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Data is the holy grail of AI. From nimble startups to global conglomerates, organizations everywhere are pouring billions of dollars to mobilize datasets for highly performant AI applications and systems.
But, even after all the effort, the reality is accessing and utilizing data from different sources and across various modalities—whether text, video, or audio—is far from seamless. The effort involves different layers of work and integrations, which often leads to delays and missed business opportunities.
Enter California-based ApertureData. To tackle this challenge, the startup has developed a unified data layer, ApertureDB, that merges the power of graph and vector databases with multimodal data management. This helps AI and data teams bring their applications to market much faster than traditionally possible. Today, ApertureData announced $8.25 million in seed funding alongside the launch of a cloud-native version of their graph-vector database.
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“ApertureDB can cut data infrastructure and dataset preparation times by 6-12 months, offering incredible value to CTOs and CDOs who are now expected to define a strategy for successful AI deployment in an extremely volatile environment with conflicting data requirements,” Vishakha Gupta, the founder and CEO of ApertureData, tells VentureBeat. She noted the offering can increase the productivity of data science and ML teams building multimodal AI by ten-fold on an average.
What does ApertureData bring to the table?
Many organizations find managing their growing pile of multimodal data— terabytes of text, images, audio, and video daily— to be a bottleneck in leveraging AI for performance gains.
The problem isn’t the lack of data (the volume of unstructured data has only been growing) but the fragmented ecosystem of tools required to put it into advanced AI.
Currently, teams have to ingest data from different sources and store it in cloud buckets – with continuously evolving metadata in files or databases. Then, they have to write bespoke scripts to search, fetch or maybe do some preprocessing on the information.
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Once the initial work is done, they have to loop in graph databases and vector search and classification capabilities to deliver the planned generative AI experience. This complicates the setup, leaving teams struggling with significant integration and management tasks and ultimately delaying projects by several months.
“Enterprises expect their data layer to let them manage different modalities of data, prepare data easily for ML, be easy for dataset management, manage annotations, track model information, and let them search and visualize data using multimodal searches. Sadly their current choice to achieve each of those requirements is a manually integrated solution where they have to bring together cloud stores, databases, labels in various formats, finicky (vision) processing libraries, and vector databases, to transfer multimodal data input to meaningful AI or analytics output,” Gupta, who first saw glimpses of this problem when working with vision data at Intel, explained.
Prompted by this challenge, she teamed up with Luis Remis, a fellow research scientist at Intel Labs, and started ApertureData to build a data layer that could handle all the data tasks related to multimodal AI in one place.
The resulting product, ApertureDB, today allows enterprises to centralize all relevant datasets – including large images, videos, documents, embeddings, and their associated metadata – for efficient retrieval and query handling. It stores the data, giving a uniform view of the schema to the users, and then provides knowledge graph and vector search capabilities for downstream use across the AI pipeline, be it for building a chatbot or a search system.
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“Through 100s of conversations, we learned we need a database that not only understands the complexity of multimodal data management but also understands AI requirements to make it easy for AI teams to adopt and deploy in production. That’s what we have built with ApertureDB,” Gupta added.
ApertureDB Dashboard
How is it different from what’s in the market?
While there are plenty of AI-focused databases in the market, ApertureData hopes to create a niche for itself by offering a unified product that natively stores and recognizes multimodal data and easily blends the power of knowledge graphs with fast multimodal vector search for AI use cases. Users can easily store and delve into the relationships between their datasets and then use AI frameworks and tools of choice for targeted applications.
“Our true competition is a data platform built in-house with a combination of data tools like a relational / graph database, cloud storage, data processing libraries, vector database, and in-house scripts or visualization tools for transforming different modalities of data into useful insights. Incumbents we typically replace are databases like Postgres, Weaviate, Qdrant, Milvus, Pinecone, MongoDB, or Neo4j– but in the context of multimodal or generative AI use cases,” Gupta emphasized.
ApertureData claims its database, in its current form, can easily increase the productivity of data science and AI teams by an average of 10x. It can prove as much as 35 times faster than disparate solutions at mobilizing multimodal datasets. Meanwhile, in terms of vector search and classification specifically, it is 2-4x faster than existing open-source vector databases in the market.
The CEO did not share the exact names of customers but pointed out that they have secured deployments from select Fortune 100 customers, including a major retailer in home furnishings, a large manufacturer and some biotech, retail and emerging gen AI startups.
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“Across our deployments, the common benefits we hear from our customers are productivity, scalability and performance,” she said, noting that the company saved $2 million for one of its customers.
As the next step, it plans to continue this work by expanding the new cloud platform to accommodate the emerging classes of AI applications, focusing on ecosystem integrations to deliver a seamless experience to users and extending partner deployments.
