pro.

By mixing AI with a product delivery frame and a pool of developers, Skylark hopes to give a new herd of founders to flight. As Kleinveld puts it: “When the idea is on the floor, we start it in the sky.”

Regardless of whether you are a non-technical founder or a coding genius, the TNW conference this summer offers numerous insights into the construction of successful startups. The event will take place in Amsterdam on June 19 to 20. To get a 30% discount on your ticket, use the code TNWXMedia2025 on the check-out.

Baby Elon Musk. shrimp Jesus. The Titanic Collides With an iceberg salad. Social media is saturated with AI slop, often ridiculous and sometimes ridiculous disturbing Images, videos or words that were created with generative artificial intelligence.

While a certain AI slop is fake, much is not much. I remember the first time that Ai Hood divided me. It was a striking video that I saw on Instagram from a couple Snowy owls In the Arctic with a brood of six small chicks. I am amazed by the scene and I immediately shared it with my wife. Your answer was: “It can't be real?!”

It wasn't. A brief review of the poster, Yourself -The over 230,000 followers on the platform has revealed that the video was actually generated. I felt deceptive, networked and ultimately suspicious of any other picture that I saw online from this moment.

I used to use Instagram to follow the creator and share my own photos of nature and wild animals – you know, pictures that I took with an actual camera with my actual human hands. But lately scrolling through my feed can be seen less and more to see. This is certainly irritating, but if AI images appear real, you can also cause serious damage.

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All of this forced me to look for an alternative. It turns out that I am not alone.

“The most common feedback we hear is that people feel overwhelmed by ai-generated images, flood the mainstream platforms,” ​​says Jingna Zhang, founder of Cara, a decentralized social media app for artists, to TNW.

Unfortunately, it is a problem that is probably much worse before it gets better.

Meta opens the KI locks

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has hugging AI on his platforms, scrapped FactsAnd even plans to enable bots to open theirs own accounts. And while Meta started lettering AI-generated content in the past year, his algorithms were shown Incorrectly labeled real pictures as a bot-made and vice versa. The platform also made it very easy Deactivate the label.

But the cherry on the shit cake is that Meta uses openly Public contributions to the training of his algorithms. Although Most European users can unsubscribe because they are protected by data protection laws, META automatically decided in all user accounts by default. AI algorithms quickly improves through all this free data – – improves quickly – injured Artist and creator. It is as if you are learning valuable skills from a friend, using these skills to found a company together and then cut them out of the advantages – Ringle all bellsSugar?

Ai Slop, offered accounts, little to no moderation – it is part of what the writer Cory Doctorow has shaped.ENSHITITICATION”Of the Internet. But while many have only accepted the new reality, some creators are looking for refuge in safer corners of the Internet.

Cara was one of the beneficiaries. When Meta announced plans for the training of AI models for user content, the app's user base grew from 40,000 to 650,000 users in a week.

“She [artists] I was looking for a place where you can still have a real connection between humans and people in art and online communities, and so they found Cara, ”says Zhang.

Put artists in the first place

Zhang argues that new rules for online protection are essential.

“We believe that the rampant ethics and data will deal with privacy around them [AI] Data records urgently need to be solved through regulations, and governments should expressly clarify their positions or adopt invoices in order to protect artists and all persons from such an unauthorized use, ”says Zhang.

It is a problem that Zhang, who is an award -winning Singaporian photographer, is only too well white. She won a pioneering appeal procedure In a Luxembourg court last year, a painter who copied one of her photos. She is too To sue Google For alleged use of your photos to train his KI model in the imogen without consent, and in a similar case against Midjourney, Stability AI, Runway AI and Deviantart.

Zhang started Cara in 2023 as a sanctuary for artists who wanted to share and connect them. The voluntary organization has both a website and a mobile app. Like Instagram, users can host a portfolio of work in their profile, publish pictures, deal with others through likes and comments and create a supporter. She You also have a feed in which you can publish updates, similar to X or Bluesky. The platform currently has 1 million users.

