美股道指周五收漲339.86點，漲幅為0.80%，報42732.13點；納指漲340.88點，漲幅為1.77%，報19621.68點；標普500指數漲73.92點，漲幅為1.26%，報5942.47點。 2025年中國人民銀行工作會議1月3日-4日召開。會議強調，實施適度寬松的貨幣政策，為經濟穩定增長創造適宜的貨幣金融環境。 人行：加大存量商品房和存量土地盤活力度 推動房地產市場止跌回穩。 據報河南去年房地產「白名單」融資滿足率達88% 貸款規模逾1,200億人幣。 惠譽評級亞太區主權評級董事徐晶接受《信報》訪問時表示,按該行基準假設估計,港府要達到收支平衡,會較原本政府預期的2027/28財年,最少延遲一至兩年,意味香港可能要再面對財赤最少4-5年。此外,賣地收入和印花稅料溫和復甦,赤字在未來數年可望從高位緩慢收窄,所以暫不擔心財政儲備會「乾塘」。 陳茂波：目標三數年內恢復財政平衡 不考慮重設勾地模式，政府預計本財年財政赤字約1000億港元以下。對於會否擴闊稅基，財經事務及庫務局局長許正宇在電台節目中表示，政府會透過不同方式增加收入和控制支出，開源節流會考慮對市民影響及用者自付的原則。 內地媒體報道，吉利汽車(175)將於今年第四季推出搭載新一代「超醇電混」技術的新轎車與新 SUV。 1月3日，港交所披露文件顯示，平安資產管理有限責任公司（以下簡稱「平安資管」）近期於場內新增買入工商銀行H股約1.1億股股份，平均每股作價5.2047港元，涉資近5.7億港元。文件顯示上述權益變動發生日期為2024年12月31日，平安資管以投資經理身份進行披露。上述文件顯示，此次買入后，平安資管對工商銀行H股的持股比例由16.99%升至17.11%，總持有股份數量增至148.59億股。 LinkedIn Email Facebook Twitter WhatsApp source

4. Treat the help desk as talent incubator Nearly every company has open reqs for IT positions because the IT talent shortage remains. Consequently, CIOs have had to figure out new ways to “grow” talent, such as hiring raw and inexperienced individuals from the outside. Community colleges and universities teach students how to code and work with IT systems, but they can’t teach students the particulars of your own IT environment. A great place to break in new talent is to start them at the help desk. They’ll acquire a working knowledge of users, IT staff, and company systems. Coupled with a strong upskilling program, the IT help desk can be transformed into a strategic talent pipeline for serving business needs right. 5. Start IT’s self-service strategy here Users want to be able to self-schedule IT service, and to have access to relevant information through a user-friendly online portal that enables them to immediately resolve many of their own issues. This is why an effective user self-service portal should be a help desk initiative that is on every CIO’s list. The help desk should be the strategic lead for this project, since it is IT’s primary service point for end users. source

By Madeline Lyskawa ( January 3, 2025, 8:29 PM EST) — A U.S. Department of Labor appeals board has upheld the denial of a semiconductor equipment manufacturer’s application for temporary employment certification for 10 engineers, saying the company failed to show that the job opportunity is in fact temporary. … Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Timekettle has unveiled the Babel OS, its first-ever operating system designed to redefine AI-driven simultaneous interpretation and it will be used in its language translation earbuds. This breakthrough not only sets a new benchmark for translation software but also significantly enhances the performance of Timekettle’s hardware devices, delivering lightening quick transitions with solutions that can anticipate what is being said, adapt to customizable lexicons, and translate in over 40 languages with real human emotion and tonality, the company said. Babel OS is available immediately and transforms Timekettle’s product lineup, including advanced devices such as the W4 Pro Earbuds, WT2 Edge/W3 Earbuds, X1 Interpreter Hub, and the T1 and T1 Mini Handheld Interpreters. These devices are now faster, more accurate, and more human than ever before, Timekettle said. By enabling seamless and natural conversations, Babel OS brings Timekettle closer than ever to replicating the experience of having a live interpreter right by your side. Timekettle product portfolio and tech specs can be viewed here. “Over the years, Timekettle has become synonymous with groundbreaking hardware innovation,” said Leal Tian, CEO of Timekettle, in a statement. “But it’s our relentless dedication to advancing software technology that truly keeps us ahead. With Babel OS, we are introducing the next evolution of translation – one that merges unmatched speed, accuracy, and personalization, making communication across languages more natural than ever.” Babel OS includes AI semantic segmentation. Powered by Timekettle’s HybridComm, this technology is at the core of Babel OS, enabling lightning-fast translation by optimizing speech segmentation for AI processing. Utilizing a vast database and sophisticated algorithms, the system intelligently segments sentences, predicting their completion. This proactive approach not only expedites the translation process but also ensures a high level of accuracy. With this innovation, Timekettle devices achieve unprecedented speed, delivering translations in real-time with near-zero latency, the company said. This real-time translation enables users to catch up with information more effectively and quickly during a conference or speech, erasing any sense of language barrier. Custom lexicon for personalized