Technology News

The startup Lynx markets the Lynx R1, the first mixed reality headset of French origin. A product that aims to stand out from competitors’ devices, especially Apple and Meta.

It was last June. Apple used its WWDC conference to unveil the Vision Pro, its first mixed reality headset. Meta, in turn, responded a few weeks later with the Meta Quest 3. While the American tech giants are investing heavily in this area, the French startup Lynx also offers its mixed reality mask solution: the Lynx R1, available in two models.

The latter embed cameras that recreate reality on screens to add virtual elements to the real world. A concept similar to that of the Apple Vision Pro, but which the French company can be proud of being among the first to implement it. “Mixed reality is a bet that we have been pursuing at Lynx since 2017,” emphasizes Stan Larroque, founder and CEO of Lynx, guest of the Tech&Co virtual reality special show on Monday, October 30th.

A helmet that offers its own concept

For composer Jean-Michel Jarre, who is also present at this show, the Lynx mixed reality headset stands out from competing models on a conceptual level. “It brings other features that, for many reasons, interest me as a developer more than the headsets that are on the market. The Lynx is a concept that has its own identity. The interesting thing is that it’s about showing that.” “There is an opportunity to install a building block of sovereignty in this area. Be it in terms of software or hardware,” explains the musician, who leads the “Immersive Creation” commission of the National Cinema Center (CNC).

While the Apple Vision Pro will be closed and equipped with a cable, the Lynx is characterized by being open on the sides and without cables. “Many people feel restricted and have clostrophobia. The Lynx is the only helmet that avoids this problem,” notes Jean-Michel Jarre. The French company has no plans to blush in the face of the American tech giants. On the contrary, Stan Larroque explains that he was reassured about Lynx’s trajectory after trying Apple’s Vision Pro headset.

“I was reassured by the fact that it’s not much different from our helmet. At 4,000 euros it is simply very high quality and equipped with more expensive components.” […] If we had had specifications for making a $4,000 helmet, we probably would have come to the same result or a slightly different result.”

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Developed by Montreal studio Behavior Interactive, the multiplayer horror game Dead by Daylight is one of the most popular in its category worldwide, with more than 50 million users.

“The Dead by Daylight universe is a metaverse that allows us to create characters here, but also licensed characters,” explained Dave Richard, the game’s creative director.

Mathieu Côté, Head of Partnerships at Behavior Interactif, makes no secret of it: The overwhelming success of Dead by Daylight has literally transformed the company.

“When we released Dead by Daylight in 2016, there were about thirty people working on it. Today, more than 350 people work on the project every day,” he said.

Pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable

Characters being impaled on meat hooks, others being cut up with machetes, the game has no shortage of bloody and graphic scenes.

But how far can we push the horror? Dave Richard and his team have looked into the topic.

“There is definitely a maximum that we want to aim for. For example, we said to ourselves that there would be no violence against children in the game because that was not part of our values,” explained the creative director.

While he mentions that players’ opinions are always taken into account when it comes to depicting gory scenes or horrific characters in the game, Mr. Richard leaves the final word to himself.

“Sometimes it’s more interesting to go beyond a certain limit and give players something they want to see, even if some are against it,” he said.

Further details can be found in the adjacent report by François Breton-Champigny.

On July 11, 2022, the whole world was able to see the first-ever image captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This is an image now called the “Webb Deep Field of Galaxies,” a galaxy cluster called SMACS 0723 that consists of more than 7,000 galaxies! This image has proven to be an important target for studying galaxy evolution because this large number of very distant galaxies reveals much about how galaxies formed and evolved in the early universe. However, until now, accurate and complete measurements of the distance of galaxies from Earth have been missing.

Thanks to Canada’s contribution to the Webb Mission, things have changed! A team of Canadian and international astronomers led by Gaël Noirot, a postdoctoral researcher at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, carefully examined and analyzed Webb’s vast field of galaxies.

More specifically, the astronomers, members of the CANUCS (Canadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey) program, used the Canadian NIRISS (Near Infra-Red Imager and Slitless Spectrograph) instrument on board the JWST to collect the spectra of the target galaxies in the image. These spectra are a type of scientific data created by breaking down an object’s light to provide additional information such as the object’s age or distance.

