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"Talespin's virtual human platform uses VR and AI to teach employees soft skills | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/talespins-virtual-human-platform-uses-vr-and-ai-to-teach-employees-soft-skills"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Talespin’s virtual human platform uses VR and AI to teach employees soft skills Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Talespin's 'virtual human,' Barry.
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Training employees how to perform specific tasks isn’t difficult, but building their soft skills — their interactions with management, fellow employees, and customers — can be more challenging, particularly if there aren’t people around to practice with. Virtual reality training company Talespin announced today that it is leveraging AI to tackle that challenge, using a new “virtual human platform” to create realistic simulations for employee training purposes.
Unlike traditional employee training, which might consist of passively watching a video or lightly interacting with collections of canned multiple choice questions, Talespin’s system has a trainee interact with a virtual human powered by AI, speech recognition, and natural language processing. Because the interactions use VR headsets and controllers, the hardware can track a trainee’s gaze, body movement, and facial expressions during the session.
Talespin’s virtual character is able to converse realistically, guiding trainees through branching narratives using natural mannerisms and believable speech. Visualized as an emotive person rather than a list of steps to memorize, the AI’s adaptive interactive training can teach interpersonal skills including proper communication, conflict resolution, and negotiation.
In a basic training scenario, the virtual human might do something as simple as demonstrating the correct way to act in a situation — effectively, “follow what I’m doing.” To that end, Talespin previously created a VR simulation for Farmers Insurance where a trainee learns to act like a claims adjuster inspecting water damage.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! But AI enables the simulation to go broader and deeper. A demo of the new platform places the trainee in the role of an HR employee who must terminate a fellow employee — a challenge for almost any untrained person. Rather than just working through a rote set of procedures, Talespin presents an interactive virtual human, complete with the heavy emotions and stress normally found in that situation. In addition to following a branched narrative, the scenario teaches users how to avoid common wrongful termination issues.
Businesses interested in training using the virtual human platform can find more information at Talespin’s site.
The company’s immersive and extended reality solutions are custom-built for enterprise customers, with prices determined on a per-project basis.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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4,714 | 2,019 |
"Sviper raises $2.8 million for mobile game studio | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/sviper-raises-2-8-million-for-mobile-game-studio"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Sviper raises $2.8 million for mobile game studio Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Sviper's team Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Sviper is a new mobile gaming studio in Hamburg, Germany, and it has raised $2.8 million in funding from Modern Times Group.
To date, the company has raised $4.3 million. In addition to MTG, all existing shareholders participated in this funding round, including Sviper’s seed investor Global Founders Capital. The funds will be used to further expand the business and to grow the studio.
Ole Schaper, Mark Buchholz, and Michael Reichert started Sviper in 2016. Their latest game is Super Spell Heroes, a real-time 1-vs.-1 puzzle duel game. The title has caught on, and because of that, MTG has seized the opportunity to invest.
“Super Spell Heroes is a thrilling game that has convinced us of the potential of Sviper and its whole team. We are looking forward to upcoming projects and a mutually promising cooperation,” said Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of games and esports at MTG, in a statement.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Above: Super Spell Heroes MTG, the Swedish digital entertainment group, has been actively investing in games and esports. Investing in the fast-developing European mobile gaming business is one of the next crucial steps.
“We are very proud to work with such a competent and experienced international partner as MTG and welcome them to our pool of investors,” said Schaper, in a statement. “Their expertise in the digital world is an inspiration and a great opportunity for us to grow as a part of the MTG family.” Sviper has 10 employees.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more.
VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"
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4,715 | 2,019 |
"Source Photonics Closes New Funding for Next-Generation Technologies | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/source-photonics-closes-new-funding-for-next-generation-technologies"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Press Release Source Photonics Closes New Funding for Next-Generation Technologies Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn More than 100 million dollars in equity has been raised from new financial and strategic investors that will be used for growth investments WEST HILLS, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–February 28, 2019– Source Photonics , a leading global provider of optical transceivers, today announced it recently closed more than $100M in equity to support its growing data center and 5G business.
The funding will be used to further increase the scale of Source Photonics’ operations, as LightCounting reported that the sales of optical components and modules to Cloud Companies grew by 63% in 2016 and 64% in 2017. The growth rate will average roughly 20% per year through 2023. Higher growth rates in 2020-2022 will be driven by first volume deployments of 400GbE. This is a result of the rise of 5G and the cloud.
Planned developments include the creation of a new laser fab, upgrades to existing production facilities and increased investment in the research and development of next-generation technologies, ensuring Source Photonics continues its position as a leading innovator.
“Exciting new applications such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality, and cloud services are growing in popularity every day,” said Doug Wright, CEO at Source Photonics. “These applications all depend on the next standard of connectivity, and 5G depends on the backing of a world-class optical network. We are extremely proud that our investors have shown this confidence in us and are confident that the investment will support our ongoing work to enable the next era of connectivity.” Upgrades to Source Photonics’ fab in Taiwan have already been completed and production operations have begun for a new fab in Jintan, China, using the latest funding. The funding will also be used towards technology investments for advanced coating technologies to enable next-generation lasers and transceivers for the fast-growing 5G and data center markets.
Source Photonics’ latest range of cutting-edge technology will be exhibited at OFC 2019 at booth 4021. Products on display will include its new 400G-LR8 and DR4 QSFP-DD solutions, which are the latest addition to its PAM4-based optical transceivers portfolio. Other products which will be showcased at OFC, in San Diego, on March 4-7, 2019, include several QSFP28 solutions such as the 100G-DR/FR, 100G-SR4, 100G CWDM4, and 100G-LR4. The company will also demonstrate some of its solutions for the 5G market such as the 50G-ER QSFP28 and 25G LAN DWM SFP28.
About Source Photonics : Source Photonics is a leading provider of innovative and reliable optical communications technology that enables communications and connectivity in data centers, metro, and access networks. We invent next-generation solutions to provide customers with enabling technologies to support the rapidly increasing demands of cloud infrastructure, wireless communications, routing, and fiber-to-the-premises worldwide. Source Photonics is headquartered in West Hills, California, with manufacturing facilities, R&D, and sales offices worldwide. For more information about Source Photonics, please visit www.sourcephotonics.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190228005944/en/ Jasmin Basal Marketing Communications Phone: 818-885-4202 Email: [email protected] VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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4,716 | 2,019 |
"Plarium's Raid: Shadow Legends takes collectible RPGs into mobile | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/plariums-raid-shadow-legends-takes-collectible-rpgs-into-mobile"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Plarium’s Raid: Shadow Legends takes collectible RPGs into mobile Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Plarium has made its name creating mobile games like Terminator Genisys: Future War , and now it is continuing to diversify with the launch of the collectible role-playing game Raid: Shadow Legends.
The turn-based collection RPG game is available today on iOS and Android. The fantasy title has more than 300 collectible champions across 16 factions. It’s a massive title, but then again it comes from a massive company. Tel Aviv-based Plarium has more than 1,200 employees and 250 million downloads to date.
Plarium said the game features unique individual character models, deep tactics, unparalleled skill customization, and clan-driven cooperative play.
Raid is set in the realm of Teleria, tainted by a shadow cast by the Dark Lord Siroth. Players assume the role of an ancient Telerian warrior resurrected by an immortal guardian to defeat Siroth and restore peace to the realm. On their journey, players will accumulate Shards, vessels containing the souls of past warriors, to assemble an army and battle across castles, deserts, dungeons, and ancient temples guarded by foes and potential allies. Progression allows players to unravel the many layers behind the threat assailing Teleria.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Above: Raid: Shadow Legends Raid features an extensive story-driven single player (PvE) campaign with 12 campaign levels, each including seven stages and three difficulty levels. The narrative is written by Writers’ Guild of America-nominated Paul C.R. Monk from Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate and features a fully-voiced cast that includes veterans from Mass Effect and The Witcher 3.
The campaign is interconnected with the multiplayer (PvP) component to determine the ranking system, offering one of the most unified game experiences in the collection RPG genre. Each of the 300 collectible characters features unique motion-capture animations produced exclusively in Plarium’s in-house studio to create distinctive character traits and personas.
“Raid is the ultimate combination of fantasy RPG and battle collection on mobile, giving players an unprecedented depth of play, endless customization of a highly diverse cast of Champions, and thousands of hours of gameplay. They’ll battle tons of challenging bosses and other players on their quest, in a world with seemingly endless content,” says Nick Day, creative director at Plarium, in a statement. “With player choice at the core of Raid’s experience, we took every liberty to establish a unique setting in which to explore, experiment, and win.” Players can enjoy unparalleled RPG skill customization and explore thousands of combinations of skills, artifacts, and mastery paths to give each Champion millions of possible builds.
Above: Raid: Shadow Legends gameplay Raid: Shadow Legends is now available for users around the globe in Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazilian),Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, and Turkish.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more.
VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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4,717 | 2,019 |
"Optic Gaming partners with Champion Athleticwear as esports and brands get hitched | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/optic-gaming-partners-with-champion-athleticwear-as-esports-and-brands-get-hitched"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Optic Gaming partners with Champion Athleticwear as esports and brands get hitched Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Optic Gaming has teamed up with Champion Athleticwear.
Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Optic Gaming has won a lot of esports competitions over the years, and its reward is a new partnership with athletic apparel brand Champion Athleticwear.
The Frisco, Texas-based Optic Gaming has entered into a collaborative partnership with Champion Athleticwear, makers of authentic athletic apparel since 1919. Such deals will help esports become a $1.7 billion business by 2021, according to market researcher Newzoo.
OpTic and Champion will work together on a number of projects to bring co-branded apparel to the esport giant’s fan community, the partnership represents one of the apparel company’s deepest investments into esports products, starting with a year-long campaign to create co-branded clothing in collaboration between Champion and OpTic’s creative teams.
“The awesome Optic community, the Green Wall, is all about style and confidence, and just like their name says, Champion comes from a legacy of winners dating back a hundred years. It’s a perfect fit,” says Joe Hills, head of brand strategy for Optic Gaming, in a statement. “Working this closely with Champion is a huge deal for us, because it means that the Optic community is helping to push mainstream awareness of esports in popular culture, and it’s a show of faith for Champion, who want to co-brand their apparel to a community of passionate and loyal fans from all over the world.” Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Above: Optic Gaming and Champion.
I’ve watched the Optic Gaming team play in Call of Duty tournaments over the years, and they’re consistently competitive.
Starting March 1st, Champion Athleticwear and OpTic will initiate their year-long collaborative campaign with a series of specialized co-branded designs for T-shirts, hoodies, long sleeves and jerseys which will be available Champion’s retail stores in Los Angeles and New York.
The items hit Optic’s online storefront, store.opticgaming.gg, on March 2. In Q2 2019, Champion and OpTic will embark on an unprecedented retail activation for an esports enterprise, with new collaborative designs being released in Q3. More details on Q2 and Q3 activations will be revealed at a later date.
“Since the 1919 founding of Champion Athleticwear, we have always been looking to the future of sports apparel. This rich tradition continues with this collaboration with our dynamic and winning partners at OpTic Gaming,” said Matt Waterman, general manager of Champion, in a statement. “Alongside the creative team at OpTic, we’ll be creating clothing that appeals to all esports and gaming enthusiasts, and a style that brings the same energy that OpTic brings to every match.” Optic Gaming was founded in 2006 by Hector Rodriguez. It is now owned by Neil Leibman, owner of the Texas Rangers.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more.
VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
All rights reserved.
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4,718 | 2,019 |
"Microsoft releases new Windows 10 preview with Emoji 12.0 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/microsoft-releases-new-windows-10-preview-with-emoji-12-0"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Microsoft releases new Windows 10 preview with Emoji 12.0 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
Microsoft today released a new Windows 10 preview with Emoji 12.0. The update bumps Windows 10 from build 18841 (made available to testers on February 20) to build 18845. These builds are from the 20H1 branch, which represents the Windows 10 update that will arrive in the first half of next year.
Update on March 1 : Microsoft released build 18348 from the 19H1 with Emoji 12.0 and largely the same bug fixes.
Windows 10 is being developed as a service , meaning it receives new features on a regular basis. Microsoft has released six major updates so far: November Update , Anniversary Update , Creators Update , Fall Creators Update , April 2018 Update , and October 2018 Update.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Emoji 12.0 was finalized earlier this month.
With the set of emojis to be included in Emoji 12.0 now decided by Unicode, Microsoft has added it to Windows 10. When you press WIN+(period) or WIN+(semicolon), all of these emojis will show up when you search for their corresponding keywords (otter, sloth, waffle, ballet shoes, and so on).
This build is for Windows Insiders who have chosen the Skip Ahead option, which only a small subset of Insiders can opt into. Normally, that would have meant 19H2 builds, since 19H1 hasn’t been released yet, but Microsoft has chosen to really skip ahead this time around. That said, Microsoft isn’t adding many new features yet, and those paying attention will note the changes and fixes in this build are very similar to build 18342 from the 19H1 branch.
Bug fixes and known issues This 20H1 build includes the following general bug fixes and improvements: Fixed an issue which would cause the Bluetooth Hands-Free audio driver to hang.
Fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders not being able to access the Quests section of the Feedback Hub.
Fixed an issue resulting in a decrease in Start menu reliability in the previous flight.
Fixed an issue resulting in Microsoft Edge crashing on launch for some Insiders in the previous flight.
Small tweaks to make the help icon in File Explorer look a bit better when dark theme is enabled.
Fixed an issue where in certain languages if you pressed WIN+V before having opted into clipboard history the clipboard history UI would be truncated.
Fixed an issue with the new Adlam keyboard resulting in not being able to type certain common words.
Fixed an issue where, when typing Vietnamese, the touch keyboard was auto-capitalizing every word in certain apps.
Fixed an issue that could result in unexpected flickering if you used pen or touch in certain win32 apps to launch a second instance of the app when in tablet mode.
Fixed an issue that could result in DWM crashing after enabling high contrast.
Fixed an issue where, when friendly dates were enabled in File Explorer, in certain languages (such as Japanese and Chinese) Insiders would see the wrong day name displayed.
Fixed an issue resulting in an unexpected and non-functional Family Safety icon in the notification area of the taskbar.
Fixed an issue that could result in the taskbar search box text becoming black on a black background.
Fixed an issue where Start menu would crash when using Narrator to navigate pinned folders in Start.
This build has nine known issues: Launching games that use anti-cheat software may trigger a bugcheck (GSOD).
Some night light reliability bugs remain.
For display calibration scenarios, monitors may be missing in the built-in Color Management application. As a work around, use the Settings app to select color profile instead, under the Display Settings page.
Some Realtek SD card readers are not functioning properly.
In Windows Sandbox, if you try to navigate to the Narrator settings, Settings app crashes.
Mouse pointer color might be incorrectly switched to white after signing out and signing back in.
Creative X-Fi sound cards are not functioning properly.
If you install any of the recent builds from the Skip Ahead and switch to either the Fast ring or the Slow ring, optional content such as enabling developer mode will fail. You will have to remain in the Fast ring to add/install/enable optional content. This is because optional content will only install on builds approved for specific rings.
As always, don’t install this on your production machine.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
All rights reserved.
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4,719 | 2,019 |
"HackerRank debuts tool for developer job candidate analysis | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/hackerrank-debuts-tool-for-developer-job-candidate-analysis"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Exclusive HackerRank debuts tool for developer job candidate analysis Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn HackerRank for Work , a service that helps businesses send assessment tests to developer job candidates, is today launching the Test Health Dashboard, a machine learning-enhanced tool that helps organizations identify ways to improve their developer recruitment and testing processes.
The Test Health Dashboard will allow business managers and recruiters to evaluate both the performance of job candidates and the strength of the coding assessment given to them.
Tests can be made to fit the skills a company needs and evaluated based on skills associated with job titles such as data scientists, software engineers, and system administrator.
Developers looking to build or test their skills have already taken more than 8 million tests or challenges, providing hundreds of millions of data points.
Above: HackerRank for Work Test Health Dashboard Test Health Dashboard will supply a comparison to the historical performance of candidates at an individual company, as well as at other organizations.
“Basically, we’ll be able to benchmark all of our customers’ performance against each other. So you can actually see how you’re performing relative to your cohort,” HackerRank director of customer success Blane Shields told VentureBeat in a phone interview.
Metrics like test participation levels and score distribution are taken into account as part of the review process in the Test Health Dashboard. Candidate feedback is also baked into the process for businesses interested in finding out how they’re perceived by developers.
Poor test participation, for example, could indicate need for improvement in a company’s recruiting process or the need for a more relevant developer test.
Data shared in the dashboard may offer comparisons between organizations of varying sizes, but it will focus on fundamental metrics surrounding sound testing practices, HackerRank VP of data science Sofus Macskássy told VentureBeat in a phone interview.
“Different companies, based on where they are, might have a different quality of candidates that come to them, but the score distribution should look healthy. You still want to be able to filter out the good versus bad candidates for you, and that’s going to be true regardless of the size of the company and the quality of the developers that come through your door,” he said.
The Test Health Dashboard launch follows the release of the Tech Talent Matrix.
Another AI-powered tool from HackerRank, it lets companies assess their tests for developers but does not provide feedback on how to improve a test or how to create assessments for specific job titles and duties.
HackerRank isn’t the only startup interested in using artificial intelligence to evaluate the developers’ performance. Andela, a company that connects top African programmers with fast-growing U.S. startups, told VentureBeat earlier this month that it plans to use $100 million it recently raised to make AI-powered tools to assess candidates and match them with companies.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
Discover our Briefings.
VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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4,720 | 2,019 |
"Google's endpoint verification now lets Google Cloud admins approve or block PCs | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/googles-endpoint-verification-now-lets-g-suite-gcp-and-cloud-identity-admins-approve-or-block-pcs"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Google’s endpoint verification now lets Google Cloud admins approve or block PCs Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
Endpoint verification — a Google Cloud tool that enables network managers to see screen lock, disk encryption, OS version, and other data about devices accessing corporate information — is becoming a bit more versatile starting today. Now admins can designate endpoint machines running Chrome as “approved” or “blocked,” and use those tags to configure access levels within Access Context Manager. Moreover, they can decide whether additional review is needed for newly registered devices before they’re tagged as approved.
In a blog post , Google notes that it is bringing desktop access controls in line with what’s available for mobile devices through Google Cloud’s mobile device management suite.
Here’s what’s new, specifically: Those with the right credentials can view the entire inventory of PCs accessing sensitive data and approve or block access for specific devices based on “any criteria” — for example, lost laptops, or PCs belonging to newly promoted users who need access to an expanded set of internal apps.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! To get started, you first need to register devices with endpoint encryption by turning on endpoint sync in the Admin Console and installing the endpoint verification extension (in Chrome browser and Chrome OS) or native helper (on Mac and Windows devices). Once that’s done, head to Admin Console > Device Management > Setup > Device Approvals, which is where you’ll see a checkbox to set an access policy (by default, devices will be approved and can be later blocked) along with a field for the email that’ll receive approval request notifications.
After a device has been registered via endpoint verification, you’ll be able to switch on access restriction in the Access Context Manager. To approve or remove access, launch Admin console > Device Management > Device Approvals, which will pull up a list of clients in a pending approval state.
All future “approve” and “block” actions will be logged as audit events in the Admin Console for posterity, Google says, and further access policies can be configured in Access Context Manager.
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"Google's .dev domain officially opens for business through any registrar | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/googles-dev-domain-officially-opens-for-business-through-any-registrar"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Google’s .dev domain officially opens for business through any registrar Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Google .dev registrations now open for business Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Google is officially launching its .
dev top-level domain (TLD) into general availability from today.
The internet giant opened up early-access registrations to .dev domains just last week , though prices originally were astronomical — the inaugural phase was more about letting companies snap up their desired developer-focused domains. Plus, they could only be registered through Google’s registry system.
On February 19, the first day of launch, users could expect to pay more than $10,000 to register a .dev domain, a figure that dropped to around $3,000 the following day and then $200 the day after. Now anyone can buy their preferred .dev domain for as little as $12, while the official launch means that you are no longer restricted to Google’s own service — you can apply through all the usual registrars, such as GoDaddy.
Above: Buy a .dev domain from anywhere As an aside here, Google said that it has “big plans” for the .dev domain, part of which involves giving out a .dev domain to everyone who applies to its annual developer-focused I/O conference, which is being held in May this year.
“We’ll be moving more of our existing projects and launching some exciting things on .dev in the months to come,” noted Adam Seligman, Google’s VP of developer relations, in a blog post.
Many moons ago, developers used .dev domains internally to test their code, but then ICANN opened the floodgates to a whole new host of TLDs. Google successfully bid for the .dev domain in 2015, which led to numerous developers being locked out of their internal testing environments.
Fast forward a few years, and anyone from Slack and GitHub to indie developer teams can now get their very own .dev domain.
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"Contrast Security raises $65 million for agent-based cybersecurity | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/contrast-security-raises-65-million-for-agent-based-cybersecurity"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Contrast Security raises $65 million for agent-based cybersecurity Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Contrast Security Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
Hackers attack personal computers every 39 seconds. That’s according to a Clark School study at the University of Maryland, which found that malicious campaigns against networks and accounts affect one in three Americans annually. Corporations have it nearly as bad: 64 percent faced web-based breaches recently. And the damage adds up.
Juniper Research reports that cybercrime will cost businesses a total of over $2 trillion in 2019.
Contrast Security hopes to reverse this trend. The cybersecurity startup today announced that it has raised $65 million in an oversubscribed series D financing round led by Warburg Pincus, with participation from Battery Ventures, General Catalyst, M12 (Microsoft’s venture fund), AXA Venture Partners, and Acero Capital. That’s more than double the venture capital it raised in its series C ($30 million) two years ago and quadruple its September 2016 series B ($16 million). The new round brings Contrast’s total raised to $122 million.
The cash infusion will fuel international expansion and “significant growth” in the customer support team, said CEO Alan Naumann, who founded Los Altos-based Contrast in 2014 with Arshan Dabirsiaghi. The business saw annual recurring revenue, net upsell, and the number of $1 million or greater transactions climb 500 percent, over 135 percent, and more than 120 percent year-over-year, respectively, in the fiscal year 2018.
“[M]any companies still are trying to rely on 15-year-old legacy security tools for their modern software stacks. This approach leaves them with restricted software development capabilities or living with substantial enterprise risk of a data breach,” Naumann explained. “With strong support from enterprise customers, key industry analysts validating our visionary approach, and extraordinary backing from top-tier investors, we anticipate becoming the essential foundation for modern software security with accurate and continuous software protection.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Contrast Security employs what it calls “binary instrumentation” — agents embedded within app servers, runtime and user libraries, controllers, and data layers across web browsers, mobile clients, containers, frameworks, and more — that proactively and continuously detect and mitigate vulnerabilities. This approach, Contrast claims, obviates the need for regular scans, network configuration changes, and audits, all while enabling protection in cloud environments like Azure and Amazon Web Services and of apps built with Java, .NET, Node.js, Ruby, and Python.
Contrast’s platform consists of two eponymous product pillars: Contrast Assess and Contrast Protect. The former — which natively integrates with a range of ticketing systems and CI/CD tools — monitors code and reports from inside apps and third-party libraries. Contrast Protect, meanwhile, performs attack detection (logged in detail) and responds with a seven-step approach that includes virtual patching.
Contrast says that last year alone it helped uncover over 1,900,000 vulnerabilities and protect against over 52,000,000 confirmed attacks across “billions” of transactions.
“Alan and the team at Contrast Security have built a formidable platform with a next-generation approach to application security,” Warburg Pincus’ Brian Chang said. “Our market research shows that companies around the globe are investing in digital transformation and software development initiatives. High-speed DevOps software and rapid cloud adoption create an enormous security risk if legacy tools are used. These mega-trends create a uniquely large opportunity for Contrast Security.” Contrast counts Nielsen, Liberty Mutual Insurance, and Beeline among its customers and says it brought on 520 new companies in recent months. In addition to its enterprise-tier products, Contrast offers a free solution — Community Edition — designed to help small teams building Java apps protect against common security exploits.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Cloud Elements raises $25 million to expand its API integration platform | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/cloud-elements-raises-25-million-to-expand-its-api-integration-platform"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Cloud Elements raises $25 million to expand its API integration platform Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
If you’re building an app that integrates with a number of popular services, wouldn’t you rather write one API than a few dozen? Cloud Elements , a Denver-based startup that is solving this problem, today announced it has raised $25 million in series C funding to expand its API integration platform.
The round was led by Mercato Partners, with participation from existing investors Access Ventures, American Express Ventures, Grotech Ventures, Harbert Growth Partners, Rally Ventures, and Upslope Ventures. The seven-year-old startup has raised $46.2 million, to date.
Cloud Elements’ platform provides developers and businesses with prebuilt integration of over 170 popular services, spanning fintech, ecommerce, storage, and other industries. The company also offers a product called Element Builder to let third parties add more capabilities to its prebuilt integrations.
In addition, Cloud Elements helps its users and customers with a range of needs — authentication, discovery, search, workflows, error handling, and maintenance. The comprehensive offering “eliminates the need for software teams to build their own integration stack, while enabling them to deliver more unified and expansive experiences to their customers,” the company said.
Cloud Elements cofounder and CEO Mark Geene said a developer could write code for each integration, but the process is clumsy, costly, and time-intensive. “APIs are a great way to make software work together, but developers now have to deal with hundreds or thousands of APIs to automate basic business processes. Point-to-point integration can’t scale to address this challenge,” he told VentureBeat in an email.
A spokesperson told VentureBeat that the company has amassed over 150 customers, including such big names as SAP, IBM, American Express, Western Union, and Xerox, as well as over 10,000 users.
APIs have become a big business, enabling companies of all sizes to quickly add more capabilities to their platforms and explore additional revenue channels. For instance, Google offers Maps for free to users, but it also maintains pay-as-you-go APIs to let companies like Uber and India’s Ola leverage its maps and navigation service.
Cloud Elements is optimistic that the proliferation of the “ API economy” will only help it grow its business in the future. The company plans to use the fresh capital to build new features for its platform and expand its sales and marketing operations in the U.S. and Europe.
A growing number of companies exist only to work around APIs. Twilio, which enables third parties to integrate calls and SMS functionality into their own apps, raised more than $250 million before going public on the NYSE in 2016.
The same year, Google acquired API management platform Apigee for $625 million. MuleSoft, which went public on the NYSE in 2015 , offers ProgrammableWeb, a popular API directory that mostly serves as a database. And RapidAPI, an online marketplace where developers can discover application programming interfaces (APIs), raised $9 million in a series A round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz last year.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"Bitbucket makes continuous delivery feature Pipes broadly available | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/bitbucket-makes-pipes-its-continuous-delivery-feature-broadly-available"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Bitbucket makes continuous delivery feature Pipes broadly available Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
DevOps can be a bear sometimes. A decent portion of the work involves setting up continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, which help automate app building, testing, and deployment — essentially acting as bridges between operations and development teams. That might sound simple enough, but connecting tools and writing integrations for countless services is an error-prone, research-intensive process that involves lots of debugging and maintenance.
The folks at Atlassian’s Bitbucket Cloud today put forth their solution to this problem: Bitbucket Pipes. It’s a cloud-based tool that streamlines the process of automating CI/CD workflows in a “plug-and-play” fashion, and one that integrates with popular environments like Google Cloud, Microsoft, Slack, Amazon Web Services, and more.
Pipes’ launch comes two years after Bitbucket took the wraps off Pipelines , a continuous delivery feature that lets developers build, test, and deploy code without leaving Bitbucket. And it follows the debut of Deployments , a component within Bitbucket that automatically tracks changes, records the date those changes were made, and reveals how far the changes were pushed into a production environment.
“Whether you’re creating a simple deploy pipeline to a hosting service like AWS, utilizing a multi-cloud deployment strategy, or automating a sophisticated pipeline that involves security scanning, monitoring, and artifact management, Bitbucket Pipes makes it easy to build and automate a CI/CD pipeline that meets your exact needs,” said Atlassian head of product Harpreet Singh.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Here’s how it works: After you’ve pulled up a new or existing repository, you’ll see the pipelines view in Bitbucket’s online .yml editor. From that point, adding them to a given codebase is as simple as choosing a pipeline (or pipelines), entering the variables required by the pipelines to run, and copying and pasting the code. Perhaps best of all, there’s no need to update or reconfigure pipelines over time — they’re maintained by the author.
At launch, you’ll find pipelines for Opsgenie, Sonatype, Snyk, Rollout, Sonarsource, Rollbar, LaunchDarkly, Pagerduty, JFrog, Bugsnag, Datadog, WhiteSource, NPM, and others. They’re live for all three pricing tiers — Free, Standard, and Premium — with more preconfigured pipelines on the way, Singh said.
As of 2018, Bitbucket had over 6 million developers and 1 million teams on its platform.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"ATX Seed Ventures Raises $32M Second Fund for Investments in Early-Stage Technology Companies | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/atx-seed-ventures-raises-32m-second-fund-for-investments-in-early-stage-technology-companies"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Press Release ATX Seed Ventures Raises $32M Second Fund for Investments in Early-Stage Technology Companies Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Leading Austin early-stage venture firm manages more than $60 million in assets Focuses on Texas and South-Central U.S. startup ecosystem and its underserved capital landscape Network of founders and investors provides support system to spur growth and later-stage investments for portfolio companies AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)–February 28, 2019– ATX Seed Ventures , the early-stage venture capital firm specializing in Texas and the broader South-Central U.S., announced today that it closed its second fund. The fund will continue leading early-stage investments in new high-growth technology companies and make follow-on investments for current portfolio companies. ATX Seed Ventures has more than $60 million in assets under management, and has invested in 26 companies since its founding in 2014.
“The word is out on technology investment opportunities in our booming South-Central region, and we are tapping into this power with our team of institutional investors and technology founders,” said Chris Shonk, managing partner at ATX Seed Ventures. “We bring a rare and coveted combination to the Texas startup ecosystem, and it is resonating with exceptional entrepreneurs and sophisticated investors.” ATX Seed Ventures is led by Shonk, Partner Brad Bentz, and Partner and Chief Operating Officer Danielle Allen. Together they bring more than 41 years of experience in investment management to the firm. With their extensive backgrounds and startup expertise, the team is continuing its proven strategy of hands-on, value-added investing.
“We are focused on being the premier institutional-grade fund for early-stage venture capital, bringing alignment, transparency and increased opportunity to an investment class that had lost its draw for both entrepreneurs and limited partners,” added Shonk. “Our portfolio companies are winning big and scaling right here in the South-Central U.S., not just on the East or West Coast.” ATX Seed Ventures leverages a diverse Limited Partners base, investors, institutions and strategic partners, and many LPs are entrepreneurs who have founded and exited companies, creating a network of experts who actively mentor and invest in the firms’ portfolio. The firm cultivates profitable and long-term relationships with founders, and has backed several multiple times. As a result, the firm sees the best deal flow in the region, which is notable as businesses are starting, expanding and relocating to Texas in record numbers.
“Texas is considerably underserved for early-stage capital, and we have become the go-to for serial-backed entrepreneurs in this realm, as we hone in on the market opportunity, timing, the compelling nature of the product and the caliber of the startup team,” said Danielle Allen, partner and COO at ATX Seed Ventures. “Fund two is positioned in the right geography, at the right stage and at the right time, and we have the track record for making successful early-stage investments. We uniquely bring institutional process and rigor to early-stage investing, and run a concentrated portfolio to reserve significant capital to feed the growth of our portfolio companies.” In 2018 Texas brought in $2.18B in venture capital, and Austin startups alone raised $1.33 billion in total venture capital, which is a staggering 25 percent year-over-year increase 1.
ATX Seed Ventures has been a major early-stage investor in some of the fastest growing technology companies in the state, including Alert Media, Bractlet, SourceDay, GoCo, LIFT Aircraft, Pensa Systems, QuotaPath, and Slingshot Aerospace.
The firm closed its inaugural fund in 2014, partnering with 16 businesses. This first fund has four exits to date, including three to public companies (FantasySalesTeam to Microsoft; RideScout to Daimler; and Unbill to Q2 Holdings). The firm also partners with other venture capital firms and strategic industry capital sources to bring the best investments and partners to its portfolio companies.
Additional Thoughts on ATX Seed Ventures’ Second Fund “Austin is a globally-recognized innovation hub as evidenced by its population growth, startup density, premier technology companies’ investment in the city and corporate campuses, and the high quality of life, which are key to attracting and retaining talent. Metros like Dallas, Houston and San Antonio also score high marks, and their startup ecosystems are rapidly maturing,” said Bentz. “ATX Seed Ventures is uniquely positioned to help the most promising early-stage companies launch and scale. We accelerate the growth of our companies by introducing them to key talent and customers, and guiding them towards successful later-stage financing rounds and exits.” “I have worked with many VCs over my career. ATX Seed Ventures is one of the very best at jumping in, actually assisting, and being part of the team. They understand early stage – the ups and downs, the twists and turns. The ATX Seed Ventures team also goes out of their way to create a community of entrepreneurs and foster an exchange of ideas and the comparing of battle scars. These are the guys you want next to you in the trenches,” said Larry Warnock, CEO of Olono.
“ATX Seed Ventures has been instrumental to Bractlet’s growth. They bring more than capital to the table. They were key in making introductions to early customers, providing connections to valuable advisors, and leveraging their network whenever we needed help. They are a fund that works with founders to solve problems, not create them. They have been key in our success to date,” said Alec Manfre, CEO of Bractlet.
“As a serial entrepreneur I have learned that picking the right investor is an extremely important ingredient to creating a successful company. The team at ATX Seed Ventures have been helpful in all aspects of both companies I have worked with them on. They are always ready to jump in, make introductions, and provide sound guidance when rough waters emerge,” said Celite Milbrandt, CEO of monoDrive.
“The team at ATX Seed Ventures believes in our vision at Slingshot Aerospace, and has been a tremendous support in providing the right resources and network to help transform our company into an unrivalled success. ATX Seed Ventures’ backing has empowered Slingshot to become a leader in AI-driven space-tech solutions across multiple domains – closing the gap between data analysis and critical decision making,” said David Godwin, CEO of Slingshot Aerospace.
About ATX Seed Ventures ATX Seed Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm specializing in Texas and the South-Central U.S. The firm’s seed and Series A investments focus on software-as-a-service, IoT, e-commerce, AI, frontier commercial technologies, and mobile applications. ATX Seed Ventures was created by expert entrepreneurs to serve emerging entrepreneurs. The firm was founded in 2014 and is based in Austin, Texas. Visit www.atxseedventures.com , and follow them at @ATXSeedVentures , Facebook and LinkedIn.
1 PwC/CB Insights Q4 2018 MoneyTree Report View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190228005170/en/ Gina Manassero (512) 553-2387 [email protected] VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
Discover our Briefings.
VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
All rights reserved.
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"Ape Out is the video game palate cleanser you're looking for | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/ape-out-is-the-video-game-palette-cleanser-youre-looking-for"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Ape Out is the video game palate cleanser you’re looking for Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
I was listening to The Exploding Barrel Podcast this week , which GamesBeat reviews editor Mike Minotti hosts, when they started talking about how the news around gaming is often a buzzkill. Between lay offs , crunch , and 8Chan , controversy has tainted a lot of this hobby.
It also feels like gaming no longer has any lulls. We’ve had nonstop huge games since last summer. Just throughout February, publishers launched Apex Legends, Metro Exodus, Anthem, Far Cry: New Dawn, and plenty of others.
And the thing about the bummer news and the constant onslaught of releases is that I don’t want a break from games. Sure, I wish I had more time to read and workout, but I’ve already cut out television and it takes me four days to watch a movie now.
So for me, what I need more than anything right now is a game that can wipe everything else from my mind. And by some miracle, publisher Devolver Digital and developers Gabe Cuzzillo, Bennett Foddy, and Matt Boch released Ape Out today.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Ape Out is a good video game Ape Out is exactly the kind of game that I need right now. It has you playing as a gorilla trying to escape from various scenarios. The top-down action features some heavily stylized art and an intense jazz score with dynamic percussion that changes depending on how you play.
It’s fun, simple, and light. It puts you immediately into the action where you are crushing guards and throwing them into each other. The abstract aesthetic enables the developers to drench the levels in blood. These mercenaries are waiting for you to pop them until they burst into a red, wet puddle. It is some deeply satisfying violence.
Ape Out only uses two buttons. You can grab or you can smash. It is a smash-and-grab simulator. And as someone who isn’t sleeping much, it’s great to play something that rewards action over thinking. In most situations, I have a better chance of surviving if I play decisively. And that’s about all I’m capable of these days.
And then I’m pretty confident in playing games from Devolver Digital and Bennett Foddy (I’m unfamiliar with Cuzzillo and Boch). Devolver hasn’t laid off 800 people after a record fiscal quarter.
Foddy doesn’t have a culture of mistreating women.
And they’re not going to post about “lolis” and “alien prostitutes” on 8Chan.
Ape Out is the kind of game where I can feel good about turning off my brain to play it. That’s what makes it so refreshing right now. And it’s why I’m going to go buy the Switch version even though I’ve already played the PC version for a couple hours.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
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VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Anthem developer BioWare wants fans to know it's listening | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/anthem-developer-bioware-wants-fans-to-know-its-listening"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Anthem developer BioWare wants fans to know it’s listening Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn "I like money." Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
Anthem is a live-service video game, so that means it launched with some problems. And while many people are enjoying their time with the cooperative sci-fi shooter, its issues are dominating the conversation surrounding it. That put developer BioWare on its heels coming out of launch. But as the studio transitions Anthem from release to an ongoing platform, BioWare is revealing how it plans to attack updates and community concerns head on.
In a post on Reddit from late Wednesday night, BioWare announced plans to update how it handles loot in Anthem. This patch is going out today or tomorrow, and the studio wants to make sure that players feel like they are making progress while grinding.
One of the more frustrating things about the loot is that players can earn weapon upgrades called inscriptions that are specific to a gun but don’t actually improve the performance of that item. BioWare is addressing this by ensuring that an assault rifle inscription will never feature a buff for a pistol, for example. Instead, that inscription will either improve your assault rifle or the performance of your javelin suit as a whole.
BioWare is also preventing the game from dropping common weapons for players who are higher than level 30. And it is reducing the number of materials you need to craft one of Anthem’s high-level “Masterworks” firearms.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! BioWare is trying to remain transparent with fans I won’t say that a live-service game lives or dies on how well a developer communicates with its fans. It’s not that easy, and I honestly have no idea what it takes to keep a live-service game growing. But keeping an open dialogue with your community seems important, and BioWare is embracing this so far.
In its Reddit post, the studio didn’t just list its changes. Instead, it begins the post by summarizing the player-provided complaints.
“First off, thank you for all the feedback about loot drops,” reads the post. “This is what we have heard.” The post then provides four bullet points that explain how Anthem is broken. This moment feels like BioWare is taking ownership over the fate of this game. It’s not shying away from problems. It’s no longer back on its heels.
Anthem probably won’t get Andromeda’d It has turned into something of a meme that EA might do to this game what it did to Mass Effect: Andromeda.
That means that people believe EA could cancel ongoing support for Anthem the same way it ended plans for Andromeda’s expansions.
But those two games are very different as is DLC and live-service support. For Andromeda, BioWare Montreal was going to have to get back to work on the game after years working on the original release. For Anthem, EA prepped BioWare Austin to specifically work on constant updates separate from BioWare Edmonton.
And BioWare Austin is the same team that launched Star Wars: The Old Republic. That massively multiplayer online game had its share of problems at launch, and the BioWare Austin team went to work and turned it into something that many people regard quite highly. That experience should help Anthem, and it’s one reason for fans of this game to have some optimism.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
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"Voicea's Eva meeting assistant gets 20 SaaS and productivity app integrations and voice commands | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/voiceas-eva-meeting-assistant-gets-20-saas-and-productivity-app-integrations-and-voice-commands"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Exclusive Voicea’s Eva meeting assistant gets 20 SaaS and productivity app integrations and voice commands Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
Meeting assistant Eva from Voicea can now work with more than 20 SaaS and productivity apps like Jira, Trello, Asana, and Zapier to share things like tasks and notes during a meeting. A suite of voice commands were also introduced today, for the first time making Eva more of an AI-powered assistant during voice and video calls.
Eva records and transcribes meetings, then labels transcripts with action items and comments participants share via the Voicea website during or after meetings. Prior to today, Eva voice commands could only assign tasks and highlight a portion of a meeting transcript.
New Eva voice commands can do things like create reminders, highlight a portion of a meeting, schedule a follow-up meeting, or share your contact info with meeting participants.
Eva can also do things like solve math equations, share live stock prices, or send a reminder email to invite meeting participants to join a call.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Say “OK Eva, go off the record,” and meeting transcript, audio, and video will no longer be recorded. In the future, say “OK Eva, read me my highlights from the day” when using the app to get a rundown of important moments from a meeting.
Voice commands were introduced to make Eva more than a meeting transcript helper and more like a workplace assistant, Voicea CEO Omar Tawakol told VentureBeat in a phone interview.
“We’re starting to do things after the meetings, but at some point we think this is going to be the way to build UI in the enterprise in general, which is speak to an assistant and the assistant will update the UI as opposed to you having to know the nuances of each different UI,” he said.
Eva is available today in iOS and Android smartphone apps and the Voicea website. Slack and Microsoft Teams bots from Voicea can also do things like share meeting highlights and assignments. The assistant can be integrated into your calendar to record voice or video calls with Blue Jeans, Zoom, Skype for Business, and other services.
Just as Alexa is able to capably handle top use cases like play music or set timers, Eva wants to become a central part of people’s work lives by starting with meeting transcripts and top use cases like task assignments.
Alexa for Business from AWS does bring Alexa into the workplace and works with a number of conference call solutions but does not yet record or transcribe meetings.
“You start out with [Alexa] basically play a song, set a timer, but then you start connecting it to your devices and light switches, and it starts to become like an integration hub. That’s definitely what we’re expanding into here also,” Tawakol said.
However, meetings aren’t exactly the same as when you’re at home yelling at an Echo speaker. When you’re in a meeting with multiple people and there are people talking over each other, saying a voice command isn’t always appropriate. To address this, Voicea is working on features sensitive to the social context of meetings. Today, triggers can be preset on the Voicea app or website to highlight and call attention anytime certain words are used in a meeting.
“There are some cases where you’re just in the heat of a conversation and it just doesn’t make sense to give a voice command and interrupt people, so you needed this more silent mode option,” he said.
To make Eva more helpful, in the future the ability to type commands to Eva during a meeting instead of using your voice, as well as person-specific task assignments, is part of the assistant’s near-future roadmap, Tawakol said.
Formerly Voicera, Voicea has raised more than $20 million in investment from a number of major enterprise companies also in the conversational AI space, including Microsoft Ventures, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Cisco Ventures, and Salesforce Ventures.
With the general rise in the abilities of conversational AI systems to translate speech into text, a number of companies with transcription and meeting recording services are also on the market, including Fireflies.ai , Otter.ai , Dialpad , and Verbit.ai, which raised $23 million last month.
Microsoft introduced automated meeting transcripts for 365 customers last year.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"UiPath is considering launching its own conversational AI platform | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/uipath-is-considering-launching-its-own-conversational-ai-platform"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Exclusive UiPath is considering launching its own conversational AI platform Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
Robotic process automation (RPA) company UiPath may debut its own platform for creating AI agents or bots both for customer-facing services and to carry out backend processes, chief product officer Param Kahlon told VentureBeat in a recent interview in San Francisco.
UiPath, a company that raised $225 million last fall at a valuation of $3 billion , added Microsoft Bot Framework functionality as well as an integration with Google’s Enterprise Dialogflow last summer.
Microsoft Bot Framework and Dialogflow bots are available alongside hundreds of industry-specific automated workflows and machine learning integrations in the UiPath Marketplace. UiPath is currently evaluating customer feedback and its own assessments about bots currently available on its platform before making a choice.
“Initially our point of view was that we don’t want to go create our own sort of conversational experience, because there’s enough that exist out there. Some of our customers have said that, ‘Hey we don’t have our own and we want to get an end-to-end solution from you,’ so we may decide to build some things that can own the end-to-end experience as well,” Kahlon said.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! The creation of a reliable conversational bot platform can be a serious undertaking, one that many companies — from Salesforce to Oracle to a number of startups — have already launched. However, UiPath sees a conversational AI offering as essential in order to connect traditional enterprise apps with new enterprise apps that prioritize conversational communication, Kahlon said.
“As a new generation of apps is coming and is more conversationally focused, what we are focused on is helping to bridge the connection between chatbots and legacy [enterprise] apps,” he said. “What we can do is have our robot talk to the chatbot.” “We may more likely just take a dependency on something like Microsoft’s Bot Framework or Google’s Dialogflow and create that and offer that as an interesting part of our solution as opposed to creating something from scratch. That’s more likely what we’ll do,” he said.
Kahlon expects 2019 to be a big year for robotic process automation. Following UiPath’s funding round last fall, competitor Automation Anywhere raised $300 million , and earlier this week Kryon brought in $40 million.
“A lot of money is being invested by venture capitalists in this industry, and there’s large expectations for growth, and also there’s much more awareness of RPA in 2019 than we’ve seen before,” he said. “2019 is going to be more about how do we scale, you know, how do we take the two processes that we put and now turn it on to 20 or maybe 200 processes?” To help organizations manage a multitude of robots, UiPath will look to enhance its Orchestrator tool.
“We’re making significant investments in improving the monitoring aspects of the robots, that you can get reports, alerts, and subscribe to different kinds of alerts and deal with the exceptions on a regular basis,” he said.
Also this year: UiPath will begin an initiative to train a million students at universities and schools on how to automate workplace tasks like invoice processing or the handling of conversations with customers. The initiative was first announced at a ceremony in Bangalore, India earlier this year.
UiPath’s customer base has grown from less than 500 at the start of 2018 to 2,600 customers in 2019. Customers include the United States Army, Autodesk, and Equifax, as well as many companies in India, Japan, and other parts of the world.
Unlike some tools that help people deploy artificial intelligence, UiPath isn’t made for data scientists but for office workers with no IT background to automate their own work processes.
“We believe that in the context of knowledge workers and white collar employees, 20 to 50 percent of work that they do on their computers is repetitive sort of work that can easily be automated, and we’re going to give the tools to these employees to be able to automate the work,” he said.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Tesla starts selling $35,000 Model 3, shifts sales exclusively online | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/tesla-starts-selling-35000-model-3-shifts-sales-exclusively-online"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Tesla starts selling $35,000 Model 3, shifts sales exclusively online Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
Tesla today began selling the standard Model 3 at a base price of $35,000 in the U.S. and Canada. The model has 220 miles of range, a top speed of 130 miles per hour (mph), and a 0-60mph acceleration of 5.6 seconds. An enhanced version of the Model 3 — the Model 3 Standard Range Plus — starts at $37,000 and offers 240 miles of range, a top speed of 140mph, and 0-60mph acceleration of 5.3 seconds, in addition to “most” premium features, like a tinted glass roof and heated side mirror.
Tesla also announced that it’s shifting sales worldwide to online-only. The move, it says, played a critical role in driving down vehicle prices — 6 percent lower, on average.
Some savings will come from “[a] reduction in force on the retail side,” CEO Elon Musk admitted in a conference call with reporters. But he expects that Tesla will hire additional service technicians to meet sales demand.
“You can now buy a Tesla in North America via your phone in about one minute, and that capability will soon be extended worldwide,” Tesla wrote in a blog post.
“Over the next few months, we will be winding down many of our stores, with a small number of stores in high-traffic locations remaining as galleries, showcases, and Tesla information centers.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! The new Model 3s will be available in Europe and China in “three to six months,” according to Musk.