translation AI is improving and making Timekettle’s language translation better. Babel OS redefines personalization by enabling users to create custom vocabularies tailored to specific industries, contexts, or even slang. The custom lexicon feature is ideal for avoiding translation errors with names, locations, and specialized terms. Users can define specific terms and link them to precise translations, ensuring consistency and accuracy. As the system learns and expands with each added term, it evolves into a highly intuitive and personalized translator—one that feels as if it truly understands your unique language needs. Babel OS revolutionizes translation by incorporating advanced voice cloning technology, bringing authenticity to conversations. This intelligent system replicates users’ unique voice tones, styles, and speech patterns, ensuring that translations sound natural, conversational, and emotionally resonant. By adding depth and realism to interactions, Babel OS enhances communication, making every exchange more engaging and lifelike. Whether for professional discussions or casual conversations, this feature adds warmth, emotion, and depth, making each interaction vivid and elevating the overall communication experience. Machine Learning powering enhancements Timekettle is updating its translation earbuds with Babel OS. Leveraging the latest in AI training, Babel OS adapts dynamically to different languages and accents, continually learning and improving to ensure superior accuracy in even the most complex linguistic scenarios. Through Timekettle’s own AI Lab, the company continuously optimizes current AI technology based on user feedback, making the translation experience even better. In addition, its latest large language model (LLM) engine establishes a strong foundation for delivering precise and contextually rich translations, setting a new standard in language communication. Timekettle is also working on AI Edge solutions that operate on devices, offline and without network services. Business professionals and outdoor adventurers can rely on seamless communication, even in remote locations such as mountainous regions, airplanes, or underground parking lots—without requiring an Internet connection. This breakthrough eliminates concerns about translation functionality being disrupted by network issues, enabling truly barrier-free communication anytime and anywhere. Backing its commitment to ongoing innovation and improvement, all Timekettle products are enhanced with ongoing over-the-air (OTA) updates, provided at no additional cost. This ensures that users receive not just a translation device, but a continuously evolving and increasingly powerful language companion, offering unmatched reliability, convenience, and peace of mind. Safety-driven technology Timekettle said it places user privacy and security at the forefront with Babel OS, integrating advanced encryption and robust security measures across all devices and applications. Fully compliant with GDPR certification standards, Babel OS meets the highest data protection requirements, offering users a transparent and secure data experience. This approach not only optimizes system-wide data protection mechanisms but also reinforces overall security and reliability, ensuring peace of mind for both individuals and businesses. “This operating system doesn’t just complement our hardware – it elevates it,” continued Leal Tian. “Babel OS enables Timekettle devices to operate at speeds and levels of sophistication that were previously unimaginable. It’s a testament to how software and hardware innovation can combine to create something truly transformative.” Availability and pricing Babel OS is available immediately and can be seen in action at CES at the Timekettle booth [LVCC, North Hall – 9163]. Its enhanced features are demonstrated within products such as the W4 Pro Earbuds (priced at $449), WT2 Edge/W3 Earbuds (priced at $349.99), X1 Interpreter Hub (priced at $699.99), and the T1 and T1 Mini Handheld Interpreters (priced at $299.99 and $149.99 respectively). All Timekettle devices are available for purchase at its website or on Amazon. Established in 2016, Timekettle is dedicated to advancing cross-language communication through innovative products and solutions. The company has more than 400,000 users. source

