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Shweta Taneja

Articles by Shweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon: Bots over beer

At a robotics co-working space in Mountain View, mechatronic geeks converge to hire, share, and show their robots

Alex Dantas, who used to be a professional ballet dancer, started the first robotics co-working space in Oakland eight years ago, to bring the mechatronic engineering community together. Since then, they’ve had over 80 startups as part of the co-working space who have collectively raised over $250 million. (circuitlaunch.com)

India News

Published on Apr 29, 2025 09:50 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon: Dating in the time of AI agents

As AI companions become real, will they change romance and human relationships forever? Will you subscribe to a digital partner?

After analysing 1 million ChatGPT interaction logs, a group of researchers at MIT Media Lab found in March that “sexual role-playing” was the second most prevalent use in AI queries following the category of ‘creative composition’ (REUTERS/ Representative photo)

India News

Published on Apr 13, 2025 12:21 PM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon: Archaeologists have a cool, magic wand

Archaeology is having a moment, thanks to technology like LiDAR, satellite mapping and artificial intelligence.

Cave paintings at the archeological site known as ‘Cueva de las manos’ (Cave of Hands) in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz, Argentina. (AFP File Photo)

World News

Updated on Mar 26, 2025 01:19 PM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon: All new macho, MMA-trained Zuckerberg is nerd kryptonite

Why Meta’s CEO and majority shareholder Mark Zuckerberg is revamping himself and his company to become more macho. And, what it means for the Silicon Valley.

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (AFP Photo)

Business

Updated on Mar 13, 2025 12:00 PM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Silicon Valley’s nondescript garages and iconic companies they birthed

San Jose , a city which was the centre of the Silicon Valley innovation in chips manufacturing before San Francisco’s software startups took over

Steve Jobs’ childhood house and garage where he and Steve Wozniak created the Apple computer in Los Altos, United States. (Getty Images)

India News

Published on Feb 22, 2025 09:00 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon | DeepSeek has democratised the AI field. What now?

DeepSeek shook the global AI markets and showed that everyone from your aunt to your country can create their own AI model. What happens now?

Technology

Published on Feb 09, 2025 08:00 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon | A mugshot of surveillance technology

From taking mugshots to creating virtual borders for rich countries, surveillance technology has come of age thanks to AI.

There is a huge privacy and data protection concern about these technologies.(Pixabay)

Technology

Published on Jan 26, 2025 10:54 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon | Content moderation just died. Is that a bad thing?

Zuckerberg put an end to corporate content moderation. Without it, can we survive the tsunami of deepfakes and echo chambers that is today’s social media?

Technology

Published on Jan 12, 2025 07:31 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

The most spectacular technologies you’ll see in 2025

Technology is rushing towards us and will change our worlds whether we like it or not. Here’s a glimpse of the most exciting technologies we will see in 2025

We’re standing at cusps of technology breakthroughs that’ll change our lives and societies forever and we will need to make sense of it.

Seeing Silicon: Cosplaying with fibre optics and servos

Fans are increasingly using techniques in 3D printing, animatronics and new materials to build elaborate cosplay homages

Though costuming and masquerade has been a thing in most civilisations, cosplaying in its modern sense started in 1970s

Seeing Silicon: Robo cops are here. Do you trust them?

Robots are already part of my and your life. What will you do when confronted by an autonomous security robot late at night?

Science

Published on Dec 02, 2024 10:49 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon | In the Valley, you’ve to ruck to network

Driven by algorithms, techies self-optimise their bodies, talking shop as they run, bike and ruck.

Rucking, the latest biohacking crazy on the streets, is something that came from the military, where it was doled out as a punishment(Pixabay)

Technology

Published on Nov 17, 2024 08:00 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Musk’s bold move in backing Trump paid off — and how

Elon Musk's influence surged after Trump’s election win, boosting Tesla shares and positioning Musk for significant power in U.S. governance.

In July, Elon Musk publicly supported Donald Trump, bringing with him at least $130 million in a pro-Trump campaign effort. (REUTERS)

India News

Updated on Nov 13, 2024 12:21 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja, San Francisco

Seeing Silicon: The prophesies of AGI

We’re being flooded with manifestos on how the future will look like once we achieve superintelligence in AI. Are the billionaires trying too hard?

