AT&T has introduced a new initiative offering bill credits to customers affected by network outages, aiming to rebuild trust after a series of major service disruptions in 2024. The scheme, called AT&T Guarantee, will provide automatic credits to fibre customers experiencing outages of 20 minutes or more and wireless users facing at least an hour of disruption. The move follows a nationwide service failure last February, which lasted over 12 hours and blocked millions of calls, including thousands of emergency calls to 911.
The telecom industry has faced growing scrutiny over the reliability of its networks, with rivals such as T-Mobile and Verizon also experiencing significant outages. AT&T executives acknowledged that customer dissatisfaction had led to market share losses in recent years. In response, the company has invested over $140 billion in network improvements and nearly $1 billion in customer care and operations. The new guarantee is part of a broader effort to ensure dependable connectivity and restore consumer confidence.
Despite previous challenges, AT&T has maintained strong performance in customer satisfaction rankings, topping J.D. Power’s survey for business wireless service among large enterprises for three consecutive years until 2023. The company believes the new initiative will strengthen its position in the market by demonstrating a commitment to service reliability and customer compensation when expectations are not met.
Halliday, a wearables startup, has launched a pair of smart glasses at CES 2025 that project a tiny digital screen directly into the wearer’s eye. Using a device called the DigiWindow, the glasses display notifications, language translations, and navigation directions in real time without the need for bulky AR lenses.
Priced at $489, the glasses use a small green light to beam an almost 9cm round display into the user’s line of sight. The innovative approach makes US based Halliday’s glasses slimmer, lighter, and more affordable than many augmented reality prototypes. Users can even fit prescription lenses into the frames without affecting the display.
Key features include real-time translation for 40 languages and a proactive AI assistant that offers helpful information during conversations. The device is controlled via a ring worn on the finger, allowing users to navigate its features with thumb gestures. While the AI assistant wasn’t available for testing, the display technology impressed with its functionality.
Halliday’s smart glasses are already available for preorder at a discounted price of $369 via Kickstarter. Shipping is expected to begin in March 2025. The company hopes its sleek design and practical applications will set the glasses apart from other wearables still stuck in prototype stages.
San Francisco-based startup Based Hardware has unveiled Omi, a wearable AI assistant designed to improve productivity. Launched at the Consumer Electronic Show, the device responds to voice commands when worn as a necklace or can attach to the side of the head using medical tape, activating through a unique “brain interface.”
Unlike other AI gadgets that aim to replace smartphones, Omi is meant to complement existing devices. It can answer questions, summarise conversations, and manage tasks like to-do lists and meeting schedules. The startup’s founder, Nik Shevchenko, claims that Omi’s brain interface allows users to interact without saying a wake word by recognising mental focus. However, this feature has yet to be widely tested.
Based Hardware built Omi on an open-source platform to address privacy concerns. Users can store data locally and even develop their own apps for the device. Priced at $89, the consumer version will ship later in 2025, while a developer version is already available.
Omi enters a growing market of AI gadgets that have struggled to meet expectations. Shevchenko hopes Omi’s focus on practical productivity tools will set it apart, but the device’s success will likely depend on whether users embrace its experimental brain interface feature.
Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, is preparing to launch a controversial feature for its chatbot, Grok, called ‘Unhinged Mode.’ According to a recently updated FAQ on the Grok website, this mode will deliver responses that are intentionally provocative, offensive, and irreverent, mimicking an amateur stand-up comedian pushing boundaries.
Musk first teased the idea of an unfiltered chatbot nearly a year ago, describing Grok as a tool that would answer controversial questions without self-censorship. While Grok has already been known for its edgy responses, it currently avoids politically sensitive topics. The new mode appears to be an effort to deliver on Musk’s vision of an anti-‘woke’ AI assistant, standing apart from more conservative competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The move comes amid ongoing debates about political bias in AI systems. Musk has previously claimed that most AI tools lean left due to their reliance on web-based training data. He has vowed to make Grok politically neutral, blaming the internet’s content for any perceived bias in the chatbot’s current outputs. Critics, however, worry that unleashing an unfiltered mode could lead to harmful or offensive outputs, raising questions about the responsibility of AI developers.
As Grok continues to evolve, the AI industry is closely watching how users respond to Musk’s push for a less restrained chatbot. Whether this will prove a success or ignite further controversy remains to be seen.
Elon Musk has echoed concerns from AI researchers that the industry is running out of new, real-world data to train advanced models. Speaking during a livestream with Stagwell’s Mark Penn, Musk noted that AI systems have already processed most of the available human knowledge. He described this data plateau as having been reached last year.
To address the issue, AI developers are increasingly turning to synthetic data, information generated by the AI itself, to continue training models. Musk argued that self-generated data will allow AI systems to improve through self-learning, with major players like Microsoft, Google, and Meta already incorporating this approach in their AI models.