We’ve all been there: snoozing our alarm to catch a few extra minutes of rest, only to fall back asleep by accident. Wake-up call services offer a more reliable solution, providing a nudge to ensure we start our day on time. Depending on the service, you may have to answer the phone, solve a puzzle, or talk to a human to make sure you get up. Phone alarms are great — but not for everyone. A wake-up call service is ideal for people who struggle to get out the door on time. I’ll guide you through everything you need to know about wake-up call services while offering a few viable alternatives along the way. Should you pay for a wake-up call service? Is it worth paying for a wake-up call service with free services and other options available? It all comes down to your specific lifestyle, feature needs, and how much you are willing to spend. Of course, you can set alarms for free on your cell phone or set alerts in a free digital planner — but you already know that — paid wake-up call services exist because they go the extra mile for their customers, providing a solution that works where the free apps fail. Let’s break down each option to help you make the most informed decision. Free wake-up call services A free wake-up call service will offer very limited features but will usually be able to dispatch a call to you for free. These differ from trial offers, which may provide free calls, but only for a limited time. A free option is best for someone who responds well to their phone’s ring and doesn’t need additional features to help them wake up. It’s also a good choice for those dabbling into wake-up call services for the first time to get a sense of how they work. The biggest limitation when it comes to free wake-up call services is the lack of customization, such as choosing the voice or content of your wake-up call. Many free services also limit the number of wake-up calls you can schedule, which can be a challenge if you set up several calls daily. When using a free option, you can expect: Single, scheduled wake-up call. Limited to no customization (e.g., standard ringtone). Basic reliability (lack of customer support). Paid wake-up call services For a suite of features extending beyond a simple wake-up call, paid services are a good option. They could include features such as: Customizable voice messages. The ability to schedule multiple calls if you don’t answer the first time. Smart home device integration. Gamification and challenges to keep you motivated. Crystal clear, reliable calls. The average monthly price for paid wake-up call services can range from $5 to $15. Additional features may include customizable messages, integration with smart devices, scheduling multiple calls, and options for motivational or informative content to wake up to. Paid wake-up call services offer customization and convenience, enhancing user experience with various features. They may offer even more features, like syncing with your personal calendar software, to ensure timely wake-up calls for meetings or events. They may also provide morning updates on weather and news, keeping users informed from the start of their day. A paid service tends to provide better customer support as well. This is ideal for those who want help learning how to use the program and its features by chatting with the team. Overall recommendation: paid vs free wake-up call services If you’re actively researching wake-up call services, it’s safe to say that you’re probably a deep sleeper who could use additional support for waking up. If you truly do fall into this category, a paid service may be the best choice. A paid service will make sure you actually get up and will help you customize a routine that works with helpful options such as callback features and inspirational wake-up messages. This can save you countless hours lost to snoozing past the alarm, which can mean these services pay for themselves given their modest monthly investment. If you’re still unsure, here are a few tips for deciding which way to go: Free services: Best for individuals who simply need a call to wake up and do not depend heavily on waking up at a precise time every day. It’s a no-frills approach that works for those who are generally good at waking up with some assistance. Paid services: These are ideal for those who have difficulty waking up, need to wake up at a critical time, or appreciate starting their day with a unique or motivational touch. They are also beneficial for individuals who enjoy tech integration into their daily routine. There are a few types of people who can benefit from these services, including: Those who regularly travel and need to adjust to different time zones. People working irregular work shifts. Anyone who needs to wake up at a specific time for a medication or appointment. Heavy sleepers who need a little extra help getting out of bed. Individuals who live alone and can’t rely on others for wake-up support. Remember that you can dabble in both free and paid options to get a feel for which one