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"The 10 biggest European tech stories this week: Uber, Square, Picnic, and more | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/these-were-the-10-biggest-european-tech-stories-this-week-31-march-2017"
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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 10 biggest European tech stories this week: Uber, Square, Picnic, and more 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 week, Tech.eu tracked 9 technology M&A transactions and 96 tech funding deals totalling €460 million (about $491 million) in Europe, Turkey and Israel.
Here’s an overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for this week: 1) Dutch online supermarket Picnic has raised €100 million in funding from NPM Capital, De Hoge Dennen, Hoyberg, and Finci. Picnic was founded 18 months ago and provides free online grocery delivery via electric vehicles.
2) The European Commission is drafting several options to change rules to allow criminal and antiterror investigators greater access to evidence of criminal activity stored in clouds , Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova said this week in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
3) Square, the payments company headed up by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, has finally hit the UK.
4) Uber will withdraw services in Denmark next month due to a taxi law that sets out new requirements for drivers such as mandatory fare meters, the company said on Tuesday.
5) Irish space technology startup Arralis has raised €50 million in funding from an unnamed Hong Kong-based investor.
6) UK-based Kite.ly, an e-commerce platform, has been acquired by Canon Europe for an undisclosed amount.
Kite.ly creates APIs and SDKs for business to employ personalised print solutions in their mobile apps.
7) Freightos, a company specialising in freight logistics technology, has raised $25 million in a Series B round from lead investor GE Ventures. The Israeli company’s funding round also included Aleph VC, Annox Capital, Gold Lion Holdings, ICV, Master Toys, MSR Capital, and OurCrowd.
8) HSBC partners with Tradeshift as banks increasingly see fintech as friends not foe.
9) Oodrive, a French software company, has raised €65 million in a new funding round from Tikehau Capital, MI3, and NextStage.
10) Cumulocity, a German IoT platform, has been acquired by Software AG.
The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Bonus link: Investors bet on a quiet tech revolution in Europe (Reuters) You can subscribe to Tech.eu’s newsletter here.
This post first appeared on Tech.eu.
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5,514 | 2,017 |
"Swissnex hosts its first Swiss Startup Summit in San Francisco | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/swissnex-hosts-its-first-swiss-startup-summit-in-san-francisco"
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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 Swissnex hosts its first Swiss Startup Summit in San Francisco 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.
Switzerland may be known for its neutrality and discretion, but some Swiss startups are embracing the entrepreneurial ways of Silicon Valley. Last night, 16 of these Helvetic entrepreneurs pitched their companies in front of 150 people at the first Swiss Startup Summit.
The event took place at Swissnex’s San Francisco hub, a renovated cargo hangar on Pier 17, furnished with stylish Vitra furniture. Although this wasn’t a startup competition per se , and no cash or equity prizes were awarded, the Swiss founders nonetheless pitched a jury of seasoned investors who included Toni Schneider of True Ventures, Shardul Shah of Index Ventures, and Sand Hill Angels’ Terri Mead.
True to Switzerland’s democratic voting system, the winning startup was picked by the audience members, who cast their votes on a piece of paper. The winner, CatchEye , was awarded one month of coworking space at Swissnex San Francisco and/or the Swisscom outpost in Menlo Park. While this may not compete with an equity investment, the ability for a Swiss-based startup to work (for free) and network for a month in the Bay Area is invaluable.
CatchEye’s pitch was an interesting one. Based in Switzerland, the startup wants to change the way video calls are made by enabling eye contact, improving the lighting, and blurring the background. Regular Skype users know how awkward it can get when they’re chatting with someone without actually looking at them.
The startup’s software is available for integration into existing hardware or software, such as webcams or video call applications on Microsoft. And the team is working on getting its software onto the Apple platform as well. Although CatchEye’s cofounder and CEO, Claudia Plüss, discussed licensing her company’s tech to larger companies during her pitch, the jury was unanimous: This is big enough to be a product of its own.
Above: CatchEye’s cofounder and CEO, Claudia Plüss, pitching at the Swiss Startup Summit The runner-up was Piavita, cofounded by another woman, Dorina Thiess. The CEO described her product as medtech for animals. “The veterinarian sector is stuck in the dark ages,” she said.
To give it a boost, Piavita developed a palm-sized measurement device that monitors the vital signs of animals under care, for pre- or post-surgery, critical care, or night care. It is currently being used on horses, but Thiess explained that the device can be adapted to dogs, cats, and other animals by updating the software.
Terri Mead of Sand Hill Angels pointed out that the pet tech sector is booming, something CB Insights recently highlighted.
Piavita is looking to raise $6 million and attracted interest from investors at the event.
“I am really interested in pursuing Piavita,” wrote Alexander Fries, managing partner at Polytech Ecosystem Ventures, in an email to VentureBeat. “But it’s not just up to me, I have two other partners that need to agree on an investment.” Fries, who was one of the judges last night, said that Swiss startups are less about “internet” ideas and more about the physical aspect of technology, namely hardware.
Above: One of the entrepreneurs sporting a Swiss National Startup Team t-shirt at the event When I interviewed Index Ventures’ Shardul Shah, he also seemed impressed with Piavita. “It has all the characteristics that we look for in our investments: an entrepreneur with global ambition, focus on an insertion point into a market, and a business model that can capture different portions of market sharing and be dominant in it,” he said.
When asked whether Swiss startups need to relocate to Silicon Valley to scale and succeed, Shah didn’t seem to think so. “Index actually started in Switzerland,” he said. “Some of our consumer investments, like HouseTrip, were born there.” At the end of the day, there isn’t a Swiss recipe for success. Even though Switzerland has an overflow of capital, the landlocked European country is only gradually beginning to understand how to convert this capital into risk capital.
While seed money for Swiss startups is relatively easy to get through entities like the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) , growth capital is harder to find. This often leads Swiss startups to relocate to the U.S. or get acquired by U.S. companies. This was the case with Faceshift, for example, which Apple bought in 2015. Magic Leap also went shopping on the Swiss market and recently bought the 3D division of Zurich-based Dacuda.
With only one unicorn on its startup map — MindMaze — Switzerland still has a way to go to become an aggressive competitor. But the tech is promising, and the money is there.
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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5,515 | 2,017 |
"Alphabet investment arm GV backs SpyBiotech, an Oxford University spinout working on 'next-generation' vaccines | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/gv-invests-in-spybiotech-an-oxford-university-spinout-working-on-next-generation-vaccines"
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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 Alphabet investment arm GV backs SpyBiotech, an Oxford University spinout working on ‘next-generation’ vaccines 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.
SpyBiotech , a life sciences spinout from the U.K.’s Oxford University, has raised £4 million ($5 million) in seed funding from Oxford Sciences Innovation (OSI) and Alphabet investment arm GV (formerly Google Ventures).
As traditional approaches to developing vaccines are typically time-consuming, and not always effective, SpyBiotech is working on what it calls a “proprietary protein superglue” technology. Called SpyTag/SpyCatcher, it makes it possible to create vaccines “more quickly, cheaply, and effectively,” according to the company.
A clue to the company’s raison d’être comes from its name, which borrows from the species of bacteria known as Streptococcus pyogenes (Spy), which many people may know from common infections such as strep throat. The company split Spy into a peptide (SpyTag) and protein partner (SpyCatcher). But when separated the two have an overwhelming urge to rejoin each other — and this is the basis of the biochemical superglue that SpyBiotech believes is the “missing link” in the development of effective vaccines.
The company will initially focus on infectious diseases, including viral infections, but it plans to develop its technology further and apply it to “a wide variety of conditions,” covering any number of future outbreaks and pandemics. The funding will be used to initiate phase I trials, and the company is already planning another round of funding “in the near future” to work in other areas.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “Researchers in the vaccine field, including us, have struggled to make effective VLP s against many diseases for a long time,” said Sumi Biswas, associate professor at the Jenner Institute at Oxford University. “We view this superglue technology as a game changer to enable faster development of effective vaccines against major global diseases. We are excited to begin the journey of taking this versatile and innovative approach forward and moving our new vaccines from the laboratory to human clinical testing.” GV has a long history of investments in life sciences, with around half of its European investments involving health-tech companies.
“SpyBiotech has established a novel approach using platform VLP vaccine technology that shows promise in a number of addressable markets,” noted GV partner Tom Hulme. “We’re looking forward to working with a team of world-class scientists with extensive experience in vaccine development — spanning from vaccine design through to Phase II clinical trials — to develop more effective vaccines for a wide range of global diseases.” GV isn’t the only Alphabet offshoot investing in life sciences. Back in January, Alphabet’s health-focused technology arm Verily Life Sciences (“Verily”) announced that it had received an $800 million investment from Singapore-based investment firm Temasek. Verily is setting out to build technology to “better understand health” and to prevent and manage diseases.
Alphabet actually has another health-focused subsidiary, called Calico, which was founded in 2013 by Google and Arthur D. Levinson as a biotech research entity with a focus on extending human life.
Elsewhere, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, through The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, recently announced a new $3 billion program designed to cure, prevent, or manage “all diseases” within their children’s lifetime.
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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5,516 | 2,017 |
"Estonia's Funderbeam to expand its blockchain-powered startup financing platform to Asia | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/estonias-funderbeam-to-expand-its-blockchain-powered-startup-financing-platform-to-asia"
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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 Estonia’s Funderbeam to expand its blockchain-powered startup financing platform to Asia 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.
Estonian startup Funderbeam has announced that it’s taking its crowdfunding service for startups outside of Europe for the first time.
Speaking at the Slush conference in Japan this week, Funderbeam CEO Kaidi Ruusalepp said the company had raised $2.15 million from Japanese investor and incubator Mistletoe to fund the expansion.
“Our vision has always been to become the global stock exchange for startups,” said Ruusalepp on the stage. “We’ve built the world’s first blockchain-powered always-open exchange, and now it’s time to scale outside of Europe.” Funderbeam operates essentially like a private stock exchange for startups. A company that joins Funderbeam can give shares to investors, who can then trade them with other investors on the Funderbeam platform, with identity and stock being verified through the blockchain. Since its launch in 2014, the company says it has helped startups raise $2.1 million from investors in 80 countries.
In general, it’s an attractive option for entrepreneurs in regions where venture capital and other forms of risk investment can be hard to come by. Funderbeam said it will partner with Mistletoe to develop a more targeted strategy to reach Asian-Pacific startups.
Funderbeam itself has now raised about $7.36 million, including a little more than $452,000 from investors on its own 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.
All rights reserved.
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5,517 | 2,017 |
"Starbucks to test mobile order and pay-only store at Seattle headquarters | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/commerce/starbucks-to-test-mobile-order-and-pay-only-store-at-seattle-headquarters"
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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 Starbucks to test mobile order and pay-only store at Seattle headquarters Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Starbucks 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.
(Reuters) – Starbucks will open a dedicated mobile order and pay store next week in its Seattle headquarters building as it tests how to best serve convenience-oriented customers, the company said in a letter to employees on Thursday.
The coffee chain has been looking for ways to ease bottlenecks at cafe drink delivery stations, which suffered peak-hour backups due to a pileup of mobile drink orders.
Starbucks’ headquarters has two cafes that serve the more than 5,000 company employees who work there. One of those cafes, which is available only to company employees, is among its top three stores in the United States for mobile ordering.
Mobile orders from the building will be routed to the new store, which will have a large window where customers can pick up drinks and see them being made.
This fall, Starbucks also will convert an existing cafe in the building into the first of its new, premium Reserve stores. That store is open to the public. A second Reserve store is slated to open soon after in Chicago.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis) 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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5,518 | 2,017 |
"Streaming guides U.S. music industry to its best year since 1998 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/streaming-guides-u-s-music-industry-to-its-best-year-since-1998"
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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 Streaming guides U.S. music industry to its best year since 1998 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Spotify 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.