However, Cara's large sales argument is his guidelines for AI. By default, all users are automatically stored by AI bot scraping, says the company. Cara also does not organize generative AI content on the platform and uses a combination of automated detection and human moderation to keep the website clean.

For Zhang, bots on the platform is not only about the piracy of the users, but also about the protection of art itself. “What makes art meaningful is to know that a real person has given time from her life to improve a craft, practice, build up skills and express yourself so much that you have created something through art,” she says.

So how is it compared to Instagram? Well, my first impressions are good. The app works smoothly, has a similar layout to other social media that I used and has content that is generally of high quality. Above all, I can relax and take off my bot spotting glasses because I know that all works of art have been created by people.

However, Cara is clearly a place for artists – sketch, painter, graphic designer and the like – not for photographers. For this we tried another app – pixelfed.

Not perfect, but not Instagram

Pixelfed was launched by the Canadian developer Daniel Supernault and is an open, decentralized photo-sharing platform similar to Instagram, but without ads or algorithms. As with Cara, the content of ai-generated content is prohibited.

The server rules of pixelfed when registering

Similar to Instagram, users can share and discover photos and videos with pixelfed fed and send direct messages. However, the feed is chronological – contributions are displayed in the exact order in which they were published. As with Instagram before 2016, when it was converted to an algorithm-based feed, which shows you the content that you consider to be a sight.

Although Pixelfed only has 700,000 users on the platform, Pixelf is already organizing a lot of great photography. It feels raw and uneasy, and the advertising-free, with AI-free experience, enables you to concentrate on the content.

The pixelfed feed

Pixelfed runs on Activitypub, an open protocol for social networks of developed by of Tim Berners-Lee World Wide Web Consortium.

Activitypub also moves other apps such as microblogging site mastodon – founded by the German developer Eugen Rochko – and YouTube alternative peertube. Together they are part of the FediveA decentralized network with which users can pursue, share and interact different apps – similar to the work between Mail and Outlook.

The user base of Pixelfed quickly grew after the publication of his app on iOS and Android in January. It was for a short time after the start most downloaded Social app on Google Play in the USA and France.

With Supernawult, the sole developer and the rise of traffic, there are inevitably some mistakes. On the one hand, the back button on my phone did not work when using the app on Android, which meant that I had to grab the upper left to use the in-app button. The app also feels a little slowly.

Supernault has just collected over 90,000 US dollars via Kickstarter, so that he could help him iron out some of the bugs or maybe even hire one or two other developers.

But as one Reddit The user stops it: “People don't move because it is perfect, but because it is not Instagram (I don't think anyone has to explain at this time). If you stay on Instagram, it will not affect your values[,] Don't take the step. ”

So long, Instagram, I'm gone. Dear friends, will you join me?

Renewed calls for Google to sell Chrome has sparked the demands on the company again to sell Android. A manager at Murea, a French smartphone startup, said today that breaking off business is the only way to end Google's “Cycle of Domination”.

The appeal will be submitted to a court on Friday of the US Justice Ministry (DOJ). The submission confirmed a suggestion So that Google sells its Chrome browser and sold to a competitor to open the alleged search engine monopoly of the Tech giant.

“Due to its sheer size and unrestricted power, Google has consumers and companies of a fundamental promise that was due to the public In the submission.

The accusation reflects joint complaints about Chromes dominance.

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In February Chrome made two thirds of the Global browser market. Next was Safari with 17.99%, Edge (5.33%), Firefox (2.62%) and Samsung Internet (2.3%). Opera, Europe's largest local browser, was only 2.09%.

The plan of the doj aims to improve the field. But Rik Viergever, COO at Murena, a French company who first builds smartphones, believes that the new proposals alone are not sufficient.

“As a supporter of Data Privacy lawyer, I welcome the DoJ's decision to force Google to sell Chrome. However, this should only be the beginning,” he said. “I want Google to sell the Android operating system.”