is best for you. Many paid options offer a trial, allowing you to test premium features for free before committing. What’s a good free wake-up call service? For a totally free wake-up call option, WakeupDialer.com is our top recommendation. This service stands out by offering simplicity and reliability without any hidden fees. Here are the key features of WakeupDialer.com: No account is required: You can immediately set up your wake-up call, avoiding the hassle of setting up a new account with the company. Ease of scheduling: Setting up your wake-up call is as simple as entering your phone number, selecting your wake-up time, and clicking a button directly on the home page. The process takes less than a minute and the homepage is clear and easy to navigate. Stephen

00:00 100:00:00,467 –> 00:00:02,268Welcome to CIO Leadership Live.200:00:02,268 –> 00:00:05,955I’m Lee Renick, executivedirector of CIO communities for CIO,300:00:05,955 –> 00:00:10,043and I’m thrilled to be here todayat the CIO 100 and Symposium and Awards400:00:10,276 –> 00:00:13,613with Max Chan, SVP, CIO of Avnet.500:00:13,880 –> 00:00:16,132Max, thanks so much for joining meon the show today.600:00:16,132 –> 00:00:17,484I really appreciate it.700:00:17,484 –> 00:00:22,672and congratulations to your awardwinning CIO 100 award of your project.800:00:22,689 –> 00:00:25,859So could we kick off first bymaybe you could introduce yourself,900:00:25,859 –> 00:00:27,110tell us a little bit about your role1000:00:27,110 –> 00:00:29,295and then maybe tell us a bitabout the project.1100:00:29,295 –> 00:00:30,113Absolutely.1200:00:30,113 –> 00:00:32,565First of all,thank you. Thanks for having me.1300:00:32,565 –> 00:00:35,902I’m really, really proud of the team.1400:00:36,169 –> 00:00:36,436Right.1500:00:36,436 –> 00:00:41,307This is I think this is the fourth awardthat we have won in the last five years.1600:00:41,307 –> 00:00:42,592So congratulations.1700:00:42,592 –> 00:00:45,662Very happy with the many projectsthat the team are doing.1800:00:45,662 –> 00:00:51,084And obviously they’re delivering businessvalue and a lot of innovation with it.1900:00:51,367 –> 00:00:54,921as CIO, at Avnet, and maybe2000:00:54,921 –> 00:00:58,458let’s talk a little bit about Avnetbecause it’s not exactly a household name.2100:00:58,591 –> 00:00:59,042Okay.2200:00:59,042 –> 00:01:01,344We are one of the largest,2300:01:01,344 –> 00:01:04,848technology distributor and, supplychain solution provider.2400:01:05,281 –> 00:01:09,169we sit in the middle of a technologyvalue chain.2500:01:09,536 –> 00:01:14,290And the interesting thing,that what we do is that we offer,2600:01:14,290 –> 00:01:17,660designed supply chain and logistic2700:01:17,660 –> 00:01:24,234capabilities, expertise to, our customersto help them with the entire technology2800:01:24,384 –> 00:01:27,387lifecycle from concept to design,2900:01:28,138 –> 00:01:32,809new product introduction to go to marketall the way to repatriation.3000:01:32,909 –> 00:01:35,028Right. The management.3100:01:35,028 –> 00:01:39,382So we always try to also talkingabout how we can actually,3200:01:39,599 –> 00:01:42,569bring a customer inand maybe talk about customer.3300:01:42,569 –> 00:01:44,270Interesting thing about us.3400:01:44,270 –> 00:01:45,738as distributor. Right.3500:01:45,738 –> 00:01:48,858We have both the upstreamsupplier partners,3600:01:49,109 –> 00:01:52,262that we serve as well as the downstreamcustomers.3700:01:52,262 –> 00:01:54,414Right. Actually gets the product ready.3800:01:54,414 –> 00:01:57,684Yeah. Right.so we always pride ourselves.3900:01:57,684 –> 00:02:00,570So being ableto bring in any of our customer4000:02:00,570 –> 00:02:05,074into any part of the lifecycleand then scale from there. Wow.4100:02:05,074 –> 00:02:06,726So very exciting.4200:02:06,726 –> 00:02:10,346and, obviously as a CIO,4300:02:10,346 –> 00:02:13,399I’m responsible for not only the, it’s4400:02:13,399 –> 00:02:16,486spark, for, for the organizations4500:02:16,486 –> 00:02:19,906I also run the digital transformation,the digital strategy.4600:02:20,206 –> 00:02:22,976and I also, manage,4700:02:22,976 –> 00:02:26,896a shared company, within our portfolio.4800:02:27,597 –> 00:02:30,166that deliver solutions to our customers.4900:02:30,166 –> 00:02:32,969Oh, well,within the space that we, we deal with.5000:02:32,969 –> 00:02:33,369Right.5100:02:33,369 –> 00:02:36,356So you’re really thenacting in both areas, really connecting up5200:02:36,573 –> 00:02:40,376that technology base for for the companyright across the board.5300:02:40,410 –> 00:02:41,394That’s right.5400:02:41,394 –> 00:02:42,946Congratulations on the award.5500:02:42,946 –> 00:02:46,065And, we