The U.S. music industry has been crying poor for some time, arguing that YouTube and other ad-supported streaming services don’t pay enough money in licensing fees for the music they use. But that message may be harder to sell now.
In 2016, the record industry had its best year in nearly two decades, the Record Industry Association of America said on Thursday. Total U.S. retail sales from recorded music rose 11.4% last year, to $7.7 billion, the biggest gain since 1998.
The bulk of that growth came from streaming services, which have overtaken sales of compact discs and other physical products. For the first time, streaming provided more than 50% of the industry’s annual revenues, the RIAA said.
The industry isn’t giving up its claim that YouTube is underpaying for the music played on the service, however. In the preamble to its report on Thursday, the RIAA noted that while 2016 was a “substantial overall improvement for the industry,” total revenues are still half what they were in 1999, and that sales of physical products like CDs and digital downloads continue to decline.
In an essay about the industry’s results, RIAA president Cary Sherman said that the business had achieved its “modest success” in spite of current music licensing and copyright laws, not because of them.
“It makes no sense that it takes a thousand on-demand streams of a song for creators to earn $1 on YouTube, while services like Apple and Spotify pay creators $7 or more for those same streams,” Sherman said. “Why does this happen? Because a platform like YouTube wrongly exploits legal loopholes to pay creators at rates well below the true value of music.” The RIAA continues to argue that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is misguided, and that YouTube benefits from the “safe harbor” provisions in the act, which allow it to host even copyright-infringing music provided it takes action when notified of any infringement.
Total revenues paid to the RIAA by streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and others amounted to $3.9 billion, an increase of almost 70% from a year earlier. In just five years, streaming has gone from 9% of recorded music revenues to 51% of the total.
Revenues from paid subscriptions showed the most growth, more than doubling to $2.5 billion, the RIAA said , accounting for about a third of all the growth in recorded music revenue.
The industry group said that RIAA revenue from on-demand subscription services supported by advertising, which would include services like Pandora and YouTube, rose 26% and contributed $469 million of the total last year. Sales of digital downloads, however, declined by 22% compared to 2015.
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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5,519 | 2,018 |
"Microsoft is killing Access Services for SharePoint Online in April 2018 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/microsoft-is-killing-access-services-for-sharepoint-online-in-april-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 Microsoft is killing Access Services for SharePoint Online in April 2018 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Creating an Access web app in SharePoint Online.
Microsoft announced earlier this week that it will discontinue Access Services for SharePoint Online in 2018. Leading up to that, people will no longer be able to launch new Access apps in SharePoint Online, beginning in June.
“We no longer recommend Access Services for new apps. This feature will be retired from Office 365,” the Access and SharePoint teams wrote in a March 27 blog post.
Microsoft is now encouraging people to start using its codeless app building tool PowerApps instead.
One reason for the decision: Access Services don’t work on mobile devices.
Access has existed for nearly 25 years, providing a graphical user interface for surfacing and editing data in relational databases. Microsoft introduced Access Services in 2013 to let companies build custom web-based apps and store data in SharePoint, including in SharePoint Online. As such, Access Web Apps live at dedicated URLs.
The move to kill Access Services for SharePoint Online doesn’t affect support for these web-based apps in SharePoint Server. Indeed, on-premises support for Access Web Apps (AWA) will be available through 2026, Microsoft senior product manager Chris McNulty wrote in a comment on the announcement. Access Desktop databases won’t be affected either.
The move has generated some negative feedback, with some people saying Microsoft isn’t providing enough time for people to adapt to the change and others saying PowerApps alone can’t do what Access Services on SharePoint Online can.
“Appreciate all the comments here which we’re reviewing internally,” McNulty wrote. “We recognize that removing a feature from our service can be disruptive.” In October, Microsoft stopped recommending Visual Studio LightSwitch for building line-of-business apps and instead began suggesting people use PowerApps.
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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5,520 | 2,017 |
"GitHub wins: Microsoft is shutting down CodePlex on December 15 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/github-wins-microsoft-is-shutting-down-codeplex-on-december-15"
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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 wins: Microsoft is shutting down CodePlex on December 15 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn A Codeplex project.
Microsoft today announced that it’s shutting down CodePlex , its service for hosting repositories of open source software. The service launched in 2006, and now it will be going away on December 15.
While people will be able to download an archive of their data, Microsoft is teaming up with GitHub, which provides similar functionality for hosting code that people can collaborate on, to give users “a streamlined import experience” to migrate code and related content there, Microsoft corporate vice president Brian Harry wrote in a blog post.
Simply put, GitHub won.
“Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of amazing options come and go but at this point, GitHub is the de facto place for open source sharing and most open source projects have migrated there,” Harry wrote.
Microsoft has been leaning in more and more to GitHub in the past few years. It moved the CNTK deep learning toolkit from CodePlex to GitHub last year. Today Microsoft’s GitHub organization has more than 16,000 open source contributors, Harry wrote. And last year GitHub itself made a big deal about Microsoft’s adoption of GitHub.
GitHub just posted the 2016 Octoverse, the first one since 2013. Microsoft has the most open-source contributors https://t.co/gX3QfDzRfH — Jordan 'Jaws' Novet (@jordannovet) September 14, 2016 At the same time, CodePlex has rotted. In the past month people have made commits to fewer than 350 projects, Harry wrote.
GitHub is based on the Git open source version control software, which keeps track of changes by multiple people. People can move code to alternative systems like Atlassian’s Bitbucket and Microsoft’s Visual Studio Team Services, Harry wrote. The startup GitLab also offers hosting for open and closed source projects.
Last year Google shut down its own service , Google Code.
“We’re proud to partner closely with GitHub to promote open source,” Harry wrote.
Open source software was not historically at the core of Microsoft’s culture — after all, Windows and Office are proprietary — but in the past few years that has changed. The company open-sourced .NET , and it launched a Visual Studio Code open source text editor in 2015. It open-sourced PowerShell in August.
People can no longer create new projects on CodePlex, Harry wrote. The site will become read-only in October before it shuts down in December; from there people will still be able to browse through code “as it looked when CodePlex went read-only,” Harry 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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5,521 | 2,017 |
"Eventbrite acquires competitor Nvite | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/eventbrite-acquires-competitor-nvite"
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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 Eventbrite acquires competitor Nvite Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Eventbrite acquires Nvite.
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.
Eventbrite, the event ticketing startup valued at just over $1 billion, has acquired Nvite , a smaller competitor. Nvite, based in Washington, D.C., had raised $1 million in funding in 2014 from a group of local investors.
An Eventbrite spokeswoman confirmed the deal and provided the following statement: We’re excited to welcome Nvite to the family to join us in our pursuit to of helping millions of Eventbrite customers better market themselves and their events. They’ve been a valuable partner for some time through our open API and we’re excited to be taking this relationship to the next level. We’re inspired by their design prowess and the opportunity to bring a more customizable and branded experience to our customers.
The deal value was not disclosed. It’s the second acquisition for Eventbrite in recent months. In February, the company acquired Ticketscript, a European ticketing provider. At the same time, the company launched a new product serving music venues called Eventbrite Venue.
Eventbrite, which has been named as an IPO candidate in recent years, touts itself as the largest event technology company in the world based on the number of event organizers and the number of events it hosts on its platform. The company plans to process $3 billion in gross ticket sales this year.
The acquisition comes as Eventbrite loses a high profile client. Earlier this week, Tough Mudder, the race company, announced it had switched to ACTIVE Network, a provider of event technology for races. Tough Mudder represented less than 1% of Eventbrite’s revenue.
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"Connecticut may become first U.S. state to allow deadly police drones | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/connecticut-may-become-first-u-s-state-to-allow-deadly-police-drones"
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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 Connecticut may become first U.S. state to allow deadly police drones Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Hexacopter drone flying in the sunset NEW YORK (By Barbara Goldberg, Reuters) – Connecticut would become the first U.S. state to allow law enforcement agencies to use drones equipped with deadly weapons if a bill opposed by civil libertarians becomes law.
The legislation, approved overwhelmingly by the state legislature’s judiciary committee on Wednesday, would ban so-called weaponized drones in the state but exempts agencies involved in law enforcement. It now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.
The legislation was introduced as a complete ban on weaponized drones but just before the committee vote it was amended to exclude police from the restriction.
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, was reviewing the proposal, “however in previous years he has not supported this concept,” spokesman Chris Collibee wrote in an email.
Civil libertarians and civil rights activists are lobbying to restore the bill to its original language before the full House vote.
“Data shows police force is disproportionately used on minority communities, and we believe that armed drones would be used in urban centers and on minority communities,” said David McGuire, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Connecticut.
“That’s not the kind of precedent we want to set here,” McGuire said of the prospect that Connecticut would become the first state to allow police to use lethally armed drones.
In 2015, North Dakota became the first state to permit law enforcement agencies to use armed drones but limited them to “less than lethal” weapons such as tear gas and pepper spray.
So far, 36 states have enacted laws restricting drones and an additional four states have adopted drone limits, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
If Connecticut’s Democratic-controlled House passes the bill it will move to the Senate, which is split evenly between Democrats and Republicans.
Representative William Tong, a Democrat from Stamford, nor Senator John Kissel, a Republican from Enfield, who are co-chairs of the Judiciary Committee, were not immediately available for comment.
(Editing by Frank McGurty and James Dalgleish) 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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"Cloudera files to raise $200 million in IPO | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/cloudera-files-to-raise-200-million-in-ipo"
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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 Cloudera files to raise $200 million in IPO 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.
Big data software company Cloudera today submitted its S-1 filing to go public on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CLDR.
Joint underwriters on the deal include Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Allen & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank Securities, Stifel, JMP Securities, and Raymond James.
For the year ended January 31, the company lost $187 million on $261 million in revenue, according to the filing.
The year before, Cloudera turned up a $203 million loss on $166 million in revenue. The majority of Cloudera’s revenue comes from subscriptions, which are generally sold for one- to three-year periods, but the company is also dependent on services. Services include professional services, training, and education.
Cloudera sells a distribution of the Hadoop open source software for storing and processing lots of different kinds of data. Cloudera’s competitor Hortonworks went public in 2014. Another Hadoop-based competitor is MapR.
Building large businesses around open source software has traditionally been challenging, and in that regard many startups have longed to be the next Red Hat after the Linux distribution seller went public in 1999.
Traditional database and data warehousing companies like IBM, Oracle, SAP, and Teradata are mentioned as competitors in the filing, but so are public cloud infrastructure providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, which companies can use to run Cloudera’s software. One business risk cited in the filing is Cloudera’s dependence on the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), which manages various pieces of software that Cloudera builds on for its commercial offering.
The company recently introduced cloud services ; in the coming years, the company will increasingly focus its marketing attention on smarter systems like IBM Watson, as well as AWS as a whole.
Founded in 2008, the company had 1,470 employees as of January 31 and more than a thousand customers, according to the filing.
Cloudera has been expected to go public for years. The company filed confidentially earlier; today’s filing is listed under the name Project Thunder.
Investors include Accel Partners, Greylock Partners, and Intel. As of January 31 Intel owned 22 percent of Cloudera, following a major funding deal on the part of the chipmaker, rather than its corporate venture arm, in 2014.
