Sam Altman’s Worldcoin will need to print some new business cards because it’s dropping the “coin” from its name. The OpenAI CEO’s startup is shifting away from cryptocurrencies to focus more on its identity technology and has introduced a new version of its signature gadget.
Bloomberg reported that the new company, called (wait for it) World, will focus its eye scanning technology on verifying identities, which could come in handy in a world of deep fake videos that seem to be everywhere on the internet.
Co-founder and CEO Alex Blania introduced World’s newest device called the Orb, a biometric eye scanner used to verify human identity through an identity service called Deep Face.
The latest model of the Orb, which uses NVIDIA’s Jetson chipset, will be made available to customers when needed. Chief Devices Officer Rich Haley said at the San Francisco event that access to the Orb will be on demand and delivered the same way people order pizza.
“These advancements make it possible for World ID to offer new ways to provide proof of human verification in more locations around the world,” a company statement said.
According to the company’s website, nearly 7 million people have been scanned by World Orbs to date. All attendees at the San Francisco launch event received a free Orb for their human identification needs.
If you’re a Prime member, you can save $50 on the recently released Colorsoft Kindle, also known as the first Kindle with color. This is the first discount we’ve seen since the introduction of this model. We encountered a “yellow band” problem with our review unit, but we later received an updated reader for which Amazon made “reasonable adjustments” to resolve the issue. The software and display adjustments the company implemented worked — and we actually liked the overall effect better. Check out our review for the full story.
The Chipolo One point came out shortly after Google launched its Find My Device feature, a crowd-sourced search network that relies on other Android phones to track down your lost belongings (a bit like Apple’s Find My function). It’s currently our favorite Bluetooth tracker for Android.
We liked how easy it was to set up and how loud it is. Plus, unlike AirTags, it has a hole, so it’s easy to attach the tracker to a key ring. Also available at Amazon. Chipolo is also selling a pack combining its wallet and two standard One trackers for $52.
A new model of AirTags may come later this year, but as it is, we consider Apple’s current AirTag to be the best Bluetooth tracker for iPhone owners. It’s not the lowest price ever, but it beats the $73 going rate for a four-pack that we’ve seen in the past few months. Also available at Best Buy.