Using the Canadian-made NIRISS instrument, the team was able to determine the redshift of nearly 200 galaxies whose distances from Earth were previously unknown. “The NIRISS instrument is perfect for this task because it can measure the redshifts of hundreds of galaxies simultaneously,” says Gaël Noirot, lead author of the study, published this month in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Redshift is a precise measure of a galaxy’s distance based on the unique chemical signatures observed in its spectrum. Due to the expansion of the universe, the light emitted by distant objects such as galaxies is stretched and their spectral properties are increased to longer (i.e. redder) wavelengths than originally mentioned. This redshift, which corresponds to the difference between the observed color and the emitted color of an object, tells us how far it is from us.

“Our work on SMACS 0723, the first deep field of Webb galaxies and the first scientific image sent from JWST, has produced the telescope’s largest spectroscopic catalog of reliable redshift measurements,” explains Professor Marcin Sawicki, Canada Research Chair at the Saint Mary’s University and co-author of the study. “Our recently published study represents a valuable resource for the astronomical community and opens new avenues of research in the first deep field of Webb galaxies,” adds Gaël Noirot.

From this catalog of redshifts, researchers discovered new galaxies in the SMACS 0723 cluster, whose light took more than four billion years to reach us. Clusters, which are huge collections of galaxies held together by gravity, can contain up to thousands of galaxies. Their study helps understand the evolution of galaxies in some of the most extreme environments in the universe and allows us to observe the distribution of dark matter and the evolution of structures.

“As members of the Canadian-led project, we are even more pleased that this significant improvement over previous studies on SMACS 0723 was made possible by the spectroscopic capabilities of the Canadian NIRISS instrument on board JWST,” said Chris Willott of the National Research Council of Canada and project leader of the CANUCS team, funded by the Canadian Space Agency. “This Canadian technology allows us to take full advantage of JWST,” says René Doyon, director of the Trottier Institute for Exoplanet Research and full professor at the University of Montreal and principal investigator of the NIRISS instrument. This instrument was funded by the Canadian Space Agency and designed, built and tested by Honeywell Aerospace in Cambridge and Ottawa with contributions from key optical components at the University of Montreal.

In their extensive catalog of deep-field redshifts of galaxies, the researchers discovered three additional superdensities of galaxies at distances much larger than SMACS 0723 that had not previously been observed in the field. These galaxy overdensities may be new galaxy clusters located at distances of 8 to 10 billion light-years. Discovering these superdensities of galaxies at different cosmic epochs is like watching a time-lapse video of the growth of these galaxy clusters from their appearance in the early universe to the present day. These clusters represent ideal targets for future studies aimed at better understanding how clusters and the galaxies they host evolved from their state in the early universe to their present appearance, including our own galaxy, the Milky Way.

The Sparkler Galaxy

While waiting for these future studies, the CANUCS team discovered the magnificent Sparkler Galaxy in one of these galaxy clusters. It is a gravity-enhanced galaxy located about nine billion light-years away and contains what appear to be the oldest star clusters to have formed after the Big Bang. The Sparkler Galaxy made headlines around the world when it was discovered by the CANUCS team in September 2022.

The team’s new NIRISS redshift catalog has just revealed that the Sparkler Galaxy is not isolated, but is located in one of the newly discovered galaxy overdensities. “The fact that the Sparkler Galaxy is not alone but part of a family of galaxies has important implications for how the first star clusters formed after the Big Bang,” explains Marcin Sawicki, who is also one of the co-authors of this study.

The team of astronomers will have the opportunity to improve their redshift catalog during the current second year of the James Webb Science, having gained additional observing time to study the deep-field Webb galaxies in even greater detail with the NIRISS instrument. “The astronomical community has recognized the value of our first NIRISS redshift catalog and wants us to create another, even better version in the first JWST deep field,” says Gaël Noirot, who is also the principal investigator of this observing program.

The team points out that its catalog and the results of its study have already allowed several independent teams to continue their work in the first deep field of the JWST, and that its study enables further research on galaxy formation, dark matter distribution, etc the evolution of the universe.

