What is Worldcoin and what does scanning the iris involve?
04/03/2024Worldcoin was introduced in summer of 2023 as a revolutionary project with the mission of creating a 100% secure digital identity, essentially a kind of fortified "digital passport," based on the verification of a unique and non-transferable element inherent to each human being—the iris. According to its developers, World ID will help distinguish human online activity from that generated by machines. In the first phase of the project, the creation of this secure digital identity is planned for 2 billion humans. To make this possible, Worldcoin has called on the global population to scan their iris. In return, Worldcoin compensates participants with a few tokens of its successful cryptocurrency, WLD, which has quadrupled in value within a few weeks of its initial launch. The payment in WLD tokens is not coincidental; it is part of Worldcoin's strategy, aiming to leverage the new digital passports to create a comprehensive ecosystem that provides universal and equitable access to advanced financial services for the entire global population. To achieve this, they encourage "iris sellers" to use the Worldcoin cryptocurrency on its fee-free blockchain, unlike Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other cryptocurrencies that do charge transaction fees. How does Worldcoin work? Worldcoin aims to address the issues of bots, rapid creation of fake identities, and content with artificial intelligence. It is designed, according to its developers, to provide every individual in the world with a unique digital identification. Additionally, Worldcoin promises to ensure the financial inclusion of each person in a fair and equitable ecosystem through a universal basic income. Users receive this income in exchange for allowing their iris to be scanned. To create the secure digital passport with Worldcoin, users must undergo an iris scan, which serves as proof of humanity and a unique identity on the blockchain. This process ensures that the individual on the other side of that identity is a human and not a fake profile created with artificial intelligence. In pursuit of the success of their proposal, the company offers users a small amount of their own Worldcoin tokens in exchange for iris scanning. The initial incentive of receiving free cryptocurrency, in the form of a universal basic income, is emphasized by Worldcoin advocates as the basis for the inclusive and universal nature of their initiative. This approach allows anyone to scan their iris, and the WLD tokens received in return can assist people without access to traditional financial services in starting to save and invest. How to Scan the Iris with Worldcoin? The registration process with Worldcoin involves scanning the iris with an orb, the central hardware device of Worldcoin developed by Tools for Humanity. The orb is spherical and processes all the information. Currently, Worldcoin has installed orbs in different countries, including Spain, where users can scan their iris in exchange for Worldcoins. To do this, it is necessary to download the Worldcoin mobile application, World ID, generate a QR code with it, and display it in front of the orb. The orb, upon recognizing it, will scan the user's iris, while a Worldcoin collaborator remotely oversees the operation. The orb takes less than a minute to perform the scan and validate the subject's identity. In exchange for their iris, the user receives a unique number called "IrisHash" and a cryptographic wallet with Worldcoins. "This digital passport is accepted as proof of unique humanity, which people can use in the digital world without the need to share any other data," assure its developers. What happens with my scanned iris in exchange for Worldcoins? Once the iris scan is completed, and digital identity is granted to the user, Worldcoin assures that the orb quickly eliminates the images unless the user requests their preservation. Only the set of numbers called "IrisHash" is stored for identification, without any additional biometric data. Worldcoin also commits to ensuring that users share only the necessary information they wish to share, providing verification options through linked devices or the additional facial authentication orb for high-security cases. Despite these commitments, the collection of biometric data through iris scanning for the unique proof of humanity continues to raise significant questions regarding privacy and information security. Some countries such as Brazil, France, India, or Kenya have halted Worldcoin's iris scanning. How much do you get paid for scanning your iris? Worldcoin pays 25 WLD for scanning your iris, which, according to the cryptocurrency's exchange rate in February 2024, has translated to an average of between 50 and almost €160 for iris sellers, depending on the value of Worldcoin on the day they scanned their iris. At the beginning of February, the value of each WLD unit was around two euros, and by the end of the month, it had risen to nearly seven euros. What can I spend my WLD on? 'Iris sellers' have the freedom to use their Worldcoins from the moment they receive them. They can exchange the payment for other cryptocurrencies, withdraw them in euros from a specialized ATM, or hold onto the tokens in the hope of an increase in their value. Additionally, WLD payments are already accepted on platforms such as Discord, Shopify, Minecraft, Telegram, Mercado Libre, or Reddit, among other places. Who is behind Worldcoin? Worldcoin bears the stamp of two innovative minds: Sam Altman and Alex Blania. Altman is the CEO of OpenAI and a key figure in artificial intelligence development, leading projects like ChatGPT. Blania, on the other hand, is the co-founder of Tools For Humanity, contributing his experience in creating technological tools for a more equitable economic system to this new and successful cryptocurrency.