Tesla is making it easier to try out its cars, too. Potential buyers can return a car within seven days or 1,000 miles for a full refund. Additionally, the company’s rolling out firmware upgrades to existing models — upgrades that will increase the range of the Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive Model 3 to 325 miles and the top speed of Model 3 Performance to 162 mph and add an average of 5 percent peak power to all Model 3 cars.
Lastly, it’s adjusting pricing across its lineup. The Model X now costs $88,000, while the Model S costs $79,000. And Tesla is offering two Autopilot packages for the Model S, Model X, and Model 3 in most regions: Autopilot, which starts at $3,000 ($4,000 if purchased as an upgrade) and enables Autosteer and Traffic Aware Cruise Control, and the $5,000 ($7,000 if purchased as an upgrade) Full Self-Driving Capability, which adds Summon, Autopark, Navigate on Autopilot, and “other features” coming later this year.
Today’s news follows rumors Tesla would reveal Autopilot Hardware 3.0, which it claims is the “world’s most advanced computer for autonomous driving.” Musk previously said that this version is able to handle 2,000 frames per second, compared with the current-gen Autopilot 2.0 computer’s 200 frames per second, and that it will be offered as an upgrade to current Autopilot 2.0 owners.
It’s been a tumultuous few months for the automaker — and for Musk, personally.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asked a federal judge to hold Musk in contempt of court for violating the terms of a $40 million settlement reached last year. Regulators contend that in a tweet mid-February, he overstated the number of cars Tesla plans to deliver in 2019. (He pegged the number at 500,000, corrected in a subsequent tweet to: “annualized production rate at the end of 2019 probably around 500k, ie 10k cars/week [sic].”) Musk has until March 11 to respond.
In October 2018, Tesla announced it would reduce its full-time staff by 7 percent — cuts Musk blamed on the high price points of the company’s cars.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Spectre Camera's AI brings long-exposure photography to iPhones | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/spectre-cameras-ai-brings-long-exposure-photography-to-iphones"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Spectre Camera’s AI brings long-exposure photography to iPhones Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
Long-exposure photographs are tricky to capture even when large-lensed cameras are held fairly still — smartphone cameras compound the issues with tiny lenses and high susceptibility to shaky hands. Thankfully, the developers of a new iPhone app called Spectre Camera are using AI to solve that problem for artistic long-exposure shots, as well as to enable object removal from conventional stills.
Best known for its two-year-old camera app Halide, which enabled users to save RAW format images and access advanced exposure settings, developer Chroma Noir uses AI to do three key things in Spectre: make people disappear from backgrounds, capture light trails, and blur motions such as the movement of waterfalls. In each case, you simply set a multi-second exposure time and hold the phone steady; the phone captures tons of images and uses computations to either remove or add the elements you select.
While that summary is simple, there’s sophisticated AI behind it. By looking at all the images it captured, then using AI to align them — an extra layer of image stabilization — and finding differences, it can remove cars from a bridge, delete people from a series of Torii gates in Kyoto, reveal the light trails of cars on a street, and show soft blurs in running water. Depending on the type of shutter you choose, the results can be saved as still images, live photos, or videos.
Long-exposure recording adds a new capability to iOS’s bag of tricks. Apple’s own Camera app supports “live,” still, panoramic, and portrait photography, as well as regular speed, time-lapse, and slow-motion videography.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Spectre Camera will regularly sell for $3.99, but is currently being offered for $1.99 during its iOS App Store launch window. It’s currently an iPhone-specific app, supporting all iPhones from the iPhone 6 up, though the AI stabilization feature requires the A11 Bionic or A12 Bionic chips found in iPhone 8 and later devices.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
All rights reserved.
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"Socure raises $30 million to combat identity fraud with machine learning | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/socure-raises-30-million-to-combat-identity-fraud-with-machine-learning"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Exclusive Socure raises $30 million to combat identity fraud with machine learning Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
Identity fraud : It’s more common than you think. In 2017, 6.64 percent of consumers — or about 16.7 million people — fell victim to it, according to a report by research firm Javelin Strategy. (That’s up 1 million from 2016.) And in 2018 alone, over 2.6 billion records were stolen or exposed in more than 1,100 data breaches around the world.
That’s enough to give anyone the willies, but New York-based Socure hopes to put minds at ease with its cloud-based identity verification and fraud prevention solution. To accelerate its market expansion and grow its sales, marketing, research, and customer support teams, the startup has completed a $30 million series C funding round led by Scale Venture Partners, with participation from contributors Commerce Ventures, Flint Capital, Two Sigma Ventures, Synchrony, along with new investor Sorenson Capital.
It brings Socure’s total venture capital raised to $57.5 million, and comes after a year in which revenue grew more than 300 percent year-over-year. CEO Tom Thimot says that Socure’s clients include six of the top 10 U.S. card issuers and a top five online retailer, among over 100 other brokers, payment providers, and other companies.
“This funding will enable us to grow our footprint in strategic new U.S. market sectors that are in need of accurate, automated identity verification technology, including health care and the public sector,” Thimot said, adding that Socure’s workforce more than doubled this year and moved into a larger office near New York City’s Penn Station. “We will also invest in bringing on the talent required to continue innovating and expanding our machine learning-based predictive analytics platform.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Above: Socure’s cloud dashboard.
Socure’s digital ID verification suite — dubbed Aida — leverages a wealth of machine learning and predictive analytics techniques to authenticate people from “thousands” of offline and online email, phone, address, social media, and IP data points from over 300 sources in real time. It tabulates a “trust score” for people in less than a second, and provides a detailed explanation as to how it came to its conclusions.
Aida is the brainchild of cofounder Sunil Madhu, who was struck after immigrating from Europe to the U.S. by how hard it was to get approved for things without an established credit history.
“Security and fraud prevention continue to hold back companies in the financial services and other industries, primarily because traditional approaches to digital identity verification are unreliable, slow, and create unnecessary friction for users,” said Scale Venture Partners’ Rory O’Driscoll, who will joining Socure’s board of directors as part of the series C. “Socure has developed a proven, mature, and market-leading technology platform that enables organizations to accept more new customers without manual reviews while dramatically reducing fraud.” The latest version of Socure features a modular design, and includes new anti-money laundering capabilities — along with an optional document verification component that can validate the authenticity of physical IDs — through a single API. That makes it ideal for businesses, like lenders, ecommerce and retailers, and banks, that deal with potentially risky clients or “thin-file” clients, says Thimot.
Socure claims that on average, customers see reductions in fraud rate and manual review costs by 80 percent and 90 percent, respectively, and a decrease in ID authentication failures involving millennials by as much as 40 percent.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
Discover our Briefings.
The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Microsoft combines AI and humans to boost cloud security with Azure Sentinel and Threat Experts | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/microsoft-combines-ai-and-humans-to-boost-cloud-security-with-azure-sentinel-and-threat-experts"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Microsoft combines AI and humans to boost cloud security with Azure Sentinel and Threat Experts Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Azure Sentinel Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
With a growing number of high-profile data breaches emerging across all industries, companies are scrambling to shore up their defenses. However, some reports indicate anticipate a cybersecurity workforce shortfall of more than 3 million people by 2021.
Against that backdrop, artificial intelligence (AI) could prove pivotal in helping firms of all sizes protect themselves from outside threats.
Microsoft is today rolling out a couple of new cloud-based cybersecurity tools to help security teams by “reducing the noise” and “time-consuming tasks and complexity” involved in constantly monitoring for cyberattacks, Ann Johnson, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for cybersecurity, wrote in a blog post.
The first of these products is Microsoft Azure Sentinel , which is touted as the first native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tool built by a major cloud provider.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Monitoring For the uninitiated, SIEM gives companies real-time insights into all activities across their internal systems, providing monitoring and alerts for potential threats. But with the growth of cloud computing and the increasing sophistication of cyberattacks, Microsoft argues that traditional SIEM tools are simply not up to the task. With Azure Sentinel, Microsoft wants its customers to know that it has their backs.
“Too many enterprises still rely on traditional Security Information and Event Management tools that are unable to keep pace with the needs of defenders, volume of data, or the agility of adversaries,” Johnson added. “The cloud enables a new class of intelligent security technologies that reduce complexity and integrate with the platforms and productivity tools you depend on.” Azure Sentinel is about offering companies automated protection and reducing “alert fatigue” by cutting down on false alarms. It enables users to connect data from all of their various sources — across devices, servers, applications, and users — and works in any on-premises or cloud environment.
“Because it’s built on Azure, you can take advantage of nearly limitless cloud speed and scale and invest your time in security and not servers,” Johnson continued.
Above: Azure Sentinel According to Johnson, Microsoft worked closely with a number of its Azure customers to build Sentinel “from the ground up.” At its core, it’s about helping security operations teams focus on more complex security issues, rather than getting bogged down chasing every alert, many of which are false flags generated by legitimate events.
“Early adopters are finding that Azure Sentinel reduces threat-hunting from hours to seconds,” Johnson noted.
The human touch While Azure Sentinel opens in preview today through the Azure portal, Microsoft is also announcing a second new security offering it calls Threat Experts. For this service, Microsoft is offering its own in-house security experts as part of Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) — its unified enterprise security service for preventative, post-breach, and automated investigations.
In a nutshell, Threat Experts will serve as an extension to companies’ own in-house security personnel, providing additional manpower to “proactively hunt” through security data to identify intrusions and other advanced attacks.
“Our approach to security is not only about applying the cloud and AI to your scale challenges, but also making the security operations experts who defend our cloud available to you,” added Johnson.
As part of this offering, users will see an “Ask a Threat Expert” button that lets security teams submit questions directly through the Windows Defender ATP console. This service is available now as a public preview through the settings in Windows Defender ATP.
At its last earnings, Microsoft reported Azure revenue growth of 76 percent, and some analysts predict that Azure will grow 72 percent in 2019. It’s estimated that this will represent roughly 10 percent of Microsoft’s total business. But as Microsoft goes all-in on the cloud, it is faced with the task of convincing new — and existing — customers to use Azure over competitors such as Amazon’s AWS, which is currently the market leader. Central to that mission is security.
If Microsoft can convince companies that their data is protected, it stands a far greater of chance of winning in the long-term.
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"Google lays out framework for autonomous errand-running robots | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/google-lays-out-framework-for-autonomous-machines-capable-of-navigating-long-distances"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Google lays out framework for autonomous errand-running robots Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Robots don’t plan ahead as well as humans, but they’re becoming better at it. That’s the gist of a trio of academic papers Google’s robotics research division highlighted in a blog post this afternoon. Taken together, the authors say, they lay the groundwork for robots capable of navigating long distances by themselves.
“In the United States alone, there are three million people with a mobility impairment that prevents them from ever leaving their homes,” senior research scientist Aleksandra Faust and senior robotics software engineer Anthony Francis wrote. “[Machines could] improve the independence of people with limited mobility, for example, by bringing them groceries, medicine, and packages.” How? In part by using reinforcement learning (RL), an AI training technique that employs rewards to drive agents toward goals. Faust, Francis, and colleagues combined RL with long-range planning to produce planner agents that can traverse short distances (up to 15 meters) safely, without colliding into moving obstacles. They tapped AutoRL, a tool that automates the search for RL rewards and neural network architectures, to train those agents in a simulated environment. They next used the trained agents to build roadmaps, or graphs comprising nodes (locations) and edges that connect to the nodes only if said agents can traverse between them reliably.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! It’s easier said than done; as the researchers point out, training agents with traditional RL approaches poses lots of challenges. It requires spending time iterating and hand-tuning rewards and making poorly informed decisions about AI architectures, not to mention mitigating “catastrophic forgetting,” a phenomenon in which AI systems abruptly forget previously learned information upon learning new information.
AutoRL attempts to solve for this in two phases: reward search and neural network architecture search. During the first stage, it trains agents concurrently over several generations, each with slightly different reward functions. At the end of the phase, the reward that leads the agent to its destination most often is selected. The neural network architecture search phase is a repetition of the first phase, essentially, but using the selected reward to tune the network and optimizing for the cumulative reward.
Above: Automating reinforcement learning with reward and neural network architecture search.
The process isn’t particularly efficient — AutoRL training over ten generations of 100 agents requires five billion samples, or 32 years’ worth of training. But importantly, it’s automated. The models don’t experience catastrophic forgetting, and the resulting policies are “higher quality” compared to prior art (up to 26 percent better in navigation tasks). They’re even robust enough to guide robots through unstructured environments — i.e., environments they’ve never seen before.
The policies AutoRL produces are great for local navigation, but what about long-range navigation? That’s where probabilistic roadmaps come in. They’re a subcategory of sampling-based planners (which approximate robot motions) that sample robot poses and connect them with “feasible transitions,” creating roadmaps tuned to the unique abilities and geometry of a robot. Combined with hand-tuned RL-based, AutoRL-tuned local planners, they can be used to train robots once locally and subsequently adapted to different environments.
“First, for each robot, we train a local planner policy in a generic simulated training environment,” Faust and Francis explained. “Next, we build a PRM with respect to that policy, called a PRM-RL, over a floor plan for the deployment environment. The same floor plan can be used for any robot we wish to deploy in the building in a one time per robot+environment setup.” The newest iteration of PRM-RL takes things a step further by replacing the hand-tuned models with AutoRL-trained local planners, which improves long-range navigation. Additionally, it adds simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) maps as a source for building the aforementioned roadmaps.
To evaluate PRM-RL, researchers at Google built a roadmap using floor maps of offices up to 200 times larger than the training environments, and accepted edges with at least 90 percent success over 20 trials. Compared to other methods over distances of 100 meters, PRM-RL had 2 to 3 times the rate of success over baseline. And in real-world tests with multiple robots and real building sites, the machines were “very robust” — except near cluttered areas off the edge of the map.
“We can achieve this by development of easy-to-adapt robotic autonomy, including methods that can be deployed in new environments using information that is already available,” Faust and Francis wrote. “This is done by automating the learning of basic, short-range navigation behaviors with AutoRL and using these learned policies in conjunction with SLAM maps to build roadmaps … The result is a policy that once trained can be used across different environments and can produce a roadmap custom-tailored to the particular robot.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Former Facebook and Paypal executives announce financial compliance startup Beam, secure $9 million | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/former-facebook-and-paypal-executives-announce-financial-compliance-startup-beam-secure-9-million"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Former Facebook and Paypal executives announce financial compliance startup Beam, secure $9 million Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
A year ago, two payments industry veterans began wondering if something could be done to tackle the growing instances of money laundering, human trafficking, terrorist financing, and other criminal abuses. Today, they believe they have arrived at a solution.
Ben Duranske , a former chief compliance officer of Facebook Payments, and Andreas Bayer , who handled compliance engineering for Xoom and Paypal, have announced their new startup — called Beam — that will use machine learning to help banks, broker-dealers, cryptocurrency companies, and other regulated financial groups meet their compliance obligations. Duranske serves as Beam’s CEO, while Bayer has taken the CTO role.
Beam said it has raised $9 million in seed, series A, and venture debt to fund its operations. Canaan led the seed round, with participation from Plug and Play. Greycroft Partners led the series A round, with participation from Broadhaven, Conversion Capital, Plug and Play, and Slow Ventures; and Silicon Valley Bank delivered the $2 million debt facility.
At the center of Beam’s platform is an API-based SaaS software that can parse hundreds of factors that go into millions of financial transactions. The platform offers customers analytical tools that allow them to report, monitor, and identify potential vectors of financial crimes.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Money laundering and other financial crimes affect companies of all sizes. Just last year, we learned that crooks had found a way to sell fake books with nonsensical text on Amazon; similarly, many were using stolen credit cards to purchase in-game currency on sleeper hit title Fortnite , which they would then sell to other players at a discount.
“The platform economy, where people pay for goods and services via an intermediary, is especially vulnerable to financial crime. We’re proud of our success combating money laundering, human trafficking, terrorist financing, and other criminal abuses of the financial system,” said Duranske in a prepared statement.
A Beam spokesperson told VentureBeat that Patreon, a subscription payments platform used by over 3 million content creators , has already signed up as a customer. The startup is now working with Independent Financial Partners, a broker-dealer, to court several unspecified banks, the spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.
Beams says most of its potential customers today have large teams of compliance analysts using archaic analytical tools that bulk up the cost to “seven figures.” “Beam breaks the mold with a ‘compliance as a service’ (CaaS) model that significantly reduces both cost and implementation time while also dramatically improving results,” the company said.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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4,736 | 2,019 |
"Ding, dong, the Dash is dead | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/ding-dong-the-dash-is-dead"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Ding, dong, the Dash is dead Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Amazon Tide Dash Button Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
It’s been said before that for all their intelligence — enabling you to play music, control smart home devices, and receive alerts when someone breaks into your home — Amazon’s Echo is essentially a Dash button with speakers.
Well, I guess Echo is just an intelligent speaker now, as Amazon announced today that it will indefinitely discontinue Dash buttons sales globally.
Dash buttons were first made available in 2015 as a way to help people reorder important items they often use in their homes — things like paper towels, laundry detergent, and energy bars. Dash buttons that cost $5 were made available from more than 150 brands, including Tide, Clif Bar, and Campbell Soup.
Since then, devices and services from Amazon have increasingly made the Dash button obsolete. These include the Echo Wand , which can scan the barcodes of devices you want to reorder, and Alexa, which can either help users do shopping research or remember the kind of toilet paper or trash bags or snacks you like.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Last year, virtual Dash buttons were introduced that let third parties make their own Dash buttons for devices with screens.
Dash Replenishment , a service that makes smart home devices like Brita water filters and Whirlpool washing machines automatically order new supplies, was introduced at the same time as the Dash button and now supports reorders for hundreds of products, a company spokesperson said in a statement shared with VentureBeat.
Existing Dash buttons will continue to work for the die-hard Dash fans out there. For people who like the simplicity of pressing a button to complete reorders, virtual dash buttons will also continue to work on devices like Amazon’s Echo Show.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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4,737 | 2,019 |
"AI helps turbine-inspecting drones pinpoint their locations | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/ai-helps-turbine-inspecting-drones-pinpoint-their-locations"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages AI helps turbine-inspecting drones pinpoint their locations Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Quadcopters that autonomously spot signs of facilities wear are nothing new — French startup Sterblue , Clobotics , General Electric spinoff Avitas Systems , and Cyberhawk employ robots to look after gas terminals, oil rigs, and other assets. A problem that remains somewhat uncracked in the drone inspection space, though, is localization — the ability to accurately suss out a drone’s location with respect to the thing it’s inspecting. GPS and inertial measurement units (IMUs) provide relatively granular tracking, but more accurate data might ensure better consistency and enable drones to get safely closer to inspection targets.
Toward that end, a newly published paper on the preprint server Arxiv.org (“ Improving drone localization around wind turbines using monocular model-based tracking “) proposes a novel method of integrating images into drone navigation stacks for automated wind turbine inspection. “Due to harsh weather conditions, wind turbines can incur a wide range of structural damage, which can severely impact their power generation abilities,” the scientists explain. “Current best practice in visual inspection is the use of ground-based cameras with telephoto lenses, or manual inspection using climbing equipment. [But] both methods incur considerable cost in both the inspection itself, and the turbine downtime.” They have a point — ice can do enormous damage to turbines. Some wind farms report energy production losses of up to 20 percent due to icing, according to Canadian wind-industry consultancy firm TechnoCentre Éolien (TCE), and over time, ice shedding from blades can damage other blades or overstress internal components, necessitating costly repairs.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! The researchers’ model-based approach involves mapping a 3D line-and-point skeleton representation of turbines to image data collected from drones’ front-facing monocular cameras. The matching is performed by a convolutional neural network trained on a set of 1,000 labeled photos of turbines from the internet, which translates the image data — along with estimated camera poses obtained from the drone’s GPS and IMU sensors — into a form that can be “easily” correlated to the skeleton model projection.
In tests, the approach “noticeably improve[d]” localization, the paper’s authors write, although they concede that there’s more validation work to be done; they didn’t have access to ground truth pose estimates for inspection flights, and so they weren’t able to quantitatively evaluate the overall system. But they contend that their work lays a foundation for improved systems to come, including versions that incorporate additional sensors such as lidar and simultaneously estimate turbine models’ parameters.
“Results illustrate that the use of the image measurements significantly improves the [precision] of the localization over that obtained using GPS and IMU alone,” they wrote.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"NextVR will offer 3D hockey highlights, starting with NHL All-Star Game | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/nextvr-will-offer-3d-hockey-highlights-starting-with-nhl-all-star-game"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages NextVR will offer 3D hockey highlights, starting with NHL All-Star Game Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn NextVR on ice.
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Best known for its virtual reality videos of live events, NextVR today announced a partnership with the NHL to deliver 3D highlights from the hockey league’s “marquee events.” According to NextVR, the post-game highlights will include everything from matchups and goals to big hits, using stereoscopic VR footage that lets viewers feel like they’re in the arena.
The deal starts with 3D video filmed at last weekend’s NHL All-Star Game in San Jose, California, which is available now on a new NextVR NHL channel. No additional NHL games are currently on NextVR’s schedule, but that will change shortly, complementing the NBA , boxing, tennis, and WWE wrestling events covered by the company’s services.
“Not every fan can experience our marquee events in-person,” said NHL VP Chris Golier, “but NextVR’s immersive content will bring fans closer to the on-ice action than ever before and make them feel like they are at a live NHL game.” The highlights will be distributed for free globally through NextVR’s app, which itself is available at no charge across every major VR platform — PlayStation VR, Windows Mixed Reality, and multiple Oculus and HTC Vive devices, to name a few. NextVR Now apps are also available to let iOS and Android devices preview VR footage in 2D, with full 3D VR support for Google Daydream headsets.
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VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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4,739 | 2,019 |
"Google is working with Apple to restore internal iOS apps (updated) | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/google-is-working-with-apple-to-restore-internal-ios-apps"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Google is working with Apple to restore internal iOS apps (updated) Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Google's London HQ at 6 Pancras Square, October 11, 2018.
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Following reports that Apple revoked Google’s Enterprise Developer Program certificate yesterday, effectively rendering a number of its internal iOS apps nonfunctional, the Mountain View company says that the problem has been resolved.
The Verge yesterday reported that “early versions of Google Maps, Hangouts, Gmail, and other pre-release beta apps” stopped working this afternoon, in addition to employee-only apps for transportation and Google’s on-campus cafe app. At the time, Google told VentureBeat it was working with Apple on a fix.
Apple seems to have been motivated by Google’s Screenwise Meter, an opt-in behavioral monitoring app uncovered by TechCrunch this week. Much like Facebook’s widely reported Project Atlas , it appeared to skirt the rules of the enterprise program by using it to monitor iPhone owners’ phone usage.
Apple earlier said that “any developer using their enterprise certificates to distribute apps to consumers will have their certificates revoked.” Facebook, like Google, saw its enterprise certificate revoked this week.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! The Cupertino company’s move came even after Google disabled Screenwise Meter, which had been operating since 2012. In an earlier statement, Google apologized, and said that the research panel “should not have operated under [the] developer enterprise program.” That conciliatory move wasn’t enough to spare it from Apple’s wrath, apparently.
Updated 2/1 at 6:10 a.m. Pacific: Added details to reflect that Google has regained access to its internal iOS apps.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Partech closes $143 million fund for African startups | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/partech-closes-143-million-fund-for-african-startups"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Partech closes $143 million fund for African startups Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Partech African general partners Tidjane Deme and Cyril Collon.
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Partech , a global investment company with hubs in Paris, San Francisco, and Berlin, has closed its inaugural African fund at €125 million ($143 million).
The venture capital (VC) firm first announced Partech Africa last January, at which point it had €57 million ($65 million) in commitments, though it said at the time that it was aiming for an eventual closure of €100 million ($115 million). So, in effect, the new fund was oversubscribed by around 25 percent.
Founded in 1982, Partech has various funds aimed at seed-stage to early- and growth-stage startups, and in 2017 it emerged as something of a European VC giant after surpassing $1 billion in new funds over an 18-month period.
Fanfare African startups haven’t always garnered the same international fanfare as companies elsewhere, but last year they drew in record investment.
According to a new report from Disrupt Africa, African startups recorded more than $334 million in funding in 2018, up 71.5 percent on 2017, while the number of startups raising funds increased by 32 percent to 210. Nigeria was the number one spot for VC investment across the continent, with 58 startups nabbing $95 million. Other reports’ figures vary depending on their methodology, but the broader pattern remains the same: More investment is going into African technology.
For context, however, European technology companies last year raised around $13 billion, according to PitchBook data, which helps demonstrate the investment gap between the two regions. But Africa could be the next frontier for venture capitalists. Just last week, Al Gore’s investment firm, Generation Investment Management, led a $100 million Investment in Andela, with other notable participants including Alphabet’s VC arm GV and Mark Zuckerberg’s the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI). Andela was founded out of Nigeria in 2014, though it’s now headquartered in New York, and aims to train Africa’s best software developers and match them with some of the world’s biggest technology companies.
Partech isn’t the first outside VC firm to target Africa — DDF Capital is a Silicon Valley fund “investing in African startups that can change the world” and is backed by DFJ founder Tim Draper.
It’s clear there is a bubbling undercurrent of interest in what’s going on across Africa, which is what Partech’s latest fund represents. It’s worth noting some of the fund’s big-name backers, including Orange and L’Oréal, as well as the European Investment Bank (EIB); the German Development Bank, KfW; the Dutch Development Bank, FMO; and the African Development Bank Group.
Partech said it will invest in series A and B financing rounds, which may amount to anywhere from $0.6 million to $6 million per investment, and it has already made two investments: Nigeria’s TradeDepot and South Africa’s Yoco.
“We are really proud to see major global investors rally around our vision and ambition to support extraordinary entrepreneurs building digital champions for Africa and emerging markets,” said Partech general partner Cyril Collon. “Our first investments in Yoco and TradeDepot provide strong showcases of how these champions can transform whole sectors, such as retail and payments in this region.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
Discover our Briefings.
The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Amazon reports $72.4 billion in Q4 2018 revenue: AWS up 45%, subscriptions up 25%, and 'other' up 95% | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/commerce/amazon-earnings-q4-2018"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Amazon reports $72.4 billion in Q4 2018 revenue: AWS up 45%, subscriptions up 25%, and ‘other’ up 95% Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The Amazon logo is seen at the Young Entrepreneurs fair in Paris Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
Amazon today reported earnings for its fourth fiscal quarter of 2018, including revenue of $72.4 billion, net income of $3.0 billion, and earnings per share of $6.04 (compared to revenue of $60.5 billion, net income of $1.86 billion, and earnings per share of $3.75 in Q4 2017). The fourth quarter is the biggest and most important for Amazon because of holiday sales.
Analysts had expected Amazon to earn $71.9 billion in revenue and report earnings per share of $5.67. The retail giant thus handily beat expectations. The company’s stock was up 3 percent in regular trading, but largely flat in after-hours trading. Amazon gave first quarter revenue guidance in the range of $56 billion and $60 billion, compared to a consensus of $60.96 billion from analysts.
“Alexa was very busy during her holiday season. Echo Dot was the best-selling item across all products on Amazon globally, and customers purchased millions more devices from the Echo family compared to last year,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a statement. “The number of research scientists working on Alexa has more than doubled in the past year, and the results of the team’s hard work are clear. In 2018, we improved Alexa’s ability to understand requests and answer questions by more than 20% through advances in machine learning, we added billions of facts making Alexa more knowledgeable than ever, developers doubled the number of Alexa skills to over 80,000, and customers spoke to Alexa tens of billions more times in 2018 compared to 2017. We’re energized by and grateful for the response, and you can count on us to keep working hard to bring even more invention to customers.” Bezos may have talked up Alexa, but Amazon is nowhere near ready to break the voice assistant out in its earnings reports. Alexa is simply contributing to overall Amazon retail sales, which is of course the company’s main revenue driver. North American sales were up 18 percent to $44.1 billion, while international sales grew 15 percent to $20.8 billion.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Amazon Web Services (AWS) continued to be the star of the show, jumping 45 percent in sales to $7.4 billion. AWS thus accounted for about 10 percent of Amazon’s total revenue for the quarter. AWS is the cloud computing market leader, ahead of Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.
Subscription services were up 25 percent to $3.96 billion. That would be Amazon Prime , which the company is expanding to offer deals at places like Whole Foods.
Amazon’s “other” category, which mostly comprises of the company’s advertising business, jumped 95 percent to $3.4 billion in revenue. The company knows plenty about what its customers want to buy, or don’t even want to buy, so it’s no surprise its advertising business is booming.
This was the quarter that Amazon ended its search for a “second headquarters” (HQ2) in North America, first announced in September 2017. Fourteen months later, Amazon split HQ2 across Queens, New York and Arlington, Virginia.
How that move will impact the company over the next few quarters, if at all, remains to be seen.
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"Zingle raises $11 million to unify hotel messaging services | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/zingle-raises-11-million-to-unify-hotel-messaging-services"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Zingle raises $11 million to unify hotel messaging services Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Zingle aims to target the $500 billion hotel industry’s pain points with a potent combination of AI and text messaging, and it’s raising money to do it. The Carlsbad, California-based tech startup today announced that it has secured an additional $11 million in funding from PeakSpan Capital, bringing its total capital raised to $15 million. Zingle says the funds will be used to grow its staff.
The company also revealed that it has completed its acquisition of Philadelphia-based Presto AI, a hospitality-focused computational linguistics and data science startup, and that it recently expanded its executive team. Jason Hekl and Ellis Connolly have been appointed senior vice president of marketing and senior vice president of sales, respectively, and former Intuit exec Eric Pannese will assume the role of senior vice president of product.
At its core, Zingle is a messaging service provider — its web-based dashboard and mobile apps (for iOS and Android) collate hotel guest texts sent via Facebook Messenger, Line, Twitter, SMS, and other sources into a unified view. But it claims its platform is more capable than those of competitors like Twilio, Plivo , and Tropo. Zingle can translate between more than 90 languages and serve up message templates on command or automatically segment contacts with custom rules. Robust profiles and group messaging support allow hotel managers and staff to add pertinent info, like appointments, check-in dates, check-out dates, and customer status, and to connect with multiple contacts at once. And thanks to AI that analyzes message intent, Zingle’s built-in chatbots can suss out requests and follow up with guests in one of three ways: by automatically replying, suggesting a response for hotel staff to execute, or triggering one of 25 actions (like creating a service ticket).
Zingle’s platform analyzes millions of messages each month, the company says. To date, it has exchanged over 120 million messages with guests at Hyatt, Broadmoor, Great Wolf, and other hotel and resort chains, and it can categorize over 150 different intents. Furthermore, it provides analytics for all of those messages, enabling hotel staff to make data-driven decisions.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Above: Zingle’s dashboard.
“Today’s consumers expect the brands they do business with to provide memorable experiences and top-notch customer service,” said Ford Blakely, who worked as a business and financial consultant with LECG prior to founding Zingle in 2009. “These preferences ring especially true in the hospitality space, where travelers have a wide array of services to choose from. Zingle’s platform gives hospitality brands the ability to provide exemplary service and deliver personalized experiences.” Zingle is now laser-focused on the hotel industry, after an early pivot away from restaurants, coffee shops, and other service businesses. (The company initially marketed a hardware device that printed out takeout order numbers for businesses and responded to customers by texting a confirmation.) But it intends to target other hospitality verticals in the future, including food, beverage, and retail.
“In the last five years, travel companies have raised more than $1 billion in venture capital funding,” said Matt Melymuka, cofounder and partner at PeakSpan Capital. “The majority of these companies are in the business of creating experiences. As more traditional players in the hospitality space look to augment their offerings to compete with this new wave of companies, Zingle provides a simple, yet highly effective way for properties to engage with guests in a more personalized way, thus transforming an ordinary stay into a memorable one.” Previous Zingle investors include Rincon Venture Partners and CrossCut Ventures.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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4,743 | 2,019 |
"Why Alexa usually won't respond when someone says 'Alexa' on TV | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/why-alexa-usually-wont-respond-when-someone-says-alexa-on-tv"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Why Alexa usually won’t respond when someone says ‘Alexa’ on TV Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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When you’re watching the Super Bowl between the Rams and Patriots on Sunday, your Echo speakers won’t inadvertently respond to the wake word “Alexa” when someone on the television shouts it out — even during Amazon’s splashy new Alexa commercial starring Harrison Ford and Forest Whitaker. It might seem like a small thing, but the science behind getting Amazon’s intelligent assistant to ignore its name is a bit more involved than you might think. (It wasn’t that long ago, after all, that a Burger King ad prompted smart speakers around the country to search for the ingredients in a Whopper sandwich.) In a blog post this morning, Amazon details acoustic fingerprinting, a technique Alexa AI research scientists at the Seattle company use to “teach” Alexa what individual instances of its name sound like, so that the assistant can ignore them. The work is applied on the fly to detect when multiple Alexa-enabled devices around the globe hear the same command at roughly the same time — which Mike Rodehorst, machine learning scientist at Amazon’s Alexa Speech division, says is needed to prevent Alexa from responding to pranks, references to people named Alexa, and other TV mentions Amazon isn’t made aware of in advance.
“Our approach to matching audio recordings is based on classic acoustic-fingerprinting algorithms, like that of [Jaap] Haitsma and [Ton] Kalker in their 2002 paper ‘A Highly Robust Audio Fingerprinting System’,” he said. “Such algorithms are designed to be robust to audio distortion and interference, such as those introduced by TV speakers, the home environment, and our microphones.” So how does it work? Fingerprinting involves deriving log filter-bank energies, or LFBEs, for an acoustic signal — cells within a grid that represent the amount of energy in overlapping frequency bands in a series of overlapping time windows. An algorithm steps through the grid in two-by-two blocks, computing 2D gradients for cells as it goes along. The positive (or negative) sign of the results summarizes the values of each individual block in a single bit, the sum total of which constitute the acoustic fingerprint.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! When the fraction of the bits that make up a fingerprint differ enough, they’re deemed to match, and Alexa ignores the wake word.
Amazon fingerprints entire audio samples when they’re provided in advance, and the results are stored in the cloud. The company also “builds up” acoustic fingerprints piecemeal with audio that’s streaming to the cloud from Alexa-enabled devices, repeatedly comparing these fingerprints to others as they grow. (Clean audio is easier to process than audio with lots of background noise, Amazon says; the latter can yield a match, but it requires more data.) Above: An illustration of how fingerprints are used to match audio.
Every incoming audio request to Alexa that starts with a wake word is checked in two ways. It’s first compared to a database of known fingerprinted instances of “Alexa,” which also make use of the audio that follows the wake word. Then it’s checked against a fraction of other requests coming into Alexa devices around the same time. Audio-matching requests from at least two other customers are identified as a “media event” and given increased scrutiny (and potentially declared a match). This contributes to a small cache of fingerprints, allowing Alexa to continue to ignore wake word requests even when they’re not happening simultaneously.
These fingerprinting methods — for which Amazon has patents — will together prevent as many as 80 to 90 percent of devices from responding to TV-originated Alexa statements, the company says. And they’re not the only precautionary measures in place.
On most Echo devices, every time the wake word “Alexa” is detected, the audio is compared to a small set of known instances of Alexa being mentioned in commercials. Rodehorst says that the set is generally restricted to ads the Alexa team expects to be currently airing, due to the limits of the smart speakers’ CPUs.
“Ideally, a device will identify media audio using locally stored fingerprints, so it does not wake up at all,” he says. “If it does wake up, and we match the media event in the cloud, the device will quickly and quietly turn back off.” Separately, Amazon scientists continue to refine machine learning techniques that help Alexa distinguish sounds produced by televisions and other devices from those produced by people in the flesh. In research published last year, they describe an AI system that learns the frequency characteristics of different types of sounds and analyzes the time it takes for sounds to reach multiple microphones within an Echo speaker. This enables the system to tell the difference between moving sound sources and stationary ones, for example.
In tests, a system trained using 311 hours of recordings from volunteers improved Alexa’s media audio recognition by between 8 percent and 37 percent, depending on the audio type, Amazon says. Apparently, this performed best on any combination involving singing.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"Twitter froze suspicious accounts linked to Iran, Russia, and Venezuela ahead of 2018 U.S. midterms | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/twitter-suspended-suspicious-accounts-with-ties-to-iran-russia-and-venezuela-ahead-of-2018-u-s-midterms"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Twitter froze suspicious accounts linked to Iran, Russia, and Venezuela ahead of 2018 U.S. midterms Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
Today, Twitter released a report dealing some of the unusual activity and disinformation campaigns it spotted before and after the 2018 U.S. midterms. Overall, Twitter said that it found a small number of domestic attempts at voter suppression, and that it suspended hundreds of suspicious accounts believed to be spreading disinformation and originating in Russia, Iran, and Venezuela in the days leading up to the midterms.
Twitter said that overall, it found less suspicious activity from bad-faith foreign actors compared to the 2016 U.S. elections, but that “our role, as ever, is to do our best to stay one step ahead while remaining humble in the face of potential new challenges.” Twitter, along with Facebook, had previously removed large batches of suspicious accounts with ties to Russia and Iran before the 2018 elections — the Russian troll farm Internet Research Agency in particular has become infamous for its role in spreading disinformation on social platforms before the 2016 elections. However, disinformation campaigns originating from Venezuela have not previously been discussed at length by the large social platforms. Today’s report appears to show that more accounts in more countries are trying to develop their own disinformation playbook.
In its report, Twitter said that it has recently removed 764 accounts originating in Venezuela that had engaged in “malicious automation.” Most of them were suspended prior to the 2018 U.S. midterms, but 176 of these accounts sent approximately 50,000 tweets regarding the U.S. midterms. Twitter said that the uncovered accounts are “another example of a foreign campaign of spammy content focused on political themes, and the behavior we uncovered is similar to that utilized by prior Russian IRA accounts.” According to NBC News , many of the accounts tweeted in favor of president Nicolás Maduro.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Twitter, along with Facebook and Google, had previously announced that they had removed hundreds of Iranian propaganda accounts in August 2018. However, Twitter also said today that since September, it has suspended an additional 2,617 malicious accounts believed to have been started in Iran. Twitter said that the accounts sent 24,000 Tweets about the 2018 U.S. midterm elections, but that those only represent 1 percent of all the Tweets sent by those accounts.
Facebook also announced today that it had uncovered further “ coordinated inauthentic behavior ” tied to Iran, and that it was tipped off to its existence by Twitter.
Twitter also said that it had removed 418 suspicious accounts with ties to Russia, the majority of which were suspended prior to the 2018 midterms. Those accounts sent more Tweets about U.S. politics compared to the other two batches of suspicious accounts, tweeting the #MAGA hashtag (which refers to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan) 38,000 times.
Twitter also said it found and removed 6,000 tweets that attempted to spread false information about how to vote in the midterms.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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4,745 | 2,019 |
"This $20 course can help you launch, grow, and sell your own business | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/this-20-course-can-help-you-launch-grow-and-sell-your-own-business"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Sponsored This $20 course can help you launch, grow, and sell your own business Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn We’re living in the age of the startup. Instead of working for long-established companies that offer mediocre salaries and increasingly antiquated perks, more and more entrepreneurs are venturing out on their own to start a new business from the ground up.
You don’t even need a fancy business degree in order to get started. Virtually anyone with a grand vision and a modest amount of startup cash can get a business off the ground with or without outside funding, and some of the world’s biggest and most exciting companies — including Facebook and Google — were started in similar fashions.
But even if you have the greatest business idea in the world, you still need a great plan.
From Napkin Sketch to Multi-Million Dollar Exit: How to Launch, Grow and Sell a Startup is an education package that teaches you how to turn your great idea into a full-fledged, successful business, and right now it’s available for over 85 percent off at just $19.99.
Regardless of your past experience in the cut-throat worlds of business and entrepreneurship, this instruction walks you through every aspect of starting a business from scratch.
You’ll learn how to find a great idea, raise money, hire a dedicated team, turn increasingly large profits, and more. This course even teaches you how to understand the art of branding your idea or business, and you’ll have unlimited access to bonus pitch decks and operation plans that can be used to kickstart your project.
The course is led by Karl House and Ben Lee, both of whom have launched successful startups that have been acquired for millions of dollars.
Turn your next great idea into a successful business with help from Napkin Sketch to Multi-Million Dollar Exit: How to Launch, Grow and Sell a Startup. The entire course is currently available for just $19.99 — over 85 percent off its usual price.
VentureBeat Deals is a partnership between VentureBeat and StackCommerce. This post does not constitute editorial endorsement. If you have any questions about the products you see here or previous purchases, please contact StackCommerce support here.
Want your products featured in VentureBeat? Learn more about how to sell your products online! VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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4,746 | 2,019 |
"The odd reason Apple killed Facebook's and Google's usage research apps | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/the-odd-reason-apple-killed-facebooks-and-googles-usage-research-apps"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Opinion The odd reason Apple killed Facebook’s and Google’s usage research apps Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Mark Zuckerberg testifies in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 11, 2018.
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As the true crime story of The Untouchables goes, federal agents targeted mob boss Al Capone for brazen acts of violence and smuggling, but ultimately jailed him for the white collar crime of tax evasion. The story illustrates that there are multiple ways for good guys to stop bad guys, and sometimes a comparatively pedestrian option works best.
Facebook isn’t the mob and Apple certainly isn’t untouchable, but over the past two days, the tech giants have been cast in villain and hero roles, as Apple punished Facebook for distributing a questionable app (Project Atlas!) that gathered unspecified data (!) on teens (!) in exchange for $20 monthly payments and referral fees (!). There was actually much more to the story, but given the nonstop wave of revelations about Facebook’s business practices , those details were enough for the court of public opinion to declare the company guilty — and shrug off Apple’s chosen punishment of disabling all of Facebook’s internal iOS apps.
Was Apple actually acting heroically here? No. And while Facebook has deservedly taken heat recently for many offensive activities (disclosure: I and members of my family have stopped using the service), this particular situation wasn’t as cut and dried as good finally prevailing over evil.
Similar to the Capone situation, Facebook’s data-gathering app wasn’t shut down because it was tangibly hurting or ripping off innocent people, but rather because it arguably — note the word arguably — violated either the word or spirit of Apple’s enterprise developer agreement. Unlike Apple’s standard developer agreement, which covers apps distributed to consumers , the enterprise agreement covers apps distributed to employees and contractors.
Near the beginning of the enterprise document, Apple directly tells developers: VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! This Program is for internal use, custom applications that are developed by You for Your specific business purposes and only for use by Your employees and, in limited cases, by certain other parties as set forth herein.
The contract goes on for another 50 pages, but the gist is clear: Use enterprise certificates for internal employee/contractor apps, and standard certificates for consumer apps. If you try to distribute enterprise apps to consumers, or violate any one of hundreds of other rules, Apple may shut down all of your enterprise certificates and apps. So. Don’t. Do. Any. Of. That.
Once Facebook’s data gathering app started getting bad publicity, Apple apparently decided to make an example of the company, claiming that the app’s distribution to “consumers” was “a clear breach” of the enterprise agreement. Explaining the decision to yank Facebook’s enterprise app certificates, an Apple spokesperson said: We designed our Enterprise Developer Program solely for the internal distribution of apps within an organization. Facebook has been using their membership to distribute a data-collecting app to consumers, which is a clear breach of their agreement with Apple. Any developer using their enterprise certificates to distribute apps to consumers will have their certificates revoked, which is what we did in this case to protect our users and their data.
As it turns out, Facebook wasn’t the only gigantic company with an iOS enterprise program data-gathering app; Google was distributing its own version under the name “Screenwise Meter.” After Facebook’s app and enterprise certificates were yanked, TechCrunch tarred Google with the same general offense — using an iOS enterprise app to collect data — and asked whether Apple would disable Google’s enterprise certificate and apps, just like Facebook’s.
But Facebook and Google weren’t doing the exact same things. Google’s research panel had been running since 2012, hadn’t previously been banned by Apple, wasn’t being directly marketed to teens, and transparently disclosed what information it was gathering. Like Facebook, Google was paying people to participate, blurring the line between “contractor” and “consumer.” So it wouldn’t have made sense for Apple to suddenly shut down Google’s enterprise certificate over this after six years, even if there was some arguable violation of Apple’s enterprise development agreement.
Regardless, Google pulled the plug on Screenwise Meter for iOS before Apple took action. In a statement last night, the company said: The Screenwise Meter iOS app should not have operated under Apple’s developer enterprise program — this was a mistake, and we apologize. We have disabled this app on iOS devices. This app is completely voluntary and always has been. We’ve been upfront with users about the way we use their data in this app, we have no access to encrypted data in apps and on devices, and users can opt out of the program at any time.
Putting my dusty intellectual property lawyer hat back on, I see two core issues here. First, were these apps for the developers’ internal use? Second, were these developers distributing these apps to employees/contractors or consumers? Notwithstanding Apple’s statement and Google’s apology, my take is that both answers are gray rather than black or white. Apple would have had zero room to complain if the only people using these apps were employees sitting in Google’s offices. Instead, they were paid panelists — arguably limited purpose “contractors” providing data solely for the developer’s research purposes — and not locked in Google’s buildings.
That’s completely normal in the technology R&D world. As Apple’s famous “lost at a bar” iPhone 4 situation revealed, even the most secretive companies don’t conduct all their research and testing indoors at offices. There are plenty of valid and legal reasons to gather data in multiple locations across a geographic area, and in public, particularly when a developer’s trying to understand real-world app usage habits.
It’s not really clear whether Facebook and Google should really be distributing small panel research apps to the broad base of “consumers” in the iOS App Store. But for the time being, that appears to be their only option — assuming, of course, that their data collection isn’t running afoul of other Apple developer rules, such as privacy considerations. Unlike Google, Facebook was specifically blocked from offering a consumer version of its data research app to iOS users due to privacy issues.
In my view, it’s not fair to tar Facebook and Google with the same brush. At this point, it’s almost inconceivable that people wouldn’t know that Google was collecting data about them when it uses their services. It’s frankly more surprising that Google actually offered to pay Screenwise Meter users for their data, given that it has free access to more user information than any other company in the world.
I also have deep concerns about Apple’s ability to threaten use of a company-crippling tool in a situation like this, but if there’s any good news here, it’s that the company hasn’t used its kill switch apart from sketchy situations. Facebook mightn’t have been a mustache-twirling villain in this story, but it wasn’t innocent here, and pulling its app was the right thing for Apple to do. Here’s hoping that there isn’t a good need for the company to pull its developer certificates from anyone again.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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4,747 | 2,019 |
"Techstars launches program to assist growing startup communities, starting in Buffalo | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/techstars-launches-program-to-assist-growing-startup-communities-starting-in-buffalo"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Techstars launches program to assist growing startup communities, starting in Buffalo Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Buffalo, New York Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
Techstars , the Boulder, Colorado-based organization best known for its global accelerator programs, today announced it is launching a “multi-year startup ecosystem development program,” beginning in Buffalo, New York.
Details about the project are slim, but Techstars is hiring someone who will be based out of Buffalo to help the startup community host more events, conduct surveys and assessments to pinpoint areas for improvement, and connect local entrepreneurs with mentors and graduates of Techstars accelerators in other parts of the world. A consortium of public and private partners in New York — including the state economic development arm, Empire State Development — are paying an undisclosed amount to help bring the Techstars program to Buffalo.