were just chattingbefore we started recording about5600:02:46,966 –> 00:02:50,486the importance of dataand you’re asking me, what do you hear?5700:02:50,486 –> 00:02:54,390And I said, well,what I’m hearing is that a lot of,5800:02:54,507 –> 00:02:58,695the CIOs I’ve spoken to during Covidput a lot of their data into the cloud.5900:02:58,711 –> 00:03:01,247You know, that was a solutionfor that time. That made sense.6000:03:01,247 –> 00:03:04,651But then now they’re really evaluating it,and they’re looking at those costs6100:03:04,651 –> 00:03:08,421around cloud where they needtheir most important data on the edge.6200:03:08,688 –> 00:03:11,658And a lot of sayingnow they’re looking at repatriation6300:03:11,658 –> 00:03:15,929or bringing bringing their cloud back onor their data, excuse me, back on prem.6400:03:16,162 –> 00:03:19,165So we’d love to hear your thoughtsabout that.6500:03:19,432 –> 00:03:19,766You know,6600:03:21,317 –> 00:03:22,252lucky thing,6700:03:22,252 –> 00:03:26,806is that we’re not 100% in the cloud,right?6800:03:27,006 –> 00:03:32,712and we, we are facing the samechallenges that everyone is in cloud.6900:03:32,729 –> 00:03:35,999If you don’t manage itwell, it’s going to be very expensive.7000:03:37,066 –> 00:03:41,237we we learned that, earlyon when we started our journey,7100:03:41,237 –> 00:03:46,876our transformation, to the cloud and,and and without putting in,7200:03:47,243 –> 00:03:52,615the proper FinOps, capabilitiesand overall governance, etcetera.7300:03:52,865 –> 00:03:57,020what we found is that, oh, my God, the,the, the,7400:03:57,020 –> 00:04:00,323the costs really skyrocketed.7500:04:01,224 –> 00:04:05,361and later we,we actually put that discipline7600:04:05,361 –> 00:04:09,332around it, implement this kind of lookingat how we can optimize.7700:04:09,332 –> 00:04:11,601Now we are getting it to the right level.7800:04:11,601 –> 00:04:14,871But like I sayearlier, we’re not 100% in the cloud.7900:04:14,904 –> 00:04:18,358We are focusing on use cases that8000:04:18,625 –> 00:04:22,528truly elaborate cloudenabled capabilities.8100:04:22,528 –> 00:04:23,062Right.8200:04:23,062 –> 00:04:27,300And we bring we prioritize those workloadand bring that to the cloud.8300:04:27,317 –> 00:04:27,717Right.8400:04:27,717 –> 00:04:32,338the rest of it is really a matterof what it makes sense.8500:04:32,388 –> 00:04:35,308Right? some of itwe still keep, internal.8600:04:35,308 –> 00:04:38,695In fact,as we are talking about generative8700:04:38,695 –> 00:04:42,348AI and large language model, rightwhen we started,8800:04:42,598 –> 00:04:48,588just like everyone else, we leverage what,providers, offering in the cloud.8900:04:48,588 –> 00:04:54,360But we all knew from the very beginningwith the cloud experience and also what,9000:04:54,360 –> 00:04:59,182the, the, the providers are doing,it’s very expensive propositions.9100:04:59,248 –> 00:04:59,565Yeah.9200:04:59,565 –> 00:05:03,886And, now that we have gottena few use cases in production,9300:05:04,137 –> 00:05:07,440we have been able to, starting to evaluate9400:05:07,640 –> 00:05:11,010maybe some domain specific model.9500:05:11,227 –> 00:05:13,379Yeah. Doesn’t have to sit in the cloud.Right.9600:05:13,379 –> 00:05:16,199That’swhere we are starting to dabble into,9700:05:17,934 –> 00:05:19,619in-house hosted,9800:05:19,619 –> 00:05:23,906manage, small languagemodel or domain specific language models.9900:05:23,906 –> 00:05:28,127and this really is in linewith many of the research10000:05:28,127 –> 00:05:32,332that I think IDC has published as well,thinking about, hey, with the compute,10100:05:32,332 –> 00:05:37,086with the power over the coolingand also the sustainability agenda, right?10200:05:37,103 –> 00:05:38,121Yeah.10300:05:38,121 –> 00:05:42,975The cloud proposition with AI is goingto be very expensive for every one of us.10400:05:43,076 –> 00:05:43,409Yeah.10500:05:43,409 –> 00:05:48,297And and trying to rationalizethat is really very important.10600:05:48,498 –> 00:05:48,981Yeah.10700:05:48,981 –> 00:05:51,868And I think, you know, I was justthinking about this as you were speaking10800:05:51,868 –> 00:05:54,020because you’re working on premand you’re still you.10900:05:54,020 –> 00:05:58,291I’m, I’m assuming you have teamsto support that you can still evolve11000:05:58,291 –> 00:06:01,794your on prem cloud storageor your on prem storage11100:06:02,011 –> 00:06:05,248so that you’re retraining your staffor upgrading your staff,11200:06:05,281 –> 00:06:06,866you know, and training themand making sure you have11300:06:06,866 –> 00:06:08,334the proper skills to manage it there.11400:06:08,334 –> 00:06:12,872So I think