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IP Cameras
IP cameras, IP Cam, or network cameras use the Internet to create a closed circuit and transmit real-time images and videos of what is happening. This type of IIP surveillance camera also has internal recording systems that allow you to replay afterward and remotely, everything that has happened within its field of view.
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Google Integrates Gemini AI into Google Ads
29/01/2024Google has commenced the integration of Gemini's Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the conversational experience of its Google Ads service. This integration aims to assist marketing professionals in creating more effective advertising campaigns through the generation of specific content. Conversational Experience Empowered by Gemini Initially available for English-speaking advertisers in the United States and the United Kingdom in beta, this expansion will roll out globally in the coming weeks, with plans to include other languages in the near future. By providing the website's URL, the AI generates relevant advertising content, including creative pieces and keywords, facilitating the creation of optimized campaigns. Suggestions for Tailored Images in Captivating Visual Campaigns In an upcoming development, Google Ads' conversational experience will also include the ability to suggest images tailored to the campaign through the use of generative AI and materials from the advertiser's landing page. This feature, scheduled for implementation in the coming months, will provide advertisers with a comprehensive solution for creating visually appealing campaigns. Google has emphasized that all images generated by AI in Google Ads will be clearly identified, thanks to the SynthID technology that places an invisible watermark accompanied by open standard metadata.
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Google incorporates Artificial Intelligence into its search results
05/06/2023During Google's annual developer conference, Google I/O, the company has publicly announced its commitment to Artificial Intelligence to improve its search results. Similarly, Google will introduce the generative AI collaboration tool, Duet AI, in Cloud and Workspace. The objective in this case is to assist in programming and generating personalized content in services like Gmail, Slides, or Meet. Google has opened generative AI support in Vertex AI and has also announced the Text Embeddings API for applications that require semantic understanding of text or images. At the developer conference, Google's Vice President and General Manager of Search, Elizabeth Reid, gave a live demonstration of how they are applying Artificial Intelligence in their search engine. The AI results will be displayed in a box at the top of the page with links to verify the provided information. Below the box, the rest of the results will be listed as usual, although Reid also mentioned that thanks to AI, they will now be more relevant.
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Google Lens will read and translate doctors' handwriting on prescriptions
23/12/2022Google has announced a new feature in Google Lens... and it's not a simple feature! As it has been explained by the company, they are working on a new functionality that will allow Google Lens to "decipher" the handwriting of medical prescriptions, which are often confusing not only for patients, also for pharmacists. To do this, they are already working on assistive technology that will allow take a photograph of the recipe or uploading an image from the photo library, and then Google Lens will process the image and generate a note with the medications. The result as Google has alert, should be taken as assistance and any decision should be made only based on the result. The announcement of this new function of Google Lens was made at the annual conference that Google has held in India, where there are more registered users of Google Lens in the world.
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Google announces the closure of Street View
03/11/2022The independent Google Street View application will stop working next March, as Google has reported. They also has confirmed that the service will remain active within Google Maps. At this moment, Street View works in parallel as an independent App in the Google and Apple stores and also as an integrated functionality of Google Maps, a duplication that is no longer considered necessary and for these reason it will disappear as an application next year, on march 21th. Street View allows users to explore, through real images, towns and cities of more than 65 countries, providing them panoramic views at ground level, and the possibility to choose which segments of the road they want to explore. The images that Google uses for this service are taken by vehicles, cars and tricycles, equipped with up to nine cameras. This vehicles just move around the world, taking the photos and generating three-dimensional data that are used on top of the images, in this case from Satellite, of each place.
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Meta uses AI for a new system that generates videos from text descriptions
03/10/2022Meta has presented "Make-A-Video" a new application that, based on Artificial Intelligence, is capable to generate a short video from a text description. The AI system used is based on imaging technology that learns from paired text and image data and videos without context. From them, the new system is able to create a high-quality video, converting the provided text into a short clip. According to the statement issued from Mark Zuckerberg's company, "Make-A-Video" represents an important advance with respect to "Make-A-Scene", the similar system presented by Meta last summer, that generates precise images from descriptions of text and sketches.