Techstars cofounder Brad Feld said in a phone interview with VentureBeat that one of the program’s goals is to allow cities to “be part of a much greater set of activities, because of the reach of Techstars, and [to allow] Techstars to engage more deeply in cities where we don’t necessarily have an accelerator present.” Feld, author of the 2012 book Startup Communities, is known for his thought leadership when it comes to ways to make cities more entrepreneur-friendly. He added that the new ecosystem development program is an extension of his thesis that “every city in the world that has at least 100,000 people should have a vibrant startup community, and in fact it’s a requirement [for] cities to stay relevant and fresh over a long period of time.” David Cohen, another Techstars cofounder, told VentureBeat that the most frequent request the organization receives from cities is to launch an accelerator program there. Nearly 1,600 companies have gone through one of Techstars’ more than 40 accelerator programs since the organization launched nearly 12 years ago. Some of the most notable startups to come out of Techstars include SendGrid, which went public and was acquired by Twilio in a $2 billion deal last year , and PillPack, which was acquired by Amazon last year.
“What we’ve figured out is that [an accelerator] is not always the answer,” Cohen told VentureBeat. He said what Techstars is trying to emphasize with the new ecosystem development program is that what’s really valuable for cities is the investors, entrepreneurs, and industry experts it has access to, adding “we really want to leverage this network we’ve built to enable entrepreneurs to be more successful.” This means that a Buffalo-based enterprise software startup could look for new customers within the Techstars network, or an energy tech startup could look among the list of Techstars’ accelerator sponsors for corporate investors.
Cohen emphasized that Techstars is not seeking to become the “leader” of startup community-building efforts in Buffalo, but rather to partner with startup organization 43North , one of the main vehicles through which the city has sought to recruit more entrepreneurs to the city.
Funded in part by New York’s “Buffalo Billion” initiative — an ambitious, albeit controversial, state-backed attempt to supercharge economic growth in the city — 43North awards $5 million in funding annually to startups through a pitch competition. 43North says that it has invested in 44 startups since 2014, though those startups remain small, having just created more than 350 local jobs between them.
43North chair Eric Reich told VentureBeat that within the past couple years, the organization has shifted its focus to more mature startups with revenues of around $1 million and a handful or two of employees. Compared to the pre-revenue startups 43North used to invest more in, Reich told VentureBeat that “the future of that [type of] company is much easier to see” and it is easier for “the benefits to be obvious.” He believes these companies might get more out of connecting with Techstars.
“We also think that there are significant opportunities from the Techstars network of the companies,” Reich told VentureBeat. “[Those] that are not ready for admittance into a Techstars accelerator … could certainly be candidates or contestants in the 43North process.” Techstars says it hopes to launch the startup ecosystem development program in other cities soon but doesn’t have an exact timeframe.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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4,748 | 2,019 |
"Tasty Town forks over food fun on Android and iOS | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/tasty-town-forks-over-food-fun-on-android-and-ios"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Tasty Town forks over food fun on Android and iOS Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Social Point has launched Tasty Town (because “Flavor Town” may already be under copyright), a free-to-play restaurant game for iOS and Android. This is the Spanish studio’s first launch since Take-Two acquired it in 2017 for at least $250 million.
It’s a take on the formula established in Diner Dash, but Take-Two’s Spanish mobile studio says that Tasty Town stands out from these games in several ways. This isn’t just a clone dash for cash.
“Dash restaurant games focus solely on delivering food against the clock, whereas in Tasty Town players can choose how they want to play — they can focus on building up their restaurant and farms, delivering food and/or serving food against the clock,” Social Point chief marketing officer Sharon Biggar said. “The beautiful art in the game is a big difference – we view high production values as crucial, so we took great pains to create truly appealing characters, food styles,and restaurant decorations.” Restaurant games are a smaller niche in the $63.2 billion mobile market (according to research firm Newzoo).
Another market analyst, Randy Nelson of Sensor Tower, notes that “the top 10 of these games by U.S. revenue last year grossed more than $92 million combined on both stores. To put that into perspective, the top 40 of these apps grossed about $100 million here in 2018.” Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! The top three restaurant games in 2018, Sensor Tower estimates, are: Cooking Craze (Big Fish): $28.8 million Cooking Fever (Nordcurrent): $20.06 million Cooking Dash (Glu Games): $12.86 million Tasty Town isn’t just about the restaurant — it involves farming, food trucks, and delivery (but no Digiorno). It’ll also have events, which games like Diner Dash lack. But the studio didn’t consult with chefs, food trucks owners, or farmers.
“No, we are not a sim in any respect, so we didn’t consult with real-life experts in those pursuits. Tasty Town is a game first and foremost, so our focus is finding the fun elements of farming, cooking, and delivering food,” Biggar said.
While free-to-play, Tasty Town does offer in-game transactions. Biggar said packages range from $3 to $10. You can spend money to speed up progress, but you won’t be doing so to skip through Harry Potter-esque timers.
Take-Two has pointed to Social Point’s games such as Dragon City as good earners before.
Will Tasty Town be able to serve up similar revenue? GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
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"Switch sales strong, but Nintendo pulls back forecast | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/switch-sales-strong-but-nintendo-pulls-back-forecast"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Switch sales strong, but Nintendo pulls back forecast Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Nintendo Switch.
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Nintendo reported strong third fiscal quarter earnings for the three months ended December 31, with Super Smash Bros. Ultimate fueling sales of the Switch video game console. But Nintendo still cut its forecast for the Switch in the fiscal year, saying it will now sell only 17 million Switch units by March 31, rather than 20 million.
The Switch had its best quarter in history, with 9.4 million consoles sold, up 30 percent from a year earlier. Sales of software were also good because of big holiday sales for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (12 million copies sold), Pokémon: Let’s Go (10 million copies), and Super Mario Party (5.3 million copies).
Quarterly operating profit was 158.6 billion yen, or $1.45 billion, up 36 percent from 116.5 billion yen a year earlier. Revenue was 608.4 billion yen, or $5.6 billion, in the quarter. Analysts had expected $1.31 billion in operating profit on revenue of $5.17 billion.
Above: Nintendo Switch and 3DS hardware sales.
Since April, Nintendo has sold 14.5 million Switch consoles, but the first quarter (Nintendo’s fourth fiscal quarter) is usually a weak one for hardware sales. Overall, the Switch has sold 32.27 million consoles since launching it in March 2017. Overall, Nintendo has sold 163.6 million Switch games.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! The Switch is a smashing success compared to the Wii U, which sold 13.56 million units and 102.7 million games over six years. The most successful Switch game to date is Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, which has sold 15 million copies.
Nintendo has quite a war chest. The company has $6.7 billion in cash as part of its $13.6 billion in current assets, with only $3.6 billion in total liabilities.
Nintendo delayed the launch of its mobile game based on Mario Kart , and it also recently said it was rebooting the whole development of Metroid Prime 4. Bayonetta 3 doesn’t have a launch date yet either. But this year, Nintendo plans on shipping Switch titles that include New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe (launched January 11), Yoshi’s Crafted World (coming March 29), Fire Emblem: Three Houses (spring 2019), Pokemon RPG (late 2019), Animal Crossing for Switch (2019), Luigi’s Mansion 3 (2019), Daemon X Machina (2019), DragonQuest Builders 2 (2019), and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order (2019).
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
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"Skillz: Top 10 mobile esports players won $8 million in 2018 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/skillz-top-10-mobile-esports-players-won-8-million-in-2018"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Skillz: Top 10 mobile esports players won $8 million in 2018 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Skillz has stats on mobile esports champs for 2018 Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Mobile esports provider Skillz said that the top 10 mobile esports players earned more than $8 million in 2018, with seven of the 10 rankings claimed by women.
The prizes earned by this year’s winners were three times larger than that earned by 2017’s top players , which is a good sign of the growth of esports in the $70 billion mobile game market.
“When I first started competing on the Skillz platform, I never realized this was something I could do professionally,” says Jennifer Park (jpark87), a college engineering student from Westland, Michigan. “The prizes I’ve earned from playing Skillz games have helped put me through college.” Above: Skillz’s top esports gamers of 2018.
As the industry’s revenue has increased, competitive gaming prize pools have also grown. Prizes from esports tournaments such as Dota 2’s The International topped $25 million last year, now exceeding those of prestigious offline sports events such as racing’s Indianapolis 500 and pro golf’s The Masters.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! According to eSportsEarnings.com, global esports prize pools grew 31.5 percent from 2017 to 2018. In comparison, the top 10 Skillz competitors generated over a 300 percent year over year increase in prizes won, with the top player ranking No. 6 on the list of highest-earning 2018 athletes across the global esports industry.
“Top mobile eSports athletes bring the same inspiring dedication you see in world-class NBA or MLB players to our increasingly digital world,” says Andrew Paradise, CEO and founder of Skillz, in a statement. “Similar to how radio and television revolutionized the future of sports, Skillz is using mobile technology to do the same for esports.” Skillz reported it doubled its revenue run-rate twice in 2018 to a current total of over $400 million.
The top Skillz competitors are ranked based upon total tournament prizes won by each player, excluding any entry fees paid to enter those tournaments.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
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"Samsung Next backs 9 blockchain projects with Stack Zero Grants | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/samsung-next-backs-9-blockchain-projects-with-stack-zero-grants"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Samsung Next backs 9 blockchain projects with Stack Zero Grants Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Mapeo lets tribes map their territories.
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Samsung Next said it has backed nine projects that use decentralized ledger technology, or blockchain. The company has given each of those startups a Stack Zero Grant , through a non-equity program that supports early-stage teams building decentralized technologies by providing funding, expertise, and access to the Samsung Next network.
The Stack Zero Grant arose from the company’s interest in supporting volunteers and researchers who are building the infrastructure of the future.
During the application period, Samsung Next received proposals from more than 100 teams. The teams selected cover a wide range of projects, from low-level libraries to decentralized social networks to privacy tools. The one thing they all have in common is that they use decentralization technology to empower individuals and communities.
The projects are: Mapeo , by Digital Democracy, and PeerMaps are two teams providing tools for decentralized editing, distribution, and syncing of mapping data. The always-connected world has facilitated the rise of centralized services that use computers and smartphones as dumb terminals. It can be easy to forget that there are entire communities that could benefit from technological tools yet are unable to rely on an internet connection to access a centralized mapping service. These peer-to-peer tools allow indigenous tribes in South America to map the territories fundamental to their society, and serve as a reminder of what decentralization can help accomplish.
Mastodon is a federated social network, akin to a decentralized Twitter, that allows anyone to run their own server. Created by Eugen Rochko, it’s the first decentralized social network to really take off at scale. Mastodon instances have become a haven for people looking for a more personal, focused exchange in a network where they are considered participants and not just advertising targets. It’s built on a W3C-recommended standard called ActivityPub, so each instance can communicate with other instances, or with other federated applications.
Samsung Next is also supporting ActivityPub /Spritely.
Christopher Lemmer Webber is the co-editor and co-author of the now-ubiquitous ActivityPub protocol. While it provides a great framework for creating, updating, and deleting content across applications, it doesn’t provide any standardized mechanism for secure authorization. Webber will work on extending the protocol in a backward-compatible manner, while at the same time building tools and applications that showcase its use. This will enable developers to build applications and enable richer interactions through a federated standard.
The Dat Project is the umbrella for a series of libraries enabling peer-to-peer communication, such as Hypercore (an append-only/Merkle tree combination) and HyperDrive (a peer-to-peer distributed file system). It also maintains and supports the Dat protocol, which combines properties of Git and IPFS into a unique distribution mechanism. The team has been quietly working on libraries for more than five years, and its tools have enabled others to easily start their own decentralized projects.
The ZoKrates team is building a toolbox to enable the creation of zkSNARKs, a family of zero-knowledge proofs , in a standard way across the blockchain ecosystem and beyond. Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) enable individuals to prove statements about data without revealing the data itself, thus enhancing user privacy. However, these proof systems are typically extremely complex and difficult to use. ZoKrates exposes a simple domain-specific language whose syntax is close to Python’s, which simplifies ZKP development and makes it easier to program and reason. In turn, this makes it easier to create privacy-preserving applications, both on and off the blockchain.
The final technical grant went to Katzenpost , which is conducting research and writing libraries for mix networks.
The team is building tools to prevent passive eavesdropping that is able to detect who is communicating with whom, while at the same time providing reliable out-of-order delivery. While moving to a decentralized world, the team believes approaches that help defend a user’s privacy against metadata analysis will be fundamental.
Samsung Next is also supporting two teams with opportunity grants: She256 is a movement dedicated to increasing diversity and breaking down barriers to entry in the blockchain space.
It has an approach to inclusion that focuses on mentorship, education, and community, which it seeks to accomplish through a global mentorship program, various workshops, and an annual conference featuring groundbreaking research and innovation.
Simply Secure supports practitioners who are putting people at the center of trustworthy technology by providing workshops for user experience designers, researchers, and developers. The team runs workshops and mentors security practitioners, helping to ensure that technology puts people at the center of privacy, security, and transparency.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"Palo Alto Networks: Mac malware steals your cryptocurrency exchange cookies | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/palo-alto-networks-mac-malware-steals-your-cryptocurrency-exchange-cookies"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Palo Alto Networks: Mac malware steals your cryptocurrency exchange cookies Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Crypto cookie malware is catching on.
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Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 security division recently discovered malware that targets the Mac platform and enables hackers to steal browser cookies, or login credentials, associated with mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges and wallet service websites.
The malware, from OSX.DarthMiner, also steals saved passwords in Chrome, and it attempts to steal iPhone text messages from iTunes backups on the tethered Mac. The Unit 42 blog post was written by researchers Yue Chen, Cong Zheng, Wenjun Hu, and Zhi Xu. Theft of cryptocurrency wallets has been a big problem in the industry, as industry veterans like Michael Terpin can attest.
Based on similar past attacks, Unit 42 believes that leveraging the combination of stolen login credentials, web cookies, and SMS (text message) data could allow bad actors to bypass multi-factor authentication (which requires more than just entering a password to log into a site or app) for these sites.
If successful, attackers would have full access to the victim’s cryptocurrency exchange account and/or wallet and be able to use those funds as if they were the user themselves.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! The malware also configures the system to load coinmining software on the system. This software is made to look like an XMRIG-type coinminer, which is used to mine the cryptocurrency Monero. In fact, it loads a coinminer that mines Koto, a lesser-known cryptocurrency associated with Japan.
Above: Unit 42’s data on the code used to steal web cookies.
Because of the way it attacks the cookies associated with exchanges, the Palo Alto Networks researchers have named this malware CookieMiner.
Web cookies are widely used for authentication. Once a user logs into a website, cookies are stored so the web server knows the individual’s login status. If the cookies are stolen, an attacker could potentially sign into the website to use the victim’s account. Stealing cookies is an important step to bypassing login anomaly detection.
If only the username and password are stolen and used by a bad actor, the website may issue an alert or request additional authentication for a new login. But if an authentication cookie is provided along with the username and password, the website might believe the session is associated with a previously authenticated system host and not issue an alert or request additional authentication methods.
A cryptocurrency exchange is a place to trade cryptocurrencies for other assets, such as other digital (crypto)currencies or conventional fiat money. Most modern cryptocurrency exchanges and online wallet services have multi-factor authentication.
CookieMiner tries to navigate past the authentication process by stealing a combination of the login credentials, text messages, and web cookies. If the bad actors successfully enter the websites using the victim’s identity, they can perform fund withdrawals. This may be a more efficient way to generate profits than outright cryptocurrency mining. Furthermore, attackers could manipulate the cryptocurrency prices with large-volume buying and/or selling of stolen assets, resulting in additional profits.
Here’s a rundown of CookieMiner’s behaviors: • Steals Google Chrome and Apple Safari browser cookies from the victim’s machine • Steals saved usernames and passwords in Chrome • Steals saved credit card credentials in Chrome • Steals iPhone’s text messages if backed up to Mac • Steals cryptocurrency wallet data and keys • Keeps full control of the victim using the EmPyre backdoor • Mines cryptocurrency on the victim’s machine The researchers concluded that cryptocurrency owners should keep an eye on their security settings and digital assets to prevent compromise and leakage.
Customers of Palo Alto Networks are protected by WildFire, which is able to automatically detect the malware. AutoFocus users can track this activity by using the StealCookie tag.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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4,753 | 2,019 |
"Nintendo president: Switch and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sales broke records | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/nintendo-president-switch-and-super-smash-bros-ultimate-sales-broke-records"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Nintendo president: Switch and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sales broke records Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
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Shuntaro Furukawa, president of Nintendo, said during the company’s earnings call that Nintendo’s sales of Switch hardware and games during the holidays were “extremely robust,” in a presentation for investors.
He said that sales of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate in December were above 12 million units , making it the fastest start for any title in Nintendo’s history. Both new and returning players bought the game. Switch hardware units sold 14.5 million units in the quarter, up 19.5 percent from a year ago and a new record.
Furukawa also said these sales are lifting the sales of allies too, as software from other publishers doubled during April through December, 2018.
Nintendo also said it would open its first official Nintendo Store in Japan in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. In doing that, Nintendo is joining the ranks of companies like Apple, Microsoft, and even Netgear that have stores to control the whole experience with the consumer. Nintendo said it plans to hold events and let consumers play games at the store.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Above: Location for the new Nintendo Store in Tokyo.
Nintendo also announced a mobile game partnership with Japan’s Line mobile messaging service, where the two companies will co-develop and jointly operate a game for new smart devices. One of the new titles will be Dr. Mario World, a new action puzzle game featuring Dr. Mario. It will come out in the summer of 2019 around the world. It will debut in 60 countries on iOS and Android.
The Kyoto, Japan-based company said last night that it would sell 17 million Switch consoles in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019, rather than the 20 million it originally forecasted. The 3DS also has a lower forecast, with 2.6 million units sold in the year, rather than the original forecast of four million.
Furukawa said that the Switch sales for the past holiday laid a solid foundation for continued strong sales in the future. So far, 32 million Switches have sold since the spring of 2017.
He said the Pokémon Let’s Go titles from the fall sold more than 10 million copies.
“The people who first came in contact with or regained interest in Pokémon through the Pokémon Go application for smart devices are purchasing this title, as are the increasing number of children for whom this is the first title they have ever played in the Pokémon series,” he said.
Above: Dr. Mario World.
Nintendo Labo kits have sold more than one million units worldwide since April. Nintendo has partnered with the Institute of Play to introduce Nintendo Labo into 100 elementary school classrooms across the US for the 2018/2019 school year.
Furukawa said that Nintendo’s strategy continues to be to make games for everyone, rather than the smaller group of hardcore players. Nintendo wants to increase the population of gamers, as it did with the Nintendo DS and the Wii. It has done that through the Switch as well as the launch of Nintendo-based mobile games and even theme parks or films.
Nintendo is teamed with Universal Parks & Resorts on Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios in Japan, with a targeted opening ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. An animated Super Mario Bros. film is expected to be released with Illumination in 2022. And Nintendo Labo kits will be used at the KidZania Tokyo and KidZania Koshien entertainment centers in Japan.
“We are aiming to encourage the great number of consumers worldwide to love Nintendo and continue loving it,” he said.
And he said Nintendo Switch Online has had a good start, with the number of subscribers surpassing 8 million accounts not including free trials.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
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4,754 | 2,019 |
"La French Tech faces its next challenge: How to go big | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/la-french-tech-faces-its-next-challenge-how-to-go-big"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages La French Tech faces its next challenge: How to go big Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn French companies at CES in Las Vegas.
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In the more than five years since the French government launched an ambitious entrepreneurship program, the “French Tech” movement has made considerable progress. But a new venture funding report highlights the immense challenges this nation’s startup ecosystem still faces.
The latest French Tech report card by C.B. Insights revealed that France’s startups raised $3.5 billion in funding in 2018, up 8 percent from 2017, and a new record for the country. At the same time, the number of deals fell to 699, from 771 in 2017.
Both numbers represent significant leaps since the first full year of the program, when 210 companies raised $1.5 billion. In total, French startups have raised $11.71 billion across 2,511 deals since 2014.
But… The 8 percent rise is the smallest rate of increase since 2015. And while there has been progress in attracting more homegrown and international venture capital, the report notes that the government-backed Bpifrance bank remains the largest source of venture funding in the country.
While it’s impossible to compare France’s tech ecosystem to that of the U.S. in absolute terms, the latter saw nearly 8,383 venture-backed companies raise more than $130 billion in financing last year, up from $83 billion in 2017. This massive leap comes as China is also seeing dramatic acceleration of its startup ecosystem. In contrast, France (and Europe) are slowing a bit, as their biggest competitors press down on the gas pedal.
Even compared to the rest of Europe, France’s progress is steady, but not spectacular. The U.K. remains the undisputed leader in the region, when it comes to fundraising. And Germany held a solid number two spot for 2018, despite France’s efforts to close the gap.
Why is that? The U.K. and Germany are getting more later-stage funding. According to C.B. Insights, France’s average deal size was $3.7 million, far below the U.K.’s $11 million and Germany’s $7.2 million.
France has created a hive of activity among early-stage entrepreneurs that has drawn enormous buzz and started to chip away at the image of a country loath to embrace the future. But companies that survive the early stages still tend to drift to other shores in search of the later-stage money that remains scarce in France.
Last year, French officials under President Emmanuel Macron’s government announced a reboot of La French Tech, with a focus on helping companies scale up. Many of those plans are still being put in place, so it’s too soon to expect much of an impact. But the need is urgent. C.B. Insights says that through 2018, even as early-stage deals fell overall, later-stage deals were only just barely ticking up.
Getting over that next hump will be critical if France hopes to realize its dreams of becoming a startup nation. As part of that, the country needs to cultivate a more dynamic economy that can create jobs and convince its brightest and most well-educated citizens that they have a future at home.
It’s a difficult task, for sure, but not impossible. In early January, HR tech company Talentsoft raised $50 million in a round that included money from Francisco Partners, Goldman Sachs, and, yes, Bpifrance.
Founded in 2007, Talentsoft, which is based just outside of Paris, has 600 employees in 130 countries. That series D raise brought its total to more than $100 million. And it’s proof that a French company can stay and grow in France and still attract bigger rounds.
Now such stories need to stop being the exception and become the rule.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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4,755 | 2,019 |
"Intel's interim CEO Bob Swan gets the job permanently | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/intels-interim-ceo-bob-swan-gets-the-job-permanently"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Intel’s interim CEO Bob Swan gets the job permanently Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn New permanent Intel CEO Robert Swan Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Chip giant Intel has appointed Robert (“Bob”) Swan as its new CEO, seven months after giving him the job on an interim basis, following Brian Krzanich’s departure.
Krzanich resigned last June under somewhat peculiar circumstances , after he was found to have engaged in a “consensual relationship” with an employee a while back. The relationship, which only came to light much later, violated an internal “non-fraternization policy” that applies to all senior managers.
Swan began his career at General Electric and spent nine years as chief financial officer (CFO) of eBay. He later joined investment firm General Atlantic, before leaving to become Intel’s CFO in 2016 — a role he has continued to hold while serving as interim CEO.
Now, however, Swan will be 100 percent dedicated to the leadership position, as well as joining the board. Meanwhile, Intel’s vice president of finance, Todd Underwood, is stepping into the CFO role on an interim basis, pending a permanent replacement.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “In my role as interim CEO, I’ve developed an even deeper understanding of Intel’s opportunities and challenges, our people, and our customers,” Swan said in a statement.
“When I was first named interim CEO, I was immediately focused on running the company and working with our customers. When the board approached me to take on the role permanently, I jumped at the chance to lead this special company.” Swan is Intel’s seventh CEO in its 50-year history.
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"Intel names acting CEO Bob Swan as permanent boss, stock falls 1% | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/intel-names-acting-ceo-bob-swan-as-permanent-boss-stock-falls-1"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Intel names acting CEO Bob Swan as permanent boss, stock falls 1% Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Bob Swan is the 7th CEO of Intel.
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Intel named its acting CEO Bob Swan as its permanent chief executive today. By the end of the day, the company’s stock price fell nearly 1 percent, a decline of about $4 billion in market value.
Perhaps the stock market and industry observers were expecting the company to go outside to find a CEO who could address Intel’s numerous competitive challenges. After the morning announcement, Intel’s stock price closed at $47.12 a share, down 0.88 percent, making the company’s valuation $215 billion. That’s not a serious drop in price, but it’s worth noting that investors did not view it as a positive.
Swan, formerly chief financial officer, became acting CEO in June, after the previous CEO Brian Krzanich resigned under a cloud , after an investigation showed he had engaged in a “consensual relationship” with an employee some time ago. The relationship violated an internal “non-fraternization policy” that applies to all senior managers. Swan is now the seventh CEO in Intel’s 50 year history; predecessors have included industry legends Bob Noyce, Gordon Moore, Andy Grove, Craig Barrett, and Paul Otellini.
Intel is in a tough competitive spot when it comes to dealing with rivals like AMD, Nvidia, Apple, Samsung, TSMC, and Qualcomm. Those threats are coming from areas such as the datacenter, AI, automotive, internet of things, the PC, 5G, and mobile. At stake is leadership in the $450 billion semiconductor industry and the pole position in defining the future of computing.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Intel is eager to show it has recovered from a bad manufacturing misstep that caused it to fall off the regular cadence of manufacturing improvements. With the slowing of Moore’s law (the famous prediction in 1965 made by Intel chairman emeritus and former CEO Moore that the number of transistors on a chip will double every year), the design and architecture of processors will have to dramatically improve if the coming years are to bring the same pace of technological improvement as we’ve seen in the past 50 years. Intel’s recent slip has made people wonder if Moore’s law, limited by laws of physics for very small devices, is coming to an end.
Above: Intel’s “architecture day” took place at the home of Intel cofounder Bob Noyce.
Intel’s response so far is to remind everyone it is a company with $73 billion in revenues, a huge R&D budget, and the world’s most seasoned team of chip designers when it comes to creating everything from PC processors to artificial intelligence chips. In the most recent earnings announcement, Swan noted that Intel would once again spend $15 billion on capital investments in its factories, compared to a year ago, to ensure that it will have enough capacity to handle chip demand as it shifts to 10-nanometer manufacturing.
“I think he was the best of a set of bad choices. Intel’s core problem is their board, which lacks the experience and skills necessary to husband the company,” said Rob Enderle, analyst at the Enderle Group, in an email. “As a result, qualified CEOs likely won’t touch the job with a 10 foot pole and unqualified CEOs would be under-supported and fail badly. In fact, with this board, it is almost certain whoever is selected won’t serve a full term. (Realize that no CEO has left voluntarily since Andy Grove.) But a connected and empowered CFO, while light on vision and related execution due to a lack of engineering skills, can work with this board and maybe fix it, and certainly get the company operationally back on track.” He added, “So I think Bob will be able to fix some of the critical problems and set the next CEO up for success. Turning Intel around may simply require a two-step process with Bob Swan being the first step. And, who knows, maybe Bob will be able to stretch to do the CEO job, but that is a long shot, typically you need a subject matter expert to run a company like Intel, much like Gates and Nadella’s skills were needed at Microsoft, and Lisa Su at AMD.” Meanwhile, analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy said in an email, “I am a bit surprised as Swan said he didn’t want the role, but I always thought that he should be considered for it. Swan told me that as he was in the interim CEO role, he started to like and enjoy it. I do think Intel’s strategy is the right one; the company needs to improve its execution, and bringing in an outsider without Intel experience didn’t make sense. Intel has a very strong bench, two who were considered for the CEO role, who will help Swan and Intel.” And Tim Bajarin, analyst at Creative Strategies, said in an interview it was a smart move to name an insider who will keep things running smoothly. He did, however, express some concern that CFOs tend to focus on the bottom line rather than investing heavily for the future.
“This ultimately became the board’s safer bet,” Bajarin said. “The question is how open he will be in investing in innovation and in new companies. How much continued investment would they have on businesses that do not bring in revenue in the short term. The big question for us is how well he executes on Intel moving forward in this world that is changing dramatically.” Of the threats Intel faces, Bajarin said Intel’s core business is datacenter computing, but there are “serious competitors in the data center. They made a commitment to autonomous vehicles with the Mobileye acquisition, but Nvidia has made a heavy investment there and has been chosen by a lot of car makers. In communications, they are behind on their 5G modem and the market is moving rapidly to drive 5G into the market as rapidly as possible. Those are the challenges I think he has to navigate.” Kevin Krewell, analyst at Tirias Research, said, “I initially thought that if Intel chose Bob Swan it would just be kicking the can down the street. But since listening to him talk about the company and strategy, I was more impressed by his balanced view of Intel position in the market. A lot of people have called him an insider, but he’s only been at Intel since 2016.” Krewell added, “While he’s not a technologist, he has a deep reserve of technical executives he can draw on. I think it’s important that he holds onto the executive team he has. I hope some of the other internal candidates don’t bolt for a CEO job somewhere else. I think Intel does need some changes and I think Bob can provide the right balance for the transition. As acting CEO, he’s not been working on pursuing the board’s plans for Intel. I think this was the best option Intel’s board had.” Linley Gwennap, principal analyst at the Linley Group, said in an email, “Swan appears to be a compromise candidate. Intel failed to attract the outside candidate that some board members wanted, and they couldn’t decide between [Venkata ‘Murthy’ Renduchintala] and Navin Rao, so they picked the guy who said he didn’t want the job.” Dan Hutcheson, analyst at VLSI Research, said, “Bob Swan makes sense because the street likes him. Plus, Krzanich’s structural changes meant that strategy moved into multiple product groups lessening need for a technical leader with vision. You can see this by the fact that during the long term without a CEO, the company hasn’t drifted like a ship that’s mast.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"Grow your Instagram following with this automated assistant | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/grow-your-instagram-following-with-this-automated-assistant"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Sponsored Grow your Instagram following with this automated assistant Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn There are countless ways to help grow a brand or business. Having an engaging website, good customer support, and a clearly-defined image of your products and services are all key variables when it comes to growing and maintaining an audience, and you should, of course, always keep an eye on the bottom line.
Still, it should come as no surprise that Instagram has emerged as one of the most valuable platforms when it comes to attracting new users, and its global reach grows larger every day. But in order to truly take advantage of the massive reach and engagement that Instagram has to offer, you need to know how to do more than simply post the occasional picture or story.
Appz Instagram Assistant makes it easier than ever to leverage Instagram into an essential business tool, and right now a lifetime subscription is available for over 95 percent off at just $39.
This all-in-one app will help you build a growing Instagram presence using a series of automation tools that will help you bring in more likes, comments, and shares.
Acting as a simple Google Chrome extension, Appz Instagram Assistant lets you auto-like, auto-comment, and auto-follow other posts and users that are most likely to be interested in your page’s content.
It comes with a streamlined and intuitive dashboard that lets you monitor and adjust your feed, and you’ll be able to break down your stats using interactive graphs and tables. You’ll even be able to use location-based targeting and log into multiple Instagram accounts using a single browser.
No business plan is complete without taking into account everything that Instagram has to offer when it comes to promotion and client engagement. Appz Instagram Assistant does all the work for you, and a lifetime subscription is currently available for just $39 — over 95 percent off its usual price for a limited time.
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"GoCo Lands $7M in Series A Funding to Free Businesses from Outdated and Complex HR and Benefits Management | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/goco-lands-7m-in-series-a-funding-to-free-businesses-from-outdated-and-complex-hr-and-benefits-management"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Press Release GoCo Lands $7M in Series A Funding to Free Businesses from Outdated and Complex HR and Benefits Management Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Round led by ATX Seed Ventures and UpCurve solutions provider Exploring partnership for UpCurve to sell GoCo through its nationwide distribution network to hundreds of thousands of new customers Number of GoCo users increased 10-fold over past two years; plans to quadruple employees in 2019 GoCo empowers SMBs and HR professionals to streamline the full HR process Platform simplifies daunting, complicated insurance benefits enrollment and management HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–January 31, 2019– GoCo , the easiest to use all-in-one HR and benefits platform , today announced a $7 million Series A funding round led by ATX Seed Ventures alongside the investment arm of UpCurve, Inc.
(“UpCurve”), the small and medium-sized business (SMB) solutions provider, among other strategic investors. The new capital will be allocated to hiring across all departments, further platform development to extend the breadth of offerings and to broadly expand the company’s customer base.
“UpCurve’s investment in GoCo demonstrates our commitment to empowering businesses with the best technology solutions, and after a year of carefully vetting dozens of potential HR tech platforms, we found GoCo to be the most intuitive and robust on the market,” said Peter Cannone, CEO of UpCurve. “Investing in and potentially partnering with GoCo to bring it to our vast network of businesses was an easy decision. The company reimagines modern HR at its finest, and we look forward to helping spur GoCo’s rapid growth.” UpCurve is the wholly owned subsidiary of New Media Investment Group Inc.
, focused on delivering guided technology solutions to SMBs. In addition to the Series A investment, UpCurve and GoCo are exploring a partnership to bring GoCo’s technology to UpCurve’s nationwide business distribution network as the premier HR solution, which could enable GoCo to leverage New Media’s 200,000+ active customer relationships and local markets reach to an additional 5 million SMB potential customers, and exponentially grow GoCo’s customer base.
GoCo’s mandate to modernize HR and revamp the benefits management experience Over the past two years, GoCo has grown its customer base of employers into the thousands, increasing the number of individual GoCo users by 10x. Customers of all sizes and verticals have adopted the platform, including retail and gym franchises, school districts, technology companies, real estate brokerages, healthcare hospitality organizations and more. To support this rapid growth, GoCo plans to quadruple its number of employees in 2019.
This Series A round brings GoCo’s total funding to $12.5 million. GoCo is backed by additional investments from Salesforce Ventures , Corp Strategics, GIS Strategic Ventures, the venture arm of Guardian Life Insurance, and Digital Insurance, the largest employee benefits-only company in the US. ATX Seed Ventures is investing for the second time.
“We are doubling down on our investment in GoCo, as it is positioned to become the platform of choice for HR professionals to break out of the chains of outdated and complex HR duties, and empowers them to spend more time on their employees and higher value tasks. GoCo is simply the best platform solution to do all this, and their increasing customer base supports it,” said Chris Shonk, managing partner at ATX Seed Ventures.
GoCo was founded in 2015 by CEO Nir Leibovich, Chief Technology Officer Jason Wang and Chief Product Officer Michael Gugel. It is the fusion of modern, paperless HR functions like employee onboarding , secure cloud-storage document management, eSignature workflows, time-off tracking and HR data reporting. As well, it is paired with simplified benefits enrollment and management, payroll sync and HR compliance enablement. The web and mobile based app empower employers to give employees 24/7 access to the full spectrum of a company’s HR and benefits offerings.
As well, the company has a solid partnership network with employee benefit insurance agencies like OneDigital and PayneWest, and general agencies like Word & Brown, to offer GoCo’s technology as an enhancement to their existing insurance benefits services clients. GoCo also auto-syncs with leading payroll providers ADP, PayChex, Paylocity, Intuit Quickbooks and more, thus uniquely enabling businesses to maintain their benefits broker and payroll provider by integrating with GoCo’s platform.
“This Series A and the potential addition of UpCurve’s distribution channel to reach hundreds of thousands of new customers continues our mission to free SMBs and HR professionals from outdated and tedious administrative burdens. When these professionals look at current HR and benefits solutions on the market and think ‘there must be a better way,’ we are the better way,” said Leibovich. “We want to be synonymous with modern and streamlined HR.” About UpCurve UpCurve provides small to mid-sized businesses with a full suite of products and services that support stronger growth, greater productivity and company-wide efficiency. UpCurve’s products include digital marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and integration, marketing automation, cloud solutions, voice and email communication offerings, and small business financing. UpCurve, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of New Media Investment Group Inc. For more information regarding UpCurve, please visit www.UpCurve.com.
About ATX Seed Ventures ATX Seed Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm specializing in Texas. The company’s investments focus on software, IoT, e-commerce and mobile applications. ATX Seed Ventures was created by expert entrepreneurs to serve emerging entrepreneurs. Visit www.atxseedventures.com.
About GoCo GoCo is the easiest to use all-in-one HR and benefits platform for businesses. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Houston, TX, the company’s mission is to help businesses and their employees gain freedom from scattered, complex, and outdated systems by delivering a delightful experience. Visit www.goco.io , follow GoCo on Twitter , Facebook , Instagram and LinkedIn.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190131005167/en/ Gina Manassero (512) 553-2387 [email protected] VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"GitHub's new product lead is Google Cloud and Microsoft veteran Shanku Niyogi | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/githubs-new-product-lead-is-google-cloud-and-microsoft-veteran-shanku-niyogi"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages GitHub’s new product lead is Google Cloud and Microsoft veteran Shanku Niyogi Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn GitHub Enterprise Homepage Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Code-hosting platform GitHub has hired Google Cloud Platform’s (GCP) director of product management, Shanku Niyogi, to head up the product development team at GitHub. The move comes three months after Microsoft completed its $7.5 billion GitHub acquisition.
In December 2017, Niyogi joined Google, where he led the team responsible for GCP’s developer and operator tools, according to his LinkedIn profile. However, Niyogi is better known for his nearly two decades at Microsoft, where he most recently served as engineering general manager and director for Visual Studio, Microsoft’s integrated development environment (IDE) for app makers. And the parallels between Visual Studio and GitHub are more obvious, including the fact that they are both aimed at the development community.
Under Niyogi’s tenure, Microsoft in 2015 launched Visual Studio Code , a cross-platform code editor similar to GitHub’s Atom. Later that year, Microsoft made Visual Studio Code open source and put the code on GitHub.
Above: Shanku Niyogi Microsoft has increasingly embraced open source technologies, and its various projects attract more contributors than any other on GitHub. Indeed, two of the top five open source projects on GitHub — in terms of number of contributors — belong to Microsoft, with the top spot going to Visual Studio Code.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Buying GitHub, it’s fair to say, was Microsoft’s way of getting closer to developers, and with Niyogi on board, the GitHub product team has someone with extensive experience with the developer community.
“At GitHub, we want to be ‘the home for all developers’,” Niyogi said.
“Over the years, I’ve had a chance to work on a number of developer products — including Visual Studio Code, TypeScript, .NET, Kubernetes, Go, and Chef. None of these would have had the impact they did without passionate developer teams, strong open source communities, and the homes they had on GitHub.” Enterprising Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s ongoing plan to transform Microsoft into a cloud company relies heavily on its alignment with the enterprise.
Recent financials showed that its server products and cloud services revenue grew 24 percent year-on-year last quarter, while Azure revenue rose by 76 percent.
GitHub is important to Microsoft’s enterprise growth, and GitHub’s various business-focused offerings were recently consolidated under a single GitHub Enterprise tier. At the same time, GitHub opened up private repositories to non-paying users for the first time. With these moves, Microsoft clearly wants GitHub to appeal to everyone: large enterprises and small development teams.
“Businesses of every size are becoming software organizations and finding that they have to innovate faster than ever,” Niyogi said. “Doing so doesn’t just require the right tools — companies today also need the right talent. With GitHub, every enterprise has the potential to connect with a community of more than 31 million developers, their code, and their software practices, securely and effectively.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"Foxconn's Wisconsin factory never made sense | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/foxconns-wisconsin-factory-never-made-sense"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Opinion Foxconn’s Wisconsin factory never made sense Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The logo of Foxconn, the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry, is seen on top of the company's headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan.
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More than a year after committing to build a $10 billion factory in the state of Wisconsin, Foxconn threw in the towel on the “factory” concept yesterday, telling Reuters that the company now thinks it will be too expensive to manufacture LCD panels in Wisconsin as initially intended.
A Foxconn source also told Reuters that while it initially planned to hire 5,200 workers in Wisconsin by 2020, the company now expects that number to be closer to 1,000 workers. The Apple supplier said it still intends to hire for the 13,000 jobs it previously committed to in Wisconsin — but that the majority of those jobs will be in research and development, as well as packaging and assembly operations.
In a statement to CNN Business , Foxconn said that “we remain committed to the Wisconsin Valley Science and Technology Park project, the creation of 13,000 jobs, and to our long-term investment in Wisconsin. The global market environment that existed when the project was first announced has changed. As our plans are driven by those of our customers, this has necessitated the adjustment of plans for all projects, including Wisconsin. While the project’s focus will be adjusted to meet these new realities, the Wisconsin project remains a priority for our company.” Wisconsin lawmakers failed to do their basic due diligence in offering a huge incentive package — one that totaled around $4 billion by the time the ink dried — to a company that has a history of reneging on its promises to build factories. But even setting that aside, the Foxconn deal was perplexing from the start. In their rush to take credit for bringing “high-tech, high-paying” jobs to the state, lawmakers cooked up a jobs package that didn’t even make sense for the area.
When Foxconn announced the deal in July 2017, the company said the facility would initially create 3,000 jobs, with an average wage of $53,000 per year plus benefits. That’s a good wage — but was only about 50 cents more per hour than the average wage in Wisconsin at the time. And Wisconsin’s state unemployment rate at the time was just 3.3 percent — the lowest it had been in a decade. Foxconn was going into a tight labor market and offering a wage that wasn’t all that enticing. No wonder Foxconn reportedly had trouble finding enough qualified applicants at a series of local job fairs.
For all of those good but not exceptionally well-paying jobs, Wisconsin would have paid Foxconn about $230,000 per job. That’s because then-Gov. Scott Walker’s thesis was that the new Foxconn factory would usher in the creation of a “Wisconn Valley.” Foxconn’s presence would attract suppliers and new tech startups, and serve as the pillar for a new high-tech manufacturing hub. But Gov. Walker’s thesis ran counter to all of the evidence of the lessons offered by U.S. tech ecosystems like Silicon Valley — most companies here don’t place their R&D operations in the same locales as their manufacturing operations.
But probably the worst part of the whole deal was that Foxconn decided to build its new plant in a place that was clearly not equipped to handle thousands of workers. Foxconn settled on Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin — a “village” with 26,000 people. Mount Pleasant’s location was desirable in that it’s a halfway point between Milwaukee and Chicago — meaning that there is a large talent pool nearby. But Foxconn also faced an uphill battle in that workers who prefer living and working in urban areas had two better options to choose from.
Additionally, building a large factory in a small area required expensive infrastructure investments that wouldn’t have been necessary if Foxconn had chosen a more practical area. The roads around the proposed plant had to be widened in order to make room for the theoretical increase in traffic and semi-trucks transporting goods. Homes had to be torn down in order to make way for the factory and to do so, the Mount Pleasant Village Board decided to use eminent domain, which allows local government entities to seize land for public use.
Typically, the government has to compensate landowners; however, the Village Board decided to declare some of the properties blighted — meaning that they believed the properties were in such bad shape, they didn’t need to pay the homeowners. In retaliation, homeowners filed a lawsuit, though Mount Pleasant was able to buy out at least four of those landowners in exchange for dropping out of the lawsuit.
If there’s no manufacturing being done, it begs the question of why Mount Pleasant needed to move heaven and earth to get land for Foxconn. If Foxconn ends up bringing mostly office jobs, couldn’t it have found vacant office space in the area? In a way, the Foxconn saga has almost run counter to the Amazon HQ2 deal. While both companies have scaled back on the number of jobs initially offered, Amazon at least admitted before striking deals with cities that there wasn’t enough talent to bring the number of jobs initially promised. It decided to go with two metro areas — New York City and Washington, D.C. — that it figured had the best chance at providing enough workers at the skill level it needed. Meanwhile, Foxconn continues to try to squeeze an obscene number of jobs into an area not equipped for it.
Now, Foxconn says that the majority of the 13,000 jobs it brings will be research and development jobs. And not all of them will go in Mount Pleasant which, in partnership with Racine County, offered $764 million in tax credits to get a Foxconn facility constructed in the area. Economists point out that few companies, or even research universities, have R&D divisions that big. If Foxconn doesn’t bring the promised number of jobs, it won’t get the entire $4 billion subsidy package, but there are some tax credits — like one for capital investment — that it appears the company will still receive even if it brings fewer jobs.
Foxconn has committed to creating a Wisconsin-focused venture fund , as well as investing $100 million into a research facility at the University of Wisconsin-Madison — but the original vision of making Wisconsin the center of high-tech manufacturing in the U.S. will almost certainly not come to fruition. At best, Foxconn becomes one of many corporate pillars in Wisconsin, but not the singular driver of tech growth in the state.
While there’s plenty of reasons to argue that states should avoid offering incentive packages to individual companies altogether, Wisconsin’s Foxconn debacle offers up another lesson: Bigger jobs announcements aren’t always better. Give a large number of tax breaks to a company that promises to bring an unrealistic number of jobs to your area, and you’re more likely than not to wind up with egg on your face.
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"Concord Readies for Global Expansion, Appoints Veteran Product Marketing and Brand Leaders | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/concord-readies-for-global-expansion-appoints-veteran-product-marketing-and-brand-leaders"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Press Release Concord Readies for Global Expansion, Appoints Veteran Product Marketing and Brand Leaders Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–January 31, 2019– Concord , the fastest-growing contract management platform company, has expanded its marketing bench-strength with two senior appointments: Kai Ichikawa joins the company as head of product marketing; Orit Peleg joins as head of brand and corporate communications.
The Concord Platform as a Service (PaaS) is transforming how organizations conduct business by eliminating the complexity, friction and barriers to collaboration typically associated with the contract workflow. With over 200,000 companies already on the Concord PaaS and the recent closing of $25 million in Series B funding, these two senior marketing hires will drive the platform growth and brand strategies to deliver on the company’s global expansion plans.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190131005248/en/ Kai Ichikawa, Concord’s new head of product marketing (Photo: Business Wire) Said Concord VP of Marketing Travis Bickham, “More than a business success story, Concord is a customer success story. By bringing teams throughout an organization together within a single, simple digital environment, as well as their vendor and supplier networks, we unleash the power of collaboration and agreement. The combined skills and expertise that Kai and Orit bring to our team will extend the Concord platform value horizontally throughout our customers’ organizations and build awareness of the extraordinary business impact the platform delivers.” A product marketing veteran with extensive experience in building global platforms with features and functionality that deliver fast business impact and customer delight, Kai Ichikawa previously held product management leadership roles at Microsoft, Sysomos and UserTesting. He will be responsible for leading platform development with an emphasis on expanding customer use-cases, as well as closely partnering with customers to help them derive the greatest possible value from their investment in the Concord platform.
Orit Peleg, a truly global brand practitioner with experience across three continents, brings extensive creative, in-house and agency experience and an impressive 15-year track-record in building some of the world’s most recognizable brands, including Audi, SurveyMonkey, Google Cloud and Coca-Cola. She will be responsible for building and evangelizing the Concord brand through all marketing platforms and channels to promote the incredible outcomes organizations experience when they have the best possible collaboration tools.
Unlike other contract management systems, Concord provides a single and completely digital environment for the inception, origination, negotiation, execution and renewal of all contracts, including all parties, all edits and all signatures. The platform creates far-reaching business impact including increased efficiency, productivity, compliance, infinite scale, improved financial visibility and accelerated time-to-revenue from the sales pipeline. Concord customers include Just Eat, Bosch, LSU, Kickstarter and the Department of Transportation.
Visit www.concordnow.com for more information about Concord’s contract management PaaS.
About Concord Founded in 2014 and headquartered in San Francisco, Concord enables over 200,000 companies around the globe to connect all their people, processes and contracts in one place. Built with intuitive features, like online negotiation and editing, deadline alerts and approval workflows, Concord gives users everything they need for the entire contract lifecycle–making growth and compliance synonymous.
Additional Resources Become a fan of Concord: https://www.facebook.com/ConcordNow/ Follow Concord on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConcordNow View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190131005248/en/ John Snedigar 408-705-7518 [email protected] VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Camsoda's SuperCast mixes the Super Bowl with sex toys | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/camsodas-supercast-mixes-the-super-bowl-with-sex-toys"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Camsoda’s SuperCast mixes the Super Bowl with sex toys Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn CamSoda's SuperCast will fuse the Super Bowl with sex toys.