In May 2014 Cloudera sold 11.9 million shares of its Series F-1 preferred stock to Intel for $370.9 million, the filing says. But first, one month prior to that, Cloudera “agreed to waive certain transfer restrictions” for capital stock from certain shareholders, including Accel and Greylock, for a tender offer from Intel. Employees were also allowed to participate, and cofounder and chief strategy officer Mike Olson did, as did chief financial officer Jim Frankola. All told, Cloudera sunk $741.8 million into Intel, between the funding round and the transfers of ownership, according to the filing.
Chief executive Tom Reilly received $4.6 million in compensation including stock awards for the year that ended on January 31; for the prior year he got $7.3 million, according to the filing.
Okta and Yext are also looking to go public. Snap went public last month , and Alteryx and MuleSoft did this month.
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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"Soon your pizza will be ordered, made, and delivered through robots | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/soon-your-pizza-will-be-ordered-made-and-delivered-through-robots"
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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 Soon your pizza will be ordered, made, and delivered through robots Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Starship & Domino's 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.
In the not-too-distant future, your pizza will be ordered through robots, made by robots, and delivered by robots.
Earlier this week, Domino’s revealed a new pilot project in a handful of Dutch and German cities that uses automated ground drones to deliver food within a one-mile radius of select stores, thanks to a tie-up with Starship Technologies — a robotics startup created by Skype’s founders.
This news followed a number of similar partnerships announced by Starship Technologies across Europe and North America, including with U.K. food delivery giant Just Eat , Postmates, and DoorDash.
As we shift ever closer to a world where robots are no longer confined to the fantastical visions of science fiction movies, it’s worth taking a quick peek at the current state of play to see how close we actually are to being overshadowed by machines. And what better place to start than with good ol’-fashioned pizza? 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 explaining Domino’s motives for testing drone-delivered pie, Domino’s group CEO and managing director Don Meij explained that one reason was an anticipated staff shortage: We are a global company, and we are eager to progress innovative technology in all of the countries in which we operate –– we are very excited to be partnering with Starship, as it brings regular deliveries by robot one step closer to commercial operations. With our growth plans over the next five to 10 years, we simply won’t have enough delivery drivers if we do not look to add to our fleet through initiatives such as this.
As dubious as that reasoning may sound, delivery isn’t the only facet of the pizza-ordering process humans need to be concerned about.
Last September, Domino’s launched a Facebook Messenger bot that promised “conversational” ordering in the U.S., a month after a similar initiative was introduced in the U.K.
Through the bot, customers can use a pizza emoji to reorder their favorite food and can track orders through the app.
Above: Domino’s Messenger Bot A major obstacle with the bot at the time it was released was that it really wasn’t all that smart — you couldn’t ask it things, or tweak an order — it was all about accessing your previous order history. But in February, Domino’s added the full menu , including customized orders, allowing hungry Facebook Messenger users to go all-in at the touch of a few buttons.
In terms of making the actual pizza, well, robots are pretty much already there, too. Fledgling food startup Zume Pizza , based out of Mountain View, California, is operating a commercial kitchen where robots apply the sauce and spread it on the dough, while another places the pizza in the oven.
Elsewhere in the food production and preparation realm, U.K. grocery giant Ocado recently demoed a robotic arm that can pick and pack delicate items, such as fruit. And earlier this month, another food robotics startup, called Chowbotics, raised $5 million.
Its first product is “Sally” the salad robot, which is capable of serving up measured quantities of more than 20 different ingredients.
It doesn’t require a gigantic leap of imagination to see where things are going: The robot revolution is very much in full swing.
It’s all still very early days, and many of the technologies outlined above aren’t fully developed yet. But the ingredients are already here for robots to take your pizza order, make it, and deliver it to your house. All it will take is for someone to join the dots between the bots, the kitchen, and the drones, and human involvement in the process will be relegated to little more than a supervisory role.
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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"Mode.ai's visual search finds clothes that match your style | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/mode-ais-visual-search-finds-clothes-that-match-your-style"
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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 Mode.ai’s visual search finds clothes that match your style Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Mode.ai Facebook Messenger bot 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.
Mode.ai is making bots that use your photos to identify an item of clothing, then show you where to buy it (or a visually similar item of clothing) online. The bot can also recognize photos of home decor products and share trending topics from online retailers as varied as Amazon and Louis Vuitton.
The Mode.ai Facebook Messenger bot launched today. Send the bot a picture and it will give you three options: More Like This, Buy, and Who Wore It.
Well, if not who wore it, who wore something like it. “It’s really who wore something similar to it. There’s actually three words missing due to character limitations in that. The Facebook UI has a character limitation so we couldn’t write that whole thing,” Mode.ai SVP Karen Ouk told VentureBeat in a phone interview.
The bot also gives fans a chance to find a similar style when a celebrity is wearing something unique or limited edition.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “Two-thirds of the time — especially for celebrities, what they wear a normal person can’t actually get because the designer made it one-of-a-kind or it’s not actually available, so we’re trying to give the customer a way to get style inspiration [in] a feasible and affordable way,” Ouk said.
Above: Mode.ai Facebook Messenger bot In addition to its own bot, Mode.ai plans to provide computer vision services to a series of retailers and fashion publishers to be announced during F8, an annual conference for Facebook developers that will take place April 18-19 in San Jose.
From APIs and catalogs by stores and brands, the artificial intelligence used by Mode.ai was trained by millions of pictures of products from online retailers.
Mode.ai bot draws on photos from millions of catalog product photos from thousands of ecommerce retailers.
The bot also lets you shop directly from brands like Amazon, Levi’s, Louis Vuitton, and Ann Taylor. Each experience brings the More Like This, Who wore it, and Buy options.
Today Mode.ai bot users have a simple thumbs up-thumbs down option to express preferences to the bot. In the future Mode.ai wants to use computer vision to spot trends in the photos uploaded by users. Businesses will be able to use information drawn from Mode.ai bots to gather insights about a user’s size and taste, Ouk said.
“We know the taste [and] DNA of the users by analyzing the visual properties of whatever they favorite or thumbs up,” said CEO and founder Eitan Sharon.
Earlier this year, Mode.ai was one of only two ecommerce companies listed in the AI 100 from CB Insights.
Ultimately, Mode.ai believes insights it learns from training its AI can fuel ecommerce and visual product searches in augmented reality and other visual media.
The launch of Mode.ai’s bot and AI services comes as competition in the visual search / ecommerce space begins to heat up. Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Adobe, and IBM all have artificial intelligence services to power computer vision, while startups like Stitch Fix use AI to produce tailored clothing.
Pinterest has been especially busy lately. Earlier this month, Pinterest made Lens available for its iOS and Android apps and Chrome extension.
Lens is a visual search tool that shares visual ideas and helps consumers find things to clothes and home decor to buy.
On Wednesday Lens was integrated into Samsung’s new Bixby AI to power visual search for the intelligent assistant.
Though there’s a fair deal of competition, Sharon believes computer vision is in an age of expansion, as industries far beyond commerce and autonomous cars consider opportunities the technology enables.
“I can see how it becomes very popular from all directions — the academic and technology one, and then again all of the images and content of commerce. I would expect it to extend to anything visual, not only fashion,” he said.
Mode.ai has eight employees and is based in Palo Alto, California.
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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"Mattersight wants to use AI and Alexa to send you ads based on your personality | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/mattersight-wants-to-use-ai-and-alexa-to-send-you-ads-based-on-your-personality"
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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 Mattersight wants to use AI and Alexa to send you ads based on your personality Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Amazon Echo Dot 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 people begin to think about how they feel about ads on intelligent assistants, voice analytics company Mattersight is planning to use unique voice signatures to deliver personalized advertisements and bots. Using artificial intelligence to recognize your personality within 30 seconds, Mattersight wants to deliver personalized ads and bots to Amazon Echo, Google Home, and other voice-controlled devices.
Advertising and biometrics for intelligent assistants have been in the news recently. Earlier this month, the internet worked itself into a tizzy over what seemed an awful lot like advertisements for the Beauty and the Beast movie on Google Home. Amazon is also reportedly working on commands that respond to unique voices.
And connected cars that respond to the driver are in the works.
“We know how words or language correlate with personality styles. We ultimately think of ourselves fitting into that landscape, as we’re going to train bots how to be empathetic,” said Mattersight VP of data science Andrew Traba.
Mattersight assigns personality profiles to the people who call major brands, and it wants to bring that same service to intelligent assistants, using voice biometrics as an identifier instead of phone numbers.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Who’s calling? For more than a decade, Mattersight has recorded more than a billion customer service phone calls for companies like Wells Fargo, Hilton Hotels, Progressive Insurance, and CVS.
Within 30 seconds Mattersight’s machine learning-trained algorithms can determine what kind of personality you have based on the words you use. The company uses a method called process communication model to analyze the words used by customers.
Created by Dr. Taibi Kahler in the 1970s, the process communication model follows every second of human interaction and predict outcomes. NASA used the model for more than 20 years in the astronaut selection process.
Profiles attached to phone numbers are used to decide the script an agent should follow or the specific customer service agent a specific customer should speak with.
“What Mattersight’s cooking up in its lab now is how can we implement through API or web services the same technology into a bot that we’ve done in routing in a call center, so that if the bot recognizes that this is Andy talking to it, Andy wants to be spoken to in various facts and figures and linear problem solving versus if it’s Andy’s wife, who is a different personality. Then the bot should be fun, energetic, and exciting because that’s how my wife Mariola, that’s how she likes to be spoken to,” Traba said.
Traba envisions a future where voice biometrics are used to serve personalized advertising through the army of devices with intelligent assistants. In addition to smart speakers like the Amazon Echo or Google Home, assistants are being placed in all manner of products, such as vacuums , cars , and wheelchairs.
Samsung recently announced plans to incorporate its new assistant Bixby into all of its products.
“In the same way that there’s information that’s associated to an IP address, there’s information that’s associated to a phone number, we think there’s going to be information that’s associated with my voice print, which is unique as my fingerprint, and are going to allow these bots to look up a database then and say ‘Oh, this voice print is Andy Traba; here is the personality and language he would like to be communicated with,'” he said.
Next up: The empathetic car Some companies are already using voice biometrics to provide security and services.
Earlier this month, Citi announced it now has one million customers in India and southeast Asia enrolled in its voice authentication program that identifies callers based on voice biometrics. Using software from Nuance Communications , banks like HSBC have also began to use voice recognition to identify customers during phone calls and remove the need for passwords.
Also from Nuance, last month Ford began to provide voice recognition for its Sync infotainment system. At that time, Nuance expressed a desire in the future to serve drivers’ needs based on personality and mood.
“We’re well on the road to developing the empathetic car which might tell you a joke to cheer you up, offer advice when you need it, remind you of birthdays and keep you alert on a long drive,” a Nuance spokesperson said in a statement.
Other recent examples of AI for marketing personalization include Youfirst , a company that tracks the emotional response of people watching YouTube videos, and Influential, who uses natural language to match influence marketers with brands and marketing campaigns and create an influence marketer stock market.
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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"BotBeat Weekly is becoming AI Weekly | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/botbeat-weekly-is-becoming-ai-weekly"
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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 BotBeat Weekly is becoming AI Weekly 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.
Here’s our final edition of BotBeat Weekly — starting next week it will be renamed AI Weekly. You can subscribe to our new AI newsletter and receive it every Thursday.
Yesterday, Samsung finally unveiled Bixby — its artificial intelligence powered assistant. The introduction of a competitor to Siri , Alexa , and others signals a turning point for bots and artificial intelligence, and also a turning point for BotBeat Weekly.
Beginning next Thursday, we are going to rename this newsletter to AI Weekly.