The government has left this option open, but initially asks Google to change Android's business practices. If these measures do not contaminate Google's market dominance, the Doj can urge the operating system to be sold.

Viergever wants the dishes to do more to facilitate Google's “strangling price” for consumers and competitors.

“Google can only offer Android free of charge because it benefits them in so many other types and markets,” he said. “This makes it almost impossible for other providers on the market market of the operating system to compete competitions, and so the rule cycle continues.”

The attitude of Viergever matches Malenas mission. The main products of the company are “Degoogled” smartphones as data protection-centered disruptors for the Apple-Google Mobile Duopol.

Use the devices /and/OSPresent An open source alternative to Android oriented by privacy-oriented open source alternative. Murena set up the software to escape the bonds of Google's operating system.

Viergever argues that the sale of Chrome would lead to better products.

“It is time to open the market for innovation and competition so that users can benefit from a competitive industry in which companies compete with products that benefit consumers, and not with a large company like Google who holds the entire power,” he said.

The French satellite operator Eutelsat was put into the spotlight last week as a potential replacement for Elon Musks Starlink in Ukraine – and possibly a wider Europe.

Eva Berneke, Eutelsat CEO said the company was in the advanced Discussions with the EU about the expansion of the Internet service in Ukraine. She also said that Eutelsat was in “very positive conversations” with Italy to offer government officials an encrypted communication service. In the same week, the investors gathered behind Eutelsat and sent theirs Shares rise over 500%.

But what exactly is Eutelsat? And could Starlink replace it realistically in Ukraine and beyond?

An independence mission

In 1977 17 European countries came together to form themselves The European Telecommunications satellite organization – for short “Eutelsat”. The idea was to develop a satellite -based telecommunications infrastructure regardless of the USA or the Soviet Union.

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In 1983 Eutelsat became the first European provider of von Satellite television. The company was privatized in 2001, and in 2023 it was brought together with the British OneWeb the world's third largest satellite operator.

With the merger, Eutelsat inherited OneWebs constellation of orbit satellites with low earth for internet communication-a setup similar to its larger rival Starlink.

How do you work satellites?

Eutelsat currently has 653 OneWeb satellites that circle the earth and each circle around 1,200 km above the surface. This relative closeness leads to a lower latency and a faster internet speed compared to conventional geostationary satellites, which are around 30 -further in space.

Floor stations on earth are connected to the internet and beam data on satellites that circle above. The satellites then send the data to user terminals, small devices with antennas that enable internet access in places where conventional connections are not available. These user terminals are particularly useful in remote areas, aircraft, ships, vehicles or – as we have seen in Ukraine – conflict zones.

Can Eutelsat Starlink replace in Ukraine?

TNW announced that it offers the same reporting and latency functions as Starlink. The low-ear orbit services (Low-Earth Orbit) are already used in Ukraine, where they support the government and institutional communication. In addition, Eutelsat said that his GEO systems (Geo -Systems Geo -Bort) could offer additional capacities about Ukraine and the “stronger resilience” for critical infrastructure connectivity.

Eutelsat currently has around 2,000 user terminals in Ukraine. This is put in the shade of the 40,000 of Starlink, but Berneke said that your company could reach this number “in a few months”.

However, the capacity that would quickly increase this would face some serious logistical challenges, especially as OneWeb The terminals are delivered by third -party companies, in contrast to Starlink, which builds its internal task.

Poland And the USA, among other things, contributed to financing the use of Starlink through Ukraine. Similar support would probably be necessary for A quick introduction of OneWeb terminals, especially in view of the Eutelsat is not so healthy financial concerns.

Then there is the technician. OneWebs satellites are older and less advanced than that of those of those of the Starlink. They lack the laser connection interlite technology that improves the cover. They also have far fewer satellites in orbit than Starlink, which has around 7,000.