By Adam Lidgett ( January 3, 2025, 6:20 PM EST) — Motorola Solutions doesn’t have to give Hytera years of communications with the U.S. Department of Justice and members of the media as the Chinese radio maker gears up to defend criminal trade secret theft charges at trial, an Illinois federal judge has ruled…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

By EJ Stern and Amanda George ( January 1, 2025, 8:01 AM EST) — For associates at all levels, career development in today’s law firms requires persistence, resilience and planning. And it requires leveraging your own strengths, metrics and goal posts…. Law360 is on it, so you are, too. A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions. A Law360 subscription includes features such as Daily newsletters Expert analysis Mobile app Advanced search Judge information Real-time alerts 450K+ searchable archived articles And more! Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial. source

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Halliday has come up with eyewear we didn’t know we needed: smart glasses that project images directly onto your eye. Unveiled at CES 2025‘s CES Unveiled event, Halliday showed its AI smart glasses that beams images directly to your field of vision — beaming them to your eye instead of a lens — without needing a lens to do that. Blending fashion with functionality, it is the first AI glasses to feature a unique proactive AI agent and theDigiWindow technology, a completely unnoticeable, first-of-its-kind near-eye display that beams information directly within a user’s field of vision without a lens. The glasses still have lenses that can carry your prescription, but this is different in that there is nothing projected onto the lens itself. Inspired by the visionary character James Halliday from Steven Spielberg’s (and Ernest Cline’s) Ready Player One, these iconic frames are as versatile as they are stylish, accommodating any prescription lens—or none at all. Available in matte black or tortoiseshell, they exude timeless sophistication. (Halliday is not affiliated with either Spielberg or Cline). This discreetly delivers information and AI-enhanced insights directly to the user’s eyes, setting a new standard for what wearable technology can achieve. The glasses use a minimal optical module projection technology called DigiWindow to project images on the glass in front of your eyes. The eyewear can also serve as prescription glasses. Invisible, undetectable superpowers Halliday can put images on its smart glasses. It’s invisible to anyone you are conversing with (except at night when you may see a green light), but there is no camera on the device so it doesn’t have the same privacy issue that other smart glasses recording devices have. The device is equipped with a microphone integrated into the eyewear, enabling the user to engage with the proactive AI agent. Like voice assistance such as Siri or Alexa, the user is required to manually launch the Halliday AI application for it to commence listening to conversations but the audio is not permanently recorded. Halliday may look like an ordinary pair of nostalgic, retro glasses, but appearances can be deceiving. Developed by Ph.D. engineers from Stanford with deep expertise in advanced optics, Halliday’s DigiWindow is the world’s smallest and lightest near-eye display module, making invisible displays a reality. Installed on the upper-right part of the frame, the DigiWindow seamlessly projects information within the user’s natural field of vision, regardless of whether they have perfect eyesight or require vision correction. Perceived as a 3.5-inch screen in the upper-right corner of the user’s view, DigiWindow delivers essential information without obstructing the user’s main field of view or requiring a lens. Unlike traditional smart glasses that use waveguide lenses—which often suffer from issues like rainbow patterns and front light leakage—Halliday adopts a unique technological approach that offers superior display quality without encountering the typical issues. Additionally, Halliday glasses work in outdoor visibility; with its exceptional light efficiency, the display remains clear even under the brightest sunlight, providing a stable viewing experience across all scenarios. Invisible to onlookers, Halliday said it provides users with a hidden superpower to tackle life’s challenges. Designed for ultimate discretion, it is primarily controlled through a sleek trackpad ring, with additional interaction options available via voice commands and a built-in frame interface. This blend of style and advanced engineering empowers users to be smarter, more capable, and always one step ahead, Halliday