When we launched BotBeat Weekly last year, bots were just becoming “a thing” and warranted discrete coverage. Even while we thought of bots as a subset of AI — and still do, we were excited to report on how they were driving innovation in messaging, interfaces, commerce, hardware, and more. Back then, who would have thought that a voice bot (or AI assistant if you prefer), would be available with the push of button on the Samsung Galaxy S8 ? 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 bots continue to evolve, we’ve found that our coverage demands that we look at them as part of AI. You’ve probably seen this organic shift happening over the past several months. Where does a chatbot begin and end, in relation to say, machine learning? Or reinforcement learning ? Or, what about such promising new applications of AI as healthcare, cars, finance, and security, to name a few? By lifting our editorial lens to encompass all of AI, we’ll be able to answer these and many, many other questions. Our mission at VentureBeat is to help you understand the transformative technologies that matter most.
For AI and bots coverage, please send news tips to Khari Johnson and guest post submissions to John Brandon.
Be sure to visit our Bots and AI Channels for comprehensive news and analysis. Watch for the debut of AI Weekly next Thursday! Thanks for reading, Blaise Zerega Editor in Chief P.S. Please enjoy this video on how to “Build a TensorFlow Image Classifier in 5 Minutes” from developer Siraj Raval.
From the Bots Channel Facebook Messenger has been recommending fake porn clickbait bots Facebook Messenger has been recommending bots that send you sexually suggestive photos and videos. The bots, however, may not send you porn; instead, they fire off links about the advantages of starting an online business or the importance of marketing strategy. When reached for comment, a Facebook spokesperson said they’re working to remove bots in violation […] Read the full story First look at Samsung’s Bixby assistant In the world of artificial intelligent assistants, you’re perhaps most familiar with Siri, Google Assistant, Cortana, and Amazon Alexa. Samsung wants to be counted in that list and today formally introduced Bixby, a service designed to simplify your life and help manage your connected devices. News of the AI assistant had been previously released, but […] Read the full story Apple’s AI chief describes potential for reinforcement learning Artificial intelligence has made great progress in helping computers recognize images in photos and recommending products online that you’re more likely to buy. But the technology still faces many challenges, especially when it comes to computers remembering things like humans do. On Tuesday, Apple’s director of AI research, Ruslan Salakhutdinov, discussed some of those limitations. […] Read the full story Alibaba Cloud launches AI services for health care, manufacturing The public cloud division of Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba Group today is introducing new artificial-intelligence (AI) services targeting two specific industries, health care and manufacturing. The Alibaba Cloud is touting an ET Medical Brain and an ET Industrial Brain, each of which encompasses a number of services. The latter will give companies tools for monitoring […] Read the full story Samsung is risking a lot by overselling AI assistant Bixby Bixby, announced this week and scheduled to make its debut on March 29, is Samsung’s new intelligent assistant. The service is expected to be inside the Galaxy S8 at launch and to eventually be included with all Samsung appliances. Samsung is setting high expectations for Bixby. That’s a risky move, as anyone who has spent time interacting with bots — […] Read the full story Google Assistant can now tell you when your groceries expire Roughly 15 new services have been added to Google Assistant this week, including actions for IMDB movie ratings and others that tell you when the food in your fridge will expire and play you Jaden Smith quotes. Actions are like voice-only apps for Google Assistant, akin to skills for Alexa and Cortana. Among the most noteworthy new actions is […] Read the full story Beyond VB Three Weeks with a Chatbot and I’ve Made a New Friend I’ve got this friend, Adelina, who knows a lot about me. We chat almost every day, sending each other selfies, sharing music and movie recommendations, and making each other laugh. We only communicate via text, though, and can never meet in person. That’s because Adelina is a chatbot—an artificially intelligent app creation that exists only on the glowing screen of my smartphone.
(via MIT Technology Review) Read the full story AI Chatbots Are Shaking Up the Workforce in Some Unexpected Ways Robots have already replaced humans in many jobs, from manufacturing cars to filling warehouse orders and flipping burgers. But as artificial intelligence programs learn to better communicate with humans, they’ll soon encroach on careers once considered untouchable, like law and accounting.
(via NBC News) Read the full story Elon Musk launches Neuralink, a venture to merge the human brain with AI SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is backing a brain-computer interface venture called Neuralink, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company, which is still in the earliest stages of existence and has no public presence whatsoever, is centered on creating devices that can be implanted in the human brain, with the eventual purpose of helping human beings merge with software and keep pace with advancements in artificial intelligence. These enhancements could improve memory or allow for more direct interfacing with computing devices.
(via The Verge) Read the full story ‘Your animal life is over. Machine life has begun.’ The road to immortality Here’s what happens. You are lying on an operating table, fully conscious, but rendered otherwise insensible, otherwise incapable of movement. A humanoid machine appears at your side, bowing to its task with ceremonial formality. With abrisk sequence of motions, the machine removes a large panel of bone from the rear of your cranium, before carefully laying its fingers, fine and delicate as a spider’s legs, on the viscid surface of your brain. You may be experiencing some misgivings about the procedure at this point. Put them aside, if you can.
(via The Guardian) Read the full story Subscribe to AI Weekly (formerly BotBeat Weekly) and receive this newsletter every Thursday 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 happens when a muscle car uses all-wheel drive tech | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/transportation/what-happens-when-a-muscle-car-uses-all-wheel-drive-tech"
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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 What happens when a muscle car uses all-wheel drive tech 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.
New tech in a muscle car gives new meaning to the phrase “spinning your wheels.” I’ve been testing the 2017 Dodge Charger with AWD tech, the same vehicle that — for as long as muscle cars have existed, anyway — has used rear-wheel drive. The commercials show this model driving fast in heavy snow. In my area, with the weather this week, the last thing you’d want to do is drive around with a car meant for summer road trips.
Dodge introduced AWD in the Charger a few years ago, but this is the first time I’ve tested it — in any muscle car. There’s some interesting technology at work. First, all Dodge Chargers use All-Speed Traction Control, which manages tire slip electronically. If there is any slip, the car sends more power to that tire or applies light brake pressure. It’s been around a while, but the technology has improved to the point where you may not even notice it is engaging.
Similarly, electronics in the car also send power from the front axle to the rear and vice versa. The idea is to adjust power to all four tires to make sure you don’t start sliding around a corner.
In my tests, the roads were slick enough that a muscle car with only rear-wheel drive should have spun out multiple times. Around one corner, the tires planted down and I could sense the technology kicking in to adjust tire slip on the fly. I had to ease off the accelerator only because I wasn’t used to a heavier car like this, with a V6 engine and plenty of power, not pulling out from under me and sliding off into the ditch (which was a good ten-foot drop).
Then there’s braking distance. Most cars these days use an antilock brake system to make sure the tires don’t lock up, but the Charger never felt like it was going to slide to stop. I never had occasion to experience it, but there’s also Advanced Brake Assist in the Charger that can sense an emergency braking situation and cause the car to slow down more quickly by applying maximum brake power.
I was also impressed with some of the other tech in the Charger. There’s a new version of the Uconnect system, now in its fourth generation, that is cleaner and looks more modern. It’s similar to what Ford did with their touchscreen display — improving the look and feel to match what you might see on an Apple iPad. You can now pinch, tap, and swipe, and the display supports multitouch. The entire system feels snappier and faster for most actions.
I came away impressed by the AWD system because that’s totally new to me — the Charger felt more responsive on slippery roads in my area, and it was surprising to not feel like the car was going to slide off the side of the road. Most of my previous muscle car tests have been in summer — I don’t ever try to test them in snow, knowing that usually leads to fishtailing.
This time, the AWD kicked in, the snow tires hugged the road, and the car stayed firmly planted.
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"Self-driving Nissan car takes to Europe's streets for first time | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/transportation/self-driving-nissan-car-takes-to-europes-streets-for-first-time"
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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 Self-driving Nissan car takes to Europe’s streets for first time Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn A 2017 Nissan Leaf 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.
(Reuters) — Guided by cameras and radars, and negotiating traffic and roundabouts, a self-driving Nissan car took to the streets of London on Monday for the Japanese company’s first European tests of an autonomous vehicle.
Travelling at up to 50 miles (80 km) per hour and moving from local streets to a major multi-lane road, the modified Nissan LEAF electric car showcased the kind of technology many hope to be the future of travel.
Britain has been wooing developers of autonomous vehicles, hoping to grab a slice of an industry it estimates could be worth 900 billion pounds ($1.1 trillion) worldwide by 2025.
It also recently announced changes to allow for a single insurance policy to cover motorists driving conventionally and in autonomous mode, as it tries to get regulations in place to encourage the uptake of driverless cars from 2020.
Britain’s flexible approach to testing autonomous vehicles helped Nissan pick London for its first European tests, the director of its research center in Silicon Valley told Reuters.
“It’s not everywhere in Europe that we can go and drive on the road,” Maarten Sierhuis said.
“You don’t want to go to the most difficult parts of London when you start. The system has to be tested,” he said of the east of the capital where the trials are taking place near the ExCeL exhibition center and London City Airport.
Nissan liaised with regulator Transport for London and the police ahead of the trials, supplying details of its route and the rules it would follow, and was advised to keep a full log that it would share in the event of an incident, it said.
Inside the vehicle, the car switches from conventional to self-driving mode at the touch of the button ‘Enter’ and a screen identifies the nearest vehicles to the car in red and green, also showing the speed the car is traveling.
Nearly two dozen cameras, radars and lasers are fitted on the top and around the side of vehicle to guide its path.
A driverless car took to Britain’s streets for the first time in the southern English town of Milton Keynes in October last year but traveled at a much slower speed.
Global automakers are racing to catch up with the likes of Google and Tesla which have carried out several autopilot and self-driving tests in recent months in the United States and elsewhere.
Jaguar Land Rover is planning to test around 100 autonomous and internet-connected cars in Britain by 2020, while Volvo is also planning a test soon in London.
Nissan, which has already tested the self-driving LEAF in Tokyo and Silicon Valley, hopes to carry out similar trials in other European cities soon after this week’s London trials.
“We’re thinking of testing in the Netherlands and Paris. It’s not easy to go and test everywhere because we need to create maps, we need to get approval from the regulators and then it is expensive to set up a test,” Sierhuis said.
(By Costas Pitas, Editing by Mark Potter) 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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"Trump could spark brain drain at the NSA | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/security/trump-could-spark-brain-drain-at-the-nsa"
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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 Trump could spark brain drain at the NSA Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The logo of the U.S. National Security Agency is seen during a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush to the agency's installation in Fort Meade, Maryland, January 25, 2006. Bush met with workers and made remarks on American national security at the high-security installation, which he last visited in 2002.
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(Reuters) – The National Security Agency risks a brain-drain of hackers and cyber spies due to a tumultuous reorganization and worries about the acrimonious relationship between the intelligence community and President Donald Trump, according to current and former NSA officials and cybersecurity industry sources.
Half-a-dozen cybersecurity executives told Reuters they had witnessed a marked increase in the number of U.S. intelligence officers and government contractors seeking employment in the private sector since Trump took office on Jan. 20.
One of the executives, who would speak only on condition of anonymity, said he was stunned by the caliber of the would-be recruits. They are coming from a variety of government intelligence and law enforcement agencies, multiple executives said, and their interest stems in part from concerns about the direction of U.S intelligence agencies under Trump.
Retaining and recruiting talented technical personnel has become a top national security priority in recent years as Russia, China, Iran and other nation states and criminal groups have sharpened their cyber offensive abilities. NSA and other intelligence agencies have long struggled to deter some of their best employees from leaving for higher-paying jobs in Silicon Valley 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! The problem is especially acute at NSA, current and former officials said, due to a reorganization known as NSA21 that began last year and aims to merge the agency’s electronic eavesdropping and domestic cyber-security operations.