However, if the EU is serious to replace Starlink in Ukraine, it will probably have to be satisfied with the second best. The block also has to enter into some serious financial obligations. The word from Poland this weekend gave positive news on this front.

In A post On X on Sunday the foreign minister of Poland said the country was forced “To look for other suppliers” If SpaceX is “an unreliable provider”. Warsaw is currently funding half of the 42,000 Starlink terminals that work in the country at a price of around $ 50 million per year.

In the long term, Europe has its bets on Iris²A multi-orbit satellite internet constellation that is expected to switch on in 2030. There are also reports that a new Airbus Leonardo-Thales Alenia Space Joint venture With the name “Project Bromo”, the challenge of starlinks of global dominance is planning.

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Ki tools such as Chatgpt, Gemini or Deepseek have disturbed the way we access information and generate information. However, these systems are general – they are Jacks of all shops, but masters of None.

In increasing Create new drugs To Designing fusion reactors. An area in which you gain traction is improved material discovery. Your progress is a growing offer of promising startups. Phaseetree is one of them.

PHASETREE from the Technical University of Denmark In 2021 developed a platform that integrates computer simulations, laboratory automation and AI to develop new materials for clean technologies such as batteries, solar modules and wind turbines. While it does not reveal its secret sauce, the startup said that the technology made it possible to find new materials ten times faster than conventional methods.

“Our approach accelerates the discovery by combining the physics -based modeling with AI and enabling us to quickly identify and refine promising candidates whose development would traditionally take decades,” said Jin Hyun Chang, co -founder of Phasere and CTO, to TNW.

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Phaseetree is located in an increasingly overcrowded sector. According to Acalroom, over $ 260 million over $ 260 million collected over $ 260 million last year. Ten of the 17 financing rounds in 2024 went to startups in Europe, including Exomatter, Dunia and Orbital.

Phaseetree promotes a different approach for its rivals. In contrast to many other AI-driven material discovery tools, Chang said, the start-up first prioritized the existing scientific methods and then uses machine learning in an approach that it refers to the “physics first, AI-an-top”.

“Many KE-controlled tools are based heavily on data correlations, but we emphasize the physical principles for materials such as composition, nuclear structure, defects and microstructures to ensure reliable prediction of the material properties,” he said.

Today PhaseTree announced that it was secured 3 million euros in the financing of the VC Heartcore Capital based in Denmark. It will use the fresh means to increase research and development and expand its team. Because it tries to use its science to solve problems with the real world.

Amit Luthra, co -founder and CEO of Phaserere, emphasized the company's focus on practical applications.

“From the beginning we design materials taking into account the manufacturing and ensure that they can be synthesized on the scale instead of a theoretical concept or a prototype of the laboratory scale,” Luthra told TNW. “Through prioritizing inexpensive, abundant materials with simple syntheser routes, we maximize the likelihood of takeover by important industrial actors.”

PhaseTree said that it is currently working with some of the world's largest battery, automotive and steel manufacturers and already optimizes high-performance battery electrodes and advanced alloys.

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Elon Musk's loyalty to Trump again opens up controversy, this time about Starlink. The satellite internet provider, which belongs to the Musk company SpaceX, has been involved in a hot debate among Italian politicians when Rome weighs his strategic alliances in the middle of the increasing tensions between Europe and the USA.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right league party is committed to choosing Starlink to ensure satellite communication for government officials, whereby the superiority of his technology towards the French rival Eutelsat is listed. Starlink has around 6,700 active satellites in orbit, while Eutelsat has a little more than 600.

“In Italian interest, it would be strange to choose a French company instead of a technologically developed and avant -garde system such as the American,” said the league in a statement late Thursday. Reuters reported.

Musk welcomed the comments. He replied “very valued” to a contribution to X that referred to the statement.

Breaking: The Italian deputy PM Matteo Salvini publishes an explanation in which the Italian government of Elon Musk's “most modern” Starlink is questioned in order to defeat French products with Chinese shareholders.