In the middle of the night, Apple presents its new M3 chips and the first MacBooks that will be equipped with them. Here’s how to watch the keynote live and what we expect to see there.

Source: Apple

We’re almost there: The Apple keynote to introduce the brand’s M3 chips and the MacBooks equipped with them will take place in a few hours. Here’s how to watch the conference live… However, we must warn you that the schedule is far from ideal if you are in France.

How to follow the Apple keynote (M3 and MacBook) live

Apple has scheduled its keynote speech for October 31st at 1 a.m. (Paris time).

. In order to avoid any misunderstandings, please make it clear that for us Europeans this is a conference in the middle of the night from the 30th to the 31st.

If you have the motivation, courage and energy to follow this “blazingly fast” keynote on MacBook and M3 chips, then just start the following YouTube video when the time comes.

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Also note that you can also follow our comments live on the article you are currently viewing. We will actually be on deck despite the night to experience this keynote with you. We believe in it! So don’t hesitate to update this page during the Apple event.

Meanwhile, Tim Cook teases the event a bit by sharing a photo of Apple Park on social media. He specifically mentions “something special tonight. No tricks, just treats.” This is obviously a reference to Halloween.

Apple Park // Source: Tim Cook on X/Twitter

What we expect from the keynote

During this keynote we are of course waiting for many technical details about the Apple M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips. The latter in particular will take your breath away in terms of performance. In particular, it is rumored that we would find a CPU with 16 cores (12 high-performance cores and 4 energy-saving cores) and a GPU with 32 to 40 cores.

We should see the first products that use these chips. New MacBook Pros could be on the agenda, while there is also hope for a renewal of the iMac, as it is the last product still based on an Apple M1. But it could also be that the company waits until 2024 for this device. When it comes to MacBook Airs, it’s even less likely that a new model will be introduced this evening.

Would you like to join a community of enthusiasts? Our Discord welcomes you, it is a place of mutual help and passion about technology.

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[EN VIDÉO] Uranus, the first planet discovered by the telescope Discover Uranus, an ice giant three billion kilometers away…

The Northern Lights light up in our sky when energetic particles from the sun trapped in Earth’s magnetic field interact with molecules in our atmosphere. And the phenomenon does not only occur on our planet. It has already been observed elsewhere. Even on Uranus.

Hubble observes auroras on Uranus for the first time

In fact, in the mid-1980s, astronomers discovered auroras that glow in the ultraviolet range. Since then, consideration has been given to being able to observe it in the infrared range. Just as they had already done for Jupiter and Saturn. But their search seemed to be in vain.

Infrared Northern Lights hidden for 20 years

“It seems,” because in reality, infrared auroras have long been hiding in the data collected in 2006 by the Nirspec instrument – ​​​​for Near InfraRed SPECtrograph – installed at the Keck Observatory (Hawaii). And astronomers from the University of Leicester (UK) have finally revealed them. They talk about it in the journal Nature Astronomy.

The secrets of Uranus finally revealed?

The discovery goes beyond a simple miracle. It could really help researchers unlock some of the secrets of the distant ice planet. To explain why Uranus is hotter than if it were heated only by the sun’s rays. To decipher the strange magnetic field of the giant planet – tilted to the side and asymmetrical. To understand why Uranus-type planets are so common in our Milky Way. Or to assess whether they could support life.

Atom Computing just announced that it has successfully tested its prototype quantum computer with 1,180 qubits. This puts the company several weeks ahead of an expected announcement from IBM and makes it the first company to exceed the 1,000 qubits milestone.

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[EN VIDÉO] Interview: How is a quantum computer different? The quantum world is fascinating: on this scale, for example, objects…

The race for a quantum computer has just reached a new stage. While most companies working on it are limited to a few hundred qubits at most, Atom Computing would be the first company to break the 1,000-qubit barrier. The company just announced a prototype with 1,180 qubits, scheduled to launch next year.

