Author: Geek Planet

On this week’s GeekPlanet podcast, computational neuroscientist Dr. Joseph Green* focused on ideas from his chapter, “On the Limitations of Cutting-Edge Neuroscience” in the book Minding the Brain (2023). The conversation, led by Robert J. Marks and Brian Krouse, explores how modern neuroscience is helping us understand human consciousness. But it also shows where neuroscience explanations still fall short. Dr. Green focuses on three major topics that may help bridge neuroscience and philosophy: self-consciousness, social interaction and agency, and the binding problem. Together, these areas reveal both the promise and the limitations of studying the mind through the physical brain…

It’s been another busy week for big news but I wanted to use this week’s briefing to write about something that’s been sitting with me since the Digiday Programmatic Marketing Summit last week: AI is flattening the base of the talent pyramid before agencies have figured out how to rebuild it.Session after session, leaders admitted that the work that once served as training wheels for juniors is evaporating. Reporting is auto-generated. Performance summaries write themselves. Pieces of planning now run in the background. The muscle memory that used to form by doing the repetitive stuff is no longer being built…

The Bank of Korea (BOK) has dismissed the possibility of establishing a strategic bitcoin reserve, citing concerns over price volatility and risks. This comes despite ongoing global discussions about using bitcoin as part of foreign exchange reserves following the United States plans to create a reserve. In response to an inquiry from a member of the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee, the central bank rejected adding bitcoin to its reserves. BOK officials emphasized bitcoin’s wild price swings as a key deterrent, stating that transaction costs to convert bitcoin to cash “could rise drastically” if the market experiences instability. As…

Asus might be looking into some pretty extreme measures to deal with the global memory shortage that’s currently making laptops more expensive. While the company has officially denied any plans to start its own RAM production line, the rumor mill is spinning with talk that the Taiwanese giant could still consider manufacturing its own DRAM as early as 2026. The goal? To finally stop being at the mercy of the big three memory suppliers. The root of the problem is a massive shift in how the world’s biggest memory makers – Samsung, Micron, and SK Hynix – are spending their…

About two years ago, Trademark Property Co. CEO Terry Montesi heard from a national real estate broker that there was a big, secret tenant interested in Galleria Dallas, which his firm operates. He eventually found out that it was not a typical retail tenant: It was Netflix. Netflix was looking for the first locations for a concept called Netflix House, which includes a rotating selection of games or “experiences” based on shows such as “Stranger Things,” “Squid Game,” “Wednesday” and “One Piece.” The location in Dallas opens this week, and one at the King of Prussia mall near Philadelphia —…

Humanoid robots have come on leaps and bounds in recent times, and much is expected of the advanced machines in the coming year. The process of training humanoid robots can take various forms. Unitree’s G1 robot for example, is trained partly through teleoperation whereby a human operator wears a motion-capture suit or uses controllers to perform particular movements or entire tasks, with the robot mirroring the movements in real time. The process generates data that feeds into imitation learning algorithms, providing the robot with new autonomous skills. Additional reinforcement learning hones the model to make the movements smoother and more…

Amazon is positioning Twitch as a defining asset in its CTV ambitions, folding the platform’s hard-to-reach audience and live-video inventory into the same pitch it uses to sell Prime Video and Fire TV. That marks a clear break from not all that long ago. At Amazon’s 2024 upfront, executives walked advertisers through an expanding video portfolio, but Twitch — despite having been in the fold for a decade — barely registered. The omission was telling then. The inclusion now is even more so. Page two of the Twitch section of Amazon DSP’s latest pitch deck, starts putting that audience into numbers:…

IATSE Local 728, a 3,000-member chapter of The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada, has made history by purchasing its first Bitcoin investment, according to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. This initiative, approved by an overwhelming majority of its membership, was executed with the assistance of Proof of Workforce, a nonprofit dedicated to helping unions adopt Bitcoin through education-based initiatives. 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐈𝐍: 🎥 IATSE Local 728 adds bitcoin to the balance sheet, potentially becoming the first private sector union in the U.S. to…

It wasn’t just shoppers with strapped budgets that boosted buy-now, pay-later services to a record-setting $1 billion in transactions on Cyber Monday. It was also the brands and fintech companies that pushed the services front and center. This holiday season, more brands deployed BNPL services with different payment options beyond the more familiar “pay-in-four” structure, whether a six-month payment plan at 0% interest or a 24-month installment loan with interest. And the services are showing up in more digital wallets. Apple Pay users, for instance, can now toggle a payment plan with Affirm and Klarna, while Afterpay has new integrations…

It looks like Samsung is gearing up to drop a pretty massive upgrade with the upcoming Galaxy S26 lineup, and for once, it’s actually something that might change how we use our phones daily. According to a fresh report from FNNews, the rumored AI-powered “Privacy Display” isn’t going to be gatekept behind the most expensive model anymore. While earlier whispers suggested you’d have to shell out for the Ultra to get this, it now seems like the standard Galaxy S26 and S26+ are invited to the party too. Honestly, this is a feature we have needed for years. We have…