CamSoda , a big porn webcam platform, announced the launch of SuperCast , a new and exciting way for people with sex toys to enjoy the Super Bowl via teledildonics.
If you didn’t catch that last word, it refers to remotely stimulating someone with a sex toy. SuperCast allows those with a connected live sex toy (Lovense Lush) to sync their toy to their team’s performance; call it a new way to play fantasy football. In a way, it uses technology to make good on the long-promised sci-fi vision for teledildonics.
A user chooses a Super Bowl participant, New England Patriots or Los Angeles Rams, and connects their toy by following the prompts online. CamSoda SuperCast corresponds to traditional fantasy football scoring systems, so just like getting points for a reception, yards gained, a touchdown, fumble recovery, or a sack, SuperCast adjusts the intensity of the vibration of the sex toy for each.
For example, if New England scores a touchdown, the connected dildo will deliver a well-earned reward.
“At Camsoda, we’re all about enjoying life at all times, and in everything we do. Live events is a focus of ours and sexual pleasure combined with anything and everything is always a good idea. For this year’s Super Bowl, we want everyone to enjoy the game as much as possible,” said Daryn Parker, vice president at CamSoda, in a statement. “That’s why we’ve created SuperCast, which allows people to truly feel the game. So regardless of what type of fan you are, we encourage users to check out SuperCast and don’t worry about getting off too loud, since it can be disguised as cheering!” Above: CamSoda ensures everyone will be cheering for the Super Bowl.
In an email, Parker said CamSoda is using Lovense connected live sex toys, teledildonics technology and a fantasy sports applications programming interface (API) to create SuperCast. By tracking a user’s chosen teams performance (e.g., rushing yards, passing yards, in the red zone, scoring a touchdown, hitting a field goal, etc.) in real-time via the fantasy sports API, CamSoda SuperCast will vibrate the connected live sex toy accordingly allowing the user to feel the game.
This announcement follows the company’s successful “cast” integrations including Ocast, which allows people to send and receive orgasms over the internet; and BitCast, which tracked the volatile fluctuations of the bitcoin market.
Founded in 2014, CamSoda is an adult entertainment webcam platform leveraging “mobile-first” design, with live broadcasts from adult stars such as Gianna Michaels and Dani Daniels.
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"Apple restores Facebook's enterprise certificate after revoking it for more than 24 hours | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/apple-restores-facebooks-enterprise-certificate-after-revoking-it-for-more-than-24-hours"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Apple restores Facebook’s enterprise certificate after revoking it for more than 24 hours Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn A giant logo is seen at Facebook's headquarters in London.
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On Thursday, Apple restored Facebook’s access to an enterprise certificate that enables internal testing of apps. Apple revoked Facebook’s access on Tuesday after determining that Facebook had violated Apple’s policies about who can access apps developed using the certificate.
A Facebook spokesperson emailed the following statement to VentureBeat: “we have had our Enterprise Certification, which enables our internal employee applications, restored. We are in the process of getting our internal apps up and running. To be clear, this didn’t have an impact on our consumer-facing services.” The issue arose when TechCrunch reported that Facebook was paying users between the ages of 13 and 35 up to $20 per month to use a “Facebook Research app” that monitored their browsing history, phone and messaging activity, and which apps they were downloading. The app was similar to Facebook’s Onavo Protect, which Apple kicked out of the App Store earlier in the summer. Facebook got around that by creating the Facebook Research app through the enterprise certificate Apple had granted them. That certificate is supposed to be only for apps that are used by a company’s employees or contractors.
By distributing the app to consumers, Apple said Facebook had violated its policies. Facebook tried to get ahead of the problem by saying it was proactively pulling the Facebook Research app, but Apple still decided to revoke Facebook’s access to the certificate.
Without the enterprise certificate, Facebook couldn’t test new internal iOS versions of its apps and couldn’t use employee-only apps like one that Facebook developed for employees to view campus bus schedules. As Facebook said, none of the public-facing versions of Facebook’s family of apps, including WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, were affected.
Google also had its enterprise certificate briefly revoked after TechCrunch found one of its research apps similarly violated Apple’s policies. But, as of Thursday afternoon , Google said it was working with Apple to remedy the situation and expected to have access restored soon.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Amazon and Flipkart face uncertainty as India readies new rules for foreign ecommerce companies | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/amazon-and-flipkart-face-uncertainty-as-india-readies-new-rules-for-foreign-ecommerce-companies"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Amazon and Flipkart face uncertainty as India readies new rules for foreign ecommerce companies Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Employees of Amazon India scan packages at Amazon's newly launched fulfilment centre on the outskirts of Bangalore.
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Amazon and Walmart have been dealt a big blow in India, one of their most important markets, as the local government tightens rules regarding how foreign ecommerce platforms sell goods and conduct business in the country.
Under the current laws, foreign-owned ecommerce companies are not allowed to sell directly to customers (in other words, to operate under an inventory-based model of ecommerce). Instead, they can only provide a marketplace that acts as “an information technology platform” and serves as a facilitator between “buyer and seller.” To bypass this restriction, both Amazon and Flipkart, which sold a majority stake to Walmart last year , have acquired stakes in some of the biggest third-party sellers in the country. For instance, Amazon owns stake in parent companies of Cloudtail India and Appario Retail, while Flipkart until recently controlled WS Retail, the largest seller on its platform.
In late December , the Indian government revised the policies to close the loophole. The policies, which go into effect tomorrow, prohibit Amazon and Flipkart from selling goods from companies in which they have a stake. The two companies were hoping the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the government agency that issued the revised policies, would extend the February 1 deadline. But efforts to gain more time were unsuccessful. (At around 6:50 p.m. local time – 8.20 a.m. Pacific, the government said it won’t be extending the deadline.) “The Department had received some representations to extend the deadline of February 1, 2019 to comply with the conditions contained in the Press Note 2 of 2018 series on FDI Policy in e-Commerce issued by the Department. After due consideration, it has been decided, with the approval of the competent authority, not to extend the above deadline,” the government said in a statement today.
As a result of this, both Amazon and Flipkart are preparing to comply with the new policies, which, among other changes, means that hundreds of thousands of goods, including Amazon’s own Kindle and Echo speaker lineup, will suddenly disappear from the online sites, multiple people familiar with the companies’ thinking have said. Amazon and Flipkart have explored various options in recent weeks, including holding talks with government officials, and have alerted their merchant partners to ensure they are ready to comply with the new policies, sources said.
Commenting on DIPP’s notification today, an Amazon India spokesperson told VentureBeat, “While we remain committed to complying with all laws and regulations, we will continue to look to engage with the government to seek clarifications that help us decide our future course of action, as well as minimize the impact on our customers and sellers.” Flipkart did not respond to a request for comment. But in recent weeks, the company has warned the government that these new policies would cause “significant customer disruption.” Above: A look at how Amazon sells the Echo Dot on its US website and its India website.
The revised policies say that Amazon, Flipkart, and any other foreign-owned player (or FDI, foreign direct investment) cannot have a single vendor purchase more than 25 percent of the inventory from the ecommerce’s business-to-business (wholesale) arm and then sell it on the same store. “Earlier, ecommerce players had a marketplace entity and a business-to-business playing entity, which would either sell on the marketplace or sell to other vendors participating in the marketplace,” Arjun Sinha, a New Delhi-based analyst and lawyer who studies policies, explained to VentureBeat.
“They [the ecommerce companies] will have to look at these arrangements. Walmart will also need to check how much it can sell on Flipkart’s platform, and how much it can sell to merchants who sell on Flipkart. These structures would need to be relooked at to prevent indirect multi-brand retail,” Sinha said.
An industry insider, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that many clauses in the policies are too ambiguous, so it would be especially challenging for Amazon and Flipkart to fully comply with them. For instance, Amazon has more than 400,000 partners in India. It would be a major pain point for the company to audit these partners’ books and ensure that they are playing fairly, the person said.
The new policies also prevent Flipkart and Amazon from striking agreements that give third-party merchants exclusive rights to sell their products in the country.
A look at the smartphone industry sheds more light on this issue. India is the fastest growing smartphone market , buoyed by Chinese vendors, many of which — including Xiaomi and OnePlus — entered the nation through partnerships with online platforms to cut overhead costs.
Smartphones sales are crucial to Amazon and Flipkart, both of which count smartphones among the top three categories for their respective businesses. OnePlus, for instance, exclusively sells its handsets online through Amazon India. The Chinese company, which dominates the premium tier of the smartphone market in India, said this week that it willingly signed that partnership with Amazon.
What is at stake? At stake is nothing short of India’s ecommerce market, which is estimated to grow to $200 billion by 2026.
Amazon has invested more than $5.5 billion in its India operations, and Walmart paid $16 billion to snag Flipkart. The amendment to the policies could significantly derail the opportunities these companies see in India. Indeed, a draft analysis from global consultant PwC, first reported by Reuters this week, slated that the new ecommerce policy could reduce online sales by $46 billion by 2022.
A representative of All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA), a lobby group of over 30,000 online sellers, said the new policies are not the right solution to help small merchants — supposedly the rationale behind the government’s move — and accused the government of undertaking this task to appease shopkeepers and small business voters ahead of general elections.
Some of the clauses mentioned in the new policy — including an ecommerce platforms’ inability to source more than 25 percent of goods from a single vendor — have been in place for more than two years. Ecommerce players worked around these laws for years while the government turned a blind eye, the AIOVA representative said. “Why is the government, months ahead of the elections, turning attention to this now?” the spokesperson asked. Indian government officials did not respond to a request for comment.
“Government should realise their work doesn’t stop at policy making, but also requires enforcement. In [the] past, rules have not been enforced, circumvention and self certifications have led to a duopolised market. Government needs to disclose who is stopping these investigations from happening, which is leading to policy intervention,” an AIOVA spokesperson said.
But some businesses have expressed approval of the new policy. Kunal Bahl, cofounder and CEO of Snapdeal, an ecommerce company that pivoted to cater to businesses two years ago after negotiations for a merger with Flipkart fell apart , said, “Snapdeal welcomes updates to FDI policy on ecommerce. Marketplaces are meant for genuine, independent sellers, many of whom are MSMEs (micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises). These changes will enable a level playing field for all sellers, helping them leverage the reach of ecommerce.” Retailers with a major presence in the offline market have decried the discounts Amazon and Flipkart have been offering to win customers in recent years. These are among the businesses in support of the new policy. Kishore Biyani is founder and CEO of Future Group, one of the largest brick-and-mortar retailers in India. Biyani said the new policy will force ecommerce players to rethink their entire game plan for India. “There was ambiguity in the previous policy, which some players were taking advantage of,” Biyani said in a televised interview with Indian channel ET Now.
“India should always be first with these kinds of policies. Why can’t we build our own Alibaba, and Amazon?” This sense of nationalism was also on display earlier this month when Mukesh Ambani, who is the country’s richest man and runs Reliance Retail, the largest retailer in the country, announced the company’s intention to launch an ecommerce platform to challenge Amazon and Walmart.
“We have to collectively launch a new movement against data colonization. For India to succeed in this data-driven revolution, we will have to migrate the control and ownership of Indian data back to India — in other words, Indian wealth back to every Indian,” he said at an event that was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder and CEO of One97 Communications, which operates India’s largest mobile wallet app — Paytm — and also runs ecommerce arm Paytm Mall, declined to comment on the policy at a recent event in New Delhi. A spokesperson for Paytm said the company had no comment at this time.
The government, which is expected to deliver an annual budget as soon as tomorrow, reportedly risks upsetting the U.S. administration with this new hardline approach. According to Reuters , the U.S. government has expressed concerns about the new ecommerce policies. Greg Hitt, speaking on behalf of Walmart, told the outlet that the Indian government should “certainly, as you would expect, have engaged the (United States) administration on this issue.” Update at 3:15 p.m. Pacific: Several Amazon-owned products, including select Echo smart speakers, as well as some travel bags, batteries, office supply items, and chargers under Basics brand, and some kitchen items under Presto and apparels under Shoppers Stop brands, have become unavailable on Amazon’s website.
Update at 8:20 p.m. Pacific : During the company’s earnings call today, Brian Olsavsky, CFO of Amazon, said there is still some uncertainty as to what the impact the government rule changes is going to have on the e-commerce sector in India and the company is still evaluating the situation.
“We remain committed to complying with all laws and regulations, we will. But we’re evaluating the situation. Our main issue and our main concern is trying to minimize the impact to our customers and sellers in India. We’ve built our business around price selection and convenience. We don’t think the changes help in those dimensions for both the customers in India and also the sellers.” “We feel very good about the long-term prospects in India and doing a good job for both Indian customers and Indian sellers. The new regulations need to be interpreted, need to make sure they don’t have unintended consequences. And again, don’t think it’s necessarily consistent with better price, better selection, better convenience for the Indian customer,” he added.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Uber gets kicked out of Barcelona -- again | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/uber-gets-kicked-out-of-barcelona-again"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Uber gets kicked out of Barcelona — again Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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(Reuters) — Ride-hailing companies Uber and Cabify are to suspend their services in Barcelona in response to the regional government’s imposition of limits on how they operate in the city.
The Catalan government ruled that ride-hailing services could only pick up passengers after a 15-minute delay from the time they were booked.
The decision followed mass protests by Barcelona taxi drivers who complained that their business was being undermined and the services did not operate on a level playing field.
Barcelona is Spain’s second-largest city and one of its main tourist destinations. The suspension of the services was announced just a few weeks before it hosts the annual Mobile World Congress, one of the world’s largest meetings of the mobile tech industry.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “The new restrictions approved by the Catalan government leave us with no choice but to suspend UberX while we assess our future in Barcelona,” an Uber spokesman said.
Spain’s Cabify, which has one million users in Barcelona, said in a statement it regretted that the city had “given in to the demands of the taxi sector, seriously hurting citizen’s interests”.
Cabify said the new regulation, which took effect on Thursday, had the specific objective of “the direct expulsion of the Cabify application” from Barcelona and the region Catalonia.
Uber said it remained committed to operating in the long-term in Spanish cities and hoped “to work with the Catalan government and the City Council on fair regulation for all”.
Uber began offering its UberX service last March. The new regulations were imposed under pressure from taxi drivers, who held strikes that blocked roads in Barcelona and remain on strike in the Spanish capital, Madrid.
The drivers in Madrid escalated their protest this week by blocking one of the city’s main arteries. But Uber licenses in Spain are granted by local authorities, and so far Madrid authorities have said they would not adopt the same restriction as in Barcelona.
Cabify and Unauto VTC, an association of transport companies in Spain, said Barcelona’s decision to adopt the new regulation could put 3,000 jobs at risk in Barcelona.
Uber declined to say how many drivers work for it in Barcelona.
(Additional reporting by Paul Day, Editing by Angus MacSwan) VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Uber Freight introduces Yelp-like ratings for shipping facilities | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/uber-freight-introduces-yelp-like-ratings-for-shipping-facilities"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Uber Freight introduces Yelp-like ratings for shipping facilities Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Creating a shipment with Uber Freight.
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If you’re in the trucking business, there’s a phrase you reliably dread: driver detention. It’s the length of time spent idling at shipper or receiver facilities, and it has the potential to cut drivers’ pay drastically — or worse, increase the likelihood they’re involved in an accident. According to a recent report published by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), detention causes truckers an average annual loss of between $1,281 and $1,534, and spending just 15 minutes beyond a two-hour detainment window causes crash risk to climb 6.2 percent.
To reduce the occurrence of overly long waits and other issues, Uber is introducing a new feature in Uber Freight — the cargo-hauling trucking platform built on its on-demand transport infrastructure — that enables drivers to provide feedback to facilities just as they might a ride-hailed car. It’s called Facility Ratings, and it lets carriers and their drivers rate facilities on a scale of one to five and leave written comments about their experiences.
Facilities aren’t just where truckers pick up and drop off parcels and palettes — it’s where they take bathroom breaks, grab a bite to eat, or even spend the night, and some facilities do a worse job of servicing those needs than others. According to a Zipline Logistics survey , 80 percent of respondents refuse to take loads from certain facilities because of their reputations.
The idea behind Facilities Ratings is to provide a Yelp-like forum where drivers can highlight pain points — and high points — somewhat discretely, all within the Uber Freight platform. They have seven days to submit a review after they stop by a facility, Uber says, a limit imposed to ensure reviews are submitted while the details are still fresh in drivers’ minds.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Ratings, written comments, and amenities info (such as the availability of restrooms, overnight parking, food options, onsite scales, and driver rest areas) are available to drivers and carriers through the Uber Freight smartphone app. And they’re exposed to facilities managers, who can view through a dashboard not only the ratings themselves, but per-driver stats like total pickups, average rating, and detention spend.
The hope is that Facilities Ratings will motivate changes that increase not only favorability, but also efficiency. The DOT estimates that delays cost truckers around $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion each year, a portion of which gets passed on to shippers. If detainments could be minimized and wait times reduced, the positive effects would be felt industry-wide.
“To maintain a healthy, efficient supply chain, it’s key to prioritize carrier needs and feedback,” said Nestlé North America Procurement, an Uber Freight customer. “The data that Uber Freight is providing with Facility Ratings in their platform is a great validator for making improvements to our operations, whether that means reorganizing personnel shifts or even moving to a bigger facility. I’ve never seen this granular breakdown and level of visibility into facility activity before — it’s eye-opening, and exactly the kind of data we want to look into.” Above: The Uber Freight Facilities Ratings dashboard.
Uber says that Facilities Ratings, which it has been piloting for the past two months and which has already amassed ratings for over 10,000 facilities across the country, will be available to all users in the carrier app today and will roll out to all shippers via Uber Freight for shippers — a platform that allows small and mid-sized businesses to tap into Uber’s network of carriers and drivers for freight delivery — in the coming weeks.
Uber Freight , which launched in May 2017, is Uber’s grab at the $8.1 trillion global logistics transport industry. Simply put, it connects carriers and drivers with companies that need to move cargo, and it’s off to a promising start — Uber says that Freight remains one of its “fastest-growing and most promising businesses.” When a business schedules a delivery through the Uber Freight for shippers, they get prices upfront in the Uber Freight app. Customers are matched intelligently to carriers in Uber’s network and see a real-time, mutually agreed-upon quote that’s determined by market conditions and “other factors.” For recurring shipments, there’s the recently introduced Lane Explorer feature, which leverages machine learning to assess dynamic factors and generate rates for each of the next 14 calendar days out.
Freight’s got plenty in the way of competition. Seattle-based Convoy , which raised $62 million in 2017 from backers including Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, boasts a platform — Dynamic Backup — that builds routing guides from real-time, guaranteed prices for contractual freight. And Transfix , which operates in New York, has an online marketplace that matches loads to drivers.
But Uber’s not giving up the fight, and in August, it more than doubled its investment in Freight.
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"U.N. says the U.S. and China ahead of competition for artificial intelligence patents | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/u-n-says-the-u-s-and-china-ahead-of-competition-for-artificial-intelligence-patents"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages U.N. says the U.S. and China ahead of competition for artificial intelligence patents Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn FILE PHOTO: A customer takes a picture as robotic arms collect pre-packaged dishes from a cold storage, done according to the diners' orders, at Haidilao's new artificial intelligence hotpot restaurant in Beijing, China, November 14, 2018.
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( Reuters ) — China and the United States are ahead of the global competition to dominate artificial intelligence (AI), according to a study by the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) published on Thursday.
The study found U.S. tech giant IBM had by far the biggest AI patent portfolio, with 8,920 patents, ahead of Microsoft with 5,930 and a group of mainly Japanese tech conglomerates.
China accounted for 17 of the top 20 academic institutions involved in patenting AI and was particularly strong in the fast growing area of “deep learning” — a machine-learning technique that includes speech recognition systems.
“The U.S. and China obviously have stolen a lead. They’re out in front in this area, in terms of numbers of applications, and in scientific publications,” WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry told a news conference.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! U.S. President Donald Trump has accused China of stealing American innovations and technology and has slapped trade tariffs on $234 billion of Chinese goods to punish Beijing.
China said in December it resolutely opposed “slanderous” accusations from the United States and other allies criticizing China for economic espionage and stealing intellectual property and company secrets.
Gurry acknowledged there were accusations about China’s behavior but there was no doubt it had embraced the global intellectual property system, with the world’s largest patent office and the largest number of domestic patent applications.
“They are serious players in the field of intellectual property,” he said.
The WIPO study analyzed international patent filings, scientific publications, litigation filings and acquisition activity, and found there had been as many patent applications for AI since 2013 as in the half century since the term was coined in the 1950s.
Patent applications in machine learning, which includes techniques used by ride-sharing services to minimize detours, averaged annual growth of 28 percent between 2013 and 2016, the last year for which data is available, because of an 18-month period before confidential applications are publicly disclosed.
Much of that growth came from deep learning , which overtook robotics as it ballooned from 118 patent applications in 2013 to 2,399 in 2016.
The single most popular AI application was computer vision, used in self-driving cars , and mentioned in 49 percent of all AI-related patents.
The study showed how technology had followed science, Gurry said, with the 2013 boom in technological applications coming 10 years after a similar surge in scientific publications.
However, the world did not have any reliable way of measuring the quality of patent applications.
“If you did, you wouldn’t need a venture capital industry,” he said.
( Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by William Maclea n) VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"Orca AI raises $2.6 million to stop ship collisions | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/orca-ai-raises-2-6-million-to-stop-ship-collisions"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Exclusive Orca AI raises $2.6 million to stop ship collisions Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
Boat collision avoidance system maker Orca AI today announced the close of a $2.6 million funding round.
The funding will be used to grow the company’s engineering ranks and possibly open an office in Europe later this year.
Orca uses a combination of thermal cameras, low-light cameras, and other sensors to keep ship operators aware of nearby ships and alert them about potential danger.
Factors like weather conditions, radar data, and data from existing ship sensors also inform the object detection system trained with a combination of open source data, synthetic data from simulations, and data from initial trials that took place last fall.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “ Autonomous vessels will change the industry dramatically like autonomous cars,” Orca AI CEO Yarden Gross told VentureBeat in a phone interview. “With the capabilities of the technology that are there today we actually with AI can solve one of the biggest problems in the maritime domain, and by doing that support the infrastructure of autonomous navigation.
” In instances when currently existing navigation tools fall short, like during extreme weather, a captain or crew may rely on their instincts instead of their instruments, Gross said, and mistakes inevitably take place.
Orca will sell its solution to companies whose ships carry dangerous cargo like oil or gas or ships that operate in congested areas like ports.
“Basically, every commercial ship is the target. We’re building a solution that’s going to be suitable and generic to any kind of vessel, whether it’s a tugboat or a huge container ship carrying cargo,” he said.
Orca can alert a captain about a ship on the horizon or up to 6 miles away, and in the future will include a recommendation engine to tell a captain or crew how to avoid obstacles.
The solution is made primarily to detect boats near shore or in ports, where the majority of collisions take place. Nearly 4,000 boat collisions take place every year, according to the Annual Overview of Marine Casualties and Incidents report released last year.
Orca currently has 10 employees and is based in Tel Aviv.
The $2.6 million round was led by led by MizMaa Ventures with participation from Ray Carriers and The Dock.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Google releases dataset to help AI systems spot fake audio recordings | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/google-releases-dataset-to-help-ai-systems-determine-if-an-audio-recording-is-real"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Google releases dataset to help AI systems spot fake audio recordings Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Google Assistant Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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When Google announced the Google News Initiative in March 2018, it pledged to release datasets that would help “advance state-of-the-art research” on fake audio detection — that is, clips generated by AI intended to mislead or fool voice authentication systems. Today, it’s making good on that promise.
The Google News team and Google’s AI research division, Google AI, have teamed up to produce a corpus of speech containing “thousands” of phrases spoken by the Mountain View company’s text-to-speech models. Phrases drawn from English newspaper articles are spoken by 68 different synthetic voices, which cover a variety of regional accents.
“Over the last few years, there’s been an explosion of new research using neural networks to simulate a human voice. These models, including many developed at Google, can generate increasingly realistic, human-like speech,” Daisy Stanton, a software engineer at Google AI, wrote in a blog post.
“While the progress is exciting, we’re keenly aware of the risks this technology can pose if used with the intent to cause harm. … [That’s why] we’re taking action.” The dataset is available to all participants of ASVspoof 2019 , a competition that aims to foster the development of protections for and countermeasures against spoofed speech — specifically, systems that can distinguish between real and computer-generated speech.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “As we published in our AI Principles last year, we take seriously our responsibility both to engage with the external research community, and to apply strong safety practices to avoid unintended results that create risks of harm,” Stanton wrote. “We’re also firmly committed to Google News Initiative’s charter to help journalism thrive in the digital age, and our support for the ASVspoof challenge is an important step along the way.” AI systems that can be used to generate misleading media have come under increased scrutiny recently. In September, members of Congress sent a letter to National Intelligence director Dan Coats requesting a report from intelligence agencies about the potential impact of deepfakes — videos made using AI that digitally grafts faces onto other people’s bodies — on democracy and national security. Members of Congress speaking with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey also expressed concern about the potential impact of manipulative deepfake videos in a Congressional hearing in late 2018.
Fortunately, the fight against them appears to be ramping up. Last summer, members of DARPA’s Media Forensics program tested a prototypical system that could automatically detect deepfakes, or manipulated images or videos, in part by looking for cues like unnatural blinking in videos.
And startups like Truepic, which raised an $8 million funding round in July , are experimenting with deepfakes detection as a service.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Facebook needs to get weird | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/facebook-needs-to-get-weird"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Opinion Facebook needs to get weird Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shows AR Camera Effects Platform with mustache shenanigans at F8 2018 Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
In a strange turn of events, Facebook reported revenue of $16.9 billion on Wednesday, exceeding expectations on the same day Apple kicked one of its apps out of the App Store for violating user rights.
Revenue was even up in the United States and Canada, where Facebook made more than $8 billion — despite usage remaining relatively flat in North America.
While Facebook CFO David Wehner warned that growth will slow this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said product creation will increase, especially through messaging apps, and that the creation of new user experiences is central to Facebook’s mission in the year ahead.
“Messaging is the area that’s growing the most quickly, and this year people are going to feel these apps becoming the center of their social experience in more ways. We’ll roll out payments on WhatsApp in some more countries. Private sharing in groups and stories will become more central to the experience. We’re going to onboard millions of more businesses that people can interact with,” Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.
Whatever Facebook plans to introduce for its family of apps, the company needs to do more than add payments or bring more advertising to the fast-growing Stories feature it took from Snapchat. With all the AI and social intelligence at its disposal — and a never-ending stream of controversy — Facebook had better make its next products a little weird.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! By weird I don’t mean facial recognition run wild or new features that heighten the fears of privacy advocates; I mean something that takes advantage of Facebook’s social network data around groups, News Feed, perhaps even its new dating service to reignite people’s excitement about the good that can come from social online connection.
The value of weird was recently lauded by Facebook AI research chief scientist Yann LeCun. In response to a tweet by New York University Game Labs director Julian Togelius about how small AI companies can compete with big tech giants, LeCun simply tweeted “Be weird.” Be weird.
https://t.co/UKyrITEdJi — Yann LeCun (@ylecun) January 26, 2019 But the fact is we actually know very little about how new products from Facebook will look.
What we do know is that any new offerings are likely to include end-to-end encryption, not a bad decision for a company struggling to regain public trust.
As we learned last week , in the years ahead Facebook will create a common infrastructure for messaging on Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and WhatsApp that introduces encryption to two of the most-used messaging services on the planet (WhatsApp is already end-to-end encrypted) and makes it easier to send messages between them.
Another obvious result of this unification could be the addition of Instagram and WhatsApp call functionality to Portal , Facebook’s first internally made consumer product, which became available last fall.
Portal and Portal+ currently only make Messenger calls, but such a move would easily extend calls to more than 1 billion people and further reduce friction between the company’s most popular apps.
A unique social experience — together with three of the world’s most-used messaging apps — could also give Facebook a greater foothold in people’s homes, allowing it to deliver something not available with smart displays and smart speakers from Amazon and Google.
A way to flip through Stories on a Portal device could be weird.
A universe of third-party AR experiences for use during calls with Portal, and which apps could use when you aren’t making calls, could be really weird.
Strange things derived from the many papers generated by Facebook AI Research could be interesting, like giving people a personal assistant that learns more about you over time , a tourist bot in VR, or a conversational commerce bot that can respond on your behalf.
Zuckerberg even alluded to this in a Facebook post he read at the start of the earnings call, where he said the company would “need to deliver new experiences that meaningfully improve people’s lives.” “I’m not talking about the many day-to-day iterative improvements we make so that ranking gets a bit better or things get somewhat faster, but major improvements to people’s lives that whole communities recognize and say ‘Wow, we’re all doing something new on Facebook or WhatsApp that we weren’t doing before’,” he said.
In the past year, we’ve learned about Facebook’s involvement in the Cambridge Analytica scandal , heard a cofounder of WhatsApp say you should delete Facebook , seen Instagram’s cofounders leave the company , and witnessed repeated data breaches affecting tens of millions of people.
On Monday, Facebook turns 15 years old. We’ve come so far from the days when the platform was best associated with college students or an internal hacker culture.
In the past generation, Facebook succeeded in building a global monopoly and accruing more knowledge about the world’s social graph than perhaps any other company. What comes next should demonstrate Facebook’s insights into human connection, not just deliver incremental improvements to its many recommendation engines.
Going forward, the company should figure out a way to make products that don’t just engender more trust or sell ads, but that light people’s imaginations on fire. This won’t let the company off the hook for its role in the incitement of genocide , for facilitating meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, for the alleged mistreatment of black employees and users , or for its exhibitions of bottomless ambition.
But it could help Zuckerberg accomplish his goal of giving users a memorable experience — and perhaps bring us something special that only Facebook can deliver.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Dying pigs, AI, and the future of sound technology | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/dying-pigs-ai-and-the-future-of-sound-technology"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Dying pigs, AI, and the future of sound technology Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
A dying baby piglet makes a unique sound. Spend enough time around pigs and you can distinguish squeals they make when they’re being crushed, SwineTech CEO Matthew Rooda told VentureBeat in a phone interview. Approximately 6 million piglets are killed every year when the mother sow rolls onto them, so preventing such incidents could save pork farms billions every year, according to National Pork Board data gathered from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“I grew up in the industry before going to college, and … we figured: If we can hear with our own ears, there’s no way we can’t produce a technology that can do the same thing,” Rooda said. “We went and collected a lot of data from the environment and captured the sounds of piglets getting crushed, brought that in and tagged that data, and were able to develop an algorithm around that through through machine learning.” Once a microphone detects that distinctive sound, a chiropractic impulse and vibration is used to stand up a sow pig.
The power behind SwineTech’s solution to save piglets is durable IP67 waterproof microphones from Vesper, a company that demonstrates the robustness of its microphones by dipping them into beer and boiling oil, bringing them on whale watching trips, leaving them in dust storms, and other fun tests you can see on the company’s YouTube page.
Backed by Bose Ventures, Baidu, and Amazon’s Alexa Fund in a $23 million funding round last year , Vesper makes microphones for home appliances like smart speakers and TV remotes as well as extreme environments. It sees applications for its microphones virtually everywhere.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “I think what will happen in the next wave as you have things like an Echo Dot or Google Home Mini that were plugged in, or you have something like a TV remote that you had to press a button on to activate the voice assistant, and I think what you’re going to have is these kind of small, battery-powered voice nodes throughout your house,” Vesper CEO Matt Crowley told VentureBeat in a phone interview.
Earlier this month at CES, Simplehuman introduced a garbage can that uses a Vesper microphone to respond to simple voice commands; its battery power is expected to last one year.
Vesper works with hardware manufacturers to power things like TV remotes and smart speakers, but also sees opportunities where AI and durable microphones can change multiple industries. Later this year, Vesper will debut a microphone that can withstand sound as high as 150 decibels that can be used in places like jet engines or heavy machinery in factories.
“All the devices made in the future are going to have some level of sensing ability and intelligence,” he said.
Listening to save lives More companies are using durable microphones to improve their products.
The 2020 Porsche 911 will include microphones to hear the sound of water splashing in the wheel well to tell a driver to turn on wet weather mode for a safer drive.
Jabra Elite 85h headphones due out later this year will use artificial intelligence and microphones to detect noise levels to increase noise canceling during your commute, then turn it down when you’re talking to someone when you get home.
Crowley believes microphones trained to listen for specific sounds could reshape a number of industries.
“Insurance is going to be massively impacted,” Crowley said, convinced that sensors will move it from a mindset of recovery from loss to prevention of loss.
“The entire business model is shifting from one of ‘use statistical data and trying to price things so that you can recover from that event’ to ‘use sensors to get real data about what’s going on in your insured asset,'” he said.
Ambient listening with microphones that require little power can be used to detect termites or water in basements, or to differentiate between the sound of hail and a hammer on the roof of a home.
For example, a device from LifeDoor that listens for the sound of smoke alarms made its debut at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) earlier this month that automatically closes doors inside a house in an attempt to reduce the spread of smoke or fire, reduce property loss, and better protect human lives.
Ambient listening devices in home appliances could also factor into elder care or home security systems.
Alexa Guard , which made its debut last fall, will alert a homeowner if an Echo speaker detects the sound of an alarm or breaking glass.
What about privacy? The prospect of microphones everywhere is a total nightmare to privacy advocates. Especially after things like the FaceTime bug and still-unexplained sharing of recordings of Alexa users, the prospect of devices that are constantly listening in the home might be too much for some consumers.
Crowley said Vesper has seen an increase in products that deploy AI without the need to share data or be connected to the internet.
“Our chip partners are more moving into chips that have a lot more robust ability to do local voice processing and even some level of conversational processing,” Crowley said.
“We’re agnostic as to how the system is architected but I will say, I think there will increasingly be a push to do more of the processing locally, you know, in device,” he said. “Certainly privacy is the place where the edge has the edge.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Comcast Xfinity X1 will let customers pull up Super Bowl stats with voice | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/comcast-xfinity-x1-customers-will-be-able-to-pull-up-super-bowl-stats-with-voice-commands"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Comcast Xfinity X1 will let customers pull up Super Bowl stats with voice Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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What’s better than watching the Rams face off against the Patriots in the Super Bowl while hanging with your best buds? Bossing around your DVR while you watch the game, of course. Comcast today detailed commands for Xfinity X1 set-top boxes that’ll let you use voice commands to pull up a rundown on players, complete party prep, queue up tunes, and more — all in service of the Big Game.
To get the latest player totals, shout something like “Tom Brady vs. Jared Goff,” “The Patriots vs. the Rams,” “Show me Julian Edelman,” or “Show me Rams leaders” in the general direction of your X1 remote control (after pressing the microphone button). For pregame news and post-game highlights, try “Super Bowl” or “NFL.” And to get a real-time feed of stats broken down play-by-play, say “X1 Sports app” to launch the app.
But wait! There’s more. The X1 will supply snack recipes if you’re peckish — simply say: “Show me wings recipes on YouTube.” Or if you’re waiting on pizza delivery and happen to have a front door camera installed, shouting “Xfinity Home, show me front door camera” will pull up a live feed right away.
X1’s media prowess extends to music curation. It’ll pull up highlights from Maroon Five, this year’s halftime headliner, with the command “Show me Maroon Five videos on YouTube,” or rock Queens’ enduring classic if you say “Play ‘We are the Champions’ on Pandora.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Xfinity Home and Xfinity Internet subscribers get an even greater range of commands. X1 will turn connected lights red and blue if you say “Xfinity Home, go Patriots!” or yellow and blue if you say “Xfinity Home, go Rams!” And it’ll show the Wi-Fi password on-screen if you tell it “Show me my Wi-Fi password,” saving you the trouble of having to endlessly repeat it.
Super Bowl-specific commands like “Show me Rams top scorers” will work during the game on Sunday, but the others are live now.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
Discover our Briefings.
The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Augury raises $25 million for AI that predicts equipment failure from ultrasonic vibrations | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/augury-raises-25-million-for-ai-platform-that-predicts-equipment-failure-from-ultrasonic-vibrations"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Augury raises $25 million for AI that predicts equipment failure from ultrasonic vibrations Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
What do you hear when you put your ear up against a rumbling combustion engine, a whirring fan, or a thumping pneumatic press? Probably noise. But as any seasoned auto mechanic will tell you, patterns embedded within that noise communicate valuable information. Some even foretell mechanical trouble.
Inspired by this idea, software developer Gal Shaul, along with Saar Yoskovitz, an analog signal processing engineer, in 2011 founded Augury, an Israel and New York-based startup the pair describe as the “Shazam for machines.” Its wireless Halo sensors — which attach to commercial refrigerators, industrial-scale heaters, and practically everything in between — record vibration, temperature, and magnetic data and upload it to the cloud, where it is fed into AI algorithms that make predictions about the machines’ health.
Augury counts Johnson Controls, Brooklyn Navy Yard, NYC Department of Education, and Grundfos among its customers, along with PSG Dover, Trane, and Carrier. And the startup is well-funded: Today, it announced it has raised $25 million in financing contributed by Insight Venture Partners, with support from existing investors Eclipse Ventures, Munich Re/HSB Ventures, Pritzker Group VC, and Lerer Hippeau. The Series C round brings Augury’s total raised to $51 million and comes as the company completes its purchase of Alluvium, a machine learning startup with a platform that surfaces insights from industrial data streams.
Peter Sobiloff, managing director of Insight Venture Partners, and Harley Miller, principal at Insight, will join the board of directors.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! The new capital and acquisition will fuel Augury’s global expansion, Yoskovitz said, and allow it to better support its existing partners. He claims that having Alluvium onboard will make Augury one of the first industrial analytics companies to provide both mechanical and operational insights in a single package.
Above: Augury’s web dashboard monitor.
“Over the course of the last year, we have made substantial gains in the market and look forward to deepening our partnerships in the year ahead,” he said. “With this funding, we will continue to innovate and support our partners on a global scale.” Augury’s technology is engineered in such a way that it’s generalizable and improves with scale, Yoskovitz said. The recordings, which technicians take at different spots in machines, are used to establish baseline readings in Augury’s cloud. These are then compared to the sounds produced by similar appliances owned by other clients. This way, Augury doesn’t need to retrain its models for each new machine — the system over time begins to recognize abnormal sounds and other failure indicators. For example, Augury’s service might learn to spot a faulty actuator in a lifter robot and apply that knowledge to detect faulty actuators in other devices.
Early on, Augury worked directly with service companies and facility managers to diagnose critical systems, like pumps, fans, chillers, and HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems within commercial buildings. But it has since expanded service to noncritical machines, for which it provides continuous monitoring that’s used to provide an in-depth view of machine health, developing issues, and suggested maintenance practices.
Augury claims it’s able to reduce breakdowns by 75 percent, increase uptime by 45 percent, and lower asset costs by 30 percent by spotting the earliest signs of breakage. Technicians have used its smartphone app to save over 3,000 machines, monitor more than 60,000 industrial and commercial appliances, and avoid over 7,000 failures. In one case, Augury managed to diagnose a crack in a rotor bar that, left unchecked, would have necessitated replacing the entire motor.
“As the market continues to evolve rapidly on its journey to digital transformation, more enterprises seek to uncover blind spots in their operations with AI-based machine health solutions,” Yoskovitz said.
To be clear, predictive maintenance solutions like Augury’s aren’t new. They’ve been used for decades in jet engines and gas turbines, and competitors like GE Digital’s Predix and startup Petasense offer similar Wi-Fi-enabled, cloud- and AI-driven vibration sensors. Some companies even perform the service in-house, like Gogo , which records in-aircraft servers’ fan speeds — an indicator of their temperature — to build decision trees for Gogo’s server operators on the ground and help predict equipment failures.
It’s a well-established market — according to a recent report by analysts at the McKinsey Global Institute, predictive factory maintenance could be a $1.2 billion to $3.7 billion business by 2025. But Yoskovitz has grand visions for Augury’s technology, which he hopes will one day be built into consumer appliances, like washing machines and electric ovens.
Sobiloff seems confident it’ll happen. “We have seen a major uptick in digitization trends throughout the industry, and Augury’s significant growth over the past year exemplifies this shift in embracing AI technologies to optimize supply chain operations,” he said. “We look forward to working with Saar and his team to bring this industry-changing technology to more customers and industries in 2019.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"AI learns how to play Montezuma's Revenge | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/ai-teaches-itself-how-to-play-montezumas-revenge"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages AI learns how to play Montezuma’s Revenge Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Map of level one on Montezuma's Revenge.
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In 2015, Google subsidiary DeepMind published a landmark paper describing a system that could, given enough time and computational horsepower, learn to play a collection of Atari games like Breakout, Enduro, and Pong with superhuman proficiency. It failed to finish the more sophisticated Montezuma’s Revenge — a platformer that tasks players with avoiding laser gates, disappearing floors, fire pits, and other obstacles in pursuit of treasure — but AI systems have come a long way since then.
Case in point: A newly developed framework by researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, which not only played Montezuma’s Revenge quite skillfully but which managed to learn from its mistakes in-game and identify subgoals (like climbing ladders and jumping over pits) 10 times faster than DeepMind’s original algorithm. The work (“Deriving Subgoals Autonomously to Accelerate Learning in Sparse Reward Domains”) is scheduled to be presented at the ongoing Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence conference in Hawaii on Friday.
“Truly intelligent AI needs to be able to learn to complete tasks autonomously in ambiguous environments,” Associate Professor Fabio Zambetta, who coauthored the paper with RMIT’s Professor John Thangarajah and doctoral student Michael Dann, said in a statement. “We’ve shown that the right kind of algorithms can improve results using a smarter approach rather than purely brute forcing a problem end-to-end on very powerful computers.” Montezuma’s Revenge has a reputation for being difficult. Researchers peg the blame on the game’s “sparse rewards” — completing a stage requires learning complex tasks with infrequent feedback. As a result, even the best-trained AI agents tend to maximize rewards in the short term rather than work toward a big-picture goal — for example, hitting an enemy repeatedly instead of climbing a rope close to the exit.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! The trick, in this case, turned out to be reinforcement learning, an artificial intelligence (AI) technique that uses a system of rewards to drive agents toward certain goals. Rather than have humans identify subgoals for the AI or have the AI decide what to do next randomly, the researchers devised a method that rewarded the system for autonomously trying less obvious actions and paths.
It’s much like the approach described in a paper by the nonprofit, San Francisco-based AI research company OpenAI last year, which similarly used a reward mechanism — Random Network Distillation (RND) — that incentivized agents to explore areas of the game map they normally wouldn’t have.
“Creating an algorithm that can complete video games may sound trivial, but the fact we’ve designed one that can cope with ambiguity while choosing from an arbitrary number of possible actions is a critical advance,” Zambetta said. “It means that, with time, this technology will be valuable to achieve goals in the real world, whether in self-driving cars or as useful robotic assistants with natural language recognition.” Of course, the researchers’ system isn’t the only one that’s demonstrated an aptitude for Montezuma’s Revenge.
In two papers last summer, DeepMind described machine learning models that could learn to master Montezuma’s Revenge from YouTube videos and account for reward signals of “varying densities and scales.” Meanwhile, Uber in November 2018 unveiled Go-Explore , a family of so-called “quality diversity” AI models capable of reliably solving the game up to level 159.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
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"Baidu secures licenses to test self-driving cars in Beijing | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/transportation/baidu-secures-licenses-to-test-self-driving-cars-in-beijing"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Baidu secures licenses to test self-driving cars in Beijing Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Tian Wu, Executive Director of Baidu AI Group Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
Tech giant Baidu is slowly but surely progressing toward the launch of a commercial robot-taxi fleet in mainland China. This week, the company announced that it has secured 40 licenses to test driverless cars carrying passengers on designated roads on Beijing, making it one of the first to do so in the Chinese capital. It also revealed that its self-driving cars have traveled more than three million kilometers (or about 1.8 million miles) during tests in 23 Chinese cities to date, up from 2 million kilometers (roughly 1.2 million miles) across 13 cities as of July.
Baidu vice president Zhang Dongchen reiterated the company’s commitment to road safety in a statement ( translated ): “Beijing’s achievements in the field of autonomous driving are obvious to all, and it is undoubtedly [reflective] of the development of China’s autonomous driving industry. Baidu … will strictly abide by the relevant road test management regulations, fully ensure the safety of road test, and continuously improve its self-driving technology, so that a simpler and better transportation life will come soon.” As of the end of December, Beijing has allowed 151 roads totaling more than 500 kilometers (approximately 310 miles) in length to be used for autonomous vehicle tests, although the roads are closed to the public during testing. China has designated five levels for self-driving test permits ranging from T1 to T5, which are similar (but not necessarily analogous) to the automation levels issued by the Society of Automotive Engineers.
The Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport allocated its entire first batch of T4 autonomous driving test permits to Baidu earlier this summer, in July. The company noted at the time that the T4 — China’s highest-level permit — is an open-road test license, enabling it to deploy prototypical vehicles on urban roads, tunnels, school zones, and elsewhere.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Ongoing partnerships In related news, Baidu recently inked a strategic partnership with Geely to equip the Hangzhou, China-based automaker’s cars with DuerOS for Apollo, a set of AI-based IoV solutions with voice assistant, augmented reality, and motion detection capabilities. The company is also collaborating with Chinese state-owned car company FAW Group , which develops the Hongqi line of luxury cars, to deploy driverless vehicles in the Hunan capital of Changsha within the next few months.
Baidu’s other automotive partners include Ford, with which it embarked last year on a two-year project to test self-driving vehicles on Chinese roads. The tech giant separately inked a deal with Volvo to develop autonomous electric cars specifically for the Chinese market, and in 2017, it launched a $1.52 billion driving fund — the Apollo Fund — as part of a wider plan to invest in 100 autonomous driving projects over the next three years.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Changsha will serve as the pilot site for Apollo Go, Baidu’s ongoing robo-taxi project. A future 5G network and an “intelligent” roadway upgrade dubbed the Apollo Intelligent Vehicle Infrastructure Cooperative System — both of which are part of Hunan’s smart city initiative — will lay the groundwork for what Baidu is claiming will be China’s largest self-driving taxi fleet. When it rolls out in earnest, customers will be able to hail a ride via the Apollo Go smartphone app, and the cars will integrate with smart road infrastructure to “improve safety.” Apollo Go and Apollo 5.0 Today’s announcement comes months after the release of Apollo 5.0 , the latest version of Baidu’s open source autonomous driving platform, which launched in April 2017.
It enables dynamic calibration for vehicles in just 30 minutes via the cloud at a rate of 100 vehicles per minute, and it ships with Baidu’s Valet Parking framework, a “cost-effective method for transforming traditional parking facilities into smart infrastructure.” Baidu claims its Apollo-based intelligent solutions have helped to reduce traffic delays in cities like Baoding, Hebei province by 20-30%. Moreover, it says the Apollo family now spans 156 partners, more than 60 auto brands, and over 300 vehicle models. Notable collaborators include Chinese automobile manufacturers Chery, BYD Auto, and Great Wall, in addition to Hyundai Kia, Ford, and VM Motori.
Apollo has grown to 400,000 lines of code (more than double the 165,000 lines of code the company announced in January 2018), and it’s now being tested, contributed to, or deployed by big-name brands like Intel, Nvidia, and NXP. According to Baidu, the number of developers who have sourced Apollo’s code from the project’s GitHub repository stands at 12,000, a 20% increase from mid-2018.
Baidu seeks to gain the upper hand over rivals like Tencent and Alibaba. In April, Alibaba confirmed that it has been conducting self-driving car tests with the goal of achieving Level 4 autonomous capability and said that it’s looking to hire as many as 50 engineers for its AI research lab. And in May, Tencent secured a license from the Chinese government to begin testing autonomous cars in Shenzhen, China.