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If you watched that Star Trek episode about the tribbles and thought, I need one of those in my life (minus the rapid reproduction problem), Casio’s got just the thing for you. The company is now taking pre-orders in Japan for Moflin, the adorable robotic plushie with AI “emotional capabilities” that debuted during CES 2021. Moflin, developed in a partnership with the Japanese startup Vanguard Industries, is meant to work like an emotional support pet — snuggling is its specialty, and the creators say each robot has its own distinct personality, can shift moods depending on the situation and will form attachments to people over time.
It’s available in gray and blonde for a hefty ￥59,400 (roughly $400), and is expected to ship on November 7. There’s no word on a release outside of Japan.
Moflin doesn’t just respond to cuddles. You’re supposed to talk to it, too, and it’ll react with movements and cute sounds. These interactions will help shape its character. “Moflin has the ability to learn and its personality will develop based on how it is treated,” said Vanguard founder Masahiko Yamanaka in a promotional video. It’s Bluetooth capable so it can connect with an app, and charges in a little nest so as to avoid breaking the illusion of it being a real pet. When it’s charging, it’ll just go to sleep. The fur is removable for when you need to wash it, though.
Vanguard ran successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo campaigns for Moflin in 2020 but only started shipping the robots to backers in late 2023. Casio is now handling the manufacturing and distribution.
Crystal Dynamics and Aspyr announced today that they’re launching another Tomb Raider collection: Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered, which launches on PC and consoles on February 14, 2025. This means we’re going to get another edition of the Tomb Raider series’ red-headed stepchild of a game, Angel of Darkness, which one would hope is in a marginally better state than it was when it originally launched. This marks the third Lara Croft-based collection in as many years, starting with the Switch’s Lara Croft Collection in 2023.
Previously, the franchise had gone quiet since 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but this is an opportune moment to remind audiences about the history: Not only has Netflix just launched its new series Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, but Amazon is also working on a new film as well as a new game. While 5 years might not seem to be a long time, any chance to remind youthful audiences — those too young to have played the Tomb Raider games when they originally launched — of exactly who Lara Croft is and why she’s been an icon for as long as she has is one Amazon (and Netflix) should seize.
To that end, it’s perhaps no surprise that the revival of her flagship franchise begins with a history lesson. In the same breath as it announced the new remastered collection, Crystal Dynamics also revealed that the Tomb Raider franchise has sold over 100 million units in the 25 years it has existed. They also highlighted several Lara Croft crossovers, such as her appearances in Brawlhalla, Dead by Daylight and Rainbow Six Siege.
In personal news, I’m sating my need for RPGs by playing Metaphor: ReFantazio this weekend, the new Atlus title making waves and (so the little birds tell me) putting itself forward as a late Game of the Year contender. During my breaks, I’ll likely continue playing the new Silent Hill 2 Remake — and speaking of franchise revivals, there’s another one that deserves another shot at a comeback.
Someone gained access to Ecovacs Deebot X2 Omni robotic vacuums across several US cities earlier this year and used them to chase pets and yell racist slurs at their owners, reported ABC Newsin Australia this week.
The outlet spoke with multiple Deebot X2 owners who say their Deebot X2s had been hacked in May, including Minnesota lawyer Daniel Swenson, who said he was watching TV with his family when a noise “like a broken-up radio signal or something” started coming from the robot’s speaker. He said after he reset his password and rebooted the robot, it began again, only this time the sound was clearly a voice — he guessed a teenager’s — yelling slurs.
ABC News lists other, similar accounts from owners in El Paso and Los Angeles, the latter of which involved someone using a Deebot to antagonize a dog, yelling at and chasing it.
Ecovacs told the outlet in a statement that it had “identified a credential stuffing event” and blocked the IP address it originated from. The company said it “found no evidence” that usernames and passwords were collected by the attacker.
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Researchers demonstrated a flaw last year that let them bypass the Deebot X2’s PIN entry to gain access to the vacuum. Ecovacs says in its statement that it has resolved that, and that it also plans to “further enhance security” with an update in November. It’s not clear whether that would correct a Bluetooth vulnerability that ABC News exploited for a report earlier this month.
Cloud-connected smart home devices have led to stories like this for years. Sometimes it’s the result of hacks, others simply compromised credentials. Sometimes, it’s bad software showing you another owner’s camera feed, as a little treat. Issues like these can feel inevitable when so many smart home devices require a persistent internet connection to function, especially for those companies that don’t offer easy ways to report security vulnerabilities.
South Korean memory giant SK Hynix has announced it has begun the mass production of the world’s first 12-layer HBM3E, featuring a total memory capacity of 36GB, a huge increase from the previous 24GB capacity in the 8-layer configuration.
This new design was made possible by reducing the thickness of each DRAM chip by 40%, allowing more layers to be stacked while maintaining the same overall size. The company plans to start volume shipments by the end of 2024.