Salvini: Telecommunications security is fundamental, USA is a strategic partner … pic.twitter.com/ygcexpgihmm

– Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) March 6, 2025

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Meloni has considered to use Starlink to offer encryption satellite communication for civil servants in areas with high risk for some time. However, opposition parties have warned against relying on Musk's company – a problem that has increased by reports that the USA could cut Ukraine from Starlink if a mineral contract is not achieved, which may break off a critical tool in Kyiv's fight against Russia.

There are signs that Meloni also cools on Musk's company. Bloomberg Yesterday reported that the Italian government “growing doubts about the closure of the Starlink € 1.5 billion, in view of the escalating transatlantic tensions.

When Italy drop the proposed deal, An alternative provider that arouses interest in Eutelsat. The company's CEO Eva Berneke said on Tuesday that the company was in discussions with the EU about the expansion of its internet service to Ukraine and sent its shares 119% rise.

In an interview on Thursday, Bernke said that the company was also in discussions with Italy. However, Meloni's office announced Reuters that it had not yet accepted any formal negotiations with Eutelsat or other operators.

The debate is part of a broader discussion in Italy and Europe about reducing the dependence on non -European technologies for critical infrastructure.

Starlink is not the only musk company that is recently examined. The assets of his automotive company Tesla was also associated with his political maneuvers. New registrations of Tesla vehicles fell all over Europe last monthA trend that analysts with Musks role in the Trump government and his open support have associated right-wing extremist politicians. However, Tesla registrations were slightly up In the UK and the USA in February there is a victory for Elon.

Interplanetary trips could be much faster – and hotter.

The British Startup Pulsar Fusion has presented “Sunbird” today, a nuclear fusion-powered rocket concept that could halve the time it takes to drive through our solar system-and maybe beyond.

Models for machine learning show that the rocket may be able to drive a spaceship with a mass of around 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) to Pluto in four years – less than half the time when NASA needed it New horizons Mission, which was driven by regular ion contractors. Earth to Mars? Four months. Earth to Saturn? Two years.

Instead of starting every time from the earth, several sun birds in the orbit would be “docked” in orbit with low earth, ready to attach themselves to space vehicles and to drive them deeper into the cosmos.

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Sunbird would be equipped with a duel direct fusion drive – a compact nuclear fusion engine that could provide both thrust and electrical power for space vehicles.

Pulsar started building the engine in 2023 at one location in Milton KeynesEngland. Static tests are scheduled to begin in 2025, followed by an “in Orbit demonstration” (iodine) of the nuclear technology components in 2027, the company said. When burning, the engine can temporarily become the hottest place in the solar system and generate the exhaust gas speeds of more than 500,000 km/h (804,672 km/h).

From Great Britain to Mars

Pulsar was founded in 2011 and spent over a decade with fusion research. The company has recently developed two more products in parallel: An electric hall effect electros radiation for space vehicles and a hybrid rocket engine of the second stage.

“Pulsar has made a reputation in this industry to deliver real technologies – not just talking about it, ”said founder and CEO Richard Dinan. “We recently not one, but two of the largest chambers for space drive tests in Great Britain, if not alleged all over Europe – and we have ambitious plans to grow from here.”

While Pulsar's goal of building and testing a fusion reactor in space in just three years is certainly ambitious, progress in AI could help. The company has teamed up with the Princeton satellite systems based in the USA to predict how plasma behaves under electromagnetic restriction. The simulations for machine learning lead the design of the rocket engine.

In 2022 Pulsar secured the financing of the financing of the The British Space Agency for the development of a drive system for nuclear division as well as the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Center and Cambridge University.

When Elon Musk welcomed Donald Trump in the US Congress yesterday, the split policy of South African rivals opened new doors in Europe.

Musks role in the White House had already been associated with Tesla sales and stock tanking. Now the effects seem to have spread to SpaceX.

The Fallout focuses on the company's Starlink satellite service.

