InsurTech/FinTech
No Hesitation: Insurtechs Plow Forward with 2021 Plans – Digital Insurance
“DigIn collected intel on handful of insurtechs making headway in the (nearly) post-COVID era. Included are Marble, HDVI, Thimble and Snapsheet. Marble is emerging from a closed-beta to open-beta environment with the public launch of its rewards app for insurance. HDVI Insurance, founded by Esurance co-founder Chuck Wallace, recently announced its engagement with Munich Re and Spinnaker insurance to will power up its telematics, data analysis, and camera technology, as well as expand to new segments and states. Thimble’s business around construction and handyman services experienced a lot of growth over the course of the pandemic anyway, and has been hiring a larger remote workforce as the pandemic has encouraged that kind of model. For more mature insurtechs like Snapsheet, the events of the past year rationalize the work it’s put into digitally transforming insurtech. With the addressable market on the rise, Snapsheet was advised that it would be a good time to raise additional capital to scale its business.”
Virtual Reality
Apple Aiming to Announce Mixed-Reality Headset With In-Person Event in 'Next Several Months' – MacRumors
“In a newsletter outlining the possible future of the company's WWDC conference taking place in an in-person format, Gurman says that Apple aims to release a mixed-reality headset, the first major new device since 2015, at an in-person sometime in the "next several months." Apple last held an in-person event in September of 2019. All events since have been held digitally due to the global health crisis. Sometime in the next several months, the company is poised to announce a mixed reality headset, its first major new device since 2015. If possible, Apple won't want to make such a critical announcement at an online event. It wants employees, the media, its partners and developers in the room.”
Blockchain
Sophia the Robot ‘Self Portrait’ NFT Fetches $688,000 at Auction – The Street
“A hand-painted "self-portrait" by the world-famous humanoid robot, Sophia, has sold at auction as a non-fungible token, or NFT, for more than $688,000. Titled "Sophia Instantiation," the digital work is a 12-second MP4 file showing the evolution of artist Andrea Bonaceto's portrait into Sophia's digital painting, and is accompanied by a physical artwork. Bonaceto is an artist and partner at blockchain investment firm Eterna Capital. The work shows Sophia "interpreting" a depiction of her own face, which was processed by the robot's neural networks, and then painting an interpretation of the image.”
Business
NASA’s Culture Chief Reveals How COVID-19 Altered the Agency – Fast Company
“On March 11, 2020, when the CDC officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, some 18,000 civil servants who make up the full-time staff of the NASA were evacuated from the organization’s 10 space and research centers and went into a mandatory telework arrangement. NASA’s contract workforce of nearly twice that number was also mandated to work remotely. Ninety percent of the organization’s workforce was reporting for duty from their couches, kitchen tables, or other makeshift workspaces, just like so many others. Figuring out how to collaborate and innovate during a global health crisis was challenging for everyone. But NASA was mere months away from launching Perseverance, the Mars 2020 rover, an endeavor nine years in the making. We now know that the mission successfully touched down on the Red Planet less than a month shy of the anniversary of the CDC’s pronouncement, but it wasn’t a given.” See how NASA’s resiliency planning and work environment flexibility persevered in this article.