Qubits are the equivalent of binary bits in classical computers. Unlike bits, which have the value of either 0 or 1, qubits can also have both values ​​at the same time. It is this peculiarity that allows quantum computers to solve certain problems much faster than a classical computer. The most powerful quantum computer to date is IBM’s Osprey with “only” 433 qubits.

Ytterbium atoms manipulated with lasers

Unlike other companies that work with ions, Atom Computing uses neutral ytterbium atoms that are organized into a matrix and manipulated using lasers. The company had already announced that it had managed to achieve a coherence time of its qubits of 40 seconds, as well as the ability to measure the state of certain qubits during calculations and thus detect certain errors without disturbing the other qubits.

The company beat IBM, which was due to unveil its Condor quantum processor with 1,121 qubits in the coming weeks. Atom Computing has announced that it will put its quantum computer into the service of companies, universities and administrations from 2024.

iOS 17.1, which was released in its final version on October 25th, brought with it a new feature that was briefly presented at WWDC 2023: Content transfers via AirDrop will no longer be interrupted when the two devices are no longer within range of each other condition. To continue the locally initiated transfer remotely, the sending iPhone or iPad is responsible for transferring the content to the cloud and the receiving device retrieves this content via its Internet connection.

Image Apple/iGeneration

To take advantage of this new capability, simply check the following box if you haven’t already: Settings > General > AirDrop > Use Cellular Data. In theory, nothing more needs to be configured; AirDrop automatically switches the transfer to the cloud when the receiving device is no longer nearby. In practice, we were unable to use the function despite our various tests with several videos. Every time we moved the two devices apart (one leaving the office Wi-Fi network while the other stayed there), the AirDrop transfer stalled without the cloud taking over.

If you have had better luck than us, do not hesitate to let us know, specifying the devices used and the conditions of Internet transmission.

During the Snapdragon Summit 2023 organized by Qualcomm to announce its new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, several brands have positioned themselves to integrate this Soc and are already presenting the future features of their upcoming high-end smartphones, including Honor, which announces that it can push back the boundaries of innovation, particularly thanks to the ubiquity of artificial intelligence.

A few days ago in Hawaii, the Honor brand took the opportunity of the Snapdragon Summit 2023 to present its latest innovation advances and announced that its next flagships, The Honor Magic6 and Magic6 Pro are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform. So these models would be is capable of processing an impressive number of operations, up to seven billion parameters, via the broad language model (LLM). This announcement is the result of a close collaboration between Honor and Qualcomm Technologies, combining their expertise to create an ecosystem focused on user experience and enabling seamless interactions across a variety of devices.

This Honor embedded LLM model differs from cloud LLM models in that it relies on a deep understanding of the user to provide personalized services while maintaining their privacy. Confidentiality and offline use are also worth highlighting. So, The combined efforts of both companies focused on performance, efficiency and data protection, which allows Honor Magic6 (and Magic6 Pro) to use LLM efficiently while ensuring the security of the data stored on the device. They will be officially announced in the coming months.

Automatic AI photo creation, eye tracking and sharing across devices

The Chinese brand also used the Snapdragon Summit to conduct one Demo highlighting AI video creation capability. Users of mobile phones equipped with this technology (chip) can give instructions to the built-in intelligent voice assistant YOYO to easily create short personalized videos from photos and sequences stored on their devices. Certain elements can then be easily modified to achieve even more personalized results.

Demo video of the AI ​​photo creation feature

At the same time, smartphones from the Honor Magic6 series will be offered two original functions: Magic Capsule, MagicRing.
Magic Capsule is based on sensors installed above the screen in a front position next to the selfie sensor. This feature offers multimodal interaction using eye tracking. When a notification appears in the form of a small window at the top of the screen and you look at it, the mobile phone recognizes your gaze and automatically opens the application corresponding to the notification. Ask. You no longer have to swipe your finger on the notification to open it.

The MagicRing functioncoupled with the seamless technology integrated into Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Soc, enables more diverse data exchange between the brand’s devices, all in a more stable and energy efficient experience than ever before. Files, images, full-screen applications and other content can be seamlessly and easily transferred from one device to another without forgetting mouse and keyboard controls.

Honor MagicRing feature demo video