Baidu and its rivals are racing toward a veritable goldmine of a market. Autonomous vehicles and mobility services in China are expected to be worth more than $500 billion by 2030, according to a McKinsey report , when roughly 8 million self-driving cars hit public roads.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"Protecting data on public clouds and edges with confidential computing | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/security/protecting-public-cloud-and-edge-data-with-confidential-computing"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Protecting data on public clouds and edges with confidential computing Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
This article is part of the Technology Insight series, made possible with funding from Intel.
Using the public cloud is like swimming in the ocean. Both are vast resources filled with potential –- and peril. Without proper precautions, even experts can be attacked and drown.
Despite these dangers, organizations increasingly rely on both to integrate multiple data sources for analytics. One big draw: seemingly bottomless trenches of data to help develop and train machine learning systems.
Old challenge, new twist Many CISOs, CSOs, and CIOs continue to struggle to protect data from sophisticated cross-cloud orchestration and cross-tenant attacks, among others. It’s a modern variation of a familiar challenge: balancing security and privacy with usability. While placing and processing intellectual property on shared servers is fraught, experts say the risk can and must be managed.
That’s the aim of a new cross-industry effort, the Confidential Computing Consortium.
Founded in 2019, the collaboration operates within The Linux Foundation.
Its mission is defining and promoting adoption of confidential computing, which protects sensitive data within system memory, a new favored target for attackers. Backers include industry heavyweights Alibaba, ARM, Baidu, Google Cloud, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Red Hat, and Tencent.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Key points Greater reliance on public clouds and edge for analytics and AI is driving the need for new, stronger security.
The new Linux Foundation Confidential Computing Consortium is working to devise secure computing enclaves for in-use data.
Microsoft, Google, Red Hat, and Intel are building confidential computing compatibility and tools.
New battleground: Data in use Supporters say confidential computing helps keep data useful without sacrificing privacy and regulatory compliance.
Consider genomics, where researchers must process genome databases of well over 1TB. That data likely arrives encrypted, containing DNA information and the patient’s personal data. If the analytics application runs in a secure enclave, data can be decrypted safely. Personal metadata remains unviewable, even as needed data is processed.
Similar treatment might be given to stock trading data, banking transactions, blockchain transactions (as opposed to group validation), and healthcare information. Any data in which privacy must be maintained during aggregation can benefit.
According to proponents, confidential computing offers great promise for safely running applications on public clouds and on the edge.
Confidential computing lets untrusted third parties collaborate with data without providing visibility into it. Proponents say that could enable much broader and deeper partnerships between companies and institutions worldwide.
First areas of focus The Confidential Computing Consortium “will bring together hardware vendors, cloud providers, developers, open source experts and academics to accelerate the confidential computing market; influence technical and regulatory standards; and build open source tools that provide the right environment for TEE development.” The organization will also anchor industry outreach and education initiatives.
Key projects include: Intel Software Guard Extensions (Intel SGX) Software Development Kit , designed to help application developers protect select code and data from disclosure or modification at the hardware layer using protected enclaves.
Microsoft Open Enclave SDK , an open source framework that allows developers to build Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) applications using a single enclave abstraction. Developers can build applications once that run across multiple TEE architectures.
Red Hat Enarx , a project providing hardware independence for securing applications using TEEs.
Intel and Microsoft got the Confidential Computing Consortium off to a solid start, the former with the donation of SGX and the latter with the contribution of its Open Enclave SDK.
No place for data to hide It’s hardly news that the public cloud remains beset with predators hungry for data at rest, in motion, and in use.
Yahoo suffered major security breaches in 2013 and 2014, with more than one billion user records stolen. Apple’s iCloud hack exposed private celebrity files to public scrutiny in 2014. And of course, Cambridge Analytica illicitly scraped more than 80 million Facebook profiles prior to the 2016 election without users’ consent.
More recently, F5 Networks noted a 40% uptick in attacks, including campaigns against vBulletin servers and Oracle WebLogic servers. Moreover, threats to supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems in industrial settings as well as Internet of Things (IoT) device exploits are also rising, the firm says.
So why this effort now? The short answer: Current protective measures need to keep evolving for a cloud-converged, data-hungry world. With as-a-service options for applications and infrastructure continuing to gain popularity, more organizations need to protect more public data and intellectual property. Stringent new data privacy regulations like GDPR are another big factor.No matter how secure the application, data can still land in inquiring hands.
Consider how, in 2018, the U.S. enacted the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act. It required U.S. data providers to preserve and provide any data subpoenaed by U.S. courts, even if that data is located abroad. The law works both ways; providers like Google and Microsoft must detail how they adhere to treaties that provide user data to governments outside the United States. Yet subpoenas aside, rogue administrators can still expose confidential data.
Hardware locks the castle Consensus is growing that software alone cannot handle the growing complexity of these modern threats and demands. The thinking is this: If hardware is the ground under the server’s castle, security-hardened hardware presents attackers with tunnel-proof bedrock.
Hardware-based security also enables assistance from silicon-level accelerators to relieve the CPU from having to shoulder such burdens through software, thus improving system efficiency.
The industry has worked to enable hardware-based security for many years. The Trusted Computing Group, for example, released the first specifications for the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) in 2009. The next year, Intel debuted AES-NI encrypt/decrypt on Westmere-generation processors. Such measures have done a good job of protecting data at rest and data in flight from one location to another.
However, one serious weakness remained: data in use, meaning data being handled in system memory. That’s where the Confidential Computing Consortium is focusing major efforts.
Establishing trusted execution spaces SGX (Software Guard Extensions) provide a framework for creating secure “enclaves” within RAM. These are invisible to the system (and thus any users or attackers), so data can be handled without risk of outside exposure.The capability is important because “in-flight” data located in RAM is almost always unencrypted, which leaves it vulnerable.
Much of today’s infrastructure stack is prone to attack from nefarious agents. SGX and trusted enclaves operate within system memory, out of sight and beyond access from would-be intruders.
With trusted enclaves, “data and operations are isolated and protected from any other software, including the operating system and cloud service stack,” explained Lorie Wigle, a VP in Intel’s architecture, graphics and software group, in a blog post.
“Combined with encrypted data storage and transmission methods, TEEs can create an end-to-end protection architecture for your most sensitive data” SGX enclaves provide a secure zone within RAM for handling this open data. However, using SGX requires custom coding of applications to make use of it.
Confidential Computing provides for trusted execution environments (TEE), meaning secure enclaves via SGX. But it does so in a way that allows unmodified applications to run in certain SGX-ready containers (such as Graphene, SCONE, or Haven) within SGX.
Open Enclave, open source As the Open Enclave group defines it on their site, “Open Enclave SDK is an open source SDK targeted at creating a single unified enclaving abstraction for developers to build Trusted Execution Environment (TEEs) based applications.” Google’s Asylo and Red Hat’s Enarx provide similar frameworks and SDKs. The common denominator across all these projects is to make the cloud more secure.
“Software developed through this consortium is critical to accelerating confidential computing practices built with open source technology and Intel SGX,” said Intel’s Imad Sousou, corporate vice president and general manager, system software products, in a Linux Foundation statement. “Combining the Intel SGX SDK with Microsoft’s Open Enclave SDK will help simplify secure enclave development and drive deployment across operating environments.” Azure shows the way To get a sense of how confidential computing is already impacting the cloud and application development, look to Microsoft’s Azure confidential computing efforts.
Even before the Confidential Computing Consortium kicked off, Microsoft CTO Mark Russinovich noted in a May 9, 2018 blog post how his company deployed SGX-enabled Xeon processors in its East US Azure region for customers needing trusted execution enclaves.
Microsoft enclave APIs allowed developers to build and deploy C/C++ applications for trusted execution. And Microsoft Research worked with Azure to prevent any possible trusted execution data leaks. In addition, Microsoft has also announced Confidential Computing for Kubernetes, IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack, and KEDA 1.0.
Confidential Computing for Kubernetes, IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack, and KEDA 1.0 Microsoft announces Confidential Computing for Kubernetes, IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack, and KEDA 1.0 Foundations forming Clearly, these are still early days for trusted execution, but the building blocks are cementing into place.
Organizations in need of cloud-based data aggregation and collaboration and/or the ability to trust the cloud as a platform for secure computing seem likely to embrace new confidential computing technologies. That will enable participants in the coming waves of analytics and AI to advance with less worry about the safety and privacy public data and intellectual property.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"California's privacy law means it's time to add security to IoT | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/security/californias-privacy-law-means-its-time-to-add-security-to-iot"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages California’s privacy law means it’s time to add security to IoT Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect on January 1, and it gives residents of California the right to learn what data companies collect about them and governs how they should protect consumer data. And that means it’s time for the internet of things to become secure.
Jack Ogawa, senior director of marketing (and IoT security guru) for Cypress Semiconductor, spoke with me about the implications of the law for everyone who is making software, hardware, chips, and systems for the internet of things, which makes everyday objects smart and connected.
Cypress, a major chip maker for IoT devices, is in the process of being acquired by Infineon for about $10 billion.
Along with every other tech company, Cypress is probably going to have to abide by the California law across the U.S. and help ensure that tech products comply with basic security measures. The law is a warning shot , and it means that tech designers have to take security into account in their software and hardware designs for the future.
Here’s an edited transcript of our interview.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Above: Jack Ogawa, senior director of marketing (and IoT security guru) for Cypress.
VentureBeat: The law that’s going into effect in California, how concerned are you about how that’s going to affect IoT? What are the consequences for the industry? Jack Ogawa: We’re excited about the law coming into effect. Not necessarily because it’s a perfect law, if there is such a thing as a perfect law. I personally don’t have any misconceptions that the law is perfect. But it is an indication of what’s needed for IoT.
If you think about the evolution of the marketplace, we’re at a state now where the technology has gotten us to a certain point. We have connectivity. Wi-Fi has gotten to a point where it’s ubiquitous. Access to the internet is pretty pervasive around the world. That’s spun this billions-of-units vision, saying that everything is going to be connected.
That’s interesting, and from a technology perspective, we’re seeing that in our houses. We see the ubiquity of these connected devices in our homes. But what quickly happens is you get what I call a normative period where societal issues come to the fore, the biggest one being privacy. You go into this normative period now where everyone says we need privacy, and then you have to have some sort of governance over the devices to create an environment where you can deliver that capability in a cost-effective way.
What I’m saying specifically, as it relates to privacy today, is that there are no standards. There is no threshold. Therefore, these devices can be anywhere from having zero security capability to everything in between, across the spectrum. The problem with that, one, as a consumer you don’t know what you’re getting, because each device delivers things in a different way in terms of privacy. But there’s also a commercial aspect to the problem. In a fragmented state like this, it turns out it’s cost-inefficient for everyone to have their own answer.
The reason why we’re actually applauding the legislation coming forth is not because it’s a perfect law, but because it will start the normative cycle where the answer to the question of “How do you support privacy?” will start to become standard and ubiquitous. When that happens, it becomes affordable, and it becomes approachable by consumers.
VentureBeat: What are some things that the law will require? Ogawa: There are basic things. You have to have a password to join a connected network. Your ability to use the default password — you’re confronted with that choice. You have to opt in to that choice. The default will be to force you to create a new password. That’s interesting. If you look at a lot of the data, that simple thing is what’s exploited in a lot of attacks.
As a chip maker, there’s another dimension we think is important, which is being able to install a secret and immutable identity in your hardware. That stance is built around the concept of being able to confer trust, just like being able to have a unique user password.
VentureBeat: Is that simply a user identity, or do they call that something specific? Ogawa: It’s a user identity, yeah, an end user identity.
VentureBeat: Is multi-factor authentication a requirement as well? Ogawa: No, but it’s suggested in the law. The requirement is to have a unique username entered in. The law goes into some other statements regarding — if you’re familiar with networking at all, it tries to cover the hardware as well. One aspect is the user authentication, and then the law also tries to describe how to authenticate hardware.
That’s the other piece that’s often forgotten. There’s so much energy focused on authenticating you as a person, but some big percentage of attacks actually spoof the hardware to get into your network. When you spoof the hardware, you’re able to adopt its permissions as it enters the network. Protecting your hardware is as important, in terms of privacy, as it is to uniquely identify you as a person.
At a high level those are the biggest things in the law. It’s the requirement to better identify a person, and then the requirement to protect data as well. That fundamentally comes down to being able to encrypt data. Then the third dimension is to be able to protect the device itself.
Above: DedSec is the fictional hacker group in the game Watch Dogs 2 that hacked the internet of things.
VentureBeat: How long were you tracking this? Was there some public history for all of this that the industry got to weigh in on? Ogawa: Particular to SB327, I don’t know what the public commentary, how that got fit in — I don’t have that background handy. It predates some of the things that I’ve been tracking.
VentureBeat: Is it a situation where if California requires it, pretty much everyone has to abide by it? Ogawa: That’s the thesis. The California legislature has decided to take leadership on this. The analogy I’ve read is to automobile emissions. The state felt like taking a leadership position on this was important. We are starting to get customers asking us about that.
VentureBeat: When I think about security for IoT, what it reminded me of was when I used to go to the Black Hat conferences. They always talked about these non-tech companies and non-tech industries that would design a new product, but there would be no security in it — especially at first, because it was never intended to be connected. And then you have IoT, which is connecting these things that were never connected before. They mostly went out as — well, let’s see if people want to use this type of thing, so let’s build connectivity into everyday things and see what happens.
There was another trend where there was CPU power and battery life, and the restrictions were often so tight that you didn’t have the capacity for encryption or security technology to be built into it. The pattern for introducing these things went that way. First you made it not connected. Then you made it connected. Then you had to think about security once you had enough processing power and battery life to do so. But you never did that at the beginning. It felt to me like that’s the way IoT developed, like almost any other connected product.
Ogawa: You’re absolutely right. That’s exactly the trajectory we’ve been on. Our mantra, if you will, and one of the reasons why we applaud the legislation, is that it will force IoT devices to be secure by design. In order to do this correctly — and do it economically, which is just as important — embracing security during the design phase is critical.
That’s how the industry will respond to this, I think. The evolution of this will be — first I couldn’t have connectivity. Now I can go to market with connectivity, but no one’s asked me about security. OK, now there’s regulation around security, so I have to comply. Now what’s the most cost-effective way to achieve compliance? Classically, that will unleash the engineers. If you had to start over, how would you incorporate security? VentureBeat: I do see different companies talking more about it. It was a big topic at the Arm TechCon conference , for example. They’ve done a lot of industry-wide attempts to improve security. It feels like we’re at a stage where people don’t care as much about processing power anymore. They care about privacy and security and making it better. Is that the new stage we’re at right now? Is that satisfactory for you? Ogawa: It’s an interesting question. For the IoT industry overall, it’s a pretty fragmented marketplace. In aggregate, you can claim millions or billions of devices shipped, but that’s scattered across smart locks, thermostats, fitness trackers, you name it. The challenge for these guys is to make sure that what they’re doing is going to appeal to their end constituency.
When you talk about processing and power, those are a couple of the horizontal capabilities that affect everybody. I think security is going to be another one of those horizontal things that affect everyone. Whether a given smart lock guy is going to run a million units, that question is sort of orthogonal to the basic question of, is he going to have to comply with security and privacy laws? Because he does. And by the way, the thermostat guy does, and the fitness tracker guy does too. But it’s one of those horizontal topics that’s defining the segment overall.
VentureBeat: If companies aren’t ready for the California law, I suppose they have to get moving.
Ogawa: This is one of those things. You’ve followed technology long enough. The lawmakers take a shot at this, but there’s so much ambiguity in how it’s enforced and how the vendors achieve compliance. Whether there will be any sort of legal or civil ramifications to the particular law is questionable, to be honest. But like I said, a lot of customers look at it and say, “This is coming.” They don’t want to be the one who becomes liable, legally or otherwise, because they don’t support the law. It’ll be interesting to see how vendors react to this, but I do expect a reaction. I don’t think people will be able to ignore it.
VentureBeat: As far as broader standards for connecting everything, does that seem to be coming together? I know there are things like Samsung’s SmartThings.
I don’t know if everything is interchangeable yet, or if there’s still a long way to go there.
Ogawa: From an end customer perspective, there’s still a way to go. Connectivity tends to follow the use case. From an underlying protocol and standardization perspective, things are still the way they were. Wi-Fi has come out to be a strong, ubiquitous protocol, and we believe that will be the winner in terms of IoT. But that doesn’t mean all these other protocols will suddenly disappear. There are other use cases, like Bluetooth mesh, that will continue.
Above: Masayoshi Son envisions 1 trillion internet of things devices, which will need to be secure.
VentureBeat: As far as issues like cost, do you have pushback from people who say that security costs too much, or someone else should have to pay for security? How does that conversation go? Ogawa: It’s an interesting problem. If you look at the hardware cost — I always use the example of a washing machine, because that’s easy to understand. If you look at the cost of a washing machine, trying to add Wi-Fi to that — it takes away from the profit margin of a washing machine. People are not going to pay another $100 for Wi-Fi, not in the broader population. There’s a real problem.
There are two dimensions to the question. One is, in general, IoT device makers have to answer the question of “Why”? A lot of that question is answered by more processing, like you alluded to earlier, and being able to be more smart. An example of that might be machine learning for preventative maintenance on the motor inside the washing machine. There’s some intelligence in the machine that detects some weird vibration, so you should pay attention to that before the whole thing dies. We can see that happening.
On the security side, I believe it’s more of a — it’s a cost of ownership problem that IoT device makers have to work around. Just like most companies today have an IT department that handles all the networking issues, IoT devices have a similar requirement, an IT administrator and dev ops, managing all those millions of devices going out. Security falls into the efficiency bucket relative to defraying your networking costs, meaning if you figure out a standard way to deploy security, it will save you money in the end versus having each one of your products having a different version of security.
It’s similar to the IT challenge. Most companies won’t allow their employees to just mix and match their PCs, because it drives the IT guys crazy and drives costs up. What most of these companies realize is, when they build in security by design, the network management efficiency will be a big gain.
1 2 View All The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"2019's best game for new experiences: Outer Wilds | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/2019s-best-game-for-new-experiences-outer-wilds"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages 2019’s best game for new experiences: Outer Wilds Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The best game that did something new.
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Outer Wilds delivered one of the freshest gaming experiences of 2019. It’s about a solar system-spanning mystery, and you don’t unravel it through combat or increasing your character’s abilities. Instead, you work through the challenge by learning for yourself how its universe works.
The pitch for Outer Wilds is that it’s like Groundhog’s Day in space. Its clockwork solar system runs on a 22-minute loop. And when you reach the end of that, the star goes supernova, and you reawaken back at the start of the loop.You can then jump back in your rickety-yet-reliable spacecraft and blast off to try again. Only, what is it exactly that you are supposed to do in Outer Wilds? The game doesn’t give the player any explicit goals. It focuses instead on giving you a series of intriguing threads to pull on. And that leads to a series of astonishing and unforgettable moments.
What is Outer Wilds? The most obvious of those is what looks like a shooting star that blasts off in a random direction every time your character opens their eyes at the start of a loop. As I pulled on these threads, I discovered intricate and intertwined each mystery is. They each cascade into one another, and the adventure of the game is working backward like a detective to deconstruct how everything went down.
And what really makes Outer Wilds work is just how vibrant and alive it feels despite how empty it is. It has multiple, mostly dead planets. I never got into a fight with an enemy or any of the local fauna. And that might make the game sound like an inert diorama. But instead, it feels like a living crime scene where you are the lead detective. Outer Wilds is doing so much unique and new, that it’s easily my pick for freshest gaming universe of 2019. I hope we get more like it soon.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
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"2019's 5 most exhilarating gaming moments | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/2019s-5-most-exhilarating-gaming-moments"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages 2019’s 5 most exhilarating gaming moments Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn I'm not gonna jump out there.
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I don’t play games to beat them. Or, at least, that’s what I’m telling myself as I race to finish as much as I can for GamesBeat’s game of the year discussion.
What makes me appreciate a game more than anything is a memorable moment.
These are slices of a game that you can’t stop thinking about. Whether they are part of a scripted narrative or emerge from gameplay, they give you a story you can share with others. And to that end, I’ve gathered up five of the most thrilling and exciting gaming moments from 2019.
5. Solving a difficult puzzle in Baba is You Baba Is You is one of the toughest brainteasers ever. It’s a game where you move words around a playfield. And as you move those words around into different “equations,” you change the nature of how the game works. You can move “stop” from “wall is stop,” and then you can now walk through walls on that stage.
It’s not as complicated as it sounds, but stages get difficult quickly. And this is what makes solving a puzzle in Baba is You one of the best moments of the year. You can’t help but feel like a genius when your lateral thinking finally clicks and you overcome a particularly devious set of challenges.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! This would probably be higher on the list, but the game honestly made me feel dumb way more than it made me feel smart. And yes, I’m going to hold that against it.
4. Perfecting a 20-second speedrun level in Super Mario Maker 2 Super Mario Maker 2’s community is like a living organism. Without direction (or even the proper tools) from Nintendo, course creators have developed style trends including something called 20-second speedrun stages. These are courses where you have to run through a level and perform precision platforming exactly as the creator intended. If you fall off the authored path, you’ll die or won’t finish in time. If you pull everything off, you’ll finish in about 20 seconds.
What’s great about these levels is that they are long enough to feel challenging yet short enough to feel conquerable. So you might spend 30 minutes the first time you encounter one trying to get to the end without making a mistake. And when you succeed, you feel awesome. And big reason for that is because it makes you look like a pro player.
fuuuuun #SuperMarioMaker2 #NintendoSwitch pic.twitter.com/HaB4sEzdOf — Grubb (@JeffGrubb) June 30, 2019 3. Learning the identity of the Flame Emperor in Fire Emblem: Three Houses I knew a few things about Fire Emblem: Three Houses before I started it. I was aware that it had multiple story paths and that the story had two halves separated by a five-year time jump. Based on that information, I made some assumptions about the way the game was going to work.
Spoiler warning for Fire Emblem: Three Houses — Ed.
Fire Emblem tested those assumptions when it introduced the villainous Flame Emperor. This is a character you fight against multiple times in the first half of the game. Then, as you come to the end of Part 1, developer Intelligent Systems makes the big reveal.
Edelgard, student at Garreg Mach, leader of the Black Eagles house, and heir to the throne of the Adrestian empire, is the Flame Emperor.
Sure, it’s shocking that one of the students turns out to be the villain, but what’s especially stunning about this is that it doesn’t change depending on who you decide to play as. I thought the game made her the Flame Emperor because I was playing the Blue Lion path. And if I chose to play as one of the other houses, maybe one of the other house leaders would end up as the villain.
But that’s not what happens. Edelgar is always the Flame Emperor. And learning that made the moment even more impactful. Each path really does show the different motivations and rationalizations of people on multiple sides of the same war. My playthrough isn’t just different than people who chose a different house — it’s counter to them. It made everything more meaningful, and it made me want to finish the game so I could go ask people what their playthrough was like.
2. Winning a match of Tetris 99 The battle royale genre is brilliant for a number of reasons. For one, it’s easy to understand. You want to outlast everyone else. But when you drop onto an island or whatever with dozens of other players all going after the same goal, you don’t expect to win. And that’s another brilliant aspect of battle royale. You don’t usually feel bad about losing because your odds of winning are so small. Then that leads into another genius element where when you do end up as the victor, it feels incredible.
Tetris 99, Nintendo Switch’s battle royale take on the classic puzzler, has all of that working for it. I don’t ever expect to win a match of Tetris 99, and that’s good, because it’s only happened once. And yet that one moment was one of the best things I experienced in a game this past year.
Because the thing is that you don’t expect to win … until you make it into the top five or so. Then, all of the sudden, the prospect of getting that victory hits you hard. This could be it. This could become your moment.
Your hands suddenly begin to shake as adrenaline begins pumping through your limbs. You become aware of how odd this gaming object feels in your hands. Manipulating tetrominoes turns more and more awkward. You can feel your heart beating and you have to remind yourself to breathe.
And then you lose. You get fourth or, even worse, second place. This may happen multiple times until you tell yourself you’re never going to win.
But then one time, you just keep pushing. You force out any thought and just react to the game on instinct. And even though you forgot to tell yourself to breathe, get a quick combo of four line clears in a row and watch that wipes out the last other player.
It’s difficult not to shout when this happens, but honestly, I didn’t even try to stop myself. I was too excited about what I had just done.
1. Jumping across the sun in Outer Wilds Outer Wilds is a collection of astonishing moments. And the best comes after you’ve learned how its tiny, simulated solar system works. It involves a station that is orbiting meters over the surface of the system’s sun and is traveling at an incredible speed.
I noticed Sun Station early on. And I made a few attempts to land on it. It really is just above the sun’s burning face, and it moves at what feels like hundreds of kilometers per second. And the closer you get to it, the more flames burst out from the star and obscure your vision. But landing on it is so difficult that it becomes clear that a simpler method must exist ( although you can do it the hard way if you choose to).
Eventually, as you learn some of the secrets of the Outer Wilds universe, you’ll find a way to get onto the sun station. But the vessel has broken apart, and you are on the wrong side. And to get to the other end, you have to jump out and use your suit’s limited propulsion to get to the other side.
This was one of the most intimidating and frightening moments I’ve experienced in a game. Standing at the opening and looking out into space and seeing death on all sides. In front of me was a broken bridge and the part of the sun station I needed to get to. Above is endless space. And below me is a pissed-off star that has already disintegrated me into my base elements multiple times.
But I didn’t have a choice, so I jumped out. And everything about that feels wrong. I know how fast this station is moving. I remember its impossible velocity and tight orbit around the sun from trying to land on it. And those memories are all sitting in the pit of my stomach with the expectation that I’m going to fly wildly off course or slowly desync from the debris and fall into the sun yet again.
I try to remain focused on the port on the other side. And I gently feather my thrusters to slowly make my way across. And it’s that contrast that really makes this moment stick with me.
Hell is lashing out at me from below and cold, freezing helplessness is opposite it. And I’m whipping around this sphere of endless hydrogen bombs at an irrational speed. All I want to do is freak out. And yet, I have to just gently tap the buttons and analog sticks to keep my momentum deliberate and under control.
I do keep my cool, though. And the moment is over in a snap. The chasm is tiny. So I make it to the other side and continue on with my adventure. But even though it was over quickly and the gap is small, the experience in my memory is huge. And it’s impressive that a game about landing space ships on a comet or flying through black holes is at its most memorial when it puts things on a human scale.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more.
VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Facebook Messenger now requires a Facebook account to sign up | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/facebook-messenger-account-sign-up"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Facebook Messenger now requires a Facebook account to sign up Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Facebook Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Facebook has quietly removed the ability to sign up for Messenger without a Facebook account, the company confirmed to VentureBeat this afternoon. Previously, new users using the Messenger or Messenger Lite app could opt to use their phone number in lieu of an account.
“If you’re new to Messenger, you’ll notice that you need a Facebook account to chat with friends and close connections,” a spokesperson said via email. “We found that the vast majority of people who use Messenger already log in through Facebook and we want to simplify the process. If you already use Messenger without a Facebook account, no need to do anything.” Some Messenger users without Facebook accounts report that the transition hasn’t gone smoothly.
Perhaps owing to a bug, they say they’ve encountered an error message indicating that their account has been restricted.
Facebook rolled out the ability to sign up for Messenger sans account in June 2015, first for users in the U.S., Canada, Peru, and Venezuela. In addition to phone numbers, photos and names were accepted as forms of login identification.
The change might anticipate the forthcoming unification of Facebook’s various messaging properties, which include WhatsApp and Instagram as well as Messenger. The New York Times reported in January that the technical infrastructure underlying all three services will be integrated, potentially redefining how over three billion people around the world communicate. (WhatsApp has more than 1.5 billion active monthly users, while Messenger and Instagram have over 1.3 billion and 1 billion, respectively.) In an announcement earlier this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out Facebook’s plan for a shift toward end-to-end encrypted, ephemeral messaging, in accordance with the social network’s new interoperability principle. “People should be able to use any of our apps to reach their friends, and they should be able to communicate across networks easily and securely,” he wrote in a blog post.
“We plan to start by making it possible for you to send messages to your contacts using any of our services, and then to extend that interoperability to SMS too.” Doubling down on messaging could prove to be a lucrative decision in the long run. By recruiting businesses and brands to message users about promotions and by decreasing the friction of in-message purchases, Facebook stands to make well over the roughly $55 per user it paid to acquire WhatsApp in 2014.
“Today we already see that private messaging, ephemeral stories, and small groups are by far the fastest growing areas of online communication,” Zuckerberg continued in the March post. “As I think about the future of the internet, I believe a privacy-focused communications platform will become even more important than today’s open platforms.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
Discover our Briefings.
VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"That time I flew to New Zealand 20 years ago to witness the Y2K non-apocalypse | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/media/that-time-i-flew-to-new-zealand-20-years-ago-to-witness-the-y2k-non-apocalypse"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Feature That time I flew to New Zealand 20 years ago to witness the Y2K non-apocalypse Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
The fearmongering surrounding the Year 2000 Problem — or the Y2K bug, as it was better known — may have faded from memory for most people. But for me it remains a personal and professional touchstone, marking the transformation being wrought by technology at the time and profound upheaval over the past 2 decades.
Even if the world did not end in a fiery meltdown of computers, it’s worth reflecting on this bizarre moment in the evolution of humanity’s relationship to technology.
Let us step into the Wayback Machine and set the dials for the summer of 1999. I had been working at The News & Observer in Raleigh, North Carolina for more than 7 years. Most of that time I had covered the classic beats, such as cops and courts and local government. But the rise of the internet led to an expansion of interest in all things tech, and as the paper expanded its coverage, I was pulled into writing about networking and communications.
This was a heady moment for American newspapers and me. After graduating from college in 1991, I struggled to find a full-time newspaper gig. The Bush recession was crimping ad budgets. And the last of many major afternoon newspapers were closing, flooding the market with seasoned journalists. A bad combination for an aspiring journalist.
Still, I landed a part-time gig with the N&O that eventually became a full-time one. And over the next few years, the economy recovered. And then it started to really cook as the internet began to touch everything. As a tech reporter in North Carolina, I was writing stories about a young, hot-shot tech startup named Cisco Systems that had just opened its first office outside Silicon Valley in the central part of our state. It was hoping to pilfer talent from two other major local employers: IBM’s network enterprise team and Nortel’s telecommunications equipment division.
IBM’s division was struggling as companies began replacing their green-screen computer terminals that connected to a mainframe in the basement with PCs and servers that would eventually connect to the internet. Nortel was doing better as phone companies were starting to shift from analog to digital equipment that would eventually dramatically lower the cost of phone calls, which to me meant I wouldn’t have to call my parents (who lived in Kansas) after 11 p.m. to avoid going bankrupt.
The dot-com surge made terms like “entrepreneurs” and “startups” sexy and in turn dramatically expanded the media interest in the sector.
Wired magazine launched, followed by the Industry Standard , while newspapers saw their help wanted sections swell and began to invest more in business coverage.
Perhaps no American newspaper benefited from the tech boom as much as the San Jose Mercury News.
Amid massive plans to expand its technology coverage to more than 40 reporters, the Merc went on a recruiting binge that eventually included offering me a job covering networking and communication in July 1999.
Upon arriving in San Jose, one of the more veteran tech reporters politely informed me that while I had done some decent work in the past, I had now been “called up to the NBA.” I wasn’t sure whether he was referring to working at the Merc or reporting from ground zero of the tech revolution. Either way, the pressure felt immense.
The Big Leagues In the middle of startups IPOing every day and secretaries becoming millionaires, my big story at the start was … the controversy over Pac Bell’s decision to split the local area code. The number of cell phones was straining the system, and the growing density of phone lines threatened to overtake the volume of phone numbers available that started with 408.
Local residents, however, were pissed that 408 would no longer be the default. The 408 area code had been around for decades and was tightly interwoven into the notion of the community. The march of technology threatened to erase this small but emotional marker of the region’s identity. Laugh it up and roll your eyes, but this story repeatedly landed me on the front page as a revolt forced Pac Bell to back down.
Over my first few months, this tale and other quirky stories helped me move up the ranks that were rapidly churning as reporters were recruited away to other media amid a bidding war for talent. By December 1999, as the dot-com bubble continued to inflate and tech geniuses insisted this was not a bubble but a NEW ECONOMY, I was less of a newbie and more of an established face.
So when the Mercury News was tapped by its parent company, Knight-Ridder, to lead coverage of the Y2K bug across its chain of newspapers, I got pulled onto the team.
Like every tech reporter of the era, I had written my share of stories about Y2K. Simply put, the fear was that many outdated systems had software that had not been written to handle dates past the year 1999. Would internal clocks that read ’99 go to ’00 and believe it was 1900? Nobody seemed to know for sure. But plenty of doomsayers were urging companies and governments to spend vast sums of money to upgrade to new hardware or rewrite old software. Governments around the world established Y2K task forces and international agreements were established to encourage cooperation.
Amid the stock market rise, and IPOs, and heavy debt borrowing, Y2K contributed its share to the financial hysteria surrounding tech. Economists at the time were split about whether Y2K chaos would sink the economy into recession, or whether investments to address the issue would raise the GDP. One Cap Gemini study in 1999 pegged the cost of Y2K fixes at $858 billion.
More than the dot-com boom and the internet, Y2K created a fundamental existential angst because it forced everyone to take a digital inventory. And in doing so, it brought into sharp relief just how digitized our world had become. Everything seemed to be connected to a microchip somehow and featured some aspect of computing. The whole planet had grown smaller and more tightly connected. It had happened step by almost imperceptible step and then all of a sudden there we stood, on the brink of a techno disaster that could bring all down together.
Probably not. But when you work in newspapers, you have to have a plan in place to cover Armageddon. You know, just in case. And so, the Merc’s Y2K team began to take shape, with huge ambitions and cash flooding over the transom thanks to the 10,000 help wanted ads being purchased by Cisco Systems.
About 10 days before the end of the millennium, a brainstorming session for coverage led to a discussion about how the looming tragedy would likely unfold and which developed nation it would hit first. The answer: New Zealand. Of course, “developed” is a relative term. The country was still heavily rural, and if people thought about anything when they thought about New Zealand, it was probably sheep.
Nevertheless, it suddenly became imperative to send someone to New Zealand as soon as humanly possible. That someone, for reasons I don’t fully remember, was me.
Down Under Making travel plans on the cusp of a new century was bonkers. My passport had lapsed, and the paper paid an ungodly sum to one of those services that can get your passport renewed in 72 hours. Meanwhile, the company’s travel agency somehow booked a roundtrip flight to Wellington that cost around $8,000. One hiccup: All flights coming back were booked, so I would have to stay two weeks no matter what happened. Or didn’t happen.
I packed a suitcase, and with my head spinning, boarded a plane to Hawaii, where I had a several hour layover in the middle of the night. Then I caught a connection to Auckland, NZ.
While I had since overcome it, at the time I was terrified of flying. To survive almost 18 hours of flying, including hurtling through a thunderstorm over the ocean, I popped an unhealthy amount of Dramamine along with a few alcoholic beverages. I lost track of time and location and just remember an interminable, fear-soaked floating feeling anchored by a death grip on the seat ahead of me.
Further adding to my confusion was crossing the international dateline for the first time in my life. Traveling almost an entire day had somehow jettisoned me into the future. When I landed in Auckland, I had to make a connection to Wellington, the nation’s capital, and only managed to navigate the airport after posing a series of delirious questions to local airport workers.
Finally, I landed in Wellington, and checked into a hotel just 36 hours before the end of civilization. I had brought a fancy laptop, by which I meant it had a 56k modem. After rigging a number of wires and adapters, I was able to dial into the local phone system and to connect to the internet.
The editors were eager for an update. What was happening on the ground? What was the mood like? I wasn’t even sure what day it was.
The Beehive Afraid to go asleep and lacking any creative impulses, I decided to pursue the time-honored practice of conducting man-on-the-street interviews. My own mood was total disorientation. It was summer, and so it was warm and toasty out, but also the Christmas holidays. Everyone in New Zealand apparently takes several weeks off around this time to celebrate this strange mingling of seasons.
While there were lots of people wandering around, my attempts to interview them yielded little in the way of helpful journalistic material. Most people seemed nonplussed about Y2K even though the government had been pressing hard on the issue for two years.
Its own Y2K task force in August 1998 declared : We began our task with some skepticism regarding the degree to which such threats were being represented. As we progressed, however, it became increasingly clear that the Year 2000 problem, if not effectively managed, has the potential to have a significant impact on the lives of many New Zealanders. It also became increasingly clear that some public and private organizations in vital parts of our infrastructure are not well prepared to meet the challenges presented by the Year 2000.
Among the solutions was fixing its own systems and pressuring businesses to do the same. There was an infamous public awareness campaign featuring a mascot named Ken the Cockroach. Chosen because, well, cockroaches survive pretty much any disaster. The government spent $1.3 million on a publicity campaign organized by its Y2K Readiness Commission.
The grim message was that residents should prepare for three days of just about anything: power outages, financial systems crashing, utilities such as water and gas being cut off. Just in case, residents were told to put together emergency kits, including water, flashlights, and radios that ran on batteries. Maybe get some extra buckets in case toilets stop working. Non-perishable food. And withdraw some cash just in case. Real end-of-the world scenario type stuff.
Still, I didn’t detect any real panic about Y2K. Far more exciting to locals was the massive filming taking place by local hero Peter Jackson. He had constructed a big studio in Wellington, and hordes of cast and crew from all over the world had been flooding the city in recent weeks as part of the making of Lord of the Rings.
That sounded more interesting to me too, but I couldn’t get distracted. I eventually arrived at a New Zealand government office to pick up some press credentials. The government was aware that it would be in the Y2K spotlight and was busy welcoming international journalists like myself. I filed a few paragraphs via my prehistoric laptop with some comments from a government spokesperson, though I can’t honestly say whether they were published or not.
The next day or so was a blur of stumbling around and eating at odd moments, napping, and then waking up in a sweat afraid I’d missed the whole damn thing. Eventually, I made my way to the city center and the New Zealand parliament building that was nicknamed “The Beehive.” It was named such because the circular steel structure really did have the misbegotten shape of a beehive. No doubt it was one of those ideas that seemed like a bold architectural statement on paper but caused one to wince every time one had to look up on it.
Set on top of the hill, the Beehive offered wonderful views of the city below with the additional benefit that we couldn’t see the exterior of the Beehive while inside of it. We entered the building and were led to a kind of war room the government had set up. There were computers and boards with flashing lights and lots of telephones being manned by people with furrowed brows and fax machines spitting out documents.
I barely had time to settle in and take in the scene. I plugged in my laptop, with fingers at the ready. The room grew quiet as the clocked ticked toward midnight.
As the minute hand finally reached 12, there was a big explosion and a flash of light. Alas, just the fireworks over the bay below welcoming the new millennium.
Inside, there was almost total silence and stillness, waiting for calls and alarms that never came. Brows became more furrowed. A phone rang. Reports of a power outage at some remote corner. No, wait, scratch that. A drunk driver hit a utility pole.
After about 30 minutes, the sense of anti-climax began to settle in. No ATMs spewing money into the streets. No hospital life support systems failing. No big power surges. No death. No mayhem.
At 8 a.m. local time, the Y2K commission issued a press release declaring victory. According to David Henry, deputy chairman of the New Zealand Y2K Readiness Commission, all 12 sectors being monitored were reporting no problems. Time for a victory lap. “This is an excellent result and is testimony to the hard work sectors have put in,” Henry said in the statement.
By March, the commission would be disbanded. As for me, my head was still spinning, lost in a strange time zone and trying to think of how to write a few paragraphs to capture the weirdness of the whole thing. I sent along a few lines fed to a team in distant San Jose where they disappeared into a vortex. By the time most people reported for work 12 hours later at the Mercury News , and most time zones had welcomed 2000, the whole Y2K affair had already become an afterthought.
I had 10 more days before my return flight.
The End of the End To this day, there is some debate about whether the Y2K bug was simply overblown nonsense or whether it was thwarted by the huge efforts to fix systems around the globe. But at the time, after months of hype, the whole thing simply vanished from the news cycle. Too much other tech news was ready to replace it.
Just 10 days into the new millennium, AOL announced it was acquiring Time Warner. While the merger is now considered an epic catastrophe, at the time was the seen as The Triumph of the New Economy. This dial-up behemoth was swallowing an old-timey corporation for $182 billion. Yowza! The merger was possible because the Internet Bubble had reached its peak. Just a few weeks later, the markets would begin to crash, a slide lasting several weeks that would send Silicon Valley plunging back to reality. It was a disaster that would shape the next generation of entrepreneurs , who became more wary of Wall Street and instead created a whole different set of venture capital-funded excesses known as unicorns.
Unfortunately, this would also turn out to be the last great gasp of the golden age of newspapers. My trip to New Zealand was my junket of junkets, a money waster born of another age. For nine months, Merc editors tried furiously to spend travel budgets each quarter fearing the party would end, as it eventually did that summer when dot-com help wanted ads crashed and corporate turned off the spending spigot.
Within 18 months, a drumbeat of layoffs began that never stopped, gutting the newsroom until only a husk remained. Knight-Ridder collapsed, was sold, then broken into pieces and crumbled out of existence.
All these lessons would come eventually, for me and many other journalists writing about tech and money and the often unholy intersection between the two.
My only silver lining was the 10 days of being relatively unconnected in a far-off land where the exchange rate was ridiculously favorable. I hiked a volcano. Bathed in natural hot springs. And in a fit of inexplicably foolish judgment, gave in to New Zealand’s obsession with extreme sports and did my first and only bungee jump.
When it was time to return, I had finally acclimated to the time zone and the upside-down seasons. Returning to the buzzing newsroom at the Mercury News , I was immediately swept back into the craze of the dot-com whirlwind. What little I had to tell of my New Zealand escape was hardly the stuff of great foreign correspondent war stories and certainly impressed no one. “Welcome back from New Zealand,” said that same veteran tech reporter who had greeted me six months earlier. “So, I guess none of their sheep crashed?” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"Spotify will suspend political advertising in early 2020 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/marketing/spotify-will-suspend-political-advertising-in-early-2020"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Spotify will suspend political advertising in early 2020 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The Spotify logo reflected in a music CD.
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(Reuters) — Spotify said on Friday it would pause sales of political advertisements on its music streaming platform in early 2020. The world’s most popular paid music streaming service, with nearly 141 million users tuning into its ad-supported platform in October, said the pause would extend to Spotify original and exclusive podcasts as well. The move, which was first reported by Ad Age, comes as campaigns for the U.S. presidential election in November 2020 heat up.
Online platforms including Facebook and Alphabet’s Google are under growing pressure to police misinformation on their platforms and stop carrying political ads that contain false or misleading claims.
Twitter banned political ads in October , and last month Google said it would stop giving advertisers the ability to target election ads using data such as public voter records and general political affiliations.
“At this point in time, we do not yet have the necessary level of robustness in our processes, systems, and tools to responsibly validate and review this content,” a Spotify spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters. “We will reassess this decision as we continue to evolve our capabilities.” Spotify, which was only accepting political advertising in the United States, did not answer a Reuters question on how much revenue the company generates from political ads.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “Spotify wasn’t a widely used online advertising platform for campaigns before,” said Eric Wilson, a Republican digital strategist. “But as other online platforms restricted their political ad inventory, advertisers were on the hunt for new options.” The new policy will cover political groups such as candidates for office, elected and appointed officials, political parties, political action committees (PACs), and SuperPACS, as well as content that advocates for or against those entities. Spotify will also not sell ads that advocate for legislative and judicial outcomes. The move only applies to Spotify’s ad sales, not advertisements embedded in third-party content, though those will still be subject to Spotify’s broader content policies.
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"2019 tech IPOs: The not-quite-banner year that could have been a lot worse | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/2019-tech-ipos-the-not-quite-banner-year-that-could-have-been-a-lot-worse"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages 2019 tech IPOs: The not-quite-banner year that could have been a lot worse Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Pinterest cofounders Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
While the much-hyped tech unicorns produced IPOs that amounted to giant face plants , the news was not all bad for the class of 2019 entering the public markets. Overall, the year was only slightly down from 2018, though extremely rocky.
The number of all IPOs in U.S. markets fell to 159 from 192 in 2018, according to Renaissance Capital’s annual IPO Review. Following the categories used by Renaissance, 42 of the U.S. IPOs came from the tech sector, down from 52 last year.
Thanks to these overstuffed unicorns, the amount raised by the companies was roughly the same as the previous year. In the tech IPO category, companies raised $21.9 billion in 2019, compared to $18.3 billion in 2018. Not bad, considering Slack did a direct listing and so raised no money.
But bigger was not better in 2019. Renaissance noted that the 10 largest IPOs raised $22 billion, about half of the $46 billion raised by all IPOs.
However, their stocks generally struggled. “Seven of the 10 were consumer-facing companies with billions in sales and steep losses,” the report said. “Public investors were ultimately unwilling to give premium valuations to companies with unproven models in highly competitive markets, and the 10 largest averaged a return of just 2%.” Even if unicorns like Uber, Lyft, Slack, and Pinterest flailed, the IPOs for 2019 were up 20% overall from their debuts, according to Renaissance. This was mostly thanks to health care and financial IPOs, which dominated the list of 10 best-performing IPOs.
Smaller and mid-sized tech offerings did better than the unicorns. But in many cases, they too delivered uneven performances that seem to point to a growing lack of faith by Wall Street.
Consider, for instance, the tech stock Motley Fool declared its best-performing tech IPO of 201 9: Zoom Communications.
The video conferencing company priced its IPO at $36 a share and saw it pop 72% on the first day of trading before eventually reaching $102.30 per share in June. It closed Friday at $66.64 per share. A big win followed by a big drop and an uncertain future.
Crowdstrike followed a similar trajectory. The cybersecurity company priced its IPO at $34 per share in June and closed at $58 per share on the first day of trading. It reached $99.39 per share in August before falling back to Earth and closing at $49.92 on Friday.
Not disasters, but nobody is taking a victory lap. And those two are pretty representative of the roller coaster ride for tech stocks making their debut this year.
Considering the Nasdaq is up more than 35% for the year, and the Dow is up about 22.6%, tech stocks have not exactly been shining stars.
These tech IPOs are making big returns for the venture backers who are cashing out. But public investors have not been enjoying the spoils. And that doesn’t bode well for companies like Airbnb that are eyeing IPOs for 2020 but are still losing money and so will be asking investors to have a little faith.
Goodwill toward tech is in short supply, and that’s never a sound foundation for launching an IPO.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"Huawei's 2019 revenue to jump 18%, forecasts 'difficult' 2020 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/commerce/huaweis-2019-revenue-to-jump-18-forecasts-difficult-2020"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Huawei’s 2019 revenue to jump 18%, forecasts ‘difficult’ 2020 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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(Reuters) — Huawei Technologies said on Tuesday that its full-year revenue would likely jump 18% in 2019 to 850 billion yuan ($121.72 billion), lower than its earlier projections, as a U.S. trade blacklisting curbed growth and disrupted its ability to source key parts.
The world’s biggest maker of telecom network equipment and the No. 2 manufacturer of smartphones in May was all but banned by the United States from doing business with U.S. companies, preventing its access to technology like Google’s Android operating system.
The U.S. government alleges Huawei equipment poses national security risks because it could be used by the Chinese government to spy on users. Huawei has repeatedly denied that its products are a security threat.
