The RAM shortage could last years

According to Nikkei Asia, even as suppliers ramp up DRAM production, manufacturers are only expected to meet 60 percent of demand by the end of 2027. SK Group chairman has even said that shortages could last until 2030. The world’s largest memory makers – Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron – are all working to add […]

Google investing $5M into LatAM DPI projects through Co-Develop

Google investing M into LatAM DPI projects through Co-Develop

Google has pledged $5 million in support for Latin American governments adopting digital public infrastructure (DPI), including digital IDs and payment systems. The tech giant cited the example of IdLAC, a digital identity broker that connects digital identity providers with public or private services that need to verify users’ identities.

The announcement was made during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. The funding will go through Co-Develop, a nonprofit fund focused on investing in DPI projects in low- and middle-income countries, and is part of a border cooperation with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

First initiated four years ago, IdLAC allows citizens across Latin America and the Caribbean to conduct digital public service transactions in another country using their national digital identity. The service acts as a broker for interoperable digital ID exchange under the Mercosur Digital Citizen initiative, also known as the LAC Digital Citizen or “Regional Digital Citizen.”

“This technology is designed to be easily reused, saving nations from building expensive, custom software from scratch,” says Google. “A citizen from Brazil, for instance, can use their credentials in Colombia or Argentina to seamlessly manage entry requirements, verify vaccine coverage, or fulfill medical prescriptions while traveling.”

The system was developed by 12 countries in the region through the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) with support from the World Bank, Co-Develop, the Organization of American States (OAS), and Red GEALC, a network of e-government authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean.

IdLAC was launched in October 2025 and piloted for immigration processes for foreign visitors to Chile using Chile’s digital identity system ClaveÚnica (Unique Key).

“It is estimated that next year most Latin American countries will be able to integrate into this regional digital hub, which could make the region one of the most digitally integrated in the world,” José Inostroza, head of the Chilean Ministry of Finance’s Digital Government Secretariat, said at a presentation of the pilot in November.

The following month, Uruguay and Brazil announced that cross-border digital identification through IdLAC will be available for foreign trade procedures. Brazilian citizens who have obtained gold-level digital identification through the national platform Gov.br will be able to access services on Uruguay’s Foreign Trade Single Window (Ventanilla Única de Comercio Exterior – VUCE).

The software was developed by Uruguayian company Pixys. Among the countries included in development are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

As part of its partnership with the IDB, Google also plans to offer free online AI training for government officials in the region. In addition, the tech firm has released a report on the impact of AI on Latin American economies.

Co-Develop joined the Digital Public Goods Alliance in January to collaborate on the push for safe and inclusive DPI around the world.

Brazil a regional leader

Brazil’s early adoption of IdLAC for foreign trade and Google’s use of its ID system as an example above reflect the progress the country has made on digital government, which the World Bank highlights in a recent blog post.

A diagnostic analysis performed at the request of the country’s government by the World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) initiative in 2019 helped shape a broad vision for how digital identity could help the country deliver services online. The result was a leap from 20 million to 170 million registered digital ID users.

The challenges faced by the government in implementing the National Digital Government Strategy (ENGD) are analyzed in an article published in the journal Frontiers in Computer Science. Bruno Baranda Cardoso addresses the gaps in digital maturity, risk culture and role of public technology companies that played a role in the development of Brazil’s digital government system.

Kanye West Concert in Poland Will Be Canceled, Venue Says

A Polish stadium said on Friday that it will cancel a concert by US rapper Kanye West days after he postponed a show in France…

FTC pushes ad agencies into dropping brand safety rules

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a group of eight states have announced a proposed settlement with big ad agencies that will prevent them from working together to avoid certain platforms like X based on their political viewpoints. In a complaint, the FTC argues that ad agencies violated antitrust rules by agreeing to a common […]

Kazakhstan adopts palm‑vein biometrics for banking in national deployment

Palm biometrics is getting a big boost in Central Asia as one of the world’s largest countries sees major implementation of one of the most secure biometric modalities.

Kazakhstan’s National Bank and the Agency for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARDFM) have approved new rules governing how financial institutions must verify customers using state‑held biometric data.

The framework formalizes biometric login and identity checks across banking apps, remote onboarding and high‑risk financial transactions, and introduces palm‑vein authentication as a regulated modality alongside facial recognition.

The new system has banks authenticating users by comparing live biometric samples against reference templates stored in the National Bank’s Identification Data Exchange Center, according to El.kz.

Customer biometrics will be collected through secure video channels or certified biometric scanning devices and transmitted to the unified state system for verification, with a match threshold of 95 percent required for successful authentication.

All attempts will be logged and retained for at least five years, both by the state system and by financial institutions after a customer relationship ends.

Palm‑print and palm‑vein authentication are being added for the first time, enabling banks to verify users based on the vascular patterns and surface lines of the hand. The rules prohibit the use of a customer’s smartphone for palm‑based verification, requiring specialized hardware or secure terminals instead.

Users will have three attempts to authenticate, according to reporting by The Caspian Post. If palm verification fails, banks must fall back to face biometrics. The regulations also include alternative pathways for people with disabilities, such as video‑based identification or specialized assistive technologies.

Biometric verification will now be mandatory for remote account opening along with initial registration in digital banking services, and for issuing electronic digital signatures. The same applies for updating customer data, granting loans above a regulatory threshold and certain in‑branch or microfinance transactions.

Microfinance organizations will also be permitted to use biometrics for higher‑value microloans. The move follows earlier restrictions introduced in March that banned online loan issuance without biometric verification.

Alongside the regulatory rollout, palm‑vein payment systems are gaining traction in Kazakhstan’s retail and service sectors. These systems link a user’s biometric signature directly to a bank account, enabling payments without cards, phones or cash.

Kazakhstan’s adoption of multimodal, state-anchored biometrics places it among a growing group of countries using centralized identity databases to secure financial services, with palm‑vein technology now joining face recognition as a regulated authentication method.

Kazakhstani startup Biometric.Vision struck a deal to supply biometric ID services including liveness detention for customers of the National Bank of Kazakhstan in 2024. The company was one of several, along with Alaqan and Oqylyq.kz.

Kazakhstan-based startup Alaqan demonstrated a palm vein biometrics scanner which uses infrared sensors in 2024. Alaqan developed products for payments that were deployed to coffee shops and schools. More than 140 schools across Kazakhstan were using the system for meal tracking and other applications, and the company planned to roll out its technology in Georgia and Türkiye.

Palm-based biometrics is gaining ground in healthcare, payments and blockchain, and even getting standardized for automated forensics. A palm biometric identity verification system has received venture funding to tackle the threat of deepfakes and AI-generated identities.

According to recent research from Handwave, U.S. consumers are increasingly open to palm biometrics. Handwave CEO Janis Stirna talked through the possibilities of the palm on the Biometric Update Podcast, going through plans to leave a bigger handprint on the U.S. market.

The Cybertruck of e-bikes is here to replace your car

It was at about 36 miles per hour that I decided the Infinite Machine Olto is not a bike. Sure, it has pedals, you don’t need a license to ride it in most (but not all!) places in the US, and the folks at Infinite Machine assured me it is allowed in the bike lane. […]