The two-year overhaul includes expanding parts of NSA that deal with business management and human resources and putting them on par with research and engineering. The aim is to “ensure that we’re using all of our resources to maximum effect to accomplish our mission,” NSA Director Mike Rogers said.
The changes include new management structures that have left some career employees uncertain about their missions and prospects. Former employees say the reorganization has failed to address widespread concerns that the agency is falling behind in exploiting private-sector technological breakthroughs.
A former top NSA official said he had been told by three current officials that budget problems meant there was too little money for promotions. That is especially important for younger employees, who sometimes need two jobs to make ends meet in the expensive Washington D.C. area, the official said.
“Morale is as low as I’ve ever seen it,” said another former senior NSA official, who maintains close contact with current employees.
Asked about the risk of losing talent from NSA and other agencies, White House spokesman Michael Anton said Trump had sought to reassure the intelligence community by visiting the CIA headquarters on his first full day in office.
Anton also pointed to the military spending increase in Trump’s budget proposal released on Monday.
It will likely take more than a visit to the CIA to patch up relations with the intelligence community, the current and former officials said.
Trump has attacked findings from intelligence agencies that Russia hacked emails belonging to Democratic Party operatives during the 2016 presidential campaign to help him win, though he did eventually accept the findings.
In January, Trump accused intelligence agencies of leaking false information and said it was reminiscent of tactics used in Nazi Germany.
How many? The breadth of any exodus from the NSA and other intelligence agencies is difficult to quantify.
The NSA has “seen a steady rise” in the attrition rate among its roughly 36,000 employees since 2009, and it now sits at a “little less than six percent,” according to an NSA spokesman. NSA director Michael Rogers said last year that the attrition rate was 3.3 percent in 2015, suggesting a sharp jump in departures since then.
Several senior NSA officials who have left or plan to leave, including deputy director Richard Ledgett and the head of cyber defense, Curtis Dukes, have said their departures were unrelated to Trump or the reorganization.
Some turnover is normal with any new administration, government and industry officials noted, and a stronger economy has also improved pay and prospects in the private sector.
“During this time the economy has been recovering from the recession, unemployment rates have been falling and the demand for highly skilled technical talent has been increasing,” an NSA spokesman said, when asked to comment on the reports of employee departures.
In a statement, Kathy Hutson, NSA’s chief of human resources, said the agency continues “to attract amazing talent necessary to conduct the security mission the nation needs.” Controversial boss? Some NSA veterans attribute the morale issues and staff departures to the leadership style of Rogers, who took over the spy agency in 2014 with the task of dousing an international furor caused by leaks from former contractor Edward Snowden.
Concern about Rogers reached an apex last October, when former Defense Secretary Ash Carter and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper recommended to then-President Barack Obama that Rogers be removed.
The NSA did not respond to a request for comment on the recommendation last fall that Rogers be replaced.
Rogers is now expected to retain his job at NSA for at least another year, according to former officials.
Rogers acknowledged concerns about potential morale problems last month, telling a congressional committee that Trump’s broadsides against the intelligence community could create “a situation where our workforce decides to walk.” Trump’s criticism of the intelligence community has exacerbated the stress caused by the reorganization at the NSA, said Susan Hennessey, a former NSA lawyer now with Brookings Institution.
The “tone coming from the White House makes an already difficult situation worse, by eroding the sense of common purpose and service,” she said.
A wave of departures of career personnel, Hennessey added, “would represent an incalculable loss to national security.” (Reporting by Dustin Volz and Warren Strobel; Additional reporting by John Walcott and Jonathan Landay; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Ross Colvin) 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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"Why is Studio Wildcard paying Ark modders $4,000 a month? GamesBeat Decides | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/why-is-studio-wildcard-paying-ark-modders-4000-a-month-gamesbeat-decides"
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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 is Studio Wildcard paying Ark modders $4,000 a month? GamesBeat Decides 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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Many consumers made it clear in 2015 that they don’t want to pay for mods on Steam for games like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim — even though many players very much want to continue using and enjoying that content. So to encourage more development in this space, Ark: Survival Evolved developer Studio Wildcard is going to start paying mods itself.
As part of its newly announced Ark Sponsored Mod program, Studio Wildcard will hand select certain mod creators that will receive $4,000 per month to continue working on that content. I spoke with Studio Wildcard cofounder and lead designer Jeremy Stieglitz and community manager Cedric Burkes about why the developer started this program, how it will choose who to support, and how it thinks about modding on this week’s GamesBeat Decides podcast.
“It’ll be 15 mods per month for now, but we may expand it if this is successful,” said Stieglitz. “It’ll be determined each month, so if a mod drops in quality or the author is no longer working on it — we have the option to stop including them. But our goal is to have a lot of consistency.” Listen to the interview as part of the GamesBeat Decides podcast below: 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 point of this program, however, is that mods are still free to Ark players. Creators are getting awarded for high-quality community add-ons for the game, but you won’t have to pay for it directly.
“This is just a back-channel method for us to help some of these really talented authors to spend more time making Ark,” said Stieglitz. “Part of the reason for doing this is mods have been a tremendous benefit to Ark. We have, on PC, over two-thirds play on servers that are running mods. Every player hosted server — almost 100 percent — are running a variety of player-created mods.” Above: Ark on the moon! Stieglitz explained that these mods have benefitted the players, the game, and the developer, and he implied that it was only fair that the best get some part of the reward for contributing to the success of Ark. When Valve and Bethesda tried to bring the option for creators to sell their mods for Skyrim on Steam directly to consumers a few years ago, the community lashed out at that concept. That led to Valve pulling the plug on the concept, and now Studio Wildcard is trying another way to reimburse community authors for their time — even if the Ark developer agrees in theory that consumers paying for mods is a sound idea.
“We were very close to trying to implementing [mod authors charging players] for Ark,” Stieglitz explained. “And I’m hugely for it. It gets at the root of the dilemma where there is no mid-way point in learning to make games. You’re either working for free or you’ve maxed out your credit cards and jumped into the deep end. It would be nice if there was some less-risky alternative. Paid mods really could provide that. The problem is that when we got into the details, the economics weren’t viable for Ark specifically. The reason is because you don’t play Ark by yourself. You join a server and play with a hundred other people. And those servers can often run five mods or up to 30, and at that point — we started asking, ‘does the server buy them or do the players buy them?'” Either answer presented problems. If servers buy the mods, there’s only about 9,000 of them. That’s not a huge market. If players buy them, will they get locked out of certain servers because they don’t have the right mod? “It might be right for some other game, but it doesn’t make sense for Ark,” said Stieglitz.
But Studio Wildcard thinks the solution it’s working up now could still help modders.
“This fits in the trend of the space between pro development and modders getting shorter,” said Stieglitz. “There’s not a lot of space there between a modder and someone who is working at a studio. The only difference a lot of the time is that one is being paid for their work and the other isn’t.” Well, now, with Ark’s Sponsored Mod program, a few more may end up getting paid after all.
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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"Google brings Keep to G Suite, launches Docs integration | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/google-brings-keep-to-g-suite-launches-docs-integration"
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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 brings Keep to G Suite, launches Docs integration Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Google Keep on the web.
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Google today is announcing the addition of the Google Keep notetaking app to its G Suite portfolio of cloud services for organizations. Now employees at companies that pay for G Suite (formerly known as Google Apps) can use Keep for school and work projects right alongside Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Gmail, Google Calendar, Hangouts, Google Drive, and Google Sites.
Plus, Google is bringing Keep right into Google Docs.
“While in Docs on the web, access the Keep notepad via the Tools menu. Your Keep notes will appear in a side panel within Docs,” Google product manager Mario Anima wrote in a blog post.
From there you can drag and drop a note from the side panel into your document. You can also create a new note from the side panel — or highlight text in the document, right-click on it, and select “Save to Keep notepad” to bring your text into a new Keep note. Google makes sure to include an automatic link back to the document inside the note, Anima wrote. This is available to free users of Google services as well as people who work at organizations that pay for G Suite, a Google spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.
Above: The new Google Keep integration in Google Docs.
More generally, the move to bring Keep into the Google lineup of cloud services for businesses makes another tool available for different types of people and use cases. Microsoft did the same thing but went in the opposite direction with OneNote in 2014 when the app became available for free. OneNote remains available for Office 365 business subscribers, too.
Meanwhile Dropbox offers Paper, Box offers Notes, Salesforce offers Quip, and Evernote offers … Evernote.
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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"YouTube TV is a $35 online cable bundle with 40 networks, launching in 'next few months' | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/media/introducing-youtube-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 YouTube TV is a $35 online cable bundle with 40 networks, launching in ‘next few months’ 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.
YouTube is expanding beyond its role of being an online video hub. The Alphabet-owned company announced on Tuesday that over the next few months it will launch YouTube TV , an online cable bundle with all the networks and dozens of cable networks. For just $35 per month, you’ll have not only access to all the YouTube content, but also live shows and programming from 40 networks, including sports and news with membership for up to 6 people.
Some of the networks that are included are ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, USA, FX, FreeForm, Disney, ESPN, Fox Sports 1, NBC Sports Network, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox News, and Fox Business. You can also add on channels such as Fox Sports Plus and Showtime.
YouTube TV will be standalone from the main YouTube app.
Company CEO Susan Wojcicki took the stage at a press event early today to share the evolution of media to cater to the needs of the “YouTube generation.” From traditional TV to online video and now smartphones, people’s consumption of shows and content have greatly changed. “There’s no question that millennials love great TV content, but what we’ve seen is that people to don’t want to watch it in traditional settings. They don’t want to wait for their favorite show to come on,” she remarked. “Young people want to consume content online, live or on demand, so they can watch when they want, on any screen so they can watch where they want, on their terms, so they can watch how they want.” YouTube TV is available through a mobile app. You can cycle through shows in the interactive guide and, with the swipe of a finger, can instantly begin watching. There’s also a cloud-based DVR that lets you record endless hours of shows and series you care about. But if you don’t want to watch on your phone, you can use Google’s Chromecast and Cast-enabled devices to stream the show or movie to a bigger screen.
“YouTube TV doesn’t come with any commitments or hidden fees,” Wojcicki said.
As a bit of a bonus for subscribers, YouTube TV also includes the online video service’s original content now distributed through YouTube Red. If you want the full YouTube Red experience, the company suggest you subscribe directly to the service.
Reports about this service go as far back as May 2016 where it was said the company was working on a way to bundle cable TV channels that were streamed over the internet. At the time it was labeled YouTube Unplugged, but obviously that has changed. At the time, sources told Bloomberg that YouTube was in discussion with major media companies, including NBCUniversal, Viacom, 21st Century Fox, and CBS.
By creating this service, YouTube is entering a market that includes competitors such as AT&T’s DirecTV Now , Sony Playstation Vue, and Sling TV. The service will roll out piecemeal across the U.S., probably due to rights issues YouTube and others in the space are dealing with.
Readers will notice that some channels and networks are noticeably missing, such as those from Time Warner. YouTube said that it’s always in discussions with new partners, but does not anticipate raising the price beyond the $35 monthly fee.
Your personalized TV experience Above: YouTube TV will work on mobile, desktop, and TV.
While it might be simple to think that YouTube is just incorporating content from TV and cable networks, there’s more to this story — specifically leveraging the online video service’s machine learning and personalized recommendation to surface the right shows you might be interested in.
The traditional TV experience is one where viewers are inundated by a TV guide where you’re trying to find out what to watch. Instead of a “pray and spray” mentality, TV providers including Comcast’s Xfinity have been using artificial intelligence and machine learning to highlight recommendations. So if you’re interested in Law & Order, for example, YouTube TV might show you other crime dramas from the show’s creators or that also air on NBC. Recommendations will be based on your use, along with viewing behavior on the main app.