For representational purposes only. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Business

Published on Nov 01, 2024 01:22 PM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon | How to fly a balloon into a hurricane

A startup wants to send 10,000 balloons into space to map hyperlocal weather through AI. And they’ve just raised $15 million to do it.

A weather balloon of WindBorne Systems(LinkedIn/Windborne Systems)

Technology

Published on Oct 20, 2024 08:00 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Stealth layoffs: In the Valley, you’re out of a job, but silently

Meet the era of stealth layoffs, where tech companies are letting employees go, without the fuss or the headlines.

If 2023 was the year of splashy layoffs, 2024 seems to be the year of stealth layoffs in tech companies.(Pexel)

Technology

Published on Oct 06, 2024 08:00 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

A quest of the rich for eternal life (and anti-ageing creams)

From gamification, and longevity startups to anti-death activism, the rich entrepreneurs of the world are investing billions in immortality.

Why are billionaires so interested in elongating life (versus many other health sciences startups that they could be investing in)?(Unsplash)

Technology

Published on Sep 22, 2024 08:00 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

MR Rangaswami: Meet the man who lobbies for the Indian diaspora

Rangaswami wants to increase Indian representation in the American Congress. And he runs a forum to do it.

MR Rangaswami, Founder, Indiaspora(File)

Opinion

Published on Sep 19, 2024 08:00 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon | The ones who found quarks

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory shows that modern science needs new technology, money and infrastructure

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory(SLAC/Stanford/Wikimedia Commons)

Opinion

Published on Aug 25, 2024 08:15 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon | Do cyborgs think of themselves as slaves?

Is our quest for intelligent, human-like, and AI-powered machines, are we cruel to the robots we create?

Honda's humanoid robot, ASIMO. (Picture shown is for illustrative purposes)

Technology

Published on Aug 11, 2024 08:00 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon | Concerns for society are high among AI researchers

At ICML 2024, scientists are divided between pushing the possibilities of machine learning and reflecting on how this technology affects society.

Technology

Published on Aug 04, 2024 08:30 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

How India’s first garage startup became a heavyweight in the tech industry

Co-founder Arjun Malhotra reminisces about starting HCL Technologies in the 1970s out of his grandmother’s spare room.

Analysis

Published on Jul 23, 2024 08:00 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon | The ultimate battle between dogs and cats for VC money

VCs prefer dog-related businesses but cat startups are fast catching up in the competitive pet startup industry in the US

The entertaining playoff between dog and cat startups reminded me of the 2001 movie ‘Cats & Dogs’ where both sides – the dogs and cats - use spying tactics to play up an intense rivalry. Who will win this war, I wondered? (ADOBE STOCK)

Technology

Published on Jul 07, 2024 07:30 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon | Going beyond the Indus

It started as a network for the Indian diaspora in Silicon Valley but The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) of today have global ambitions

Silicon Valley; specifically, the North First Street area of San Jose, looking southbound down Interstate 880 towards downtown San Jose.(Coolcaesar/Wikimedia Commons)

Technology

Published on Jun 23, 2024 08:30 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

A startup in Berkeley is decarbonising air to solve global warming

In Berkeley, a startup is building a carbon capture device to trap CO2 from the air. And their working material comes from Home Depot.

An absorption column at the Climeworks AG Mammoth carbon removal plant in Hellisheioi, Iceland, on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. Once fully operational, Mammoth will be capable of capturing up to 36,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year using a technique known as direct air capture (DAC). Photographer: Heida Helgadottir/Bloomberg(Bloomberg)

Technology

Published on Jun 09, 2024 10:30 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

OpenAI’s voice scandal sounds larger AI alarm

OpenAI CEO announced GPT-4o, a new AI model, resembling Scarlett Johansson's voice, sparking a dispute on AI's use of copyrighted material without consent.

Sky’s intonation and personality also sounded like the sultry AI voice in a film called Her, portrayed by actress Scarlett Johansson (REUTERS)

India News

Updated on May 27, 2024 06:48 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja, San Francisco

AI is way beyond our expectations, says Google co-founder Sergey Brin

From a surprise visit by the company’s co-founder to a hologramlike video chat product and an AR glass cameo, the best at Google I/O was delightful.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai speaks at a Google I/O event in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)(AP)

Opinion

Published on May 26, 2024 09:00 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon | California's new gold rush

In the posh Los Altos Hills at an AI symposium, founders from across the world gather with the latest AI products in hopes of getting funded. And some do.