Huawei’s rotating chair Eric Xu revealed the numbers in a New Year’s message to employees and customers, in which he also forecasted 2020 to be a “difficult year,” saying that the firm was unlikely to grow as rapidly as it did in the first half of this year.
The estimated 18% revenue growth in 2019 is less than in 2018, when Huawei’s annual revenue rose 19.5%.
The company did not break down fourth-quarter figures, but according to Reuters calculations based on its previous statements, revenue in the quarter to end December 31 rose to 239.2 billion yuan ($23.28 billion), up 3.9% from a year earlier and slower than the 27% increase it reported in the third quarter.
“The external environment is becoming more complicated than ever, and downward pressure on the global economy has intensified,” he said.
“In the long-term, the U.S. government will continue to suppress the development of leading technology — [creating] a challenging environment for Huawei to survive and thrive.” Xu also said that Huawei shipped 240 million smartphones this year, a 20% increase from 2018. Huawei has mainly sold smartphones that were launched before the ban.
The newest Mate 30 smartphone first went on sale in September, but it cannot access a licensed version of Google’s Android operating system because of the trade curbs.
Xu said in his letter that in 2020 Huawei would “go all out” to build its Huawei Mobile Services ecosystem, which comprises services such as cloud storage and an app gallery, describing it as “the foundation of our ability to sell smart devices in markets outside China.” The company is also developing its own mobile operating system, known as Harmony, although analysts are skeptical that the system is a viable alternative.
Huawei’s reputation was dented earlier this month after details of the dismissal and wrongful detention of a former employee went viral.
In his letter, Xu said the company would continue to remove mediocre managers and complacent employees and that it would remove managers performing in the bottom 10% every year.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"What do we want from PS5 and Xbox in 2020 and beyond? | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/what-we-want-from-ps5-and-xbox-in-2020"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages GamesBeat Decides 134: What we want from PlayStation 5 and Xbox in 2020 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn What can the next-gen consoles do to set themselves apart? Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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In 2020, we’re getting both the PlayStation 5 and the new Xbox. And with that next-generation of hardware on the horizon, we’re looking forward with anticipation. What do we want from yet another round of consoles? We talk about that on this special episode of the GamesBeat Decides podcast. Join us, won’t you? We also talk about some of the games we’re looking forward to in 2019. And then we wrap up the episode with this question: what present do you want from a major publisher by next Christmas? How about a new F-Zero or Kirby’s Dream Course from Nintendo? Or maybe Sony could bring back some more PlayStation 1 games like G-Police.
Finally, keep an eye on this feed. We’ll have our Game of the Year episode up soon. And then we’ll return for more in the new year. See you then! GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more.
VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"The top 10 best games of 2019 and GamesBeat's game of the year | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/top-10-best-games-of-2019"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Feature GamesBeat’s top 10 games of the year for 2019 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The 10 best games of 2019.
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The entire GamesBeat crew got together to pick the top 10 best games of 2019. You can hear that discussion for yourself in a special episode of the GamesBeat Decides podcast right here: Download here Subscribe to the RSS Listen on Anchor.fm Find past episodes here But if you don’t have 2 hours to listen to us jabber, here are our top 10 best games of 2019. Oh, and check out our look back at the decade and the games that defined it as well.
10.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is the latest action adventure from developer From Software. It follows in the tradition of From’s beloved Dark Souls, but it has a sword-combat system that is even more intense and demanding.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! 9.
Teamfight Tactics Auto Chess was a breakout new genre in 2019 thanks to a Steam Workshop mod for Dota 2. But Riot’s Teamfight Tactics was the big winner thanks to the huge number of League of Legends players finding the cooperative tactical experience in League’s launcher. Teamfight Tactics has players building up an army of units with the goal of developing synergies to outlast enemies. The battles then play out automatically. It’s easy to learn and difficult to master.
8.
Disco Elysium Disco Elysium is a classic-style role-playing game, which is a way of saying that it looks and feels like something you would have played on a computer 20ish years ago. It’s on this list, however, because of its sharp writing and intricate world building as well as its smart systems that all turn every action into a skill check that reveals deeper truths about the characters and its world.
7.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 Nintendo Switch has already had a ton of top-tier releases, and Luigi’s Mansion 3 deserves a place among those games. It isn’t relentless or action-packed, but it is pleasant and good at what it’s trying to do. As in previous Luigi’s Mansion games, Mario’s younger brother has a vacuum, and Hoovering up objects is consistently fun and satisfying. And the game amplifies all of those interactions with some of the most expressive animations you’ll ever see.
6.
Total War: Three Kingdoms Total War: Three Kingdoms takes Creative Assembly’s real-time battle simulator to a familiar Chinese setting, where it excels. The skirmish gameplay is the best it has ever been with hero characters that keep things interesting. And then Creative Assembly ties the missions together with an overarching strategy layer that is nearly as good.
5.
Outer Wilds Above: Art for the planet Giant’s Deep in Outer Wilds.
Outer Wilds is a physics playground that re-creates a multi-planet solar system that runs on a 22-minute loop that almost always ends in tragedy. It is not, however, merely a playground. Instead, its worlds are hiding story threads that, as you begin pulling on them, unravel an ancient mystery that is impressive and touching. But you won’t solve it by getting better stats or equipment. Instead, the only pickup in Outer Wilds is knowledge. That makes the adventure feel more personal and all the more moving.
4.
Slay the Spire Slay the Spire is a deck-building role-playing adventure where you try to get as far as possible on a single run. And that may sound unappealing, but developer Mega Crit deftly mixed the various elements to pull out their best aspects. You always want to see what the next card is going to do. And even when you lose, you want to see if you can get further based on what you learned.
3.
Apex Legends Above: Apex Legends is one of the most approachable battle royale shooters yet.
Going into 2019, it was easy to assume that market had no more room for a massive new battle royale shooter. Then publisher Electronic Arts and Titanfall developer Respawn Entertainment surprise launched Apex Legends in February. Like other battle royales, this is a last-team standing shootout, but it mixes up the formula with hero characters similar to Overwatch or Rainbow Six: Siege. That, on top of the excellent mobility of the characters, made many players choose Apex Legends over Fortnite or PUBG.
2.
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is one of the best Star Wars games ever and one of the 2019’s true standouts. It weaves aspects of games like Metroid Prime, Dark Souls, and Uncharted together with solid Star Wars characters and stories. And the result is a cohesive and compelling adventure that is entertaining from its opening moments through to its climactic end.
1.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses — Game of the Year Above: Fire Emblem: Three Houses features a mystical girl named Sothis.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses is GamesBeat’s Game of the Year.
Nintendo’s long-running tactical role-playing series won over the GamesBeat team with charming characters and storytelling as well as solid tactical gameplay puzzles. As the name implies, the game is about three houses that run various countries or kingdoms across a cramped continent.
Players can choose to lead the students of one of the three houses as their professor. And that decision makes every action and choice feel more meaningful in the game. One player may do something that ends up hurting or even killing a character that is core to the experience of other players. And it also ensures that the story is deep and complex with multiple perspectives on every conflict. If you want, you can even replay the campaign multiple times to get all of those various points of view.
And then developer Intelligent Systems did a lot to improve the strategy combat. While Three Houses’ normal mode is a touch too easy, playing on hard is challenging and rewarding. And even when it gets too difficult, Three Houses introduces a limited rewind feature. This enables you to learn a level or experiment without having to deal with too harsh a punishment. It acknowledge how people play these games: often with permadeath on but also restarting battles the second a character died.
This made it easier than ever to sink 60 hours-to-90 hours into the game and build a connection to its wonderful characters.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more.
VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"The Witcher 3's resurgence proves that games have changed | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/the-witcher-3s-resurgence-proves-that-games-have-changed"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages The Witcher 3’s resurgence proves that games have changed Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The Witcher 3 running on Switch.
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the most-played games on Steam this week. The role-playing adventure debuted May 1, 2015, but it is actually more popular than ever. While it had 92,268 simultaneous Steam players on its 2015 launch day, it surpassed that concurrent-player figure with 94,601 players yesterday, December 29, 2019. This comes as a result of the megapopular new Netflix show The Witcher , which premiered December 20. But more important, it reveals how games like The Witcher 3 are lasting longer than ever.
Back in 2010, I was writing about games “freelance” (I was getting paid $200 a month to write news stories while also delivering sandwiches for Jimmy John’s). And I did an interview with then Netflix VP of communications Steve Swasey. That original story is lost to the internet Langoliers, but here’s an archived version of a G4TV story about the interview.
One of the questions I asked Swasey was if Netflix would ever begin renting games.
His answer: “Probably not.” “[Renting games] is a whole different model than movies,” Swasey told me back in 2010. “A great movie from 1972 is still a great movie, but nobody wants to play Madden 95.” Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! And Swasey had a point back in 2010. At that time, games quickly lost their value because technology was advancing so rapidly. But that has started to change, and The Witcher 3 is indicative of that.
The Witcher 3 was made to last OK, Swasey’s point that no one is going to want to play an old Madden is right, but gaming has changed a lot since 2010. And, really, that change started in 2011 with the release of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
There’s a reason publisher Bethesda Softworks has re-released that open-world RPG so many times: It holds up. It’s still just as good as almost any game coming out new in 2019.
For evidence of Skyrim’s staying power, we can go back and check Steam’s concurrent player stats once again. Despite launching eight years ago, Skyrim surpasses more than 20,000 simultaneous players almost every day.
And The Witcher 3 exists in that same paradigm. People have gone back to it over and over for years. And, again, this is why CD Projekt Red has been able to re-release it multiple times. The latest version hit Nintendo’s portable Switch system earlier this year.
Games are lasting longer for multiple reasons. Games already look real enough, and they are about as complicated and deep as people could want. Visuals will continue to improve and gameplay will continue to evolve, but the rate of those improvements has slowed due to diminishing returns.
Eight years before Halo debuted in 2001, we were just getting Doom and Star Fox. Eight years ago from now, we got Skyrim, and that game could launch today with only some minor upgrades.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Netflix should start a rent-by-mail service for video games. The time for that is over. But the point is that you can now build a library of enticing games from the last decade that all add significant value to something like a cloud streaming service. That’s one of the reasons Xbox Game Pass seems like it’s catching on. Sure, it’s getting new games, but it’s also relying on a back catalog that gets people excited in the same way that Netflix’s library of movies from the 1970s used to.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
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"The DeanBeat: My most anticipated games of 2020 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/the-deanbeat-my-most-anticipated-games-of-2020"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages The DeanBeat: My most anticipated games of 2020 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn A kiss at a dance in The Last of Us Part II Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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The recent airing of The Game Awards showed us some big games that are coming out in 2020, so we can make our own predictions about what the most anticipated games of 2020 will be with a little more precision.
It’s tantalizing to think about great games that are coming, and that’s why I make it a habit of doing this list each year. But some of the games are coming in 2020 because they slipped. In that category, we’ll include The Last of Us Part II , Final Fantasy VII Remake , and Doom Eternal.
But we’ve also got some games that only recently came to light, such as Valve’s Half-Life: Alyx.
And we have some games where we have to totally guess if they’re really going to happen at all.
Check out the list below. The links go to our prior coverage on GamesBeat. For fun, here’s last year’s list and my list from the year before.
The Last of Us Part II Above: On patrol in The Last of Us Part II.
Naughty Dog/Sony (PlayStation 4) Date: May 29 Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann promised that the sequel to 2013’s gritty game, The Last of Us, is far more ambitious and longer than the original. I played some of it at a preview event, and I liked the changes in the gameplay system that gave the player a lot more control over combat.
And the story — a tale about revenge — seems like it will live up to the highest standards that Naughty Dog has set with its other games. We can expect that scenes of beauty will be interspersed with horror and intense combat. Ellie is older and in command of her life and she makes conscious decisions about the risks she takes. Joel is still there, watching over her as a kind of surrogate father. And every day of their existence, they fight for survival. This is still what they do.
What’s not to like? I’m looking for the next step up in storytelling that shows video games are an unmatched medium when it comes to artistic creativity.
Cyberpunk 2077 Above: Keanu Reeves is in Cyberpunk 2077.
CD Projekt Red/CD Projekt (PC, consoles, Google Stadia) Date: April 16 It would be wise for other developers to stay out of Keanu Reeves’ way. Reeves has a role in this game, and when it comes out, it’s going to create a blast radius. It will likely be so popular that it will kill off any other titles trying to debut at the same time.
This is perhaps the only game I’ve seen that matches the production values of massive titles such as Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V or Red Dead Redemption 2. The attention to detail, the gritty sci-fi world, the realistic graphics, the detail in the human faces, and the interesting story and universe — all of that suggests that this is going to be one of the blockbusters of 2020. So long as it comes in for a smooth landing at the end of the development process, this game is guaranteed a huge audience. CD Projekt Red is going to join Rockstar in setting a very high bar for other game developers to surpass.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Above: Final Fantasy VII Remake.
Square Enix (PlayStation 4) Date: March 3, 2020 I’m tempted to say something bad about this game so that Mike Minotti can hack-‘n’-slash me. This remake of the 1997 original is going to stir fans up to an intolerable level. They’ve already been anxious about this title since rumors of it first emerged in 2014. And now they’re just going crazy. But this game gets a lot of credit for why the Final Fantasy series is still going strong and has more than 100 million fans.
Halo Infinite 343 Industries/Microsoft (Xbox/PC) Date: TBD OK, here’s another title we know very little about, and we know nothing about when it will debut. But we’ve come to trust Microsoft when it comes to the Halo brand. Master Chief has never let us down yet, and we’re as anxious to see the supersoldier with his helmet off as anyone. I only hope they haven’t changed the gameplay one bit, as Halo is one of those shooters that I know how to play. I don’t play it very well, but I always come back for more.
Diablo IV Above: Diablo IV is going to get grittier.
Blizzard (PC, consoles) Date: TBD Hello darkness, my old friend. That’s an apt way to think about this title (words stolen from Mike Minotti and Simon & Garfunkel). It’s going to take us back to the dungeons that will explored in years past, only with better graphics and probably a load of very expensive cut scenes. The Diablo series has given us a vision of hell for years, and Blizzard has been taking time with this title. I mean, it has to come out in 2020, right? They even showed a piece of it at the last BlizzCon event.
Ghost of Tsushima Above: Time for a duel in Ghost of Tsushima.
Sucker Punch/Sony (PlayStation 4) Date: March The graphics of Ghost of Tsushima looks so good, with flowing leaves, fast samurai action, realistic characters, and amazing landscapes of ancient Japan. Sony recently showed off a long trailer at The Game Awards , and it sets up tense swordfighting duels that are so intense.
The developers are trying to make the action-adventure swordfighting game as authentic as they can for a story set during the 13th century Mongol invasion of Japan. And it looks like it’s going to be a revenge story. We would love to get our hands on this to see whether it goes the way of Dark Souls or something else. This is yet another game that appears to invest an awful lot in graphics and storytelling. And it will likely keep Sony at the top of the heap when it comes to awesome single-player games.
Metroid Prime 4 Above: Metroid Prime 4 — that’s all we know.
Retro Studios/Nintendo (Nintendo Switch) Date: TBD Nintendo has been quiet since it announced in January 2019 that it had restarted Metroid Prime 4 development for the Nintendo Switch. Ever since, it has been quiet. That gives us hope that the game is moving along and should arrive sometime next year. Nintendo has plentiful hits for the Switch, but something like Metroid Prime 4 would ignite the Nintendo faithful to a new level of devotion.
Half-Life: Alyx Above: Half-Life: Alyx is bringing the series back … and into VR.
Valve (Steam, Steam VR) Date: March Valve has been very slow about announcing new games, but fans went crazy when they heard that the owner of Steam said release Half-Life: Alyx on the PC and in virtual reality in March. It’s the first new title in the Half-Life series since the release of Half-Life 2: Episode II in 2007.
Talk about pent-up demand.
Alyx will take place between the events of Half-Life and Half-Life 2, and Alyx Vance will be the lead character for the first time in the franchise. It will also feature gravity gloves. Valve boss Gabe Newell talked up the game as an ambitious full-length title, and we hope that it, alongside Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond, will breathe more life into consumer VR, which still has a long way to go.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2 Above: Breath of the Wild 2 — this is just about all we know about it.
Nintendo (Nintendo Switch) Date: TBD Breath of the Wild was the breath of fresh air that the Zelda franchise needed to modernize itself in the age of open worlds. We don’t know what Breath of the Wild 2 will bring, but you can probably expect a richly detailed world with many ways to achieve your goals and an unscripted feel.
Doom Eternal Above: So many guns.
Id Software/Bethesda Softworks (Windows, consoles) Date: March 20 I’ve had multiple chances to blaze with the guns of Doom Eternal, and it seemed quite polished. So I was surprised when Bethesda delayed this title. But it’s probably for the better because the team can smash the bugs. It’s going to be an unforgiving game that has to run at a dizzying pace, as you mow down the demons of hell with a wide variety of weapons. I found it really hard to get through just one of the levels during one preview. I’m sure they’re tuning it for difficulty. But don’t expect the denizens of the hellish world to be merciful when you fight them. This is part of the ongoing revival of Doom that id has orchestrated, and the key is that they are forcing players to fight in a mobile way, earning more rewards with every risk the player takes. So yes, it’s either high risk, high reward, or death.
Honorable mentions Ori and the Will of the Wisps Oddworld Soulstorm Overwatch 2 Marvel’s Avengers Minecraft Dungeons Bleeding Edge Tell Me Why Watch Dogs: Legion Dying Light 2 Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond Iron Man VR, Disintegration Skull & Bones Animal Crossing: New Horizons Empire of Sin Wasteland 3 Dragon Age 4 Beyond Good & Evil 2 Microsoft Flight Simulator CrossFireX Carrion Nioh 2 No More Heroes 3 System Shock Rainbow Six Quarantine GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
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"ProtonMail takes aim at Google with an encrypted calendar | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/protonmail-takes-aim-at-google-with-an-encrypted-calendar"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages ProtonMail takes aim at Google with an encrypted calendar Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn ProtonCalendar by ProtonMail Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Encrypted email provider ProtonMail has officially launched its new calendar in public beta. The move is part of the Swiss company’s broader push to offer privacy-focused alternatives to Google’s key products.
ProtonMail has been talking about its plans to launch an encrypted calendar for a while. But starting from today, all ProtonMail users on a paid plan will be able to access ProtonCalendar , and it will be opened to everyone when it exits beta in 2020.
By way of a brief recap, ProtonMail was founded out of Geneva, Switzerland in 2013 by Andy Yen, Jason Stockman, and Wei Sun — academic researchers working on particle physics projects at CERN.
ProtonMail promises users full privacy via client-side encryption, which means nobody can intercept and read their emails. ProtonMail has increasingly positioned itself as the antithesis of Gmail , insofar as Google has the ability to scan the content of users’ emails to help personalize other products in the Google product lineup.
ProtonCalendar isn’t the first new product to emerge from ProtonMail — it has previously launched a VPN service — but it signals the start of a suite of new offerings that will include a cloud storage service to rival Google Drive and office software similar to Google Docs.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “Our goal is to create and make widely accessible online products [that] serve users instead of exploiting them,” said ProtonMail CEO Andy Yen.
From emails to calendar ProtonMail hasn’t set out to reinvent the wheel in terms of the features and format of ProtonCalendar. It sports a clean interface with views by month and day, color-coded event types, and so on. It is also tied to a user’s ProtonMail email account.
Above: ProtonCalendar: Month view Above: ProtonCalendar: Editing an entry Above: ProtonCalendar: Color-coded entries Where ProtonMail is really looking to differentiate itself is by putting privacy at the heart of ProtonCalendar — the company said it encrypts event title, description, location, and participants so neither third parties nor ProtonMail itself can peruse the contents of calendar entries.
ProtonCalendar also speaks to ProtonMail’s ambitions in the business realm — the company doesn’t yet offer a full-fledged enterprise product, but it does market a Professional subscription tier that offers some features and functionality aimed at businesses.
Any company enticed by encrypted email will also likely be interested in similar privacy-focused products, including calendars, cloud storage, and documents.
“ProtonCalendar and the upcoming ProtonDrive are both essential stepping stones for Proton’s expansion into the business segment,” Yen told VentureBeat. “Today, Proton serves over 30,000 businesses, but with the addition of encrypted Calendar and Drive functionality to go with the encrypted email that we already provide, the pool of potential business use-cases that we can service grows exponentially. This will allow us to penetrate deeper into the business productivity segment which already has a high inherent need for security and privacy.” Moreover, public trust in “big tech” is at an all-time low, due in large part to the countless data breaches , abuses, and scandals that have emerged in recent years, which may put ProtonMail in a strong position to further infiltrate the consumer sphere. Indeed, ProtonMail has been profitable for some time already and has garnered roughly 20 million users since its launch back in 2014.
“Like ProtonMail, ProtonCalendar is engineered to put user privacy first, and in that respect we are the polar opposite of Google,” Yen added. “With the launch of ProtonCalendar beta, we move one step closer to providing a full suite of services [that] can replace Google for users who want more control over their data.” For now, ProtonCalendar is limited to the web, but standalone mobile apps will be made available at a later date. And while it will eventually be made available to free users, premium subscribers will always have access to more advanced features — the exact ins and outs of this will be determined during the beta phase.
* Updated January 7 with additional information on upcoming mobile apps and a quote from Andy Yen on the company’s plans for businesses.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"ProBeat: Google only updated Android distribution data once in 2019 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/probeat-google-only-updated-android-distribution-data-once-in-2019"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Opinion ProBeat: Google only updated Android distribution data once in 2019 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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There are still a few days left in 2019, but I’m not holding my breath. After more than six months of no updates , Google updated its Android distribution data in May. Since then, more than seven months (234 days to be exact) have passed without a single update.
The Android developer website hosts a distribution dashboard that details the adoption of Google’s mobile operating system versions. With over 2.5 billion active Android devices out there, Android’s distribution is useful information for anyone who makes decisions regarding Google’s mobile operating system. It’s incredibly valuable to know how widely (or narrowly) an Android version — or more importantly, an API level — has been adopted.
In October, Google did share that Android Pie had 22.6% adoption in August 2019. That meant the second-latest version of Android was running on a fifth of devices after some 12 months. Google did not, however, share adoption numbers for any other Android version, including Android 10 , the latest version that started rolling out in September.
Google used to update its dashboard monthly. The last regular update was in October 2018. Google blamed a technical glitch for the gap between then and May 2019. The company told us at the time that it had resolved the issue and promised to keep the dashboard updated again. The updates would be closer to quarterly than monthly, the company said.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! After a few months it became clear that Google had broken that promise. We reached out to Google multiple times since May. The company declined to offer any new numbers and did not respond to requests for comment.
Useless data Here are the “latest” numbers from May 2019: Android 9.0 Pie (August 2018): 10.4% Android 8.0/8.1 Oreo (August 2017, December 2017): Up 6.8 points to 28.3% Android 7.0/7.1 Nougat (August 2016, October 2016): Down 9.9 points 19.2% Android 6.0 Marshmallow (October 2015): Down 4.4 points to 16.9% Android 5.0/5.1 Lollipop (November 2014, March 2015): Down 3.4 points to 14.5% Android 4.4 KitKat (October 2013): Down 0.7 points to 6.9% Android 4.1/4.2/4.3 Jelly Bean (July 2012, November 2012, and July 2013): Down 1.8 points to 3.0% Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (December 2011): Flat at 0.3% Android 2.3 Gingerbread (December 2010): Up 0.1 points to 0.3% This data is useless. Do Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich still have the minimum 0.1% to show up on the dashboard? What is Android 10’s adoption share? Which versions should developers target? How many users have devices that support a certain feature? When in 2020 will Google issue an update? Nobody knows.
Instead of regular dashboard updates, it looks like Google only wants to share tidbits of good news. We likely won’t see the latest numbers until Google has something positive to say about Android 10 adoption.
ProBeat is a column in which Emil rants about whatever crosses him that week.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"LiveFreely's Buddy uses predictive AI and remote monitoring for elder care | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/livefreelys-buddy-uses-predictive-ai-and-remote-monitoring-to-help-the-elderly-in-emergencies"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages LiveFreely’s Buddy uses predictive AI and remote monitoring for elder care Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Buddy detects if an elderly person falls and helps get aid.
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Live Freely uses a combination of predictive artificial intelligence and remote monitoring to help take better care of seniors , particularly with emergency incidents such as falls.
The San Jose, California-based company recently launched Buddy, health management and remote monitoring technology for seniors and their caregivers. Through an app and a wearable (such as an Apple Watch or Fitbit), Buddy can do things like predict falls, monitor for irregular health patterns, and keep seniors from getting lost.
Buddy launched as a closed beta test in October, and it will go into public beta soon. The company will be at CES 2020 , the big tech trade show that takes place in Las Vegas next week.
Personal origins Above: Buddy brings elder care into an app.
I know about this kind of challenge for caregivers, as my own mother has these problems and more. She fell, and her caretakers at the senior home didn’t realize it had happened. The founders of Live Freely, brothers Arthur and Daniel Jue, faced personal challenges in taking care of their own parents.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! In an interview with VentureBeat, CEO Arthur Jue said their father had a stroke on Valentine’s Day in 2009. He had told the family to go to a dinner event without him and said he was going to lie down. They offered help, but he declined. When they returned, they found he had had a stroke and couldn’t move. They had to carry him to the car and take him to the hospital.
“The first question on my mind was ‘Was there something that could have been an indicator for us that this was irregular, so we could have taken action sooner?'” said Arthur Jue.
Later that night, their father called on the phone and was yelling for help. They returned to the hospital and found that he was on the floor, holding the phone and struggling to get up.
“This was during the middle of the stroke and nobody in the hospital knew that he had fallen out of the bed,” Arthur Jue said. “He had other falls after that, with one that resulted in a hip replacement. This began a really long journey for us. I [had] seven years of caregiving for my dad, and he had everything from dementia to high blood pressure and diabetes.” Buddy is born Above: Arthur Jue is CEO of Live Freely, creator of Buddy.
The experience of taking care of their father, and the overwhelming amount of information that must be managed when caring for a loved one, drove the brothers to create the technology behind Buddy. A couple of years ago, they started working on Live Freely, with Arthur Jue as the CEO and Daniel Jue as chief technology officer.
“Daniel and I, we put our heads together and explored the tech industry and life sciences and biotech to see what could we do to leverage technology to help seniors who are going through things like my dad went through,” Arthur Jue said. “And that’s how we came up with Buddy.” Buddy is designed to deal with a whole spectrum of challenges around managing the health of a senior.
“We found that we weren’t alone in this whole process,” said Daniel Jue in the interview. “We started our journey into looking at it. And it’s really interesting. As we’ve gone through this process of getting this app together, some people really get it, and they understand where we’re coming from. And then some people aren’t really sure. And this is about their own experience and how they’ve interacted with aging in America.” Above: Buddy’s dashboard for elder care.
In my own experience as a caregiver, there was no technology out there able to help me. I had no hope that my mother could actually learn how to use any technology that would help her. The Jue brothers felt the same way.
“We found out that 30% of America is giving more than 20 hours a week to caregiving tasks,” Daniel Jue said. “That’s a lot of families and friends giving caregiving to folks out there. There was nothing out there for them. So what we wanted to do is make the simplest, easiest possible way of monitoring an elderly loved one.” Elderly people aren’t likely to learn technology that is difficult for them to use, even though young people might feel that interacting with touchscreens is the easiest thing in the world.
“They’re technophobic,” Daniel Jue said. “They don’t want any new technology. And so what we decided to do was to use existing platforms out there and create the ecosystem to help take care of elderly loved ones.” How it works Above: Daniel Jue is CTO of Live Freely, creator of Buddy.
Buddy is hardware agnostic, and the senior doesn’t really have to know how the device works. They just have to wear it.
Using the wearable’s sensors, Buddy can detect if someone has fallen. But to minimize false alarms, it has a couple of onscreen choices. The senior can say, “I’m okay,” and it transmits that message. Or the app can send a “Help me” message. If the senior doesn’t make a choice, it will transmit an alert on the assumption that they are unable to answer.
The wearable has the location of the person, and Buddy’s software makes use of that information to inform caregivers. It can also provide information about what kind of fall it has detected.
Caregivers can also schedule reminders to help seniors to take medication. At one time, the Jue’s father was taking 27 pills.
“I had to become an instant pharmacist,” Arthur Jue said.
Buddy can help on this front because you don’t have to type in all of the names and details of the medicine. You just take a picture of the pill bottle label, and Buddy handles the details and sends reminders. It also detects when the elderly person has strayed outside of a preset boundary to prevent wandering. And it monitors heart rate information, sending alerts if irregularities are detected.
Above: Buddy app simplifies complex elder care tasks.
The idea isn’t to completely replace human caregivers. Rather, it’s to enable elderly loved ones to live independently for a longer period of time, as well as easing the burden on caregivers and intervening in critical situations.
“What we did was create an algorithm that we could put on any smartwatch that has three or four sensors that we use in order to detect a fall,” said Daniel Jue. “Once the smartwatch detects a fall, it will send out an alert to the caregiver. It puts a countdown on the caregiver’s phone for five minutes. So the caregiver can either call the elderly loved one or call 911.” Rather than route a call to a call center, the alert goes to a caregiver because that person is more likely to know if the elderly person is really in distress. If nothing happens during those five minutes, an alert goes out to 911.
“We also put machine learning and AI onto fall detection,” Daniel Jue said. “It learns your patterns. A lot of times, elderly people will plop down into a chair. They fall hard into the chair. That’s not a fall. Other times, they can slide off a chair and then they are unable to get up. That’s really slow, but it is a fall because they can’t get back up.” Arthur Jue said that Buddy will also detect if the elderly person’s gait changes. Often that can signal a need for something like a cane. Over time, Live Freely hopes to launch partnerships with nursing facilities and assisted living homes, as well as with health insurance companies and large retailers.
“The whole team has been passionate about this. And a lot of them had their own experiences with just not having that kind of technology assistance,” Daniel Jue said. “They all really have this vision. And when we came together, we really wanted this to be more than just a technology app. We wanted it to be an ecosystem. We want to bring families together so that they can be more connected with each other as the aging process happens and so that the loved one can [offer] support not only from the family, but from the whole ecosystem of stakeholders — from … providers and caregivers all the way through [the healthcare] chain.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"Leaders must lead: How Google’s resistance to employee organizing endangers our democracy and our economy | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/leaders-must-lead-how-googles-resistance-to-employee-organizing-endangers-our-democracy-and-our-economy"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Guest Leaders must lead: How Google’s resistance to employee organizing endangers our democracy and our economy Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Adam Campbell resigned in protest from his job at Google.
In October, I wrote an op-ed for Newsweek about big tech’s gradual destruction of our democracy.
Specifically, I argued that big tech continues to undermine pillars of freedom including free speech, free elections, and personal privacy. Unfortunately, this trend does not seem to be slowing down.
This month, news emerged that Google has fired yet another employee who, by creating a browser notification for her colleagues, reminded them of their right to organize and negotiate collectively with management. A few weeks before that, Google fired four employees who appear to have been actively organizing Google labor. Interestingly, in both cases, Google has cited security concerns for its decisions.
Let me be blunt: This is bad for our democracy and this trend must change. Technology is not above the law and tech labor is still labor. We should stop further encroachments on our democratic values before they disappear from American society completely. They are worth protecting! Collective bargaining is an inherently democratic process. When employees organize and choose a representative based on a majority vote to negotiate with management, they realize our most fundamental democratic values in the workplace.
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or the Wagner Act) explicitly grants employees the right to collectively bargain and join trade unions in the United States. Enacted in 1935, it applies to most private company employees and establishes procedures to select a labor organization to represent employees in collective bargaining. It also regulates the tactics each side may employ, including prohibitions against retaliation on the part of management against employees who seek to organize their colleagues.
The right for employees to organize is not just an abstract expression of representative democracy; it also leads to inclusive negotiation-based and consensus-building conflict resolution methods. It allows employees to self-govern and re-create many democratic processes at a local level.
When empowered by a collective bargaining unit, employees can demand not just pay, benefits, or working conditions but also — equally important, but more often forgotten — whistleblower protections, proper training, mentoring and other career opportunities, fair performance rating, and more. In other words, collective bargaining is a process that gives unionized employees a seat at the bargaining table. It holds employers accountable.
And in the United States, the right to organize is rooted not just in one law passed in the mid-20th Century, but in the many Constitutionally and statutorily protected rights of association, speech, and petition, each of which is critical to a thriving democracy. Thus, exercising a right to organize is a basic civil right.
Association: At its core, a union is an association of individual employees to address workplace issues. The First Amendment right of association protects employees’ ability to meet with co-workers to discuss issues they care about. And in the case of Google, employees have recently been raising numerous public policy related issues – from the handling of sexual harassment and treatment of contract employees to working with the Department of Defense, federal border agencies , and the Chinese government.
Speech: While the First Amendment does not protect private sector employees from efforts by their private employers to censor speech, the NLRA and other federal and state statutes ensure the right of employees to join a union and engage in collective bargaining to protect basic free speech. This allows union members to participate meaningfully in workplace debates without fear of retaliation, which is critical to a functioning democratic society.
Petition: Finally, unions defend the First Amendment right to petition the government rights of their members. Unions often lobby the government and file legal actions in court to protect the rights of individual members. Thus, unions give employees the opportunity to exercise the critical right of petition when individual employees would lack the resources to on their own.
Outside of the United States, which has comparatively weak labor protections, Google’s recent retaliatory actions would be even more legally dubious. In fact, the right to organize free of employer interference is often seen as a fundamental human right, not just a constitutional or civil one. For example, even though the United States has not ratified U.N. Convention No. 87 on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize or U.N. Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining, most countries, including most democracies, respect the employees’ right to unionize and have ratified these documents. Global companies like Google have a larger social responsibility to protect human rights, and especially the human rights of their global workforce.
Finally, collective bargaining is beneficial to the economy and to society at large. It empowers employees to dream bigger in creating a meaningful career and a better world. It frees employees from their individual, often oppressive immediate circumstances. By participating in a dialogue with management, employees collaboratively engage with their employer to improve internal processes, often leading to higher employee retention. And unionized employees often address larger societal issues, beyond just wages and working conditions, that we all care about.
In the end, to say that Google’s reaction to employee organizing is immature, especially in hiding behind the hot-button buzzword of “security” after the fact, is an understatement. It encroaches on our democratic values, violates human rights, and jeopardizes our economic prosperity. A global company like Google can and must use its resources to protect our democratic values, safeguard human rights, and facilitate economic well-being for everyone. Isn’t that what leaders do? Isn’t that what changing the world with technology is all about? Olga V. Mack is a strategist, attorney, women’s advocate, and CEO at Parley Pro , a contract management company that has pioneered online negotiation technology.
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"How virtual 'cloud' kitchens gained steam in 2019 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/how-virtual-cloud-kitchens-gained-steam-in-2019"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Feature How virtual ‘cloud’ kitchens gained steam in 2019 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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When truly disruptive technology comes along, it not only leads to new types of companies — it also forces incumbents to evolve. Airbnb is arguably the poster child for the peer-to-peer (P2P) home-sharing movement, but it has also helped drive an ecosystem of me-too rivals and complementary companies aimed at property managers.
On the flip side, Airbnb and its ilk have also forced traditional accommodation providers — such as hotels — to rethink their business models.
This pattern is also evident in the ride-hailing industry, where a whole new breed of startup has sprung up to provide everything from in-car commerce and advertising to predictive analytics and more. At the same time, established taxi companies have had to embrace the kind of technology that powers Uber and the rest. But the tech underpinning on-demand transport platforms is having an impact far beyond the taxi industry. “Virtual kitchens,” sometimes referred to as “dark restaurants,” “virtual brands,” “ghost kitchens,” or any combination thereof, have been popping up all over — due in large part to the rise of on-demand transport infrastructure. In 2019, the trend reached a fever pitch, with numerous investments and fresh takes on the concept.
Virtual kitchens are essentially strategically placed kitchens that specialize in delivery only — no walk-in or sit-down customers allowed. The general idea is that restaurants can expand their footprint into high-demand areas with minimal upfront investment and lower overhead, given that prime real estate is not required. Virtual kitchens can also allow existing restaurants to experiment with bespoke menus and offer new items without impacting their existing brand. To reach customers, these businesses usually lean on transport infrastructure provided by the likes of Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Postmates, GrubHub, DoorDash, and Caviar.
Kitchen in the cloud U.K.-based food delivery giant Deliveroo, which counts Amazon as a major investor , recently revealed that it now claims 2,000 virtual restaurant brands in the U.K. alone — a 150% increase on the previous year. Deliveroo has operated delivery-only kitchens , called “editions,” since 2017. This basically involves setting up near areas that are likely to have a big demand for food delivery, with Deliveroo offering an arsenal of data to help identify specific culinary preferences. It’s all about spotting gaps in the market, and you might see a small industrial estate with several cabins working on various types of cuisine.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Above: Deliveroo Editions is a “kitchens-only” food delivery service.` Deliveroo was far from the first to embrace this concept — New York-based Maple had operated a similar model out of Manhattan for a couple of years, but that ultimately faltered and Deliveroo bought it out in 2017.
Another New York-based delivery-only kitchen called Ando was acquired by Uber Eats last year.
In Europe, Spain-based on-demand delivery startup Glovo last week raised $167 million at a valuation of more than $1 billion, making it one of just a handful of private Spanish startups to hit “unicorn” status. A large chunk of Glovo’s cash injection will go toward delivery-only restaurants and grocery stores. In fact, the startup currently operates seven “dark stores” in Europe and Latin America and is planning 100 similar locations by 2021.
The technology landscape over the past 12 months reveals a similar picture — investors are hungry for delivery-only restaurants.
The Uber factor As Uber struggles to cut losses across its business, Uber Eats now represents its fastest-growing unit, with a customer base of well over 90 million users and sales growth of 64% in the past year. Uber has also been promoting “virtual kitchens,” although these typically operate out of existing restaurants, with a different brand and separate menus designed for delivery.
However, the impact of Uber’s foray into the virtual kitchen realm is clear. Uber cofounder and former CEO Travis Kalanick has launched a new venture called CloudKitchens, which touts itself as a real estate company that provides “smart kitchens” for delivery-only restaurants. Last month, it closed a $400 million funding round at a reported $5 billion valuation.
Another new startup, called Virtual Kitchen Co, launched out of stealth last month with $17 million in funding from an illustrious list of backers that includes Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Uber Eats product head Stephen Chau. Virtual Kitchen Co was founded by Ken Chong, who formerly led Uber’s marketplace product team; Matt Sawchuk, who launched Uber’s first peer-to-peer ride-sharing service before moving into a role with Uber Eats; and Andro Radonich.
Above: Virtual Kitchen Co founders (left to right): Andro Radonich, Ken Chong, and Matt Sawchuck Virtual Kitchen Co has already helped a few virtual kitchens open in San Francisco, with plans to open more than a dozen additional locations in the Bay Area alone in early 2020.
“We think with a combination of technology, data science, and rigorous operational abilities, it’s possible to make running a high-volume delivery restaurant an easy, complete solution that lets even the smallest food entrepreneurs take advantage of the massive food delivery market,” said a16z general partner Andrew Chen. “Virtual Kitchen Co utilizes data to figure out where to best locate their network of kitchens, what cuisines are lacking in underserved neighborhoods, and even what ingredients should go into which dishes. By sharing and collaborating with restaurant partners, it will make the ecosystem even better.” Scramble In September, Pasadena, California-based Kitchen United closed a $40 million series B round of funding co-led by Alphabet’s GV and New York real estate giant RXR Realty. Similar to others in the space, Kitchen United offers prospective customers , or “food entrepreneurs,” warehouse-type facilities that can house up to 20 different restaurants. This, again, is underpinned by a data-driven technology platform to help guide menu and location choices.
Various similar cloud kitchen startups have sprung up around the world, and investors have been lining up in droves. In Latin America, Colombia-based Muy this year secured a $15 million cash injection , while London-based Taster , which is creating “native food brands” for delivery companies like Glovo, Uber Eats, and Deliveroo, raised $8 million.
And in Germany, Keatz locked down $13 million in funding.
Setting up a traditional sit-down restaurant is a costly endeavor — and fraught with risk. By crunching large swathes of data spanning demographics, location, and food preferences, cloud kitchens promise to sidestep both issues in one fell swoop. The data lets them know where to set up and what food to sell, and fancy facilities with long leases are simply not necessary.
A report released last year by Investment bank UBS titled “ Is the Kitchen Dead? ” estimated that the $35 billion food delivery economy could grow tenfold within a decade. The rise of virtual kitchens will undoubtedly play a major role in driving down the cost of meals, making it far more likely that people will order takeout instead of cooking at home.
“There could be a scenario where by 2030 most meals currently cooked at home are instead ordered online and delivered from either restaurants or central kitchens,” the report said. “The ramifications for the food retail, food producer, and restaurant industries could be material, as well as the impact on property markets, home appliances, and robotics.” This is the very definition of disruption. Technology platforms that were originally conceived to connect drivers with passengers have not only changed the taxi industry, they’re also transforming freight and trucking and other spinoff sectors.
And as we have seen with the rapid rise of cloud kitchens this year, the restaurant industry is the next frontier.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"How global expansion mitigates a recession's impacts | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/how-global-expansion-mitigates-a-recessions-impacts"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Sponsored How global expansion mitigates a recession’s impacts Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Presented by Velocity Global Economists, academics, and top executives increasingly predict that a global recession is on the horizon within the next year. In fact, when looking at the previous financial crisis back in 2008, there are many parallels to the current market conditions. Specifically, these financial experts see a sluggish stock market, an inverted yield curve (which is a precursor to every U.S. recession since the mid-1950s), and Federal Reserve rate cuts.
In addition to market similarities with the Great Recession, we must consider current socio-economic and political factors, including uncertainty around Brexit , the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute , and a slowing GDP growth rate in the U.S.
The last recession not only forced many companies to rethink their business strategies, but also caused thousands of workers in the U.S. and around the world to lose their jobs. No company wants to repeat history, so how can high-growth tech firms find success when the next recession hits? Despite unsettling economic forecasts, global expansion provides tech leaders an opportunity to grow their businesses — even under volatile market conditions.
How one business’ global presence prepared it for the financial crisis As tech leaders adjust their 2020 business strategies to account for a potential recession, there is one company they must turn to as an example. IBM, one of the oldest and well-known tech companies in the U.S., illustrates how global expansion helps mitigate recession risks.
IBM had a distinct advantage before the 2008 recession hit. The company already had an established, diverse presence around the globe that generated two-thirds of its total revenue. IBM’s global presence helped them offset the downturn in the U.S. economy by focusing on international growth. Specifically, the company’s presence in China, India, Vietnam, and the Philippines fueled much of this growth during the Great Recession.
Tech firms of all sizes need to utilize a similar strategy; greater market diversity increases tech firms’ odds of success during economic downturns.
Promising markets for tech firms navigating a recession While IBM found success by leaning on its branch offices throughout Asia, current market conditions indicate that this Asia-centric strategy does not apply to a 2020 recession.
For example, China was a top market for IBM during the Great Recession; however, the country’s contributions to Southeast Asia’s relative economic stability in 2008 are not as substantial as they once were. China’s GDP growth rate is slowing down, and its economy relies heavily on exports to the U.S. and Europe. This reliance means that, if the U.S. and Europe suffer economic blows, then China will also feel the financial hardship.
If a recession occurs in the next year, Asia will not offer the same level of assurance it did a decade prior. So, where should tech leaders head to ride out a 2020 recession? The Global Expansion Tech Index, included in Velocity Global’s The State of Global Expansion 2019 Report: Technology Industry, ranks 50 of the most promising markets to help tech companies decide where to grow.
Here are three markets around the globe featured in the Global Expansion Tech Index that show strong economic growth, offer qualified tech talent , and are ready to withstand financial turmoil in the U.S.: 1. The Netherlands The Netherlands, and its capital Amsterdam in particular, is one of Europe’s top tech hubs and continues to grow. It attracts top talent from around the world, currently employing over 250,000 tech workers, which is about 13% of the Netherlands’ overall economy. The Netherlands’ GDP growth rate exceeds other Western European markets at 2%.
2. Germany Another top European market is The Netherlands’ neighbor, Germany. Its economy ranked highly in the Global Expansion Tech Index.
Germany’s tech capital, Berlin, boasts 50% of all startups in the country and employs over 100,000 tech workers. To fill much-needed roles, Germany’s Skilled Labour Immigration Act makes it easier for skilled, non-European Union workers to immigrate to Germany.
3. Australia Australia is the only major economy not to experience an impactful economic recession in nearly 30 years. Its GDP grew, on average, 3.2% annually since 1992. With a projected GDP growth of 2.4% in the next four years, tech firms expect stability.
The country is also one of the world’s most startup-friendly markets. Its English-speaking population and similar western culture make it a natural move for many tech firms from the West.
Surviving a recession requires flexibility When all signs point to a recession, these predictions cause panic among business executives. However, growing tech companies find stability even in volatile markets by diversifying their revenue streams in foreign countries.
While weathering a looming recession is critical, the benefits of global expansion go beyond simply attaining more consistent business. International expansion enables tech companies to attract top talent and carve out a market presence before their competition.
Making a global move with a recession on the horizon leaves many business leaders feeling uneasy — but there are flexible, risk-averse solutions that allow companies to enter or exit almost any overseas market quickly — and diversify their revenue streams before another recession.
Ben Wright is CEO of Velocity Global.
Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. Content produced by our editorial team is never influenced by advertisers or sponsors in any way. For more information, contact [email protected].
The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"From Minecraft to Auto Chess: The 29 games that define the 2010s | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/gamesbeat-rewind-2019-the-games-that-tell-the-decades-story"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Feature From Minecraft to Auto Chess: The 29 games that define the 2010s Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn These games, and more, tell the story of the 2010s.
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At GamesBeat, we like to focus on the business, innovation, and technology of games. So we’re bringing that approach to our games of the decade list. You won’t find just a list of the games we thought were the best from a critical standpoint (sorry, as much as I love you, Obsidian Entertainment , Pillars of Eternity isn’t here). What you will find are the games we believe tell the story of this decade’s industry, setting up where we believe gaming will go in the 2020s.
When we consider the games that define the 2010s, we must look at the 2000s, for three of the games that frame the decade’s innovation, be it in design, economic models, or technology: Dwarf Fortress , League of Legends , and Minecraft.
The mechanics of one of these would filter into a number of genres, and believe it or not, it still hasn’t seen its first retail release. Another would redefine both strategy games and esports , building a massive company, following, and genre … and paving the way for Riot Games to thrive in the 2020s.
And our final pick helped usher in the user-generated content revolution of this decade , turning mod makers on PC into well-known names in a community that numbers in the millions … and showing, for the first time, that the idea of a walls were falling down around the game industry.
Please enjoy this journey with us, and again, thank you for supporting the independent journalism of GamesBeat and VentureBeat. We do not have a corporate owner. We’re our own thing, and that you take the time to read us and support us means more to me, Dean, Jeff, and Mike than any of you will ever realize.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! –Jason Wilson, GamesBeat managing editor Late 2000s: A decade’s foundation Dwarf Fortress Above: There’s an entire dwarf civilization in those ASCII characters.
Dwarf Fortress’ initial release on the internet was years before the 2010s, and its full publication on Steam won’t happen until the 2020s. Yet it’s been one of the defining games of the decade despite this, alongside other 2000s games like Minecraft and League of Legends. The idea of the living game, one that resides on the internet, where content is continually added, and fans of the game can play it for years, has been possibly the biggest story of the 2010s, from mobile to blockbuster games.