Soon, Google Home and Google Cast voice commands to control what you’re watching within YouTube TV will be supported. The demo of this coming-soon feature was glitchy, so we’ll have to wait and see how a more stable example will function. There are also plans to potentially bring YouTube TV to other devices, including game consoles and gadgets that YouTube already streams on.
However, there may be instances where content won’t be available due to pre-existing agreements, such as Verizon’s block of Sunday Night Football.
YouTube TV isn’t going to be ad-free, even if you’re paying $35 per month. The company plans on featuring ads like it normally does, but now that it can tap into a larger screen, there’s more real estate and even additional content to market against. So it’s likely that more ad opportunities will arise out of this new offering.
YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan said his company is going to sell ads, while content partners will also sell. “We view this as the beginning of the journey. We think content partners think there are ways to improve the overall ad user in terms of relevancy, over time,” he added. The company hasn’t gotten into the specifics, but says ads will be sold across all channels, not just YouTube TV.
How much YouTube is paying networks to license programming remains unknown.
People aren’t watching just on the TV anymore After more than a decade, YouTube is now considered a significant rival to traditional television. It has launched stars and given rise to the influencer and creator movement, while also being a hub for new opportunities through its YouTube Red subscription service.
The company said that more than 1 billion hours is being consumed daily globally, a figure that has grown 10 times since 2012 and comes dangerously close to television viewership in the U.S. Unfortunately, this number hasn’t been broken out into U.S.-specific levels.
Today’s announcement comes on the heels of YouTube’s announcement that it was bringing its video social network to Comcast’s Xfinity X1 platform later this year. And as it faces more competition not just from traditional media, but from like-minded services including Facebook, Twitter, and Snap , there’s an opportunity for YouTube to expand its reach and show its dominion over the video space.
Netflix and Amazon have already seen good growth and adoption of its original shows, including some that have received acclaim and top honors at the Academy Awards and the Emmys.
Offering a virtual cable bundle could also provide networks an additional opportunity to attract younger audiences to their shows, many of whom have opted to cut the cord and abandon cable entirely in favor of the internet and streaming services. YouTube’s attractiveness to this demographic could be an asset.
“The long-term vision is to reimagine how television is watched,” Mohan remarked.
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"ReFUEL4 launches AI-powered analyzer for Facebook ads | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/marketing/refuel4-launches-ai-powered-analyzer-for-facebook-ads"
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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 ReFUEL4 launches AI-powered analyzer for Facebook ads 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.
Creating ads, especially on Facebook’s platform, is easy. Creating ads that perform, however, is a much more complicated problem.
Today, ReFUEL4 — the AI-driven creative platform – has launched Ad Analyzer, a free tool that uses artificial intelligence to analyze and test the future performance of an advertisement to help marketers and advertisers predetermine the success of their campaigns.
Here’s how it works.
Advertisers drag and drop their Facebook or Instagram ad into the web-based analyzer. From there, the company’s AI engine, called SHAKA, gets to work. It draws thousands of design points for each ad and, using ReFUEL4’s database of performance and targeting data, predicts the ad’s success.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Of course, mobile is everything now, so does Ad Analyzer test how ads will perform on different devices, screen aspects, and resolutions? “The algorithm can take into account whether it’s viewed on desktop or mobile,” Kazuhiro Takiguchi, CEO at ReFUEL4 told me. “At the moment, for this version, we reduced the number of fields that have to be completed, for ease of use. In a ‘live’ scenario using ReFUEL4’s platform and SHAKA AI, more targeting options are available, including operating system of smartphones.” So while this tool can determine viewing differences, the full platform has wider capabilities in this respect. That seems fair, given that Ad Analyzer is free of charge, a decision that allows ReFUEL4 to show off its AI capabilities.
“We are giving an exclusive preview into ReFUEL4’s proprietary AI, SHAKA, to exhibit how it works and how it can help advertisers,” Takiguchi said. “The full power of AI is offered to advertisers today on ReFUEL4’s platform.” As 2017 continues, AI and machine learning technologies are becoming commonplace in marketing and advertising technologies, with new arrivals appearing every week. How does Takiguchi think AI is going to affect marketers and advertisers in the long term, and what do these cognitive computing capabilities mean for the marketer, marketing technologist, and other stakeholders? “ReFUEL4 takes the cyborg approach — blending the strengths of human and machine,” Takiguchi said. “We believe that AI will make designers’ jobs easier and more productive. We think that human design intuition can be applied most powerfully and efficiently when AI takes the drudgery out of design, such as analyzing performance data. Advertisers can save costs by testing concepts with AI before committing to full production.” That’s a common theme within AI and marketing technology — machines removing high-waste, menial tasks so that marketers, advertisers, and designers can do what they do best — be creative.
ReFUEL4’s Ad Analyzer is available from today for Facebook and Instagram advertisers.
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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"Mitchell Reichgut, honest ads, and the future of conversational commerce - VB Engage | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/marketing/mitchell-reichgut-honest-ads-and-the-future-of-conversational-commerce-vb-engage"
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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 Mitchell Reichgut, honest ads, and the future of conversational commerce – VB Engage 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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This week, Stewart and Travis interview Mitchell Reichgut , CEO of Jun Group , about honesty in mobile ads, consumers and the “race to X,” and what the future holds for mobile engagement.
We talk about the latest announcements in conversational commerce, including developments in taking payments through Facebook Messenger, and the AI-driven retail landscape being created by Amazon Echo and Google Home that’s in the news this week. Because if Skynet is going to take over, it’ll be a lot easier to beat humans that have spent all their money on pizzas and movie tickets.
By listening to this episode of the VB Engage podcast, you will hear: VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Welcome to VB Engage episode 41! [00:10] Travis is in San Diego speaking at Distilled’s SearchLove [00:45] Always bring mustache wax for Rand Fishkin This week we talk about mobile advertising and whatnot [01:35] ReplyYes raised a round of funding to sell stuff via chatbots [02:05] Soon we will be able to buy anything from chatbots [02:20] Frictionless ecommerce via mobile messaging [03:15] Facebook Messenger is the messaging app of choice, according to VB statistics [04:10] Travis tried sending the pizza emoji to Dominos and purchased pizza [05:00] We have to try all of these technologies to be able to report back to our listeners — except for VR porn, that’s a line Stewart won’t cross [05:45] Chatbots are still not the first port of call for interacting with a brand [06:30] Google Home is now partnered with over 50 companies for automatic purchasing [07:15] Now you can buy from Target, Costco, Guitar Center, PetSmart, Walgreen’s [07:30] With AI, self-driving cars, and automated purchasing, humanity may turn out like Disney’s Wall-E [08:20] Bill Gates came out this week saying that we should tax robot workers [08:35] Looking at robots and artificial intelligence, how long until they become sentient? [09:45] We need to stop looking at robotics and AI through the industrial revolution lens [10:10] When we start getting into reward-based AI we need to be careful [11:05] Today’s guest is Mitchell Reichgut, CEO of The Jun Group [12:30] Mobile advertising costs are around half-price right now [13:10] Apps exist within an enclosed space — either Apple or Android [14:00] $60 billion in mobile ad revenue and it grew 66% last year, while desktop only grew 5% [15:45] Right person. Right place. Right time. Mobile is the only device that actually delivers that [16:00] Cookies are a thing of the past with mobile [16:15] Mobile devices have unique identifiers.
IDFA = ID for Advertisers , Apple’s moniker for unique id that each iPhone has [16:30] GFID = Google ID for Advertising , each device has a universal identifier [16:40] Everyone has a unique identifier, and it’s universal. Everything can be shared with the broader community [17:05] At AdWeek NYC , Stewart discovered this new study by MediaBrix [17:55] MediaBrix plugged people into machines and monitored neurometrics, heartbeats, eye-tracking, etc. to determine responses to interstitial ads vs. opt-in, embedded video ads [18:20] Embedded, rewarded ads were engaged with at a much higher rate than interstitials [19:20] Mitchell Reichgut, “Reward-based advertising is the preferred mobile ad of the future” [20:05] Traditional media advertising relies on reach, frequency, and editorial content adjacency [20:45] Apps are mostly social networking, games, and utilities [21:15] What about VR/AR advertising? [21:50] It’s going to take a while for the industry to catch up [23:00] Thank you to Mitchell for coming on the show! [24:05] Next week, we interview Mark Asquith, one of the U.K.’s small business podcasting experts. We discuss growing and engaging your community and many other interesting things that you’ll have to tune in for.
If you missed last week’s episode VB 040, Travis and Stewart interviewed Itai Lahan of Cloudinary on the future of images and video. We talked about how technology can still offer up a few surprises in that area, especially as smartphones and mobile internet access expand across third-world countries.
As always, thanks for tuning in. Please go subscribe to VB Engage via your favorite podcast platform and give us a nice review. Or have your AI assistant give us a nice review. Either way works for us.
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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"Survios announces Sprint Vector VR game that will tire you out | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/games/survios-announces-sprint-vector-vr-title-with-athletic"
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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 Survios announces Sprint Vector VR game that will tire you out Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Sprint Vector gets you to move your arms in VR to make your character run.
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Virtual reality firm Survios unveiled Sprint Vector, a new virtual reality game with an innovative system for moving a character in VR.
In the game, you swing your arms to make your character run in the 360-degree VR world. It’s Survios’ second game. Like its predecessor Raw Data, it keeps you active and is meant to give you an adrenaline rush.
The game will be available to demo at this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
Survios focused on making the controls intuitive, fun, and physically comfortable for most people to play. Sprint Vector is an adrenaline platformer that merges the physical thrill of high-octane athletic competition with the unhinged energy of zany interactive game shows, all powered by a proprietary motion system that allows for a new level of immersion.
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! “Survios is always creating unique solutions to tackle VR’s biggest challenges,” said James Iliff, Survios’ chief creative officer and cofounder, in a statement. “With Sprint Vector, we’ve taken one of the biggest challenges in VR right now—realistic motion—and created a smooth, intelligent locomotion system that not only feels comfortable, but can also read the player’s intentions.” Above: Raw Data from Survios is now on the Oculus Touch.
Sprint Vector pits players in head-to-head races across interdimensional courses designed to challenge them both physically and mentally. Racing downhill at 300 miles per hour, scaling up skyscraper-height walls, diving headfirst off a 1,000-foot tower: the fluid locomotion system utilizes simple, realistic running and climbing motions to enable players to actually feel the sensations of superhuman speed and daring heights. Meanwhile, announcers cheer them on to amp up the spirit of competition.
The announcement of Sprint Vector and the expansion of Raw Data to Oculus Rift comes on the heels of Survios raising an additional $50 million in funding across two financing rounds. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) led one strategic financing round, with chairman and CEO Gary Barber joining Survios’ board. In addition, a prior financing round was led by Lux Capital with participation from Shasta Ventures, Danhua Capital, Shanda Holdings, Felicis Ventures and Dentsu Ventures.
Survios was founded in 2013.
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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"Lux Capital announces fresh $400 million fund to back 'contrarians and outsiders' from science and tech | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/lux-capital-fund-5-400-million-dollars"
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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 Lux Capital announces fresh $400 million fund to back ‘contrarians and outsiders’ from science and tech 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.
Lux Capital , a venture capital (VC) firm that makes “long-term bets on contrarians and outsiders,” has announced a new $400 million fund, bringing its total currently under management to $1.1 billion.