The HBM3E memory supports a bandwidth of 9600 MT/s, translating to an effective speed of 1.22 TB/s if used in an eight-stack configuration. The improvement makes it ideal for handling LLMs and AI workloads that require both speed and high capacity. The ability to process more data at faster rates enables AI models to run more efficiently.
Nvidia and AMD hardware
For advanced memory stacking, SK Hynix employs innovative packaging technologies, including Through Silicon Via (TSV) and the Mass Reflow Molded Underfill (MR-MUF) process. These methods are essential for maintaining the structural integrity and heat dissipation required for stable, high-performance operation in the new HBM3E. The improvements in heat dissipation performance are particularly important for maintaining reliability during intensive AI processing tasks.
In addition to its increased speed and capacity, the HBM3E is designed to offer enhanced stability, with SK Hynix’s proprietary packaging processes ensuring minimal warpage during stacking. The company’s MR-MUF technology allows for better management of internal pressure, reducing the chances of mechanical failures and ensuring long-term durability.
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Early sampling for this 12-layer HBM3E product began in March 2024, with Nvidia’s Blackwell Ultra GPUs and AMD’s Instinct MI325X accelerators expected to be among the first to use this enhanced memory, taking advantage of up to 288GB of HBM3E to support complex AI computations. SK Hynix recently rejected a $374 million advanced payment from an unknown company to ensure it could provide Nvidia with enough HMB for its in-demand AI hardware.
“SK Hynix has once again broken through technological limits demonstrating our industry leadership in AI memory,” said Justin Kim, President (Head of AI Infra) at SK Hynix. “We will continue our position as the No.1 global AI memory provider as we steadily prepare next-generation memory products to overcome the challenges of the AI era.”
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NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, set to visit the icy moon of Jupiter, was set to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week but had its launch delayed because of Hurricane Milton. Now, NASA has announced that it is targeting no earlier than Monday, October 14, for the launch, and we’ve got the details on how you can watch the event live.
The mission intends to explore Europa, the moon of Jupiter that has a liquid water ocean beneath a thick, icy shell. Because of the presence of liquid water there, scientists want to learn whether the moon could be potentially habitable, as it is one of the most promising locations that life could survive outside of Earth. The mission will search for information about the ocean and the presence of the building blocks of life, called organic compounds, to see if the ingredients for life are present there.
Europa Clipper had been scheduled to launch this week on Thursday October 10, but the launch was postponed because of the hurricane conditions around the Kennedy Space Center. The spacecraft had to be secured against the high winds and heavy rain in its hanger at Launch Complex 39A.
“The safety of launch team personnel is our highest priority, and all precautions will be taken to protect the Europa Clipper spacecraft,” said Tim Dunn, senior launch director at NASA’s Launch Services Program, at the time. “Once we have the ‘all-clear’ followed by facility assessment and any recovery actions, we will determine the next launch opportunity for this NASA flagship mission.”
NASA Kennedy confirmed that it was all clear after the storm, and now teams are continuing to check the status of the spacecraft and the ground systems, but NASA has confirmed it is targeting Monday onward for the launch.
The launch will be livestreamed by NASA, which you can watch either using the NASA+ app or using the YouTube video embedded above. The YouTube video currently has a date of November 6 on it, but this is just a placeholder date and not when the actual launch will take place.
The exact time of the launch hasn’t been announced yet, but you can follow NASA’s X (formerly Twitter) account to get details as soon as the time is made public.
If you love streaming TV, Xbox games, and as little clutter as possible, then you need to pick up this Amazon Fire TV bundle deal that gets you set up with all the Xbox games you could ever want to play. The regular price for this bundle is $146.97, but Amazon currently has it on sale for $79.99. At that price, you’re getting a very good value and, it’s the lowest this bundle has ever been. Prior to this discount, which is 45% off the regular price, this bundle was $111.97. You’re basically saving another $32 by picking it up now as opposed to its previous price.
The best thing about this bundle is that you get everything you need to play Xbox games. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max gives you access to the Xbox Game Pass app. The bundle also comes with a 30-day subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. So once you get that 30-day sub applied, all you need is a controller. As luck would have it this bundle comes with an Xbox Wireless Controller as well. The Sky Cipher Special Edition model to be exact.
If you don’t like the Sky Cipher color, Amazon is offering the bundle with the Astral Purple and Deep Pink colors as well. Xbox Game Pass is great because you get access to tons of games in Microsoft’s curated list, which is always adding new titles to play. Now since this is on a Fire TV Stick 4K Max, you’ll be playing Xbox games in the cloud through the cloud feature of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. So you will need an internet connection.
In addition to the games, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max gives you access to tons of other streaming apps. Including Disney Plus, Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV Plus, Prime Video, and many more. It’s definitely a killer deal you don’t want to pass up.
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