The network has made an important communication system available to the Ukrainian military since Russia's full invasion began in 2022. The concerns now grow that the service could be interrupted soon.

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According to Reuters, US officials recently recorded the view of the access of Kyiv to Starlink. Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, referred the report. Nevertheless, his control over the connectivity of Ukraine has led to a growing alarm. The fears have escalated when he and Trump have become increasingly critical of the government of the country.

In the middle of the increasing tensions, European satellite internet providers have proposed to replace Starlink with their own systems.

Europe's rivals to Starlink and Tesla

On Tuesday, the Franco British rival Eutelsat said that he was talking to the EU about the expansion of the Internet service to Ukraine. At the end of the day, the company's shares rose by 77%.

When the stock stormed, the French satellite company Thales fired another obvious warning of Starlink. Speak on Tuesday with a result -Briefing, Thales CEO Patrice Cain pointed out the risks of governments that rely on certain network providers.

“Government actors need reliability, visibility and stability.” Said Caine. “A player who – as we have seen from time to time – does not mix the way of economic justification and political motivation that would calm certain clients.”

Similar concerns have been awakened about Musk's effects on Tesla. The Swedish EV manufacturer Polestar used the setback from his political steps and offered Tesla owners a discount for rental contracts for the latest SUV.

Jordan Hofmann, Sales manager for Polestar US, said the answer was “incredible”.

“This week he saw some of the highest order for Polestar 3,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

Now concerns about Starlink may have created another opening for Musk's competitors.

Opera has presented a new AI agent function that promises to do online tasks in your name, based on simple, written input requests.

Would you like to book a flight, but don't want to spend age groups to compare prices? Tell me that offered your preferred flight times, seats and budgets and it will make yourself a work in the background and let yourself go with what you did. As soon as it is finished, it adds the item to your shopping cart and you can continue with the payment.

In contrast to existing tools such as Google Ai Assistant or Chatgpt, which will help you find information by summarizing search results, answering questions and suggesting links, Opera's AI agent makes surfing for you.

Opera claims that the tool – called browser operator – signals a “new paradigm” in the history of surfing.

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“The browser has granted access to the Internet for more than 30 years, but it has never been able to do things for them. Now it can, ”said Krystian Kolondra, Executive Vice President of Opera. “This differs from everything we have seen or sent so far.”

However, the browser operator is not just for shopping. It can search the web for everything you need and you may save time for minor tasks. It is important that the tool is equipped with some integrated protective measures. You see what it takes every step in the process and can easily stop or cancel any task.

Opera claims that the AI ​​agent is the first agent browser function that was started by every large browser. However, large AI companies are working on their versions of similar systems.

Last year Anthropic started a “Computer Use” function with which the Claude chatbot takes over her computer and browses her name. Openai presented a similar feature – “Operator” – in January.

However, both tools are virtual machines that work in the cloud. Simply put, that means they are slow. In contrast, the Opera tool works locally directly on its browser, which may make it much faster and safer.

In contrast to Claude or Operator, the opera's agent does not make screenshots or do not catch any videos on its screen. With the local processing of tasks, this ensures that user data remain on the device, which improves the company of privacy.

Opera plans to start the full version of the browser operator in “The Near Future”. The tool is the latest in a long series of AI developments by the Norwegian company. In 2023, Opera started a complete AI-capable browserand last year it became the First large browser for integrating large voice models (Llms).

Table of contents table How does it work? The possibilities for VR and beyond the way to a realistic meta -verse

In recent years, researchers have tried to make Virtual Reality (VR) more urgently and more personal. For example, the experts at Stockholm University created a machine called olfactometer in 2022, with which users in a game while wearing a VR headset smelled.

But the smell is only half of the picture. What if you could actually deliver a real taste on your tongue? A team from the Ohio State University has created a detection system called E-KEST that reproduce the taste of real foods and drinks and delivers it directly to the tongue of another person who lives hundreds of miles away.

