It’s a wrap: News this week (Sept 23–Sept 29)

There have been multiple developments this week on the tech front. From Meta Quest 3 to Infosys-Microsoft deal, this is the list of the most important developments for a quick catch-up:

Meta launches new products at annual event

Facebook-parent Meta organised the tenth edition of Connect on September 27 and 28. The company rolled out several artificial intelligence (AI) consumer products including mixed reality headset, smart glasses, and bots for creating photorealistic images. 

The highlight of the event was the launch announcement of  Quest 3, a virtual reality (VR) headset developed by Reality Labs, a division of Meta Platforms

With a starting price of $499, Quest 3 is more expensive than its predecessor by $200, but it includes a more powerful chip from Qualcomm, which has launched two new chip platforms for Meta Quest 3 VR headset, the companies said. Meta Quest 3 was announced on 1st June 2023 and is expected to be released by the end of 2023 and has been described by the company as its most powerful headset yet, with VR and breakthrough mixed reality that lets the user blend virtual elements into the physical world. 

Cloud solution for airlines industry

Infosys on Wednesday announced the launch of Infosys Cobalt Airline Cloud (ICAC), a cloud offering designed for commercial airlines to help them accelerate their digital transformation journey.  

Calling it ‘first-of-its-kind’, this industry offering is aimed to revolutionize passenger experiences, drive operational efficiency, and contribute to the airline's sustainability initiatives, more specifically in the net zero journeys for clients. The company said that the ICAC platform is built on composable architecture principles that draw from the overall framework of Infosys Cobalt, a set of services, solutions and platforms for enterprises to accelerate their cloud journey.  

In separate news, Infosys announced a collaboration with Microsoft to jointly develop solutions leveraging artificial intelligence (AI)-based capabilities. Through this collaboration, Infosys Topaz will Azure OpenAI Service and Azure Cognitive Sciences to augment its capabilities. 

Ministry of Education signs deal with leading tech giants

This week, IBM announced a partnership with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Skill Development Entrepreneurship (MSDE) to offer courses in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and other professional development skills. The three entities have signed multiple memoranda of understanding to co-create curriculum and offer access to the IBM SkillBuild platform for accessing the courses.

Not only IBM, MoE along with All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Microsoft to equip students with skills and exposure to new technologies in the country. 

This collaboration is aimed at creating skilling and job readiness for students and educators associated with AICTE.

ChatGPT can access internet now

On Wednesday, OpenAI announced that generative AI chatbot ChatGPT can access the internet in real-time. The chatbot, till now, could only respond to queries basis the information available till September 2021. ChatGPT can access the internet through the Microsoft Bing web browser. This functionality, however, will be available only for ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise subscribers for now.