Artificial Intelligence words are seen in this illustration taken in March.(REUTERS)

Technology

Published on May 12, 2024 08:00 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

Seeing Silicon | Cracking the case with eDNA

Move over camera traps, environmental DNA is a new technique to survey species and protect biodiversity.

Environmental DNA or eDNA is an approach where researchers collect environmental samples such as a scoopful of soil, a pail of water or a handful of air from an ecosystem

Technology

Published on Apr 28, 2024 08:30 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

How Elon Musk keeps ticking along

A visionary technologist and a ruthless businessman, Elon Musk is a legend that viral media can’t get enough of. And now he’s coming to India.

Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk (REUTERS)

India News

Updated on Apr 25, 2024 05:34 AM IST

ByShweta Taneja

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Shweta Taneja

At a robotics co-working space in Mountain View, mechatronic geeks converge to hire, share, and show their robots

As AI companions become real, will they change romance and human relationships forever? Will you subscribe to a digital partner?

Archaeology is having a moment, thanks to technology like LiDAR, satellite mapping and artificial intelligence.

Why Meta’s CEO and majority shareholder Mark Zuckerberg is revamping himself and his company to become more macho. And, what it means for the Silicon Valley.

San Jose , a city which was the centre of the Silicon Valley innovation in chips manufacturing before San Francisco’s software startups took over

DeepSeek shook the global AI markets and showed that everyone from your aunt to your country can create their own AI model. What happens now?

From taking mugshots to creating virtual borders for rich countries, surveillance technology has come of age thanks to AI.

Zuckerberg put an end to corporate content moderation. Without it, can we survive the tsunami of deepfakes and echo chambers that is today’s social media?

Technology is rushing towards us and will change our worlds whether we like it or not. Here’s a glimpse of the most exciting technologies we will see in 2025

Fans are increasingly using techniques in 3D printing, animatronics and new materials to build elaborate cosplay homages

Robots are already part of my and your life. What will you do when confronted by an autonomous security robot late at night?

Driven by algorithms, techies self-optimise their bodies, talking shop as they run, bike and ruck.

Elon Musk's influence surged after Trump’s election win, boosting Tesla shares and positioning Musk for significant power in U.S. governance.

We’re being flooded with manifestos on how the future will look like once we achieve superintelligence in AI. Are the billionaires trying too hard?

A startup wants to send 10,000 balloons into space to map hyperlocal weather through AI. And they’ve just raised $15 million to do it.

Meet the era of stealth layoffs, where tech companies are letting employees go, without the fuss or the headlines.

From gamification, and longevity startups to anti-death activism, the rich entrepreneurs of the world are investing billions in immortality.

Rangaswami wants to increase Indian representation in the American Congress. And he runs a forum to do it.

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory shows that modern science needs new technology, money and infrastructure

Is our quest for intelligent, human-like, and AI-powered machines, are we cruel to the robots we create?

At ICML 2024, scientists are divided between pushing the possibilities of machine learning and reflecting on how this technology affects society.

Co-founder Arjun Malhotra reminisces about starting HCL Technologies in the 1970s out of his grandmother’s spare room.

VCs prefer dog-related businesses but cat startups are fast catching up in the competitive pet startup industry in the US

It started as a network for the Indian diaspora in Silicon Valley but The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) of today have global ambitions

In Berkeley, a startup is building a carbon capture device to trap CO2 from the air. And their working material comes from Home Depot.

OpenAI CEO announced GPT-4o, a new AI model, resembling Scarlett Johansson's voice, sparking a dispute on AI's use of copyrighted material without consent.

From a surprise visit by the company’s co-founder to a hologramlike video chat product and an AR glass cameo, the best at Google I/O was delightful.

In the posh Los Altos Hills at an AI symposium, founders from across the world gather with the latest AI products in hopes of getting funded. And some do.

Move over camera traps, environmental DNA is a new technique to survey species and protect biodiversity.

A visionary technologist and a ruthless businessman, Elon Musk is a legend that viral media can’t get enough of. And now he’s coming to India.

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