The E button consists of two components of a taster and a receiver. The sensor contains a special patch that can recognize the basic molecules that are responsible for the five types of taste. Bitter, salty, acidic, sweet and umami. As part of their research, the team focused on recognizing glucose and glutamate on the sensor patch.

How does it work?

Ohio State University / Science progress

During the tests, a person based in California dipped the taster patch into the drink. The sensor patch recognized the concentration of the target chemicals in the lemonade and exceeded this electrochemical data to the receiver kit in an Ohio laboratory.

The recipient contains a patch that rests on the tongue and a pump connected to a liquid channel of solutions. When the liquid is electrically stimulated, it goes through a gel-based system onto the tongue of a person, which gives a realistic feeling for the tasting of food.

The specific taste and its intensity can be set by changing the fluid volume discharged by the pump. During human experiments, the participants who wore the recipient kit were able to identify different acid levels with an accuracy of 70%.

“Apart from the fact that the work built a better and more dynamic gaming experience, it could find that the work could be useful to promote accessibility and inclusiveness in virtual spaces for people with disabilities how people with traumatic brain violations or long covid, which starts the attention of the mainstream attention,” says the team.

Ohio State University / Science progress

It could also contribute to the identification and tasting of potential food sources under hard conditions, online shopping opportunities, remote training, quality monitoring to freshness and consistency through robot machines and remote analysis of taste perception by doctors.

The team tested e-button via two network protocols. The short-distance implementation included a distance of 200 meters, while the long-term design depends on an internet connection without restricting the distance.

The possibilities for VR and beyond

“This concept is here and it is a good first step in becoming a small part of the metaverse,” says Jinghua Li, co-author of the institution's paper and faculty member.

This will not be the first attempt of its kind to expand the VR experience with odor or taste experience. Two years ago, OVR unveiled the Ion 3 Wearable kit for XR hardware, with which hundreds of scents can be made with a cassette system.

The people at the City University of Hong Kong and the University of Beihang in China developed a patpat -based portable sensor that is dependent on miniaturized odor generators using perfume wax.

Ohio State University / Science progress

The VR kit can recognize pictures and produce the corresponding fragrance in about two seconds. But when it comes to perception of the taste, the sense of smell (or the call to smell) plays an equally important role.

The industry has already found out how to provide smell as part of the AR and VR experiences. The E-Test system shows that a realistic taste is triggered on the tongue from a distance.

In addition to lemonade, the team tested the human participants with chemicals of food quality that represent the taste of cakes, fried eggs, coffee and fish soup. This mixed pointalysis was carried out using an E-Tastes system with a mixed channel called Digital Cup.

As for latency, the short -term format measured with 0.3 seconds, while the images for the transfer of long -distance information are 1.4 seconds. The sensor reaction time, on the other hand, was about ten seconds.

The way to a realistic meta -verses

“The Gustatory interface will pave the way for a new era of AR/VR systems with chemical components by not only visualizing and hearing virtual environments, but also taste,” says the research work.

The team is now focusing on miniaturizing the E-button recording kit. In addition, they also experiment with a non-angel solution for the delivery of the taste chemicals. One of these ideas is to use separate water and fluids and to vary the concentration accordingly.

Ohio State University / Science progress

Water solves another crucial problem: residual chemicals in the channel connected to the tongue. After each session, a water flow cleaned the pipe internally and reduces the chances of pollution for future sessions.

Findings from the E key system can be used to develop VR gaming systems with which users can get an immersive sensation that are combined by the real taste and smell of what they see in a virtual world.

At the moment we have an experimentally validated system that can fold the taste into the virtual experiences. What remains is the miniaturization of the entire system and the standardization of the electrochemical data, which represent different foods and drinks.

In addition to the domain from VR and further to its modest computer station, there is another solution that will start on the market. Asus recently presented a mouse that is equipped with a refillable bag for aromatic oils. It can diffuse beautiful scents in the air and at the same time add zen to the entire working environment.