said. Proactive AI: Assistance before you ask The components in Halliday’s smart glasses. Halliday redefines what an AI agent can do—it doesn’t just respond to commands; it anticipates users’ needs and offers assistance proactively. While traditional reactive AI assistants are limited to basic tasks like setting alarms or identifying objects, Halliday’s proactive AI agent does more. It seamlessly analyzes conversations, answers direct questions, and offers additional insights—all without waiting for a prompt. The proactive AI agent actively listens, understands, and processes the ongoing context of conversations and tasks, enabling it to identify opportunities to add value intuitively. For instance, during a meeting, it can proactively answer complex questions, summarize key discussion points, and generate summarized meeting notes afterward. Always a step ahead, it predicts the next logical move before you even ask, ensuring a smooth and highly effective experience. In the blink of an eye, Halliday transforms everyday moments with powerful intelligence. Connected to smartphones via Bluetooth, it offers a range of remarkable capabilities: Echo Mode: The proactive AI agent anticipates user needs and automatically provides suggestions and answers based on context, leading to more effective conversations and meetings. Audio Memo: Capture and summarize audio content from meetings or conversations quickly and accurately, allowing for efficient note-taking and recall. Notifications & Instant Replies: Discreetly check messages and respond with quick actions, all without anyone noticing. Cheat Sheet/Teleprompter: Speak effortlessly without notes—Halliday discreetly displays prompts, keeping you polished and confident. AI Translation: Real-time translation in up to 40 languages ensures smooth communication anywhere in the world. Navigation: Access real-time navigation directly on your glasses, eliminating the need to check your phone for directions. Music & Lyrics: Enjoy your favorite songs with synchronized lyrics displayed in real-time. Quick Notes: Voice-to-text instant note-taking for your everyday ideas and inspirations. Retro Design with Revolutionary Technology Halliday effortlessly combines a nostalgic, retro aesthetic with cutting-edge technology, creating a fashion-forward accessory for any occasion. Weighing just 1.23 ounces (35 grams) —nearly half the weight of traditional smart glasses—and offering eight hours of continuous use, Halliday provides exceptional comfort for all-day wear. Halliday said this tool combines vintage charm and retro elegance with innovation, offering users an invisible superpower to navigate life’s challenges with confidence and style. Availability and price Halliday smart glasses Halliday will be available for purchase after its debut at the CES conference, with prices starting at an accessible $399 to $499 range. Shipping is expected to begin by the end of Q1 2025. Founded in 2021, Shenzhen, China-based Halliday is a

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Every week — sometimes every day—a new state-of-the-art AI model is born to the world. As we move into 2025, the pace at which new models are being released is dizzying, if not exhausting. The curve of the rollercoaster is continuing to grow exponentially, and fatigue and wonder have become constant companions. Each release highlights why this particular model is better than all others, with endless collections of benchmarks and bar charts filling our feeds as we scramble to keep up. The number of large foundation models released each year has been exploding since 2020Charlie Giattino, Edouard Mathieu, Veronika Samborska and Max Roser (2023) – “Artificial Intelligence” Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Eighteen months ago, the vast majority of developers and businesses were using a single AI model. Today, the opposite is true. It is rare to find a business of significant scale that is confining itself to the capabilities of a single model. Companies are wary of vendor lock-in, particularly for a technology which has quickly become a core part of both long-term corporate strategy and short-term bottom-line revenue. It is increasingly risky for teams to put all their bets on a single large language model (LLM). But despite this fragmentation, many model providers still champion the view that AI will be a winner-takes-all market. They claim that the expertise and compute required to train best-in-class models is scarce, defensible and self-reinforcing. From their perspective, the hype bubble for building AI models will eventually collapse, leaving behind a single, giant artificial general intelligence (AGI) model that will be used for anything and everything. To exclusively own such a model would mean to be the most powerful company in the world. The size of this prize has kicked off an arms race for more and more GPUs, with a new zero added to the number of training parameters every few months.  