That’s not the only way that Dwarf Fortress helped define the 2010s. “Losing is fun” went the tagline, which is a way of saying it’s a game about stories. It’s a game that’s as or more fun to experience other people playing, whether on forums , or via social media, or streaming. The 2010s were also about games becoming a group experience, blurring the lines between player and viewer. The rise of the roguelike generally, and survival strategy specifically, are directly tied to the idea of games as a shared experience.
Perhaps more than anything, the fact that Dwarf Fortress, a legendarily weird game, could end the decade being one of the most wishlisted games on Steam shows that the idea of what a game is — and especially what a hit game is — has changed dramatically. At the start of the decade, you’d go to a store and pay $60 for a box with a completed game inside was still a default understanding of how games worked, with digital distribution starting to open other models up. By the end of the decade, that door is wide open, and what it means to have a hit game has totally changed. — Rowan Kaiser League of Legends Above: Welcome to the League of Legends jungle.
I remember the first time I saw Riot Games’ League of Legends in 2009. I had no idea what to make of it. It was confusing. It was different. And I knew that I was looking at something that would change the way we play strategy games.
But I had no idea it would revolutionize esports as well.
Before League of Legends, strategy games came in two stripes: real time, where you’re building your bases, gathering resources, and constructing an army as your opponent does the same. You scout, you probe defenses while coming up with a plan of attack, and you may also deal with some neutrals running around the map. You might even have hero units as well Or you played a turn-based game, which comes in many stripes, may have you working on economies, social agendas, and more as you build up a grand civilization, researching tech-tree upgrades, and so much more.
Warcraft III’s Defense of the Ancients mod took all of this and made something new, something different, in 2003. And while others beat Riot into turning this style into a full game, Riot was the first to emerge with a smash hit. And we’ve seen League ripple through the game industry.
Valve and Blizzard followed with their own takes, a genre we’d come to call MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena).
A host o f others followed , with many of them failing.
The rush came to mobile , with varying degrees of adaptation and success. New twists emerged, such as Clash Royale (combining MOBAs and card games), and it later gave birth to a new genre that’s on the rise at the end of the decade — the auto-battler (think Auto Chess, Teamflight Tactics, and its ilk).
And as League of Legends gained traction, it found players … and Twitch.
Here, it continues to be a dominant force. Every day, tens of thousands of people watch top players defend the lanes or push for the goal. And as this viewership grew on Twitch, it changed esports. Before, competitive gaming was the realm of StarCraft and South Korea , along with Evo and a host of smaller fighting game tournaments.
But as League of Legends grew, so did its competitive scene. And folks then realized that these viewers represented millions in untapped dollars.
And thus the esports revolution was born, and the likes of The International , the Overwatch League , and a host of competitions for card games, shooters, and other MOBAs. — Jason Wilson Minecraft Above: Blockception’s Whiterock Castle was the No. 1 best-seller on the Minecraft Marketplace two months in a row.
I don’t play Minecraft. My kids do. Every day they get video game time, they spend some of it playing Minecraft on our Nintendo Switch. And what they create is amazing — castles, forts, houses and farms. And as they create, they talk about what they’re doing, trying to figure out how to get the designs from their imagination on the screen.
Now, that alone makes Minecraft innovative. We’ve had builders before, but none of them could match Minecraft in its limitlessness. Earlier in the decade, I remember how so many publications covered the amazing creations folks were making inside Minecraft. Someone did a computer in the game that works! And as Minecraft expanded, it knocked down the walled gardens, coming to just about every device that runs games — be it a PC, a home console, or a smartphone or tablet. I’m kinda surprised the screen on my fridge isn’t running it yet.
With more than 176 million copies sold, Minecraft’s expanding to other genres and augmented reality.
But it’s done more than knock down walled gardens. In doing so, it heralded how corporate parent Microsoft was looking to get its games on new platforms. But it also showed a new way creators could make money — selling things they make in the store. It built on how folks were selling hats and other materials for games like Team Fortress 2 on Valve’s Steam PC store, and now, people are selling millions of dollars worth on content there.
Minecraft shows how giving people the tools to create and smashing those walls between platforms can pay off not just for a corporate parent — but for everyone. — Jason Wilson 2010: A decade launches Super Mario Galaxy 2 Above: Mario and Nintendo are at their best in Super Mario Galaxy 2.
In 2010, many of us were still in the middle of the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii era. It was a time of transition. The Wii was a huge success, but it was becoming apparent that its motion-control focus was not going to be the future of the industry, especially with casual gaming taking off in the mobile world.
But for console players, one game defined 2010 better than any: Super Mario Galaxy 2.
That may seem like a strange claim. In many ways, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a safe sequel. It looks and plays a lot like the first Super Mario Galaxy.
Galaxy 2 is just better in every way. Nintendo gave a master class on how to create a traditional sequel. The levels were more creative and the experience was tighter. Even today, when it comes time to praise a sequel, you often hear people compare it to Super Mario Galaxy. And in the midst of the Wii era and stuff like Wii Fit, Super Mario Galaxy 2 reminded us that few are better than Nintendo when it comes to making fun video games. — Jeff Grubb StarCraft II Above: They should make a movie about what happens when you teach an A.I. how to fight a war.
Before it came out, you would have thought that StarCraft II would be one of the biggest hits ever.
Instead, it did fine. Blizzard Entertainment’s real-time strategy game sequel showed us how times were changing. The original StarCraft was a dominant force in the world of esports, but MOBAs like League of Legends had taken over. This set a trend for RTS for the rest of the decade, as the genre saw a huge decline in the 2010s. — Mike Minotti Red Dead Redemption Above: The beauty of Red Dead Redemption.
Red Dead Redemption could be the most impressive game of the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 era. Its detailed world, convincing acting, and engaging story set a precedent for triple-A games ahead of the launch of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It’s still a standard that few have matched. — Mike Minotti 2011: Indelible influences The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Above: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim sure caught on.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was omnipresent throughout the entire 2010s. Bethesda’s role-playing game came out early in the decade, and we’re still talking about it.
For one thing, it’s very good. Skyrim offers players a giant, detailed world that’s worthy of exploration. It began to influence other open world games, even The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and the VR game Asgard’s Wrath.
And then there were all those ports. Skyrim was originally out for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. Throughout the decade, it would come to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, VR, and even Amazon Alexa (well, kind of). — Mike Minotti Dark Souls Above: Come, sit by the fire and warm your Dark Soul(s).
Skyrim wasn’t the only game we talked about during the entire decade. While its predecessor, 2009’s Demon’s Souls , was technically the first in the series, Dark Souls established a new kind of action-RPG formula that focused on slower combat, tough boss fights, and punishing penalties for death.
And just like with Skyrim, Dark Souls would come to every platform imaginable. But while Bethesda has been slow to make a sequel for Skyrim, Dark Souls turned into a trilogy in the 2010s, and developer FromSoftware used its formula to make other hit games: Bloodbourne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
Dark Souls would prove influential, as even Star Wars looked to it for inspiration in 2019 with Jedi: Fallen Order. In the 2000s, action role-playing games were all about fast-paced fighting and combos. Dark Souls changed that. — Mike Minotti 2012: Midsized merit, a galactic riot Crusader Kings 2 Above: Crusader Kings II is one of Paradox’s breakout hits.
By all logic of how video games should work before 2012, Crusader Kings 2 was a disaster. Here was an incredibly niche strategy game, well outside the Civilization or RTS style that made for a hit, and in its first month? It sold a mere 20,000 copies. And yet, persistence across digital distribution, word-of-mouth, and good reviews kept Crusader Kings 2 going. This game’s combination of strategy and character relationships was special.
And that specialness … was rewarded, eventually, as CK2 became a hit and an inspiration.
If any game exemplifies the Steam era of PC gaming, it’s hard not to pick Crusader Kings 2. Beyond that constant availability, Paradox kept it alive by keeping it alive with expansions, add-ons, and patches. The new model for the living strategy game wasn’t a giant expansion or two then a sequel, but a steady flow of new content with new ways of playing the game, and patches to support the people who weren’t buying. The model proved sustainable as well — Paradox used variations on it to prop up both their publishing and their development sides, becoming an ideal form of the new middle class of PC gaming enabled by digital distribution. — Rowan Kaiser The Walking Dead Above: Clementine is one of the decade’s best characters.
Crusader Kings wasn’t the only “middle-class” game to succeed in 2012, a year that also saw the release of Telltale’s The Walking Dead.
The adventure genre, long-dormant in the mainstream, got new life with The Walking Dead’s moral choices, major intellectual property, and most important, the connection of those choices with an episodic release structure enabled by digital distribution. Telltale itself would become a cautionary tale more than Paradox’s success, but both companies felt a rush of success in 2012 because they used digital as more than simply a distribution method, instead seeing it as a way to creatively develop new types of gaming experiences. — Rowan Kaiser Mass Effect 3 Above: Mass Effect 3 is an intersection of the decade’s trends.
Also in 2012, we have Mass Effect 3 , which is unfortunately best known for its grand ending controversy, a firestorm of fans, press, and developers converging into an absolute mess of internet culture. This masks that ME3 is a great game.
But also lost in the storm and fury was that the game’s multiplayer, a remarkable critical success, was also a remarkable success monetarily, as EA started added FIFA Ultimate Team-style lootboxes to more and different kinds of games.
2013: A tale of tails Grand Theft Auto V Above: GTA Online changed Rockstar game-development model.
Grand Theft Auto V was a massive game in 2013. And everyone knew it would be. What we didn’t know is that in 2019, it would still be a massive game.
GTA V is an enormous success due in large part to the GTA: Online mode. This takes the gameplay into a shared multiplayer world where you can compete in quests, do online heists, and purchase digital items with a currency that you can get using real money.
I think the best way to put GTA V’s success into context is like this: During the decade leading up to 2013, Rockstar released one major new game per year. That included Manhunt, The Warriors, Bully, Manhunt 2, Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire, and Max Payne 3. But since releasing GTA V in 2013, Rockstar has only released one game, 2018’s Red Dead Redemption II.
Instead of putting out new games, Rockstar began working on new content for GTA: Online. That content is cheaper to produce because the studio is mostly just adding new stuff to a gameplay and design infrastructure that already exists. And unlike a new game that might make a lot of money on its first day of release, GTA: Online makes a steady stream of revenue. This makes tricky things like revenues and staffing needs much more predictable and easier to manage.
Maintaining GTA: Online with regular updates is a much less risky proposition than making a new game. And that is GTA: Online’s legacy — especially in the 2010s. Every game developer and publisher wants their own GTA: Online. They want a game that can last for years with regular updates that brings in a steady flow of money. And based on its popularity and the popularity of other live-service games, it’s what consumers want as well. — Jeff Grubb Dota 2 Above: Dota 2 reaps the benefits of the live-service model.
In the same way that Rockstar made fewer games after Grand Theft Auto V, Half-Life developer Valve has made very few new games since launching Dota 2 in 2013 (after a lengthy beta). And Valve’s reasons are similar to Rockstar’s. But we’re including this MOBA because of how it shaped so much of the business of games.
Dota 2 popularized community items that people could design and sell on Steam’s marketplace. This is also the game that introduced the idea of battle passes or premium progressions passes. Players could buy an item called the Compendium that you would earn levels for by playing Dota 2 matches. And that process would unlock items over time. You could, of course, buy levels if you have more cash than time. Now, battle passes are a common feature in a wide variety of games.
The Compendium revenue, however, didn’t just go into Valve’s pocket. Instead, the company contributed a portion to the prize pool for The International. This immediately turned Dota 2 into one of the premiere esports games in the world. Other studios have since mimicked this practice as well. — Jeff Grubb BioShock Infinite Above: Elizabeth’s A.I. received a boost from techniques folks use on the pitch and the stage.
In trying to tell the story of the decade, it’s almost serendipitous that Grand Theft Auto V, Dota 2, and BioShock Infinite all came out the same year. They so encapsulate what happened over the last 10 years. Sure, every studio wants to have their own live-service game that generates profits for years. But what is so wrong with the old way of making a game as a product? Well, BioShock Infinite is what is wrong.
BioShock Infinite was the highly anticipated sequel to 2007’s breakout hit BioShock. Developer Irrational Games started work in February 2008, and it took five long years to get the game out to fans. But more than the time, those were also expensive years. The game was so costly that even after selling 11 million copies, publisher 2K Games obviously didn’t consider the game a success.
Suddenly, we were living in a world where a game could sell better than almost any other game and still end up as a failure. Following BioShock Infinite, almost no publisher wanted to fund a massive single-player narrative-based game — especially in a world where mobile games that cost a fraction to make were generating $1 billion in revenues per year. — Jeff Grubb 1 2 3 View All Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more.
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"Feel Berk's frosty air in Dreamscape Immersive's Dragon VR experience | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/feel-berks-frosty-air-in-dreamscape-immersives-dragon-vr-experience"
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Dreamscape Immersive is one of the companies that continues to believe in location-based virtual reality. And its latest effort on that front is a new VR experience based on DreamWorks’ How To Train Your Dragon film trilogy.
Dreamscape ‘s DreamWorks Dragons: Flight Academy debuted in partnership with DreamWorks Animation and Universal Games and Digital Platforms.
It opened in mid-December at the Westfield Century City mall in Los Angeles, and I was able to try it out recently. It was a breath of fresh air amid a sea of familiar VR experiences.
“Dreamscape at its core is the intersection of the emotional impact of movies with storylines,” said Bruce Vaughn, CEO of Dreamscape Immersive, in an interview with GamesBeat. “And the users. The customers are at the center of the story and are always the protagonists. It’s a combination of the emotional storytelling of movies with the virtual side of theme parks, which is reflected in my background of 25 years at [Disney] Imagineering.” Above: DreamWorks Dragons Flight Academy I checked in at the mall for a scheduled appointment. It was running a little late, but soon enough I was escorted into a dark room with seven riders, most of them kids. We were all there to ride dragons for the cost of $20 for a 35-minute experience (all-in time, including gearing up).
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! In the room were eight saddled seats — like a kid’s hobby horse — facing each other in a circle. We mounted the seats and then were told to buckle up. We put sensors on our wrists. And then we put on our VR headsets, which were hanging on the side of the hobby horse. We basically needed no training at all.
We were riding dragons, and to turn left or right, we simply had to lean in those directions on the hobby horse. To go higher, we had to lean back, and to go down, we had to lean forward.
“We thought this was just like controlling a bike,” Vaughn said. “We were trying to make something that was universally understood.” When we put the headsets on, we were greeted by Hiccup and Astrid, the main characters of the Dragon series, astride their dragons Toothless and Stormfly.
First, they walked us through the town of Berk, where humans and dragons live in harmony. We saw townsfolk of the clifftop Viking village, and saw the place from a view that you never get in the films. That is, you don’t get to look around and choose the view that you see in the movies. Not that there’s much to see in the village.
Above: Dreamscape keeps you entertained in the waiting area.
But then we reached the edge of a cliff. And we jumped off, following Astrid’s directions. She took just through some basic flying tips. I found it very easy to control, which is saying something considering how hard it is to play most flying games. We had limited freedom of movement. We couldn’t, for instance, turn around and fly in the other direction. The experience was more or less on rails, as you’re always flying in a forward direction.
You do, however, have the choice of flying along different paths, and you do have to avoid bumping into other riders among the eight trainees. You can swoop down or swerve to avoid running into barriers as you move through the Hidden world. We had to dodge flaming arrows and stay out of the way of collapsing ice caverns. We arrived at the center of the place and had to free a chained dragon. We each had to help break the chains in order to free the dragon. That meant that all eight of us had to pitch in.
There were a couple of cool additions to the usual VR experience that were very tactile. First, a fan blows a wet mist into your face as you take off into the water-soaked ocean air. And then, at the end, a dragon comes up to you and spits in your face. You feel actual water splash onto your face as this happens.
The tech — and the experience of getting wind and water splashed on your face — is better than what you can get at home.
Above: Dreamscape takes you into the Hidden World.
“The full body presence and the incredible accuracy of the software was something that came out of the medical industry. For us, VR happens to be the way we tell stories. But it really was the capability that this platform gives us. At home, the issue is you are alone and the technology is isolating. The controllers are unfamiliar. In our location, we can track your arms properly and you can move.” It was a fun experience, and it delivers play that is more social than just playing VR at home. And that’s what you have to do to get people to pay $20 for 35 minutes. So far, it’s working well, said Vaughn. The median age of the guests is 32, and Dreamscape gets more than 50% females in its locations.
Above: Dreamscape takes you to Berk, where it is windy and watery.
Vaughn said the Century City location has been open for a year and has performed well, with good reviews and repeat visitors. That’s why the company is moving forward with a variety of new locations.
Dreamscape Immersive also has a Men In Black experience and The Blu: Deep Rescue , among other experiences. Dreamscape also has locations in Dallas and Dubai. Some places are opening soon in Columbus, Ohio and the New York/New Jersey metro area.
“We’re in the middle of designing our next experience now,” Vaughn said.
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"Consumer spending on mobile games grew 8% to $210 million on Christmas | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/consumer-spending-on-mobile-games-grew-8-to-210-million-on-christmas"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Consumer spending on mobile games grew 8% to $210 million on Christmas Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Consumer spending on Christmas grew 8% to $210 million in 2019.
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Consumer spending on mobile games grew 8% to $210 million on Christmas, according to a report by mobile analyst firm Sensor Tower.
That was up from $195 million last year. U.S. mobile gamers spent $58 million, or 2% more than Christmas 2018. And mobile games accounted for 76% of worldwide app spending on Christmas and 73% of U.S. spending.
PUBG Mobile was the top-grossing mobile game on Christmas, making $8.5 million worldwide and growing 431% from a year ago.
Spurred by new device sales, first-time mobile users, and consumers flush with gift-card credit, worldwide spending across the App Store and Google Play on Christmas topped $277 million according to Sensor Tower estimated. This represented combined year-over-year growth of 11.3% for the stores, which brought in a total of $249 million in user spending on the same day in 2018.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Above: Sensor Tower’s Christmas spending estimates for mobile apps and games.
Consumer spending in apps and mobile games on Christmas accounted for about 5% of all revenue generated by the stores for December, which reached nearly $5.1 billion globally, Sensor Tower said. This was 8% greater than the approximately $4.7 billion spent across both platforms during December 2018.
The majority of mobile spending on Christmas, approximately $210 million, was focused on the games category.
Non-game apps accounted for approximately 2% more of all spending this Christmas compared to a year prior, bringing in an estimated $67 million. This reflected year-over-year growth of about 24% from $54 million. Entertainment category apps, which include streaming video services such as Disney+ and Tencent Video, accounted for the largest portion of non-game spending — 24% — on the App Store, while 16% of Google Play revenue outside of games came from that store’s top-earning category for the day, social.
The top non-game app for overall spending on Christmas was Tinder, with $2.1 million in revenue globally. Apple’s App Store accounted for 70% of spending between the two platforms at $193 million, growing about 16% from a year ago. Approximately $84 million was spent on Google Play, which represented Y/Y growth of 2.7 percent.
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"CES 2020 tips and tricks: Your guide to tech's biggest trade show | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/ces-2020-tips-and-tricks-your-guide-to-techs-biggest-trade-show"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages CES 2020 tips and tricks: Your guide to tech’s biggest trade show Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The ice sculpture at CES Unveiled, 2019.
I attended the Consumer Electronics Show back in the 1990s when then-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates gave the opening keynote speeches every year. Las Vegas has changed a lot since then, but some of my advice about the show goes back that far.
Like the importance of wearing comfy shoes. I learned that lesson after some blisters during a CES years ago. Some of this is not rocket science. But there are new people attending the show every year, so I feel obligated to share my accumulated experience. (I take no responsibility for bad advice). I also have new tips, like pointing you to the CES app.
(And here’s tips from Tim Bajarin , who has attended the show for 50 years).
CES 2020 is expected to draw 170,000 techies, down some from 175,212 last year as the group that puts on CES, the Consumer Technology Association, continues to pare back on non-professional attendees. CES 2020 will have about 4,500 exhibitors across 2.9 million square feet of space, about the same number of exhibitors and slightly more space than last year, according to my interview with Karen Chupka, executive vice president of the CTA. The show will have 1,200 startups in its Eureka Park section, up from 1,100 the year before.
You will face bag restrictions and entrance searches at all of the big venues, and you can bet those restrictions will be enforced now that the CTA announced Ivanka Trump , advisor to the White House and the daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, will hold a fireside chat with CTA CEO Gary Shapiro (Tuesday at 2 p.m. Pacific).
Getting your badge and getting into the show Above: Sign at CES 2019.
You can expect long lines, but you may be able to cut one of them short by picking up your CES badge at the airport. You CES badge will now have your photo, and you need a government-issued ID to pick it up.
Regular attendees can only carry two small laptop-sized bags into the show. Clear bags will get you through the line faster. Rolling bags of any size are prohibited — including luggage, carry-ons, rolling laptop and computer bags, and luggage carts.
Media professionals are granted an exception to this rule, as long as they submit to a search and have the bag tagged for approval. This allows me to carry my trademark back-saving backpack roller (which my coworkers have dubbed my secret weapon in years past) into the event. Thankfully, I’m taking an HP laptop and a Dynabook laptop that are considerably lighter than in years past.
The show has consistently had highly visible law enforcement officers and K9 (dog) units at the entrances to the venues and on the exhibit floor. This means you will run into unexpected delays when you’re going into venues. You’ll just have to travel lighter when walking the show floors. If you do have heavier bags, you can check them at the Las Vegas Convention Center Central Plaza, next to the main registration tent, the Sands Level 1 Lobby, and the Venetian Ballroom Foyer.
Peak times for CES crowds Above: The crowd at CES 2013.
The 53rd annual show opens on Sunday, January 5 for the thousands of press attendees. The press events continue all day on January 6. But Samsung will skip its press event this year, as Hyun-Suk Kim, CEO of the consumer electronics division at Samsung, will give a keynote speech on Monday evening. And Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang will also skip his traditional Sunday evening press event.
For the press, Monday is a kind of baptism by fire, thanks to press events starting at 8 a.m. with LG and ending with Sony’s 5 p.m. press event. The opening keynote follows, and then the press moves on to the Digital Experience (Pepcom) party at the Mirage. This is the day when I need the laptop with the longest battery life. VentureBeat writers Jeremy Horwitz and Kyle Wiggers will join me, and some of my colleagues will be comfortably watching livestreams from home.
But Tuesday and Wednesday are when the real crowds show up, and you’ll notice it in restaurants, transportation lines, convention halls, casino floors, and at the airport. Thankfully, the Las Vegas weather forecast predicts dry air and no rain during CES week. I remember in 2018 we had torrential rains and blackouts.
This is probably one of the busiest times of the show for attendees, and it’s when the taxis, ride-sharing cars, and others will be clogging the paths to the main venues, the Venetian Hotel/Sands Expo and the Las Vegas Convention Center.
If you’re leaving the convention center around 6 p.m., you can catch a bus to most of the major hotels. But that’s also the busiest traffic time.
Getting lost in the maze Above: The lower level of the sprawling South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center #CES2014 The 2.9 million square feet of exhibition space will open at 10 a.m. Tuesday, January 7. The venues are divided into Tech East (Las Vegas Convention Center and its surroundings), Tech West (Sands/Venetian), and Tech South (Aria, Vdara, and Park MGM).
If you’re really ambitious, you could be walking 30,000 steps a day, about 3 to 6 times as much as usual. For me, exhaustion sets in around 20,000 steps. If you can cut some unnecessary walking from your day, that would be wise to do.
You can start by getting to know the locations. The LVCC Central Hall is where a lot of the big companies are, such as Samsung, Sony, Canon, Sharp, Nikon, IBM, Panasonic, LG, Bosch, Intel, and Delta.
You can walk across a connector from the Central Hall to the South Hall, where there are a mix of big booths, small booths, and meeting rooms (which are way in the back).
The South Hall itself is confusing, as it has two levels. South Halls 1 and 2 are on the ground level, with booth numbers ranging from 2000 to 22999 and 25000 to 27999 on the ground level. South Halls 3 and 4 (30000-32999, 35000-37999) are on the upper level, and both are easily reached via the South Hall connector.
If you want to see transportation tech, automobiles, and a flying car, check out the North Hall.
What’s trending and what’s not Above: A Bosch/Daimler self-driving car.
The CTA’s Chupka told me that the health and wellness marketplace (a collection of related booths) will increase by 25% in exhibitors and 15% in square footage. The smart city marketplace is also up about 25% in exhibitors and 70% in square footage, for a total of 50,000 square feet.
The transportation sections will grow as the march toward autonomous vehicles continues. Pegasus will have a booth that shows what a flying car may look like. The augmented reality, virtual reality, and gaming marketplace will be up about 30% in exhibitors and 15% in square footage.
But some marketplaces have already hit their peak, as drones will be flat and 3D printing will be smaller.
Based on the pitches I’m getting, I think we’ll see a lot of tech related to artificial intelligence, 5G cellular networks, health-focused wearables, energy-saving devices, the internet of things (IoT), sleep care, elder care, mental care, smart cars, and robots. For the first time, sex tech vendors will be allowed on the show floor, with companies such as Lora DiCarlo and Lioness exhibiting.
I still view CES as a bellwether for the tech economy, as no other event spans the entire tech world like it does. Companies want to create a buzz at CES, which is designed to signal products coming in the next year. I find the show a useful way to stay up to speed on the latest technology.
Apple doesn’t attend the show, but just about every other tech giant does. It’s where the tech industry will be next week, though it’s not so much of a game event these days, despite the weakness of E3. If you’re curious, here’s my best of show thoughts from CES 2019.
Your CES survival tips Above: Intel’s CES 2018 keynote had some amazing visuals on a giant screen. This image is a visualization of a trove of data.
Many of these tips are recycled from past years, but I’ve gone through and renewed them with my latest info. As I mentioned, it’s hard to get around at CES. You should keep appointments to a half hour, but note that it takes time to walk between venues. You may encounter delays because other people are behind schedule. And you may even have trouble finding people at large booths. So it’s good to pad your schedule to account for possible delays and isolate the really important appointments.
The CES badges now have photos on them, streamlining identification and making it harder for people to share badges.
On your crowded flights, try to travel light. For Southwest, I always check in ahead of boarding, setting an alarm for exactly 24 hours before my flight. Check your baggage if you don’t have to get anywhere quickly. Be prepared for long cab lines and rental car check-in lines. (Services like Uber and Lyft were very useful the past couple of years at CES, particularly as parking is not plentiful enough and the big casinos/hotels now charge $10 per visit at their self-parking garages). I no longer rent a car.
I recommend sleep. If the parties are what you care about, here’s a party list and another one.
Many of the soirees are invite-only.
Remember to swap phone numbers with the people you are meeting so you can coordinate, particularly as someone is usually held up by the crowds. Incorporate driving and eating times into your calendar, or use a calendar that does that automatically for you (I’m still looking for one).
Smartphone reception is better than it used to be, but it’s still probably prone to interference. Text message is usually a decent way to communicate with coworkers. We always seek out the Wi-Fi havens in the press rooms or wherever we can find them.
But carry a MiFi or activate a personal hotspot if you can; even hotel internet connections are likely to be stressed to the limit during the show. If you’re responsible for uploading video, thank you for clogging the network for the rest of us. By CES 2021, I hopefully won’t have to complain about this, as 5G networks should theoretically enable faster connection speeds on cellular data. They’re barely present in 2020.
If you collect a lot of swag, you can send it home via shipping services instead of carting it on the plane. You should print a map of the exhibit floor or rip one out of the show guide. You should also print your tickets, schedule, and RSVPs for events — or make them easily accessible on your phone. (If someone steals your primary bag, you should have backups in a second bag).
You need battery backup for your laptop or smartphone, hand sanitizer, a good camera, ibuprofen, and vitamins. I’m trying out an HP Elitebook and a Dynabook laptop this year. Bring a backup for everything, even if you have to leave it in your hotel room this year.
Above: Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg Mi-Fi discusses 5G at the 2019 CES.
Pack enough business cards. If you’re exhibiting, wear your company brand on your shirt. Try very hard to avoid losing your phone. I wear a jacket with zippered pockets so I can put my phone and wallet inside.
Make some time to walk the show floor. If the cab line has you frustrated, don’t think about walking to a nearby hotel. Chances are the cab line there is also bad, and the hotels are so huge that a mirage effect makes them look deceptively close. If you have a rental car, try not to get stuck in a traffic jam in a 10-story parking garage. And always mark down where you parked your car on your phone map or paper.
Uber and Lyft cars work well, especially at places where you can’t be confused with a bunch of other people hailing ride-sharing vehicles. But last year I found that the pickup at the LVCC (near the Renaissance Hotel) was a traffic logjam.
Schedule your appointments in locations that are near each other, and check exhibitor locations on this map.
Arrive early for keynotes because the lines are long.
Drink lots of water. Get some sleep — you really don’t have to party every night. Don’t miss your flight on the way out. Pack up a bunch of snacks early on to avoid getting stuck in breakfast or lunch lines. Take a good camera because what happens in Vegas … gets shared on the internet.
What’s happening when Above: Carsten Breitfeld, CEO of Byton, shows off the car’s 48-inch screen.
And here’s how we expect the news to unfold this week: Sunday January 5 Lots of embargoed news will break Sunday through Thursday as tech companies try to catch some early buzz. The Consumer Technology Association analysts will open press-only sessions with sales stats and trend forecasts for 2019.
The event officially kicks off in the afternoon, with press sessions led by CTA analysts at 1 p.m. at the Mandalay Bay hotel. P&G will hold a press event at 2 p.m., and Byton will hold a press event at 3 p.m.
Then I will hit a press-only CES Unveiled reception (5 p.m. in Mandalay Bay), where scores of companies that have won innovation awards will show off their wares. You’ll start seeing posts about cool stuff at that party on Sunday evening, particularly from all the tech journalists who are chained to tables at the party.
Monday January 6 Above: Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, at CES 2019 keynote.
Media Day at CES has now morphed into a day and a half. It starts around 1 p.m. on Sunday and then runs from 8 a.m. to the early evening on Monday.
LG kicks off the Monday press events at 8 a.m. AMD will take Samsung’s place at 2 p.m. Intel will have an event at 4 p.m., and Sony will start at 5 p.m. You should search for CES press event livestreams, particularly if you can’t get in.
Most of the press events are at the Mandalay Bay, although Sony has its event at the Las Vegas Convention Center. These events are closed to non-press attendees, but we’ll be writing posts about a lot of them.
As noted, Samsung will kick off the keynotes at 6:30 p.m. on Monday at the Palazzo ballroom of the Venetian Hotel, and Daimler chair Ola Källenius will speak at 8:30 p.m. at Park MGM’s Park Theater. I’ll close out my evening at the Pepcom Digital Experience party, a private event at the Mirage Hotel.
Don’t be surprised if people start querying you about what you’ve seen. When I meet people at a CES party, the most common question I get is “What did you see today?” It’s a bit annoying, as they’re usually fishing for a story or gadget that they should see and pass on to their friends. But I don’t really mind because it causes me to sharpen my thinking about what I’ve witnessed during the day.
Tuesday Above: Ivanka Trump Chupka and Gary Shapiro, CEO of the CTA, will kick off the Tuesday keynote at 8:30 a.m. Pacific time in the Venetian’s Palazzo Ballroom. They will be followed by Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian, in a keynote talk at the same location.
At 2 p.m., Ivanka Trump will do her fireside chat with Shapiro in the Palazzo Ballroom in the Venetian. They will talk about how “the administration is advocating for employer-led strategies that invest in reskilling workers, create apprenticeships, and develop K-12 STEM education programs.” At 4 p.m., MediaLink chair Michael E. Kassan, Unilever CEO Alan Jope, and Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff will host a panel at the Park Theater at the Park MGM, Level 1.
At 10 a.m., the show floor formally opens at the big venues. The 11 locations are the Las Vegas Convention Center and World Trade Center, the Sands Expo, the Venetian, Aria, Park MGM, Vdara, the Palazzo Suites, Wynn Las Vegas, Encore at Wynn, the Westgate Las Vegas, and the Renaissance Las Vegas.
Above: Google Assistant space at CES 2019 We’ll catch more product unveilings at the invite-only Showstoppers Party in the evening at the Wynn Hotel.
Some advice for walking the show floor: The Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) is cavernous. It stretches from the North Hall, where a lot of the car makers and speaker manufacturers gather, to the vast Central Hall and the multilevel South Hall. It’s a couple of miles from one end to the other, so try to space out your appointments. You should really take the time to map out where you’re going to walk and how long it will take to get there.
It’s not easy to get from the LVCC to the Sands Expo during the rush period, but the CTA provides shuttle buses for that purpose. Parking is really scarce, as they’ve gotten rid of one of the main parking lots.
As I mentioned before, when the exhibit floor closes at 6 p.m., there’s a mad rush for the taxi line, the shuttle buses to major hotels, the parking garages, and the monorail. Try to avoid getting stuck in gigantic traffic jams out on the Las Vegas Strip and anywhere else near the main convention center. It might be worth waiting out the rush at a coffeehouse or hotel bar. Ride-sharing lines are also long at the designated pickup points.
Wednesday Above: Quibi CEO Meg Whitman.
Meg Whitman and Jeffrey Katzenberg will give a keynote speech about their entertainment startup, Quibi, at 9:30 a.m. (Park MGM, Level 1, Park Theater). U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao will also speak at 11:30 a.m. (LVCC, North Hall, N257). And NBCUniversal will host an entertainment panel at 4 p.m. (Park MGM, Level 1, Park Theater).
I will moderate a session on how brands are engaging with esports and gaming at 1 p.m. at Aria, Level 3, Ironwood Ballroom.
The show floor opens at 9 a.m. and runs until 6 p.m. It’s still pretty crowded on this day, particularly around departure time.
Thursday Above: Dean Takahashi looks at a spider on his hand.
I’m walking the show floors on this day and doing some interviews. I’m also moderating a session at 1 p.m. at the Venetian on mixed reality at the Kids & Family Tech Summit event (Venetian Level 4 Lando room 4302). I highly recommend that you hit just one major venue in a day, like the Sands or the Las Vegas Convention Center, and avoid going off-site at all costs.
Friday If you hate crowds, this may be the day to show up. The VentureBeat crew will be gone by this point — we’ll be home contemplating our picks for the top CES trends, the best products and services, and awesome images from the show. But the show floor will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. After that, it’s probably a good idea to take the weekend and perhaps a vacation day to recover.
That’s the whole show. As for me, I wish Bill Gates would return and give a keynote speech. I think he’s more interesting now that he is “retired.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"5 IPO flameouts that defined 2019: Uber, Lyft, Pinterest, Slack, and WeWork | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/5-ipo-flameouts-that-defined-2019-uber-lyft-pinterest-slack-and-wework"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Analysis 5 IPO flameouts that defined 2019: Uber, Lyft, Pinterest, Slack, and WeWork Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Adam Neumann speaks onstage on January 9, 2019 in Los Angeles, California.
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Pumping huge sums of money into private companies that lack sustainable business models turns out to be a terrible idea. But despite the calamitous IPOs of Uber, Lyft, Pinterest, Slack, and WeWork, you can be confident no lessons will be learned.
Despite all the endless hype about how innovative these companies were, they limped out of the IPO gate, each wounded in ways that should have been obvious. They either lacked anything actually resembling true digital innovation or had a nice service that was easily replicated. Or, in the case of WeWork, there was simply no there there.
It’s easy to point the finger at the founders, but blame also belongs to investors who chased the valuations to untenable heights simply to be part of the buzz. Board members at these companies seemed mainly to be showing up for the free coffee and donuts at meetings and the stock allowances.
These five IPO duds should be cautionary tales. But don’t count on it.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Uber IPO date: May 10 IPO price: $45 per share First day close: $41.57 December 24 close: $30.44 Bellyflop percentage: 26.7% Uber hired CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to cleanse the company’s reputation after the board chucked founder Travis Kalanick to the curb.
In condemning the company’s “pirate” culture, Khosrowshahi did just enough to get this sucker past the IPO goal line. But the growing cost of investments in things like food delivery services has resulted in mushrooming losses that have left investors sour on the company’s prospects.
Lyft Above: Reuters IPO date: March 29 IPO price: $72 per share First day close: $78.29 December 24 close: $45.70 Bellyflop percentage: 41.6% Lyft seemed like it was headed toward IPO goodness when it managed to beat Uber to the public market, raise its IPO price (thanks to strong investor demand), and get a strong first-day bounce. Nope. While its stock has bounced around, it has trended down, with big losses — like the $463.5 million loss it reported in the third quarter. Promises to reach postive EBITDA (aka, earnings without the bad stuff) by 2021 haven’t really convinced investors.
Pinterest Above: Reuters/Brendan McDermid IPO date: April 18 IPO price: $19 First day close: $24.40 December 24 close: $18.48 Bellyflop percentage: 24.6% Pinterest slouched toward the starting gate by pricing its IPO below its latest funding valuation , but then it appeared to be living the dream when its stock closed at $36.56 this summer. Alas, following lackluster earnings in October, investors punished Pinterest — despite growth in users, and even some traction in ad marketshare against Google and Facebook. For now, the red ink on the income statement is simply too daunting at a moment when investors are pretending to care about things like profits.
Slack Above: Reuters/Brendan McDermid IPO date: June 20, 2019 IPO price: Direct listing First day close: $38.62 December 24 close: $21.35 Bellyflop percentage: 44.7% Cult-like devotion propelled this workplace tool to unicorn status and a hotly anticipated IPO.
Surely, enterprise applications were a good bet! In fact, Slack is not doing too badly. Revenue, usage, and the number of paying corporate customers are all growing nicely. The problem is that Microsoft revealed that its competing cloud-based-workplace-communication-collaboration-thingy, called Teams, has almost twice as many users as Slack.
Critics say Microsoft’s numbers may be a bit inflated, but Slack’s costs are rising as competition with the tech giant increases.
WeWork Above: Scott Olson/Getty Images IPO date: Never IPO price: LOL Bellyflop percentage: 100% Ye gods. On August 14, WeWork filed the IPO prospectus that will live in infamy.
It included a $904 million net loss for the first six months of 2019, with revenue of $1.5 billion.
The figures were so damning that backlash caused the entire company to unravel. First, the newly awakened board forced CEO and WeWork cult leader Adam Neumann to resign.
A week later, the board pulled the IPO.
WeWork’s leading investor, SoftBank, is now struggling to arrange terms of a bailout, which has led to questions about the company’s very existence.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"4 enterprise AR trends to watch in 2020 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/4-enterprise-ar-trends-to-watch-in-2020"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages 4 enterprise AR trends to watch in 2020 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
Augmented reality’s rocky road to consumer adoption hasn’t stopped the same technologies from being adopted by enterprises. Some of AR’s key hurdles — fashionability, broad usage scenarios, and affordability — aren’t preventing big, expensive, and narrow-purpose headsets from succeeding as business tools, on at least a limited scale.
After a few years of slow growth, enterprise AR appears poised for impressive leaps forward in 2020. Here are four big trends that will be worth following over the next 12 months.
Improved hardware Throughout 2019, the components necessary to create better AR hardware began making their way into the marketplace, most notably including smaller and/or higher-resolution displays and new chipsets custom-designed for AR and mixed reality devices. In 2020, we can expect more of these components to make their way into actual products.
Varjo has already pioneered enterprise-focused AR and XR headsets with human eye-resolution visuals, some optionally offering controller-free hand tracking and Ultraleap mid-air haptic feedback — at $5,000 to $6,000 price points. Multiple companies, including Apple , LG , Samsung , Sony , and Syndiant have been developing tiny displays that promise to deliver more pixels and/or greater “holographic” depth inside wearables. Clearly, the trend is toward more detailed and believable visuals, likely with wider augmented fields of view than most current AR headsets offer.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Above: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 platform concept glasses.
The other major step forward will be better processor and sensor technology. Earlier this month, Qualcomm introduced Snapdragon XR2 , a new platform designed to power “premium” AR and VR headsets. XR2’s major advantage over prior Snapdragon chips — including the low end-focused XR1 and device-agnostic chips such as the Oculus Quest’s Snapdragon 835 and Hololens 2’s Snapdragon 850 — is that it’s packed with features standalone headsets need. These include support for dual high-resolution, high-frame rate displays; seven simultaneous cameras for hand, head, and face tracking; and 15 trillion operations per second (TOPS) of AI power for handling background tasks.
Not every AR device released in 2020 will include these new features, but they’re signs of what will generally be coming to market throughout the year.
Better mobility with new wireless tech Another big theme throughout 2020 will be freeing AR users from the constraints of current headsets — bulky head-worn hardware or nearby tethered computers — in favor of more robust wireless solutions. While the Snapdragon XR2’s primary wireless marketing focus is enabling AR headsets to connect to 5G cellular networks anywhere, developers may choose to focus on its new Wi-Fi capabilities to improve mobility indoors.
Throughout 2020, we’re going to see many more devices adopt Wi-Fi 6 — previously known as 802.11ax — as the next major step forward in connecting computers and phones to indoor networks, and high-bandwidth accessories (such as AR headsets) to the same devices and networks.
Wi-Fi 6 routers are becoming increasingly numerous, enabling the sort of consistently high data rates XR headsets need. But another standard, 802.11ay (60GHz) , will wirelessly connect computers directly to headsets for lower-latency, high-bandwidth streaming.
Above: Using high-bandwidth Wi-Fi and/or cellular wireless connections will free upcoming XR headsets from depending on cables.
It remains to be seen whether any AR headset released in 2020 connects directly to a 5G network using its own chipset, or whether all we’ll see are smartphone-tethered glasses such as Nreal Light using the phones’ cellular service for the same purpose. But after the fully standalone HoloLens 2 debuted as another big visor , the trend going forward will be toward making high-performance enterprise headsets lighter and more mobile.
More and better AR software Encouraged in part by continued pushes from Google (ARCore) and Apple (ARKit), third-party developers have spent the last year working on more consumer AR software. While some of the projects made for Android and iOS devices will surely be only for consumers, a broadening interest in AR will lead to teleconferencing, navigation, and other tools that will also be useful for enterprises.
Dedicated AR hardware makers are also developing new software.
Magic Leap recently refocused its attention on enterprise applications, suggesting that its pivot from consumer to enterprise users had been quietly in the works for some time.
Nreal has partnered with Deutsche Telekom and KDDI to create enterprise and potentially consumer use cases for its affordable Light glasses. And new AR hardware aspirant Niantic has set up a fund to spur AR projects from other companies, an effort that should begin to bear fruit in 2020.
Above: Holographic annotation, demonstrated by Deutsche Telekom.
All of this is going to lead to more enterprise-worthy AR apps, most likely with better, less gimmicky use of AR features. As just one example, Google made a somewhat big deal back in 2018 about Just a Line , an “experimental” app that let multiple users collaborate on drawing simple AR lines in real-world spaces — something that doesn’t have much of a purpose. But as 2019 ends, Deutsche Telekom and Nreal are showing off an upcoming app that will let Light users see floating hand-drawn “Holographic Annotations” in mid-air, linked to real objects they’re looking at with a remote human assistant. An experienced repair technician sitting in an office could use drawings to guide a user in the field, turning the Just a Line experiment into something practical and concrete.
Lining up AR content with real-world locations will also be a major theme this year.
Scape is focusing on enterprise-class, city-scale mapping , as is Facebook, which is working to map both the world and the interiors of buildings within it. By contrast, Snapchat is mapping individual landmarks for consumer applications, and we’ll see even more companies working on similar initiatives in 2020.
One meta or OS-level AR development worth tracking: Varjo this month touted a breakthrough “ dimensional interface ,” which is really just a better version of something many AR companies have been working on — a way to represent classic non-AR apps, such as Microsoft Windows, within an AR space. The concept is that Varjo’s high-resolution goggles can let you see a full-resolution Windows desktop or app floating above a desk as a virtual object, and you can interact with it as if it’s a regular computer. As RealWear demonstrated in 2018 , virtualizing computers, tablets, smartphones, and/or wearables will become major selling points for AR headsets going forward, and we’ll see more of that soon.
Competition and consolidation Last, but not least, it’s highly likely that we’ll see shifts in both the names and number of hardware players within the enterprise AR market, though it’s not yet clear whether the total will go up or down by year’s end. Faced with early investor weariness, as well as the prospect of increased competition from savvier AR platform developers, some small-volume AR device makers will likely seek buyouts or go under in 2020. Like Fitbit’s late-2019 acquisition by Google , it’s possible this will enable one or more small-scale companies to get bigger, but it might also thin the herd of AR hardware makers.
Above: Microsoft’s $3,500 HoloLens 2.
Once Nreal Light is widely available for consumers and enterprises to purchase, the pressure will be on makers of enterprise-only AR hardware to justify their continued existence. Similarly, Magic Leap and Microsoft will need to spotlight use cases and/or performance benefits that merit hardware price tags 4 to 7 times higher, while new entrants — Apple , Niantic, and potentially multiple makers of competing Qualcomm XR Viewers — will have to considerably surpass what’s already available.
There’s every reason to believe quite a few major enterprise AR developments will emerge in 2020. Given increased interest in the space from major players, it’s going to be particularly interesting to see whether the year’s biggest news comes from new or well-established AR companies, and how much the currently iffy market has evolved by the year’s end.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"2019 was the year things got weird for video games | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/2019-was-the-year-things-got-weird-for-video-games"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Feature 2019 was the year things got weird for video games Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The best game that did something new.
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The video games industry is odd.
This is a business where the leading companies regularly reset their market share every five-to-seven years. But over the last 12 months, we’ve seen a number of new trends that make video games seem like an even stranger beast — and one that is ready to change again.
The ways in which this industry are changing are plentiful, but they all seem like they are springing from the same underlying reasoning: making games is hard, but publishers and platform-holders could do more to make it less risky. And one of the ways companies are doing that is with a major focus on subscription services.
And that’s where Microsoft is leading the way.
Game Pass and subscriptions are disrupting how we purchase software Xbox Game Pass debuted in 2017, but in 2019, it built up an undeniable momentum. Microsoft made it clear that the $10-per-month subscription service is the core of its business going forward. And on top of adding amazing games to the service like The Outer Worlds, Outer Wilds, and Void Bastards, the company got aggressive with promotional deals. You could get three months for a dollar or turn your current Xbox Live Gold membership into Game Pass Ultimate by paying $1. And now the service is also on PC as well as the Xbox consoles.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! The result of those efforts is that Game Pass is growing quickly. And now we’re starting to see something of a network effect. People are getting Game Pass because their friends have it, and $10 per month is the cheapest way to play all those games together. That network effect is even increasing game sales. Because subscribers to the service are playing more games together, when those groups go to buy a non-Game Pass release, those groups are more likely to migrate together.
But even if some people are buying more games, there’s no doubt that subscriptions are in the process of changing everything. And in a few years, buying games is going to seem as weird as purchasing a new music album.
Microsoft is already seeing the benefit of this. The company’s Xbox One system is on the way out as the current console generation ends. But the Xbox division’s revenues aren’t taking a huge dip like is normal. Instead, it’s seeing a pretty steady stream of revenue. That’s due in large part to the increased performance of live-service games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Rainbow Six: Siege. But Game Pass is contributing to that as well.
Crossplay and first-party crossplatform support If you look to other ways in which the industry is changing, it all fits with this trend. Crossplay is now the standard going forward. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo are feeling less precious about their walled gardens. And the reason, again, is that services are more important. And service games like Fortnite and Minecraft work better if platforms aren’t putting them into silos.