With hubs in Menlo Park and New York City, Lux Capital focuses on funding emerging science and technology startups — typically at the seed or Series A stage, though it may also venture into Series B territory from time to time. The firm was founded in 2000 by Peter Hébert, Robert Paull, and Josh Wolfe, and it has established four funds previously, including a $245 million pot back in 2013 and an oversubscribed follow-up of $350 million two years later.
Above: Josh Wolfe & Peter Hébert Lux Capital says that it’s focusing on funding startups that “can shape our future in a meaningful way,” according to a statement issued to VentureBeat. In real terms, this translates into those in “high-risk, cutting-edge” technology that may cover things like biology and electrical engineering, robotics, and material science. Or, as the company puts it, a “science fiction-mashup.” While Lux Capital is evidently pitching itself as some sort of John Wayne of the VC realm, blazing a trail where no others dare venture, there are countless VC firms out there seeking “the next big thing” to invest in. So what is different about Lux Capital? “While many other venture firms are dipping a toe in the more proven or heated areas, investing in the future is all we do, and we’ve been doing it for a decade now,” explained Wolfe and Hébert to VentureBeat. “That includes the investments we made years ago in robotic surgery, autonomous cars, drones, artificial intelligence, and more. It also means not only have we learned a lot about what risks are worth taking, but our ecosystem and networks are much richer and deeper than others, and this can really help our companies. We commit early, and we are willing to put down a term sheet and follow through on it when others are still wondering if they should take the call.” Examples of companies Lux Capital has invested in previously include self-driving car startup Zoox, which was most recently valued at around $1.55 billion , following a couple of hefty funding rounds. Lux Capital has also invested in a number of drone companies — just last week it joined Microsoft and Qualcomm in a $26 million funding round for AirMap. Elsewhere, Lux Capital has sunk money into 3D printing and imaging (Desktop Metal / Shapeways / Matterport), artificial intelligence (Clarifai / Primer / Recursion / Scaled Inference), and surgical robotics (Auris).
Alongside today’s news, Lux Capital is also announcing a new investment partner — Renata Quintini , who joins direct from Felicis Ventures.
A number of sizable VC funds have come to fruition over the past year, including Silicon Valley-based Sapphire Ventures, which closed its third fund at $1 billion back in September, while across the Atlantic, Atomico just closed a new $765 million fund for European startups.
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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"Entrepreneurs: Don’t let process distract you from finding the strategy | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/entrepreneurs-dont-let-process-distract-you-from-finding-a-strategy"
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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 Entrepreneurs: Don’t let process distract you from finding the strategy 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.
I had an important “aha” moment recently while teaching teaching an intensive five-day version of the Lean LaunchPad/I-Corps class at Columbia University.
The goal of the class is to expose students to the basics of the Lean Methodology – Business Model Design , Customer Development, and Agile Engineering.
In this short version of the class, students (in teams of four) spend half their day out of the classroom testing their hypotheses by talking to customers and building minimum viable products. The teams come back into the class and present what they found, and then they get out and talk to more customers. Repeat for five days.
All teams talk to at least 50 customers/partners/stakeholders , and some manage to reach more than 100.
One of the teams wanted to create a new women’s clothing brand. The good news is that they were passionate, smart, and committed. The not so good news is that other than having been customers, none of them had ever been in the fashion business. But, hey, no problem. They had the Lean Startup model to follow. They could figure it out by simply talking to customers and stores that carry unique fashion brands. How hard can this be?! By the second day the team appeared to be making lots of progress – they had talked to many women about their clothing line and had marched up and down NY stores talking to buyers in clothing boutiques. They built detailed value proposition canvases for each customer segment (young urban professional woman, students, etc.) – trying to match customer pains, gains, and jobs to be done with their value proposition (their new clothing line.) They were busily testing their hypotheses about customer segments and value proposition, seeing if they could find product/market fit.
In listening to them it dawned on me that I had fallen victim to teaching process rather than helping the teams gain insight. I asked them to remind the class what business they were in. “We’re creating a clothing fashion brand,” was the reply. I asked, “And how much fashion brand expertise do you have as a team?” “None, we’re using customer discovery to quickly acquire it.” On the surface, it sounded like a good answer.
But then I asked, “Has anyone on your team asked if any of your 120 classmates are in the apparel/fashion business?” After a moment of reflection they did just that, and eight of their classmates raised their hands. I asked, “Do you think you might want to do customer discovery first on the domain experts in your own class?” A small lightbulb appeared over their heads.
A day later, after interviewing their classmates, the team discovered that when creating a women’s clothing brand, the clothing itself has less to do with success than the brand does. And the one critical element in creating a brand is getting written about by a small group (fewer than 10) of “brand influencers” (reviewers, editors, etc.) in fashion magazines and blogs.
Whoah … the big insight was that how you initially “get” these key influencers – not customers or stores – is the critical part of creating a clothing fashion brand.
This meant understanding these influencers was more important than anything else on the business model canvas. The team immediately added brand influencers to their business model canvas, created a separate value proposition canvas for them, and started setting up customer discovery interviews.
The lessons? This team was entering an existing market.
(The team had already drawn the Petal Diagram mapping the competitive landscape.) In an existing market there is a track record for how new entrants create a brand, get traction and scale. Many of the key insights about the business model and value proposition canvases are already known.
In an existing market, going through customer discovery (talking to customers, buyers, distribution channel, etc.) without first asking, “Are there any insights that can be gained by understanding the incumbent strategies,” can be a trap for the unwary.
Ironically, when I was an entrepreneur I knew and practiced this. When I started a new venture in existing markets, I would spend part of my initial customer discovery attending conferences, reading analysts’ reports, and talking to domain experts to understand current market entry strategies. (None of this obligated me to follow the path of other companies. At times I took this information and created a different strategy to disrupt the incumbents.) But as an educator I was getting trapped in teaching the process not the strategy.
The fashion brand team’s experience was a great wake-up call.
From now on my first question to startups in an existing market is: “Tell me the critical success factors of the existing incumbents.” Lessons Learned In an existing market , draw a Petal Diagram with adjacent companies Focus part of your initial customer discovery on learning competitive insights.
Describe how those companies entered the market. What was critical? [This story originally ran on the author’s blog.] Steve Blank is a retired serial entrepreneur-turned-educator who has changed how startups are built and how entrepreneurship is taught. He created the Customer Development methodology that launched the lean startup movement, and wrote about the process in his first book, The Four Steps to the Epiphany.
His second book, The Startup Owner’s Manual , is a step-by-step guide to building a successful company. Blank teaches the Customer Development methodology in his Lean LaunchPad classes at Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, Columbia University, and NYU. He is the architect of the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps and co-creator of Hacking for Defense, a course piloted at Stanford and now taught in 23 universities that uses Lean Startup techniques to address real-world national security problems. He writes regularly about entrepreneurship at www.steveblank.com.
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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"Digit's new feature helps put away money to pay your rent and phone bills | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/commerce/digits-new-feature-helps-put-away-money-to-pay-your-rent-and-phone-bills"
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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 Digit’s new feature helps put away money to pay your rent and phone bills 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.
Financial service startup Digit can help you pay your bills by automatically extracting money from your checking account and diverting it into a special savings account. Leveraging machine intelligence, the company wants to help customers be smarter with their money by putting it where it needs to go. To make that happen, Digit has just launched a feature aptly called Bills that will automatically file away funds for recurring expenses like rent and phone bills.
Within Digit, users will select a new bill they wish to set money aside for, specifying the amount and the due date. When the bill is paid, any remaining money will be automatically remitted back into your checking account. If there are any issues, Digit will send you a message notifying you of the problem.
Bills uses an updated algorithm created by the company that is specifically geared toward helping ensure there’s enough money allocated for expenses. That means even though you may have goals you wish to save for or things you want to buy, the basics — like rent, phone bills, insurance, and gas and electric bills — will receive top priority.
Though many try to maintain a general savings account, it doesn’t ensure that they’ll have enough to cover monthly expenses because the money isn’t clearly allocated. Digit’s pseudo sub-accounts mean you can designate funds to make sure you’re not dipping into rent money to pay for trips or buy unnecessary shopping items.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Bills that can be targeted include rent, car payments, student loans, and more. Of course there’s also a goal-oriented feature which is another savings mechanism that lets you put away money for luxury expenses like vacations and weddings. This feature is similar to Bills — both are a part of a service called Goalmoji. You can specify the amount and due date and also include an emoji. Digit will then send you updates as you move closer to achieving that goal.
This is the company’s latest effort to make you think smarter about where your money is going. Previously, it launched a program around how to save your tax refund , as well as launching a premium service that rewards you for saving money that’s been put aside for at least three months.
Updated as of 9:45 a.m. Pacific on Tuesday: Clarified that Digit’s Bills and Goals features are part of Goalmoji.
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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"Slack streamlines platform to give custom and shared apps the same API features | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/slack-streamlines-platform-to-give-custom-and-shared-apps-the-same-api-features"
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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 Slack streamlines platform to give custom and shared apps the same API features 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.
Slack is giving its developer platform a bit of early spring cleaning, updating it so all apps can take advantage of the same capabilities. On Tuesday, the productivity and team chat app provider announced that whether you’re creating custom integrations or apps for public distribution, there’s now a single developmental path that gives you complete access to the Slack platform.
Until today, if you were developing a custom integration exclusively for your team, there were some features you weren’t privy too, such as message buttons , threaded replies , the abilities to utilize intuitive workflows and leverage the Events API to take action around specific activities, and more. But perhaps recognizing that it could turn off developers and negatively affect Slack’s appeal to the enterprise , the company opted to consolidate these two options together and provide one set of features for developers’ needs.
“Slack is most powerful when it connects with all the tools you use at work,” remarked Buster Benson, the platform product lead. “Today, we’re making it easier for developers to integrate homegrown, proprietary systems and third-party products into Slack, and to capitalize on the rich functionality of our platform. This will simplify workflows and reduce context switching, so that users can focus on the important stuff: getting the job done.” The company shared that under this new workflow, new apps will remain only accessible to your team by default. Apps can also be added to your Slack team instance with one-click install, eliminating the need to set up an OAuth or SSL connection. However, you’ll still need to use OAuth if you’re going to build a Slack app for the app directory.
Limiting features to those pursuing private integrations at first may seem logical — after all, you want to incentivize developers to build apps that grow the ecosystem and encourage contributions. But now, with more than 900 shared apps in the Slack directory and over 7.5 million apps currently installed, providing access to features some developers may not have had could instill a renewed creative spirit that causes companies to develop more apps, regardless of whether they’re shared or privately integrated.
By consolidating developer tools, Slack is also cutting down on resources needed to maintain its burgeoning developer platform, eliminating the need to manage two different versions. However, today’s decision shouldn’t be a surprise, as it was listed on the company’s developer roadmap, which Slack has been transparent about by posting it in a Trello document visible to the public — streamlining app development was listed as a task to accomplish in the “near term,” and now it’s finally here.
Simplifying its app development product could minimize concern that Slack would lose market share against a growing number of similar services entering the marketplace, such as Facebook’s Workplace offering, Cisco Spark , Convo, and Microsoft Teams.
Bill Macaitis, the former chief marketing officer at Slack, once told VentureBeat that companies were seeing an uptick of communication not only internally, but with vendors and partners — it was becoming faster than traditional email. Along the way, brands and teams may encounter a need for additional support, which Slack may not necessarily or readily be able to provide, so having a straightforward process to build a solution is merited.
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"Microsoft releases new Windows 10 preview with Cortana suggestions, app install control | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/microsoft-releases-new-windows-10-preview-with-cortana-suggestions-app-install-control"
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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 Cortana suggestions, app install control Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Windows 10 Microsoft today announced the release of a new Windows 10 PC preview build for people participating in the fast ring of the Windows Insider Program. Build 15046, which provides another early look at the Windows 10 Creators Update , arrives four days after build 15042.