Deep Thought, the monolithic AGI from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the UniverseBBC, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, television series (1981). Still image retrieved for commentary purposes. We believe this view is mistaken. There will be no single model that will rule the universe, neither next year nor next decade. Instead, the future of AI will be multi-model.  Language models are fuzzy commodities  The Oxford Dictionary of Economics defines a commodity as a “standardized good which is bought and sold at scale and whose units are interchangeable.” Language models are commodities in two important senses:  The models themselves are becoming more interchangeable on a wider set of tasks;  The research expertise required to produce these models is becoming more distributed and accessible, with frontier labs barely outpacing each other and independent researchers in the open-source community nipping at their heels.  Commodities describing commodities (Credit: Not Diamond) But while language models are commoditizing, they are doing so unevenly. There is a large core of capabilities for which any model, from GPT-4 all the way down to Mistral Small, is perfectly suited to handle. At the same time, as we move towards the margins and edge cases, we see greater and greater differentiation, with some model providers explicitly specializing in code generation, reasoning, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) or math. This leads to endless handwringing, reddit-searching, evaluation and fine-tuning to find the right model for each job.  AI models are commoditizing around core capabilities and specializing at the edges. Credit: Not Diamond And so while language models are commodities, they are more accurately described as fuzzy commodities. For many use cases, AI models will be nearly interchangeable, with metrics like price and latency determining which model to use. But at the edge of capabilities, the opposite will happen: Models will continue to specialize, becoming more and more differentiated. As an example, Deepseek-V2.5 is stronger than GPT-4o on coding in C#, despite being a fraction of the size and 50 times cheaper.  Both of these dynamics — commoditization and specialization — uproot the thesis that a single model will be best-suited to handle every possible use case. Rather, they point towards a progressively fragmented landscape for AI.  Multi-model orchestration and routing There is an apt analogy for the market dynamics of language models: The human brain. The structure of our brains has remained unchanged for 100,000 years, and brains are far more similar than they are dissimilar. For the vast majority of our time on Earth, most people learned the same things and had similar capabilities.  But then something changed. We developed the ability to communicate in language — first in speech, then in writing. Communication protocols facilitate networks, and as humans began to network with each other, we also began to specialize to greater and greater degrees. We became freed from the burden of needing to be generalists across all domains, to be self-sufficient islands. Paradoxically, the collective riches of specialization have also meant that the average human today is a far stronger generalist than any of our ancestors.  On a sufficiently wide enough input space, the universe always tends towards specialization. This is true all the way from molecular chemistry, to biology, to human society. Given sufficient variety, distributed systems will always be more computationally efficient than monoliths. We believe the same will be true of AI. The more we can leverage the strengths of multiple models instead of relying on just one, the more those models can specialize, expanding the frontier for capabilities.   Multi-model systems can allow for greater specialization, capability and efficiency. Source: Not Diamond An increasingly important pattern for leveraging the strengths of diverse models is routing — dynamically sending queries to the best-suited model, while also leveraging cheaper, faster models when doing so doesn’t degrade quality. Routing allows us to take advantage of all the benefits of specialization — higher accuracy with lower costs and latency — without giving up any of the robustness of generalization. A simple demonstration of the power of routing can be seen in the fact