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Google Maps will use AI to update store hours
14/04/2022Google Maps will update the hours of more than 20 million businesses around the world in the next six months. To do this, they will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a self-developed machine learning model, which identifies shop hours that are not updated. Through this system, the AI will update the hours according to itsel predictions based on parameters such the last update of the shop's profile, the hours of nearby stores and the busiest hours in that location. In addition, the algorithm will take datas from Google Business, information from the store's website, if it has one, and images from Street View. In some countries, Google will also use Google Duplex conversational AI technology to make calls with the quality of a human voice to the stores and confirm their opening hours. In this list of countries, France will be the only European country where the telephone verification will be carried out. The rest of the countries are Argentina, Australia, Chile, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru and the United States.
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What is web hosting and why do you need it?
09/09/2021If you are thinking of creating your own website or if, on the contrary, you already have one and are looking for a better web hosting service, you probably have many doubts concerning web hosting: what exactly is it, what are its different types, why do I need it, etc. For this reason, here we offer you a clear and simple guide to web hosting. What is web hosting? Web hosting is a service that allows organizations and individuals to post a website or web page onto the Internet so that it can be consulted at any time and from any place and device. The content of the websites is stored, therefore, in web servers. These servers allow the content to be accessible via the World Wide Web. For all those who do not know the term, a web server is a piece of computer equipment that is much more powerful than any conventional computer and that is connected to the Internet 24 hours a day to enable access to the contents it stores. Different types of web hosting are offered based on the web server: shared hosting, VPS, cloud hosting, WordPress hosting, elastic hosting, etc. These services are offered by web hosts such as Webempresa, which provide space on a server for use by clients. Why do you need web hosting? Web hosting allows your website to be always online and available worldwide and for everyone. Therefore, even if you can afford to buy your own server and have a fast internet connection, it is advisable to hire a web hosting service, as it will be much cheaper. Web hosts have their own servers to host their clients' websites. These servers are located in a Data Processing Center (DPC): an infrastructure that has the most advanced security systems and stable and secure internet connections, which prevent errors in the services. What are the different types of web hosting? Although there are different types of web hosting in the market, the most common are the following: shared hosting, dedicated hosting, VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting, cloud hosting, reseller hosting, and WordPress hosting. Each of them meets the needs of a particular group of customers. Shared hosting is the most basic type of web hosting. The provider rents small spaces on a single server to different websites. In this way, all customers have their own space to host their content, while sharing server resources such as CPU, processor, RAM, bandwidth, or IP address. In contrast, a dedicated hosting service is a type of web hosting in which the client leases an entire server and does not share it with anyone else. Although shared hosting works very well, a dedicated server stands out because it is never affected by existing traffic and because it has a higher level of security. A virtual private server (VPS) is basically a server running within a server. One physical server hosts multiple virtual servers, each isolated from the others. Each VPS runs its own operating system, independent of the others. The features offered by a virtual private server are very similar to those of shared hosting. At the same time, it offers all the benefits of a dedicated server. Cloud hosting works in a very similar way to the "cloud" where we store all kinds of documents. This is because all the resources that are used to collect the information of a website are executed from a cloud server. The main difference between cloud hosting and other web hosting types is that, in this case, you only pay for the services you use. Reseller hosting is another type of web hosting. It is basically white-label web hosting. A person buys hosting from a provider and then resells those services to his/her clients. This allows the creation of hosting plans and external domains or subdomains. The last type of web hosting we will talk about here is email hosting, which allows you to register a domain name and therefore have a professional email service. This type of web hosting is highly recommended for businesses or individuals that intend to convey an image of seriousness and trust. Thus, thanks to email hosting, you will be able to have a personalized email address, more storage space, and a higher level of security.
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Google ads a quick delete button to erase your recent search history
19/07/2021Google has just announced the addition of a quick delete browsing history feature in Chrome. This feature will save users from going to settings to delete the last visits done and with the intention of protection of personal data and privacy. The button is located in Chrome's main menu where you can access through the image of your Gmail account avatar. By clicking on the "Clear last 15 minutes" button, all searches performed in that period will disappear. In addition to this sort of "panic button" for quick deletion, Google also has an "auto-delete" feature, which we can configure to automatically and continuously delete our search history, along with other web and application activity, from our account after three, 18 or 36 months. By default, for new accounts the default automatic deletion option for web and app activity will be 18 months, but you can always choose to update your settings if you wish.
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