While synthetic data offers cost-saving advantages, it also poses risks. Some experts warn it could cause “model collapse,” reducing creativity and reinforcing biases if the AI reproduces flawed patterns from earlier training data. As the AI sector pivots towards self-generated training material, the challenge lies in balancing innovation with reliability.
Meta is set to trial a new feature allowing users in Germany, France, and the United States to browse eBay listings directly on Facebook Marketplace. Transactions will still be completed on eBay’s platform, but the integration aims to provide Facebook users with a wider selection of products while giving eBay sellers greater exposure.
The move follows a hefty $840 million fine imposed by the European Commission in November over alleged anticompetitive practices related to Facebook Marketplace. While Meta continues to appeal the decision, it says it is working to address regulators’ concerns. The European Commission has yet to comment on the latest development.
Meta’s partnership with eBay reflects broader efforts by tech companies to expand online marketplaces and enhance user experience. The initiative is expected to benefit both buyers and sellers by increasing reach and streamlining access to listings.
China has unveiled its ambitious ‘National Data Infrastructure Construction Guidelines,’ placing blockchain technology at the centre of its strategy to enhance data security, transparency, and scalability. The guidelines aim to establish a blockchain-powered data infrastructure nationwide by 2029, advancing the country’s digital transformation goals.
The plan, announced by the National Development and Reform Commission, outlines a phased approach. Between 2024 and 2026, pilot projects in key regions will test blockchain frameworks and decentralised applications across sectors such as finance, green energy, and manufacturing. By 2028, these pilots are expected to evolve into integrated national blockchain networks supporting secure, large-scale data exchanges.
Central to the initiative is the creation of “trusted data spaces” that enable multi-party data sharing with privacy and ownership guarantees. These spaces will tackle governance challenges, ensuring data traceability and integrity across industries like logistics, e-commerce, and financial services. Blockchain-driven data markets will also allow the tokenisation and secure trading of data assets, unlocking new revenue streams and incentivising sharing at scale.
China’s guidelines further focus on combining blockchain with advanced privacy technologies to safeguard sensitive information while allowing secure data analysis. By decentralising data flows and integrating real-time monitoring, the initiative seeks to bolster security, reduce vulnerabilities, and position blockchain as a cornerstone of the nation’s digital economy.
Google will face a class action trial in August after failing to dismiss claims it collected personal data from mobile devices despite users disabling tracking settings. A federal judge rejected the argument that the company clearly disclosed how its Web & App Activity settings worked.
Chief Judge Richard Seeborg ruled that reasonable users could find Google’s data collection practices ‘highly offensive’ since data was collected even after concerns were raised internally about unclear disclosures. He noted internal communications indicating Google deliberately kept details vague to avoid alarming users.
Google denied wrongdoing, stating its privacy controls were long established and accusing the plaintiffs of deliberately misrepresenting its products. The plaintiffs’ lawyers, also involved in a $5 billion privacy settlement against Google last year, did not comment.
The trial, scheduled for 18 August, stems from a July 2020 lawsuit. Google previously faced similar claims when accused of tracking users in Chrome’s ‘Incognito’ mode, leading to a substantial data deletion settlement.
South Korea is preparing to lift its ban on institutional cryptocurrency trading, signalling a significant shift in the country’s crypto market. The Financial Services Commission (FSC), South Korea’s top financial regulator, announced plans to collaborate with the Digital Asset Committee to phase in institutional trading, beginning with non-profits. Until now, only individual traders with verified accounts have been allowed to trade cryptocurrencies, as banks have been restricted from enabling institutional accounts.
The country is also eyeing broader modernisation of its digital asset landscape. Speaking at the Securities and Derivatives Market Opening Ceremony, Korea Exchange Chairman Jeong Eun-bo revealed plans to consider cryptocurrency spot ETFs by 2025, taking cues from global examples. He emphasised the exchange’s goal of expanding opportunities within the capital market.
Additionally, South Korea’s FSC is working on measures to enhance security in crypto investments. The introduction of the Virtual Asset Investor Protection Act last year demonstrates a commitment to safeguarding traders and enabling innovative tools like security token offerings.
Quantum computing stocks experienced a sharp decline on Wednesday following comments from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who predicted practical quantum computers are still two decades away. His timeline dampened expectations in a sector already facing significant investment without broad applications.
Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Quantum, Quantum Computing, and IonQ saw their shares plummet over 40%, with more than $8 billion in combined market value lost. Investment chief Ivana Delevska of Spear Invest, which holds Rigetti and IonQ shares, supported Huang’s prediction, noting it took Nvidia a similar period to develop accelerated computing.
The sector had previously surged due to a technological breakthrough at Google, with stocks rising at least threefold last year. Despite the optimism, revenue generation remains minimal, with IonQ valued at over $10 billion but expected to generate just $41.6 million in 2024 revenue.
Craig-Hallum analyst Richard Shannon suggested government contracts could drive future revenue, cautioning investors not to focus solely on current low earnings. He also warned quantum computing could eventually disrupt parts of classical computing, where Nvidia plays a leading role.