Even Sony, who was the company most adamant about opposing crossplay, is now onboard with the idea. It even recently revealed that it’s going to make MLB: The Show a multiplatform release. That’s likely indicative of the MLB’s wishes, but it’s also a sign of the times. Sony even sees that certain kinds of games don’t make sense as console exclusives. While God of War is almost certainly only coming to PlayStation 5, multiplayer games can’t rely on an audience on just one platform.
So yeah, things are weird. And expect them to get even weirder in 2020.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more.
VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"2019 game industry ad spend: a quieter year | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/2019-game-industry-ad-spend-a-quieter-year"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages 2019 game industry ad spend: a quieter year Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
At iSpot.tv , we found that the game industry spent an estimated $319.6 million on television ads in 2019 (January 1 through December 8), a 14.68% decrease from the same time period in 2018. With that decrease came a fall in ad airings (-27.84%) and TV ad impressions (-16.10%).
With an estimated outlay of $108.5 million, PlayStation remained the top-spending brand year-over-year, although it decreased its budget by almost half (-45.51%). Xbox’s TV ad spend, on the other hand, exploded in 2019, up a whopping 232.22% to around $100 million — and it was the winner in terms of TV ad impressions generated (over 4.8 billion, a YoY increase of 186.73%).
Although Nintendo’s spend for 2019 (est. $46 million) was less than half that of both PlayStation and Xbox its ads generated 3.07 billion TV ad impressions — which goes to show that spend and impressions don’t always go hand-in-hand. The key difference? The relative cost of advertising during programming that companies prioritized.
“Many developers are shifting their focus towards releasing more massive gaming experiences, which means fewer releases overall,” said Ed Tomasi, the cofounder and managing director at esports lifestyle company Subnation. “While the community can still expect cyclical sports releases like NBA2K, FIFA and Madden, this overall move towards the franchise model with additional transmedia experiences similar to the film industry will most likely result in a more drastic fluctuation of advertising spend on a year by year basis.” Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Sports and … SpongeBob Unsurprisingly, the gaming industry overall spent the most on sports programming, with the NFL leading the way (estimated $61.2 million, a 14.62% increase from 2018) — almost twice as much as the NBA and three times as much as college football. But in fifth place for programming with the biggest outlay is SpongeBob SquarePants — driven mostly by Nintendo, which spent about $7.08 million advertising during the kids’ series. By comparison, the second-place brand for spend during SpongeBob was Warner Bros. Games with a relatively modest $283,000.
Looking at impressions, the list is similar but a new name pops up at No. 3: SportsCenter.
And darling SpongeBob still makes the top five for programming that attracted the most eyeballs for video game advertising.
Although, as we noted above, impressions declined overall for the industry this year, they increased during sports programming including the NFL (+27.37% to 1.85 billion this year), the NBA (+15.59% to 1.2 billion), SportsCenter (+8.67% to 926.6 million), and college football (+0.44% to 672.3 million). Poor SpongeBob was the only one of the top five that saw a decrease (-29.81% to 395.7 million).
2019’s notable ads Xbox had 2019’s most-seen gaming industry ad, which also had the biggest budget this year: a promotion for Gears 5, featuring music by Evanescence , which hit TV screens for the first time in early September. It’s the only industry ad with over one billion TV ad impressions, and Xbox has spent an estimated $22.7 million on its 2,948 airings. And although it aired most frequently during SportsCenter (275 airings), MLB Tonight (269 airings) and MLB baseball (130 airings), it received the highest impression-counts during NFL football (362.8 million TV ad impressions) and college football (100.2 million). This ad also has captured viewer attention for Xbox, with an iSpot Attention Index of 141, meaning it’s received 41% fewer interruptions than the average video game ad.
PlayStation’s top ad for spend ($18.8 million) and impressions (754.5 million) spotlights PlayStation Now and has aired over 2,000 times, with 226 airings on SportsCenter — but, once again, we see NFL football take the lead for generating impressions (90.3 million). It sports an iSpot Attention Index of 136 (36% fewer interruptions than the average video game ad).
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
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"10 technology trends that will impact our lives in 2020 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/10-technology-trends-that-will-impact-our-lives-in-2020"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Sponsored 10 technology trends that will impact our lives in 2020 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Presented by Pegasus Tech Ventures 2020 — it’s when the world will see transformational changes in how technology impacts our lives. Here’s a look at the top technology trends that will influence us.
Trend 1: Breakout moment of artificial intelligence (AI) in manufacturing AI is now part of everyday life, driven by the emergence of a device ecosystem including Alexa , Siri , and Google Assistant.
In 2020, emotion recognition and computer vision will scale and AI will have a breakout moment in manufacturing.
U.S. startups Vicarious , Kindred , and Osaro stand out in using AI technologies for manufacturing.
Kindred’s technology is used to automate part of distribution for apparel brands such as GAP.
Vicarious is attracting investment from Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk.
Trend 2: Practical deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) IoT is hot but there are not as many mainstream applications today as some predicted. We anticipate that with 5G, the number of connected devices and mainstream IoT applications will reach scale.
Amazon recently launched Amazon Go , a system that uses IoT and machine vision technologies to enable consumers to shop without manual check out. Environments will use more sensors and vision technologies, enabling more scalable IoT solutions. Startups Standard Cognition (U.S.), Accel Robotics (U.S.), Trigo (Israel), Grabango (U.S.), and AiFi (U.S.) provide similar services as Amazon Go.
Trend 3: Increased demand for edge computing processing power 2020 will see the need for higher performance from edge computing hardware since better sensors and larger AI models now enable a host of new applications. There is a growing need to infer more data and then make decisions without sending data to the cloud.
Chip startups SambaNova (U.S.), Graphcore (U.K.), Cerebras (U.S.), Wave Computing (U.S.), and Syntiant (U.S.) have developed architectures to handle increased demand. High-performing AI chips, known as neuromorphic or brain chips, mimic the structure of the brain and process top AI algorithms.
Trend 4: Commercialization of quantum computing usage in mass scale We expect 2020 to begin the quantum computing era. As data increases, quantum computing will target the biggest problems in industry, such as health care and energy. In 2020, the ability to handle big data will be required for cancer treatment, nuclear energy control, and DNA analysis. Corporations IBM , Google , Intel , Microsoft , and Alibaba have moved into quantum computing.
Startups Rigetti (U.S.), D-Wave Systems (Canada), and QC Ware (U.S.) are disrupting quantum computing. The technology will grow as it becomes easier to use with platforms such as Amazon Web Services by mid-2020.
Trend 5: Evolution of aerospace technologies Mankind will begin its return to space in 2020, largely driven by the private sector. Since the Cold War, technological advances have slowed. Notable companies now making aerospace advancements include SpaceX and Blue Origin.
SpaceX is developing the rocket Starship, which will reuse the entire vehicle body. Starship may shorten intercontinental trips to 20-30 minutes via space. In China, the government and private enterprises (example: LinkSpace ) are making progress in space.
Trend 6: New era of the internet — deployment of 5G and Starlink broadband internet technology 5G competition between the U.S. and China is entering the main stage in 2020. There will be a new competition about who can propel 5G faster into mass consumer use. Another hot topic is the Starlink Broadband business planned by SpaceX.
Until 2020, as many as 2,500 satellites will be launched. This marks a new era of broadband Internet for some users in North America. Starlink’s broadband Internet system will grow with 12,000 satellites through 2023, followed by the addition of 30,000 satellites. SpaceX will provide higher speed Internet starting in 2020.
Trend 7: Evolution of health care — predictions at the genome level Under the theme of prevention, digital health care has seen much innovation. In the U.S., startups 23andMe and Color lead in genome analysis, while Genesis Healthcare stands out in Japan and Genoplan in Korea. These companies use genomic analysis to learn of diseases and provide prevention methods.
The evolution of AI will improve the quality of treatment. In 2020, many medical images taken using MRI, CT scans, and X-rays will be diagnosed using AI. Startups Enlitic and Zebra Medical Vision stand out as leaders.
Trend 8: Evolution in Agriculture – technology to Grow Crops Efficiently In agriculture, companies that offer products using computer vision, AI, and big data stand out. In 2020, it will become common to monitor crop growth by computer vision Ceres Imaging (U.S.), Taranis (Israel), Farmwise (U.S.).
Robots, such as those by Abundant Robotics , that harvest plants and fruits will become more common. The technology for improving crop growth efficiency will also be enhanced by indoor farming companies, such as Bowery Farming (U.S.), funded by GV.
Trend 9: Evolution of autonomous driving technology Autonomous driving is already a hot topic, although level 5 (fully autonomous) has not been realized. Some Tesla cars can be switched to autopilot mode on the highway, but this is only possible up to level 2 (driving support) or level 3 (operated by the driver in an emergency).
Technology for understanding detailed road conditions by AI is evolving. Startups Prophesee (France), Perceptive Automata (U.S.), and Humanising Autonomy (U.K.) stand out as leaders. They will contribute towards achieving level 5 in 2020.
Trend 10: The U.S. and China put blockchain to practical use As blockchain grows, payment-type venture companies and venture companies in security — such as Chainalysis , which develops money laundering countermeasure technology — are attracting attention.
In 2020, major institutions will introduce blockchain to prevent large-scale information leakage and Internet fraud.
IBM set up an accelerator program specializing in blockchain. China approved the introduction of blockchain in services such as ICBC (China Industrial and Commercial Bank), Alibaba Group , China Southern Airlines , etc. In 2020, blockchain will be put to practical use.
Technologies changing the world These 10 technologies will change the world in 2020. While there are concerns about workforce impact, there is little doubt that 2020 will be a time of innovation as people better leverage technology.
Anis Uzzaman , Ph.D. is the CEO and General Partner of Pegasus Tech Ventures , overlooking overall management, investments, and operations. Located in Silicon Valley, Pegasus Tech Ventures has $1.5 Billion Dollars AUM and provides early stage to final round funding. Anis has invested in over 170 startups in the United States, Japan, and Southeast Asia. Anis is also the Chairman of Startup World Cup, a global startup pitch competition with 50+ regional events across the 6 continents, leading up to $1,000,000 in investment prize.
Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. Content produced by our editorial team is never influenced by advertisers or sponsors in any way. For more information, contact [email protected].
The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Ubisoft uses AI to teach a car to drive itself in a racing game | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/ubisoft-uses-ai-to-teach-a-car-to-drive-itself-in-a-racing-game"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Ubisoft uses AI to teach a car to drive itself in a racing game Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
Reinforcement learning, an AI training technique that employs rewards to drive software policies toward goals, has been applied successfully to domains from industrial robotics to drug discovery.
But while firms including OpenAI and Alphabet’s DeepMind have investigated its efficacy in video games like Dota 2 , Quake III Arena , and StarCraft 2 , few to date have studied its use under constraints like those encountered in the game industry.
That’s presumably why Ubisoft La Forge, game developer Ubisoft’s eponymous prototyping space, proposed in a recent paper an algorithm that’s able to handle discrete, continuous video game actions in a “principled” and predictable way. They set it loose on a “commercial game” (likely The Crew or The Crew 2 , though neither is explicitly mentioned) and report that it’s competitive with state-of-the-art benchmark tasks.
“Reinforcement Learning applications in video games have recently seen massive advances coming from the research community, with agents trained to play Atari games from pixels or to be competitive with the best players in the world in complicated imperfect information games,” wrote the coauthors of a paper describing the work. “These systems have comparatively seen little use within the video game industry, and we believe lack of accessibility to be a major reason behind this. Indeed, really impressive results … are produced by large research groups with computational resources well beyond what is typically available within video game studios.” The Ubisoft team, then, sought to devise a reinforcement learning approach that’d address common challenges in video game development. They note that data sample collection tends to be a lot slower generally, and that there exist time budget constraints over the runtime performance of agents.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Their solution is based on the Soft Actor-Critic architecture proposed early last year by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, which is more sample-efficient than traditional reinforcement learning algorithms and which robustly learns to generalize to conditions that it hasn’t seen before. They extend it to a hybrid setting with both continuous and discrete actions, a situation often encountered in video games (e.g., when a player has the freedom to perform actions like moving and jumping, each of which are associated with parameters like target coordinates and direction).
The Ubisoft researchers evaluated their algorithm on three environments designed to benchmark reinforcement learning systems, including a simple platformer-like game and two soccer-based games. They claim that its performance fell slightly short of industry-leading techniques, which they attribute to an architectural quirk. But they say that in a separate test, they successfully used it to train a video game vehicle with two continuous actions (acceleration and steering) and one binary discrete action (hand brake), the objective being to follow a given path as quickly as possible in environments the agent didn’t encounter during training.
“We showed that Hybrid SAC can be successfully applied to train a car on a high-speed driving task in a commercial video game,” wrote the researchers, who futher noted that their approach can accommodate a wide range of potential ways for an agent to interact with a video game environment, such as when the agent has the same inputs as a player (whose controller might be equipped with an analog stick that provides continuous values and buttons that can be pressed to yield discrete actions through combinations). “[This demonstrates] the practical usefulness of such an algorithm for the video game industry.” GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Researchers detail AI that de-hazes and colorizes underwater photos | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/researchers-detail-ai-that-de-hazes-and-colorizes-underwater-photos"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Researchers detail AI that de-hazes and colorizes underwater photos Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
Ever notice that underwater images tend to be be blurry and somewhat distorted? That’s because phenomena like light attenuation and back-scattering adversely affect visibility. To remedy this, researchers at Harbin Engineering University in China devised a machine learning algorithm that generates realistic water images, along with a second algorithm that trains on those images to both restore natural color and reduce haze. They say that their approach qualitatively and quantitatively matches the state of the art, and that it’s able to process upwards of 125 frames per second running on a single graphics card.
The team notes that most underwater image enhancement algorithms (such as those that adjust white balance) aren’t based on physical imaging models, making them poorly suited to the task. By contrast, this approach taps a generative adversarial network (GAN) — an AI model consisting of a generator that attempts to fool a discriminator into classifying synthetic samples as real-world samples — to produce a set of images of specific survey sites that are fed into a second algorithm, called U-Net.
The team trained the GAN on a corpus of labeled scenes containing 3,733 images and corresponding depth maps, chiefly of scallops, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and other such organisms living within indoor marine farms. They also sourced open data sets including NY Depth, which comprises thousands of underwater photographs in total.
Post-training, the researchers compared the results of their twin-model approach to that of baselines. They point out that their technique has advantages in that it’s uniform in its color restoration, and that it recovers green-toned images well without destroying the underlying structure of the original input image. It also generally manages to recover color while maintaining “proper” brightness and contrast, a task at which competing solutions aren’t particularly adept.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! It’s worth noting that the researchers’ method isn’t the first to reconstruct frames from damaged footage. Cambridge Consultants’ DeepRay leverages a GAN trained on a data set of 100,000 still images to remove distortion introduced by an opaque pane of glass, and the open source DeOldify project employs a family of AI models including GANs to colorize and restore old images and film footage. Elsewhere, scientists at Microsoft Research Asia in September detailed an end-to-end system for autonomous video colorization; researchers at Nvidia last year described a framework that infers colors from just one colorized and annotated video frame; and Google AI in June introduced an algorithm that colorizes grayscale videos without manual human supervision.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Microsoft proposes AI that improves when you smile | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/microsoft-proposes-ai-that-improves-when-you-smile"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Microsoft proposes AI that improves when you smile Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn An example of the smile response for a six minute (360s) period during one of the driving sessions. Frames from the environment and from the webcam video are shown as reference.
Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
Positive affectivity, or the characteristic that describes how people experience affects (e.g., sensations, emotions, and sentiments) and interact with others as a consequence, has been linked to increased interest and curiosity as well as satisfaction in learning. Inspired by this, a team of Microsoft researchers propose imbuing reinforcement learning, an AI training technique that employs rewards to spur systems toward goals, with positive affect, which they assert might drive exploration useful in gathering experiences critical to learning.
As the researchers explain, reinforcement learning is commonly implemented via policy-specific rewards designed for a predefined goal. Problematically, these extrinsic rewards are narrow in scope and can be difficult to define, as opposed to intrinsic rewards that are task-independent and quickly indicate success or failure.
In pursuit of an intrinsic policy, the researchers developed a framework comprising mechanisms motivated by human affect — one that motivates agents by drives like delight. Using a computer vision system that models the reward and another system that uses data to solve multiple tasks, it measures human smiles as positive affect.
The framework encourages agents to explore virtual or real-world environments without getting into perilous situations, and it has the advantage of being agnostic to any specific machine intelligence application. A positive intrinsic reward mechanism predicts human smile responses as the exploration evolves, while a sequential decision-making framework learns a generalizable policy. As for the positive intrinsic affect model, it changes the action selection such that it biases actions providing better intrinsic rewards, and a final component uses data collected during the agent’s exploration to build representations for visual recognition and understanding tasks.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! To test the framework, the researchers collected data from five subjects tasked with exploring a digital three-dimensional maze with a vehicle, as well as synchronized footage of each of their faces. (Every person drove for 11 minutes each, providing a total of 64,000 frames.) Participants were told to explore the environment but were given no additional instruction about other objectives, and their smile responses were calculated and recorded by an open source algorithm.
The affect-based intrinsic motivation model was trained using the subjects’ data, with image frames from the vehicle’s dashboard serving as the input and the smile probability serving as the output. The results of further experiments show that the framework improved safe exploration while at the same time enabling efficient learning; compared with baselines, the researchers’ intrinsic reward policy covered 46% more space in the maze and collided with obstacles 29% less of the time.
“Here we were not attempting to mimic affective processes, but rather to show that functions trained on affect like signals can lead to improved performance,” wrote the coauthors of the paper detailing the work. “In summary, we argue that such an intrinsically motivated learning framework inspired by affective mechanisms can be effective in increasing the coverage during exploration, decreasing the number catastrophic failures, and that the garnered experiences can help us learn general representations for solving tasks including depth estimation, scene segmentation, and sketch-to-image translation.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
Discover our Briefings.
The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"How Privately's AI could help developers and device makers safeguard children | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/how-privatelys-ai-could-help-developers-and-device-makers-safeguard-children"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Feature How Privately’s AI could help developers and device makers safeguard children Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn BBC Own It app with Privately's technology integrated Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
Smartphones and social media have often been called our era’s cigarettes — an addictive , destructive cancer.
Children are particularly susceptible to the corruption permeating the digital world, whether they’re soaking in misinformation or battling a barrage of bullying and abuse.
But while the internet can be toxic , millions of young people have only ever known a world in which they interact with fellow humans through MySpace, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, WhatsApp, and countless other social platforms. Parents who try to keep their offspring from using such services face an uphill battle from the outset, so the onus has increasingly fallen on technology companies to make the internet a more pleasant place.
Most of the companies behind these platforms have sought to address a growing tech backlash by introducing features that claim to fix at least some of the problems. Instagram, for example, now uses AI to warn users before they post offensive text in hopes that they’ll reconsider. Elsewhere, Alphabet offshoot Jigsaw is working with publishers on technology that enables users to filter out abusive comments.
Deep-pocketed tech giants have the resources and AI expertise to at least attempt to address the problem, but smaller companies … not so much. This is where Swiss startup Privately is hoping to carve out a niche — by giving developers and device makers the tools to add well-being and safety features that protect children in the digital age.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Private eye Founded out of Lausanne, Switzerland in 2014, Privately makes software that integrates with any app and enables it to detect safety markers pertaining to children’s online communications. It then provides guidance around cyberbullying, privacy, and more.
A few years back, Privately launched a consumer-focused mobile app called Oyoty , which serves as a demonstration of its technology. Oyoty, in its original guise, was a downloadable mobile app that linked to users’ social accounts (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter) — anylizing posts for “problems” and intervening when necessary. Its automated bot might recommend that a child not share sensitive information, such as a phone number, or alert them if they’re showing too much skin in a photo.
Above: Oyoty in action Oyoty has evolved in the intervening years, and it’s still being developed in a handful of European markets. Privately told VentureBet that the company is currently in “advanced discussions” with a major device manufacturer to provide a customized version of Oyoty on their hardware in several countries.
To achieve true scale, however, Privately is pushing into the B2B sphere to make its underlying technology available to anyone and everyone. Its Online Wellbeing and Safety (OWAS) tech has been available since September, and the BBC was among the first third-party organizations to tap the technology when it launched the Own It mobile app and keyboard in the U.K.
The general idea behind Own It is that children install the app and make it the default keyboard on their device (presumably at their parents’ insistence). The kids then receive warnings, prompts, and real-time advice whenever the app detects something untoward.
For example, if someone types the words “I’m feeling suicidal” into Google Search, a little message on the keyboard will pop up telling them to talk to someone who can help, along with a free support number to call.
Above: BBC Own It: Feeling suicidal? Elsewhere, the BBC’s Own It keyboard can detect when a user writes something mean and ask them to think again before posting.
Above: Companies can use Privately to integrate anti-abuse technology into their apps Similarly, if someone tries to share personal information such as an email address or telephone number, the app will prompt the user to reconsider.
Above: Privately warns users about sharing too much information The BBC Own It app helps demonstrate some of the ways Privately’s technology can be used by developers. And Privately is planning to broaden its horizons to include other forms of digital communication — including voice.
“Voice is a top priority, as it is slowly replacing text in many environments,” Privately CEO and cofounder Deepak Tewari told VentureBeat. “We will have at least some features around voice in 2020.” The Oyoty app also provides a glimpse into how its underlying AI can be leveraged for visual forms of communication, including the ability to detect “too much skin” in a photo.
Privately said it has trained its systems to “understand a number of modalities” to determine what may or may not be inappropriate. It takes into account the context of a photo — such as whether it was taken indoors or outdoors and whether it’s an individual or a family snap — to “interpret whether an image might be provocative,” Tewari said.
Above: Oyoty demonstrates how Privately’s technology can be used to prevent children over-sharing personal information.
Privately is quick to stress that its technology is deployed on the device itself, which not only helps deliver speedy, real-time guidance but also boosts its privacy credentials, given that data isn’t transferred to a remote server. With privacy-focused regulations such as GDPR taking hold, this could be a big selling point for app developers.
“The privacy-preserving AI element of the Own It application that was developed through this collaboration [with the BBC] is an industry first,” Tewari added.
Privately has so far been supported by a Swiss angel investor, in addition to a grant that helped fund its R&D base in Switzerland. The company is also gearing up to raise funding from U.K. investors in early 2020, which is why Privately has now opened an office in London.
In terms of its business model, Privately said it garners revenue chiefly through licensing its technology to companies, which can pick out the features they wish to use. Companies can also customize its technology, for an additional fee, to meet specific client requirements.
It’s still early days for Privately, but the startup is already working on various proofs of concept with companies operating in the gaming industry, in addition to charities, antivirus companies, and telcos. Earlier this year, Privately was invited to become a member of the Fair Play Alliance , a gaming company working group dedicated to improving gamers’ experiences. Tencent also invited Privately to participate in the development of new protection standards for minors.
“There has been very strong interest overall,” Tewari said.
Well-being At its core, Privately is tapping into a growing digital health trend.
Back in July , Instagram introduced a new automated feature that warns users before they post abusive or bullying comments beneath photos or videos, and this feature was recently expanded to captions.
But reducing toxicity is only part of the picture — Privately is also focusing on well-being at the individual level.
“While toxicity and hate speech is a big problem ailing the internet, we see our focus more broadly on the subject of digital well-being,” Tewari continued. “To that end, we will develop technologies that understand the digital environment as well as the user better and provide personalized assistance to users to have a net positive relationship with technology.” This is an area the big mobile platform providers are investing heavily in, with both Google and Apple launching various tools to improve people’s relationships with their digital devices. And it will likely become an increasingly greater focus for tech companies across the spectrum. Privately is betting it can improve the quality of time spent online by providing an extra layer of protection for children, with AI filling in the gaps for parents who can’t monitor their offspring 24/7.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
Discover our Briefings.
The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"AI Weekly: Facial recognition, deepfakes, privacy, and jobs automation defined 2019 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/ai-weekly-facial-recognition-deepfakes-privacy-and-jobs-automation-defined-2019"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages AI Weekly: Facial recognition, deepfakes, privacy, and jobs automation defined 2019 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Pepper the robot from Softbank Robotics Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here.
As the year draws to a close, it’s instructive to look back at the months preceding to see what the future has in store. History is cyclical in nature, and this is true of the field of AI. Consider that backpropagation , an algorithm widely used in the training of machine learning systems, appeared as a theory as early as 1980, but it wasn’t until the 2010s that it returned thanks in part to cheap, powerful graphics card-based machines.
This year, four key issues in AI and machine learning rose to the fore: facial recognition; deepfakes and self-censorship in academia; privacy; and automation. In anticipation of 2020, here’s a look back at some of the issues that defined the industry in 2019.
Facial recognition Facial recognition found itself in the news this year perhaps more than any other application of AI.
In early January, a team of MIT scientists alleged that Amazon Web Services’ facial recognition and analysis platform — Rekognition — distinguished gender among certain ethnicities less accurately than did competing solutions. Specifically, it failed to determine the sex of female and darker-skinned faces in select scenarios, mistakenly identifying pictures of women as men and darker-skinned women as men 19% and 31% of the time, respectively.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Amazon’s disputations aside, the study presciently spotlighted the types of biases to which AI can easily become susceptible.
Research published by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) just last week found that, when conducting a particular type of database search, a number of facial recognition algorithms falsely identified black and Asian faces 10-to-100 times more often than Caucasian faces.
Beyond the bias problem, facial recognition technology’s scalability makes it ripe for abuse. This year, the NYPD ran a picture of actor Woody Harrelson through a facial recognition system because officers thought the suspect seen in drug store camera footage resembled the actor.
We learned how China employs facial recognition to track the movements of its Uighur Muslim population.
And AnyVision, a startup based outside of Tel Aviv, has come under scrutiny following reports that its products are used to watch Palestinians living in the West Bank.
A growing number of activists, academics, and lawmakers have called for restrictions or outright bans on facial recognition technology. This fall, California imposed a three-year moratorium on facial recognition use in law enforcement body cameras, and in May, San Francisco banned facial recognition use by police or city departments. Oakland followed suit in June, after which Berkeley passed a ban of its own. And in two House Oversight and Reform committee hearings last summer, some of the most prominent Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress joined together in proposals for legislative reform, following the introduction of the Commercial Facial Recognition Privacy Act of 2019 , which would require businesses to receive consent before using facial recognition software.
Given the fierceness of the debate in Congress, academia, statehouses, and public forums like Capitol Hill , it’s fair to say that facial recognition was and will remain a hot-button topic.
Self-censorship and deepfakes In a break from academic norms, OpenA in February opted not to make public the corpus used to train its state-of-the-art natural language processing model, known as GPT-2, nor the training code that accompanied it. In a blog post justifying its decision, OpenAI expressed concern that they might be used to generate synthetic financial news about specific companies, for instance, or screeds of racist or sexist text and fake reviews on sites like Amazon or Yelp.
OpenAI subsequently released several smaller and less complex versions of GPT-2 and studied their reception as well as the data sets on which they trained on. After concluding that there was “no strong evidence” of misuse, it published the full model — which was trained on eight million text documents scraped from the web — last month.
Critics of OpenAI’s decision argued that the firm exaggerated the danger posed by their work, and that it inadvertently stoked mass hysteria about AI and machine learning in the process. This aside, they assert that OpenAI disadvantaged researchers by depriving them of access to breakthrough AI techniques, and that it effectively prevented the research community from identifying faults in GPT-2 or coming up with potential countermeasures.
They have a point, but OpenAI’s fears weren’t entirely unfounded. Deepfakes, or media that takes a person in an existing image, audio recording, or video and replaces them with someone else’s likeness using AI, multiplied quickly in 2019. Deeptrace found 14,698 deepfake videos on the internet during its most recent tally in June and July, up 84% from last December. That’s troubling not only because deepfakes might be used to sway public opinion during an election or to implicate someone in a crime they didn’t commit, but because they’ve already been used to produce pornographic material and to swindle companies out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Tech giants including Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon have teamed up with academic partners including MIT and Cornell to help fight the spread of AI-originated misleading media, but OpenAI’s hesitancy to release its model is a bellwether of the challenges ahead. Indeed, Experian predicts that in 2020, cyber criminals will use AI technology to disrupt commercial enterprises’ operations and create geopolitical confusion among nations.
Privacy For all the good they’ve done, AI and machine learning algorithms have a major privacy problem.
The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, a division of the U.K.’s National Health Service based in London, provided Alphabet’s DeepMind with data on 1.6 million patients without their consent. Google (whose health data-sharing partnership with Ascension became the subject of scrutiny in November) abandoned plans to publish scans of chest X-rays over concerns that they contained personally identifiable information. This past summer, Microsoft quietly removed a data set (MS Celeb) with more than 10 million images of people after it was revealed that some weren’t aware they had been included. And ImageNet, an open source library commonly used to train computer vision algorithms, was revealed to have at some point contained depictions of intimate acts scraped from Google, Flickr, and elsewhere.
Separately, tech giants including Apple and Google have been the subject of reports uncovering the potential misuse of recordings collected to improve assistants like Siri and Google Assistant. In April, Bloomberg revealed that Amazon employs contract workers to annotate thousands of hours of audio from Alexa-powered devices, prompting the company to roll out user-facing tools that quickly delete cloud-stored data.
That’s all problematic given that increasingly, privacy isn’t merely a question of philosophy but table stakes in the course of business. Laws at the state, local, and federal levels aim to make privacy a mandatory part of compliance management. Hundreds of bills that address privacy, cybersecurity, and data breaches are pending or have already been passed in 50 U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia. Arguably the most comprehensive of them all, the California Consumer Privacy Act was signed into law roughly two years ago. That’s not to mention the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which requires companies to seek authorization before disclosing individual health information.
In response, Google and others have released libraries such as TensorFlow Privacy and PySyft for machine learning frameworks including TensorFlow and PyTorch, which provide strong privacy guarantees with techniques like differential privacy. Simultaneously, they’ve pursued techniques including federated learning, which trains AI across decentralized devices or servers (i.e., nodes) holding data samples without exchanging those samples, and homomorphic encryption, a form of cryptography that enables computation on plaintext (file contents) encrypted using an algorithm (also known as ciphertexts). And on the fully managed services side of the equation, tech giants like Amazon have moved to make their offerings comply with regulations like HIPAA.
Automation While fears of job-stealing AI might have been overblown, automation is eroding the need for human labor.
A McKinsey Global Institute report published earlier this year found that women predominate in occupations that will be adversely changed by AI and machine learning. About 40% of jobs where men make up the majority in the 10 economies contributing over 60% of GDP collectively could be displaced by automation by 2030, compared with the 52% of women-dominated jobs with high automation potential.
These sentiments jibe with a March 2019 report from the U.K. Office for National Statistics (ONS), which found that 10% of the U.K.’s workforce (about 1.5 million workers) occupy jobs that are at “high risk” of automation. ONS forecasted that service workers — chiefly waiters and waitresses, retail inventory restockers, and entry-level salespeople — would be disproportionately affected, as well as those in agricultural, automotive, and service industries. And the department predicted that women, who in 2017 held 70.2% of high-risk jobs, would bear the brunt of the coming labor market shifts.
Whether they take up new work or acquire new skills in their current fields, it’s anticipated that tens of millions of workers will have to make some sort of occupational transition by 2030.
Forrester found that automation could eliminate 10% of U.S. jobs in the coming months. And the World Economic Forum , PricewaterhouseCoopers, McKinsey Global Institute , and Gartner have forecast that AI could make redundant as many as 75 million jobs by 2025.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, various forms of universal basic income, such as regular payments to citizens regardless of income, have the endorsements of luminaries such as Richard Branson and Elon Musk. U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang made it a central part of his campaign for the Democrats’ nomination — he asserts that payments furnished by a value-added tax could kick-start economic development in regions of the U.S. that haven’t benefited from a wellspring of venture capital. As for Bill Gates, he’s suggested imposing a “ robot tax ,” whereby the government would extract a fee every time a business replaces an employee with automated software or machines.
Looking ahead The challenges with AI are formidable. Facial recognition remains a potent and largely unregulated application of machine learning that’s enhancing — and in some cases creating — surveillance states. Deepfakes weigh heavily on tech companies and academics, along with the general public. Definitive solutions to the privacy questions in AI are elusive. And no matter whether workers reskill, automation is predicted to impact the livelihoods of millions.
What answers might 2020 hold? Tough to say. But for all the dilemmas posed by AI, it’s effected enormous positive change. AI this year achieved the state of the art in protein folding , which could pave the way for new therapies and medications. Various implementations of machine learning are being used to tackle global climate change.
And AI has allowed people with speech and hearing impediments to use products that were previously unavailable to them.
As with any paradigm shift, there’s invariably some bad with the good. The industry’s task — and indeed, our task — is doing all within its power to advance the latter at the former’s expense.
For AI coverage, send news tips to Khari Johnson and Kyle Wiggers and AI editor Seth Colaner — and be sure to subscribe to the AI Weekly newsletter and bookmark our AI Channel.
Thanks for reading, Kyle Wiggers AI Staff Writer VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"6 AI features Microsoft added to Office in 2019 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/6-ai-features-microsoft-added-to-office-in-2019"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages 6 AI features Microsoft added to Office in 2019 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Microsoft has added so many AI-driven features to its Office 365 productivity suite this year that we wanted to pull together a comprehensive list — but it’s not as straightforward as it might seem. Features like PowerPoint Designer , OneNote’s ink to text , and Word’s grammar and style suggestions got notable improvements, but they didn’t first show up in 2019.
That’s because Microsoft doesn’t simply ship AI-powered features in Office 365 once — it refines them over time. The team is constantly trying to figure out what makes users more productive and what doesn’t. Many of the features also rely on machine learning models that adapt based on usage. “You get this amazing signal about how it’s making them more productive, how often are they using it and engaging with it, how often are they keeping the results of what you suggest to them,” Microsoft 365 general manager Rob Howard told VentureBeat. “And that creates this really awesome feedback loop where we get to focus a bunch of energy on making them much more productive.” Howard explained that AI features in Office are supposed to support and assist the user, not take over. “It’s really not about doing somebody’s job for them, it’s actually about being really assistive, about really helping them as they do their work,” he said. “The user is still ultimately in control. The AI gets smarter based on that signal and we can help people more, but in all of these cases we’re just taking out the busy work in between.” After a couple of conversations with Microsoft, we settled on highlighting six major AI features added to Office this year. Three are generally available and three are in preview.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Outlook Last week, when we talked to Cortana lead Andrew Shuman , he was really excited about Outlook’s various Cortana integrations.
Shuman frequently “triages” his own email with Cortana.
“The overall theme of that release is that we really want to think harder about where Microsoft can really add value to the assistant landscape,” Shuman explained. “And where we think we can bring value to our most valuable users. And that really is about the Microsoft 365 users who have rich calendars, rich contact information. They’re using Office every day, so we have a sense of what projects are important to them what people are important to them. And that really led us to kind of think harder about how we narrow our focus and drill really deeply into being this productivity assistant.” Available: Play My Emails and Briefing Email Play My Emails in Outlook uses to Cortana to help you stay on top of your inbox, especially when you’re on the go. Microsoft wants Cortana to be your personal productivity assistant and give you back time in your day. Cortana reads out your new emails intelligently, meaning rather than reading every detail, it summarizes and surfaces information like the sender, time sent, and email contents. Play My Emails is currently available in Outlook for iOS in the U.S., with availability for Android in the works.
In preview: Scheduler Scheduler taps Cortana to help you schedule your meetings. You can include Cortana in your email to participants and let it know what you need in the body of the email (duration, timing, and location of the meeting) using natural language. You can also just write “Find a time for us” and ask Cortana to book a conference room or a call. If you have access to your participants’ calendar availability, Cortana will book the meeting when everyone is available. If you’re meeting with people outside of your organization, Cortana will email them a few possible meeting times and broker a time that works for everyone. Meeting participants can accept the suggestion or propose new times by using natural language. Cortana will then send out an invite to everyone for you. Scheduler is in preview today and will hit generally available in early 2020.
Excel The first AI feature in Excel is a perfect example of Microsoft trying to bridge the gap between mobile and desktop. The second feature is all about gleaning insights from data for the user.
“You don’t have to create 30 different pivot tables or pivot charts to understand all the different ways that your data works,” Howard told VentureBeat. “You’ve got an assistant that’s here and is ready to help do all that busy work for you and let you focus on the insights from the data.” Available: Insert Data from Picture Insert Data from Picture feature in the Excel mobile app helps you import analog data. With this feature, you can easily grab data in a table from a physical piece of paper. You can thus convert financial spreadsheets, work schedules, task lists, timetables, and so on into a digital format in Excel. Insert Data from Picture supports 21 languages on Android and iOS.
In preview: Natural language queries Excel supports natural language queries, meaning you can ask a question about your data and get quick answers without writing a formula. Using AI, Excel will quickly answer data questions using formulas, charts, or pivot tables. This feature is available for Office Insiders on Windows, Mac, and Excel for the web in English. Microsoft says it will hit general availability in early 2020.
PowerPoint PowerPoint has defined business presentations over the past decade. But the software itself hasn’t seen major gains. The AI features Microsoft has been adding over the past few years have made the tool much smarter.
“We’re taking a bunch of different basic AI algorithms — many of the services that are available to developers in something like Azure Cognitive Services — [and] we’re bringing them all together into a single experience,” Howard said. “That [way] we can help people be a more confident and more effective presenter within the tools that they’re already using.” Available: Live Captions and Subtitles If you are deaf, hard of hearing, or speak a different language from the presenter, a PowerPoint presentation can be difficult to follow. Live Captions and Subtitles in PowerPoint help everyone in the room understand the presentation. Powered by AI, this feature provides captions and subtitles for presentations in real time. Captions and subtitles can be displayed in the same language that the presenter is speaking or as a translation. The feature supports 12 spoken languages and displays on-screen captions or subtitles in over 60 languages for Office 365 subscribers on Windows, Mac, and the web.
In preview: Presenter Coach Presenter Coach uses AI to help business professionals, teachers, and students improve their presentation skills. When you enter rehearsal mode and speak into a microphone, the feature gives you real-time on-screen feedback on pacing, the use of filler words, and inclusive language. It even warns you if you are reading off your slides. At the end of the presentation, Presenter Coach generates a report so you can practice and learn from the feedback. The feature is available in public preview for English users in PowerPoint on the web.
Next year, Howard promised Office users can expect Microsoft to focus more on writing assistance (like Ideas in Word) and mobile productivity (like Excel’s Insert Data from Picture).
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"Snap looks beyond teens for growth | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/social/snap-looks-beyond-teens-for-growth"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Snap looks beyond teens for growth Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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( Reuters ) — Snap has pinned its hopes on the over-35 crowd to revive user growth for its photo messaging app, a shift ad buyers said could backfire.
Wooing older people to Snapchat, known for disappearing messages and cartoon selfie photo filters, could alienate its cult following of youngsters , ad buyers and other executives warned. Companies hoping to target young users may in turn move their ad dollars elsewhere, denting money-losing Snap’s primary revenue source.
Look no further than Facebook, warns Jenny Lang, senior vice president of integrated investment at full-service ad agency UM Worldwide, which counts Coca-Cola and Sony as clients. The social media platform has lost younger users in recent years while gaining older fans.
“I hope they don’t change too many things around; that’s a fear in your head,” Lang said about Snap, adding that younger audiences are harder to reach for advertisers as more apps compete for their time. In August, research firm eMarketer estimated Facebook will lose 2.2 million users between 12 and 17 by 2022, though Facebook’s 1.49 billion daily active users dwarfs Snapchat’s 186 million.
Pressure has mounted on seven-year-old Snap. Two straight quarters of user losses sent shares down by two-thirds from a February high. Snap declined to comment on its growth plans and relationships with advertisers.
Evan Spiegel, Snap’s 28-year-old chief executive, first discussed broadening Snapchat’s appeal in late 2017, and called adding users older than 34 a “marketing and communications challenge” on an October earnings call.
A redesign rolled out by February 2018, which made it harder to re-watch friends’ stories and separated those stories from publisher content, drew condemnation from Snap’s base.
Snap has still managed to boost revenue with an easy to use self-serve ad platform. It is also hoping to gain more younger users outside the United States by fixing its glitchy Android app.
But several in the ad industry said it now risks losing millennials to upstarts like short-form video app TikTok, which does not have paid ad spots, or rivals like Facebook’s Instagram.
There are signs Snap is luring some older users. The website for AARP, a senior citizen advocacy group, reported in February some were turning to Snapchat to flirt and hide affairs.
Even so, gaining wide adoption could be hard given Snap’s youth appeal, critics of the strategy said. Fifteen percent of Snap users were over 35 at the time of its initial public offering in 2017.
Parents could be convinced to use Snapchat because it is their kids’ preferred messaging app, and more intuitive navigation could help, said one person familiar with Snap’s plans. Another area needing improvement is the content side of the app, the person said.
Snapchat’s original design reflected a keen understanding of younger users, ad executives said. For instance, parents cannot easily embarrass their children by tagging them in photos.
“Snap has a special place where teens felt more comfortable, and that has helped them grow in the U.S,” said Richard Guest, global digital officer at creative ad agency DDB Worldwide, who developed Snapchat ads for various Mars Inc brands.
Snap needs to tread carefully, said Issa Sawabini, partner at Fuse Marketing, which has created Snapchat ads for Amazon and Starbucks.
“Maybe you don’t want to be on the same platform as your parents,” he said.
Teens were loyal to Snapchat as Instagram introduced copycat features over the past two years, noted digital and social media strategist Jackie Hernandez at full-service ad agency The Community, who counts Verizon and YouTube as clients.
Snap should focus on its “bread and butter” demographic, she said.
Content challenges Snap has spent to distinguish itself from rivals with Discover, featuring original scripted shows and content from publishers like The Washington Post alongside “influencers” — people with large social media followings.
Advertisers targeting an older audience may be uncomfortable placing brands next to that content if it is all housed in one place.
Snap has struggled to translate user data into suggested content, and is considering separate Discover versions for kids and adults, the person familiar with Snap’s plans said.
Richard Greenfield, media analyst at BTIG Research, has slammed Discover’s layout in research notes, noting more traditional sources appear alongside scantily clad influencers.
Snapchat’s Stories — videos or photos that disappear after viewing — attract teens and millennials used to constantly sharing with friends, but can turn off an older audience, said Ryan Pitylak, chief executive of ad agency Unique Influence, a subsidiary of advertising holding company MDC Partners, which has worked with mobile video game company Ludia on Snapchat.
“If they change the functionality too much, that’s when I think you’d have the problem of losing younger users,” Pitylak said.
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"ProBeat: Twitter's biggest mistake was giving Donald Trump a pass | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/social/probeat-twitters-biggest-mistake-was-giving-donald-trump-a-pass"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Opinion ProBeat: Twitter’s biggest mistake was giving Donald Trump a pass Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Twitter’s stock took a hit yesterday after news resurfaced that Fox News had not tweeted for three weeks.
The publication stopped tweeting after activists posted news host Tucker Carlson’s home address on Twitter, which reportedly did not remove it in a timely fashion. Also yesterday, an alt-right activist handcuffed herself to Twitter’s NYC headquarters.
This has nothing to do with Donald Trump and everything to do with Donald Trump. As has been pointed out repeatedly, Trump makes Twitter too much money.
So he gets a pass.
Here’s what I argued last year, when Twitter started changing its rules for Trump : Trump has broken Twitter’s rules many times: before his campaign, during the 2016 primaries and election, not to mention as president. Some of them are newsworthy, sure, but Trump often simply insults individuals just because. Twitter hasn’t enforced its rules in any of these cases. The company hasn’t hidden Trump’s tweets, deleted anything, or banned the offending account.
Twitter has always said its rules apply to all users. But Twitter doesn’t act like it, and Trump is the prime example of this.
And now, the company is arguing that the rules don’t apply to Trump. Because everything the president tweets is newsworthy.
Twitter has moved the line, but in the wrong direction. Anytime Trump tweets something that breaks its rules, the company should sit down and carefully decide what to do. Is the tweet of critical importance or is it pointlessly offensive? The decision is harder than it would be for most other accounts, but all options should be on the table.
Twitter has shown it is too cowardly to make hard decisions every time Trump tweets. So it created a loophole for him.
Then came Alex Jones. Twitter bent over backwards to keep his hate speech on the platform before finally capitulating.
Where various other companies quickly realized enough was enough, Twitter was once again stuck rewriting its own rules to accommodate.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Because of what Twitter did with Trump, its default has become “debate and delay.” Twitter would rather update its rules than apply them — focusing on exceptions for a few rather than enforcement for all.
This is incredibly resource-draining. It leads to problems like Carlson’s address staying on the site too long, or taking six years to remove a fake Vladimir Putin account with over a million followers, which coincidentally also happened yesterday.
Even more importantly, it sends the wrong message. People see what high-profile users get away with, and are more emboldened to break the rules too. This leads to more and more gray areas. You have everything from trolls feeling empowered to ordinary users more likely to disregard the rules.
Even without the gray areas, and before the Donald Trump exception, there was rule-breaking on Twitter. But it’s gotten worse. And I don’t blame Trump for it — I blame Twitter.
This is Twitter’s platform. It’s up to the company to decide, shape, and nurture a civil forum or a cesspool.
Every few months there is a high-profile case of Twitter doing something wrong , according to its own determination on what is wrong.
But not a week goes by without Twitter enforcing its own rules in some bizarre, contorted fashion for lower-profile users.
This isn’t just about Trump, conservatives, or even all trolls. It’s about the health of the social network.
It’s about the trust in Twitter, which continues to erode, regardless of your political leaning.
Trump won’t be the U.S. president forever. Fox News could start tweeting again next month. Conservatives aren’t going to abandon Twitter en masse.
But rebuilding that trust is paramount if Twitter is going to survive. Unfortunately for Twitter, ever since the company refused to put its foot down, all it has been doing is digging itself into a deeper hole.
ProBeat is a column in which Emil rants about whatever crosses him that week.
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"Instagram now lets you send Stories only to 'close friends' | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/social/instagram-now-lets-you-send-stories-only-to-close-friends"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Instagram now lets you send Stories only to ‘close friends’ Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Instagram's close friends allows you to send Stories to a select group of followers.
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Stories have taken off on Instagram since it first copied the feature from Snapchat. Instagram Stories had more than 400 million daily active users as of June, and Facebook executives — including CEO Mark Zuckerberg — have said they believe the ephemeral format will overtake News Feed as the preferred form of sharing. But Instagram and other apps also have to contend with the fact that more and more social media users are keen to post updates within groups of just their closest friends.
So today Instagram is announcing the addition of a feature called “close friends” that allows users to limit who sees their Stories. First, you need to click on your profile, go to the side menu, and then create your close friends list — there’s no limit to how many followers you can add to that list. Then, when you create a Story on Instagram, you will have the option of sharing the Story with all of your friends or with only those on the close friends list.
Users who have been added to your close friends list will see a green ring around your profile when one of your Stories is in the lineup at the top of their homepage. They’ll also see a green badge when they view the story.
Like public Stories, those sent just to close friends will be up for 24 hours, so it’s not exactly akin to the private group messaging features Instagram and Snapchat already have. While users could limit who sees their Stories just by keeping a smaller follower count, the idea is that close friends will gives users the option to share more personal moments with a select group of friends — without having to limit who follows them on Instagram.
Instagram also added muting options earlier this year , so users already had the option to limit who they wanted to see News Feed posts and/or Stories from. Now users have another tool that will give them more control over who they want to interact with and when.
The feature is rolling out globally today on the latest versions of Android and iOS.
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Subsets and Splits
Wired Articles Filtered
Retrieves up to 100 entries from the train dataset where the URL contains 'wired' but the text does not contain 'Menu', providing basic filtering of the data.