Rohit Bhargava's Blog, page 32

The Lost Emotion of “Perfectly Colorized” Old Black & White Photos

A photographer edited and colorized 30 vintage black and white photos. His intention was to “breathe life into these vintage snapshots, turning monochrome memories into vibrant realities.” Some of the images look strangely AI-generated with the colorizing. Others look fairly good, but the very act of adding color removes some of the intrigue and romance from the original image.

Though the post about these photos is more “clickbaity” than I would usually share, it struck me while looking a...

How Netflix Solves Content Overload with the Entertainment Industry’s Best User Interface Design

How does a company that offers more than a billion hours of programming make it less intimidating to find something to watch? This is a problem Netflix has been working on for well over a decade. In a rare behind-the-scenes interview, Fast Company shared a Q&A with Netflix VP of design Steve Johnson about how exactly Netflix makes it easier for people discover new shows without getting frustrated and giving up.

The interview ranges from discussing the thinking behind Netflix’s popular Top...

AI Startups Are Too Power Hungry, But Scientists Are Working on A Solution

In aviation, most people know that a huge portion of the costs in that industry come from paying for fuel. Recent projections are that it will account for more than 30% of the overall expenses for most airlines. When it comes to AI startups, investors and industry watchers are starting to get a similar picture of just how big of an impact the energy costs are likely to have on that growing sector. 

An article from the MIT Tech Review suggested that using AI to generate just one image uses as much...

Lessons From Daniel Radcliffe’s Journey to Leave Harry Potter Behind and Reinvent Himself

If you were cast into the role of a lifetime at the age of 11 and went on to play one of the most beloved bespectacled characters in modern movie (or book) history, what would you do when the series was over? Plenty of child stars struggle to leave the past behind, choosing to either escape the spotlight altogether or trying and failing to recreate their success. Daniel Radcliffe is different. 

In this profile piece about his journey to be seen as more than just the boy wizard from JK Row...

Reid Hoffman Interviews an AI Cloned Version of Himself to See How Good It Really Is

When you are a notoriously geeky tech billionaire, having an AI clone of yourself built and trained on all your books and public videos and then interviewing yourself probably seems like a good idea. Netflix founder Reid Hoffman just did that and started by asking his clone to summarize one of his books in the fictional Star Trek language of Klingon.

It’s a bit of fun to introduce a wildly controversial idea: realistic AI clone is nearly indistinguishable from the real person it was trained on.

As...

Playgrounds and Swing Sets Aren’t Just for Kids Anymore

Here’s a radical thought that really shouldn’t be: what if playgrounds were designed for teenagers instead of younger kids? At the Anna C. Verna Playground in Philadelphia’s FDR Park, that’s exactly what they did and it’s getting rave reviews and lots of usage so far.

The idea is an intriguing one because it challenges our perceptions of how spaces should be used. Great urban design should work for as many people as possible. It’s also why I love this idea of designing a playground to remind peop...

Can Seaweed Mining Become the Next Billion Dollar Industry?

A tiny branch of the US Department of Energy focused on high-risk projects just awarded $5 million dollars to three startup ventures that are each independently “investigating whether seaweed can serve as a practical source of critical materials, such as platinum and rhodium, as well as rare earth elements, including neodymium, lanthanum, yttrium, and dysprosium.” 

Aside from protecting coastlines, sheltering marine life and even serving as a food source for humans … scientists think seaweed may ...

What The New Ban on Non-Competes Actually Means for Companies

This week the FTC issued a rule this week that bans non-compete clauses, estimating that up to 8,500 new startups will be created as a result of the ban. The federal agency describes the downsides of non-competes this way: 

“Noncompetes are a widespread and often exploitative practice imposing contractual conditions that prevent workers from taking a new job or starting a new business. Noncompetes often force workers to either stay in a job they want to leave or bear other significant harms and c...

How Water Flipping, Excess Solar Energy and Shifting Hydropower Stations Show Us the Future Is All About Water

The skies were orange above Athens and that was just one of several climate and energy related stories this week that offered a glimpse into stories we will see more frequently in the coming years.

The first example is a concerning story of a tiny Arizona town where a private company purchased land and water rights only to flip the property and sell back the water rights to a local town for a huge profit. The concern is that more water speculators will “scavenge agricultural land” and engage in l...

The Invisibility Shield Can Help You Actually Disappear … Now Available on Kickstarter

Hiding during a game of paintball. Doing a magic trick. Avoiding detection by real-life spyware. These are just a few of the potential uses for a new invisibility shield 2.0 that’s taking pre-orders on Kickstarter right now. This “portable cloaking device” works by bending light around you.

The more scientific explanation is “the lenses diffuse the ambient light that’s reflected by your body across the entire front surface of the Shield. That said, the lenses also diffuse the light reflec...