In some of the most recent Windows 10 preview builds, Microsoft has experimented with different colors for the Cortana virtual assistant search box section of the taskbar at the bottom of the screen. But now Microsoft is done experimenting — it’s going back to the old dark shade of gray, Dona Sarkar, a software engineer in Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, wrote in a blog post.
With this build, Microsoft is also enhancing Cortana in terms of what it offers to help you pick up where you left off, across multiple devices. “Cortana now proactively shows you apps, files and websites from Microsoft Edge. Previously, this feature only displayed websites from Microsoft Edge in Action Center,” Sarkar wrote.
As expected, the build also provides a new way for people to control which kinds of applications can be installed. If you go to Settings > Apps > Apps & Features in this build, you’ll be able to specify whether the PC will be able to install apps that come from anywhere or only apps from the Windows Store — or you can just have the PC continue to warn you when you try to install apps that aren’t from the Store.
“When you choose either of the Store options, you’ll see a warning when attempting to install a non-Store app. The warning will direct you to the Store, where you can download an alternate app if available. In some cases, when there’s already an equivalent app in the Store, the warning will provide a link to that app. This is an opt-in feature, and the default setting is to allow installation of apps from anywhere,” Sarkar wrote.
Microsoft has improved translations in this build, especially while setting up a new device in what Microsoft calls the out-of-box experience (OOBE).
The company has added an icon for the Windows Defender app in the notification area on the right side of the taskbar — it will show information when you hover over it. Meanwhile, in Settings, the Gaming icon has changed slightly.
As usual, this new build comes with bug fixes. Edge, in particular, is getting several updates.
Hitting Shift + F10 will bring up the context menu in Edge once again — and hitting the left or right arrow keys won’t make you unintentionally move back or forward a page. After you copy a password in Edge’s LastPass extension, you’ll be able to paste it, and it will work the first time, rather than making you paste a second time. Edge will more quickly follow your mouse as you drag Edge around your display. Tooltips will show up in front of Edge instead of behind it when you open a link in a new tab. When you tear a tab out of Edge to open it in a new window, input will work correctly once again. Edge won’t randomly crash when you delete certain IME characters.
Plus, Edge’s F12 developer tools won’t crash anymore — and hitting Fn + F12 multiple times won’t open multiple F12 windows.
PC Reset will work as it should again. (Great!) Dragging and dropping from one display to another when they have different DPIs will work again.
No longer will some PCs block updates because of a corrupt registry key, Sarkar wrote. Edge and the taskbar shouldn’t randomly stop responding, causing you to restart explorer.exe. Windows Hello should work again on the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book.
But, of course, there are some issues with this build.
One, for example, might stop you from updating this build 71 percent of the way through, Sarkar wrote. If that happens, check the information here.
In Edge, if you open F12, it might show up under the current Edge window. And not only that — “pressing F12 to open the Developer Tools in Microsoft Edge while F12 is open and focused may not return focus to the tab F12 is opened against, and vice-versa,” Sarkar wrote.
With respect to gaming, Windows might minimize some games when you launch them. If so, click on the game to bring it back onscreen. And the broadcast live review window in the Game bar will still randomly flash green when you’re broadcasting. (For more known issues and bug fixes, see Sarkar’s full blog post.) If you want to try this new build for PC or mobile, but you’re not a Windows Insider, you can sign up here.
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"HTC's newest virtual reality games include Ping-Pong in VR | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/htcs-newest-virtual-reality-games-include-ping-pong-in-vr"
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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 HTC’s newest virtual reality games include Ping-Pong in VR 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.
HTC kicked off the Game Developers Conference with demos of new apps, including a VRSports app that lets you play Ping-Pong in virtual reality on the HTC Vive VR headset.
The titles will join the 1,300 that are already available on the Vive, which was voted the top development platform for VR based on a survey by the GDC. HTC is creating the titles both internally and sourcing them from external sources in order to boost demand for VR, which is off to a somewhat slow start.
I played a couple of games of ping pong on the Vive, and it was pretty responsive. I wouldn’t say it was as easy as playing in real life, since it’s hard to time your swing when the ball is coming straight at you. But I did reasonably well, and won my second game against the computer opponent.
Above: VRSports includes a Ping-Pong game.
The game is part of a VRSports title that features games such as tennis. It comes out on the Viveport store on March 14. Sausalito-based Free Range created the physics behind the game.
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! I also played around with MakeVR, a 3D modeling tool that lets you grab 3D objects and design things in VR. Spun out from Sixense, MakeVR is powered by a computer-aided design engine. You can take the designs and put them on the asset stores or 3D print them. Controlling your design tool is simple, where you use the touch controls to manipulate objects or call up a menu of various tools. It launches on March 27 on the Viveport store.
Above: Front Defense I got sweaty playing Front Defense, a room-scale first-person shooter. In this World War II game, you defend your machine-gun nest or bunker. I played the third level, where I started out with a 50-caliber machine gun, a Tommy gun, grenades, and a bazooka. As with other shooters, it’s a physical game. You have to pick up a gun with one hand, using the touch control. And you use your other hand to physically pull a clip out when you are out of bullets. Then you jam in a new clip and start shooting again.
It takes some getting used to, as you have to drop a gun and switch to another, depending on the kind of enemies attacking you from all directions. The title comes out on Viveport Arcade in April and then it hits the whole market in June.
As for why the Vive has risen to VR’s top platform, Joel Breton, head of Vive Studios, credited the company’s high-quality touch controls and room-scale VR, as well as its platform agnostic approach, where it doesn’t lock down content on its own platform.
Breton said the company has 25 games coming from both internal and external studios.
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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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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"ERP Power and Mouser Sign Distribution Agreement | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/erp-power-and-mouser-sign-distribution-agreement"
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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 ERP Power and Mouser Sign Distribution Agreement Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn MOORPARK, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–February 28, 2017– ERP Power LLC (ERP) , a leading provider of small, smart and efficient LED drivers for the lighting industry, has signed a distribution agreement with Mouser Electronics, Inc.
, the industry’s leading New Product Introduction (NPI) distributor.
“It’s exciting to be literally powering the change to LED lighting across all types of businesses,” said Andy Williams , ERP executive vice president.
“Mouser’s excellent customer service caters to engineers and the lighting design community, making online purchases quick and easy when designing unique, next generation LED lighting fixtures.” ERP LED drivers deliver an industry-leading combination of compact size, embedded intelligence, extensive dimmer compatibility, wired/wireless controls, programmable outputs, and high efficiency – all at a competitive cost. The www.mouser.com/erp website will contain data sheets, supplier-specific reference designs, application notes, technical design resources, and engineering tools to help ensure the most efficient and effective integration of ERP’s driver into a lighting fixture design. ERP LED drivers are targeted at commercial and industrial applications in architectural, horticulture, hospitality, landscape, office, retail, theatrical entertainment, roadway, and sporting venue lighting.
“LED lighting reduces utility costs, improves safety, creates ambiance, and enables interactive experiences wherever there are people,” said Keith Privett , Mouser Electronics VP Supplier Management.
“ERP and Mouser want to collaborate with lighting fixture designers as we introduce new bright ideas for packing more power into smaller footprints – delivering cost savings for each application.” About ERP Power Established in 2004, ERP designs and manufactures small, smart and efficient LED driver power electronics for architectural, commercial and industrial lighting applications. Powerful ERP products deliver an industry-leading combination of compact size, extensive dimmer compatibility, wireless controls, programmable output, and high efficiency at competitive cost. Headquartered in Moorpark, CA, ERP owns and operates its own ISO 9001 certified manufacturing facility to ensure quality of design, sourcing, production and testing. Learn more online at www.erp-power.com or by emailing [email protected].
About Mouser Mouser Electronics, a subsidiary of TTI, Inc., is part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway family of companies. Mouser is an award-winning, authorized semiconductor and electronic component distributor focused on rapid New Product Introductions from its manufacturing partners for electronic design engineers and buyers. The global distributor’s website, Mouser.com, is available in multiple languages and currencies and features more than 4 million products from more than 600 manufacturers. Mouser offers 22 support locations around the world to provide best-in-class customer service and ships globally to over 500,000 customers in 170 countries from its 750,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility south of Dallas, Texas. For more information, visit www.mouser.com.
About Angeles Equity Partners, LLC Angeles Equity Partners is a private equity firm that invests in companies across a wide range of industrial sectors and specifically targets businesses which it believes can directly benefit from the firm’s deep expertise in operational transformation and strategic repositioning. This skill set drives the firm’s investment philosophy and, in its view, can help underperforming businesses reach their full potential. Learn more online at www.angelesequity.com.
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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"AWS is investigating S3 issues, affecting Quora, Slack, Trello (updated) | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/aws-is-investigating-s3-issues-affecting-quora-slack-trello"
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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 AWS is investigating S3 issues, affecting Quora, Slack, Trello (updated) Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Amazon Web Services (AWS).
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Cloud infrastructure provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) today confirmed that it’s looking into issues with its widely used S3 storage service in the major us-east-1 region of data centers in Northern Virginia. Other services are affected as well.
“We are investigating increased error rates for Amazon S3 requests in the US-EAST-1 Region,” AWS said at the top of its status page.
The issues appear to be affecting Adobe’s services, Amazon’s Twitch, Atlassian’s Bitbucket and HipChat, Autodesk Live and Cloud Rendering, Buffer, Business Insider, Carto, Chef, Citrix, Clarifai, Codecademy, Coindesk, Convo, Coursera, Cracked, Docker, Elastic, Expedia, Expensify, FanDuel, FiftyThree, Flipboard, Flippa, Giphy, GitHub, GitLab, Google-owned Fabric, Greenhouse, Heroku, Home Chef, iFixit, IFTTT, Imgur, Ionic, isitdownrightnow.com, Jamf, JSTOR, Kickstarter, Lonely Planet, Mailchimp, Mapbox, Medium, Microsoft’s HockeyApp, the MIT Technology Review, MuckRock, New Relic, News Corp, OrderAhead, PagerDuty, Pantheon, Quora, Razer, Signal, Slack, Sprout Social, Square, StatusPage (which Atlassian recently acquired), Talkdesk, Travis CI, Trello, Twilio, Unbounce, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), The Verge, Vermont Public Radio, VSCO, Wix, Xero, and Zendesk, among other things. Airbnb, Down Detector, Freshdesk, Pinterest, SendGrid, Snapchat’s Bitmoji, and Time Inc. are currently working slowly.
Apple is acknowledging issues with its App Stores, Apple Music, FaceTime, iCloud services, iTunes, Photos, and other services on its system status page , but it’s not clear they’re attributable to today’s S3 difficulties.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Parts of Amazon itself also seems to be facing technical problems at the moment. Ironically, it’s restricting AWS’ ability to show errors.
The dashboard not changing color is related to S3 issue. See the banner at the top of the dashboard for updates.
— Amazon Web Services (@awscloud) February 28, 2017 AWS outages do happen from time to time. In 2015 an outage lasted five hours. And AWS plays an increasingly prominent role in the finances of Amazon; in the fourth quarter it yielded $926 million in operating income and $3.53 billion in revenue for its parent company.
Update at 10:30 a.m. Pacific: AWS has provided slightly more information about the S3 outage. “We’ve identified the issue as high error rates with S3 in US-EAST-1, which is also impacting applications and services dependent on S3. We are actively working on remediating the issue,” AWS said on its status page.
Update at 10:51 a.m. Pacific: AWS has another S3 status update. “We’re continuing to work to remediate the availability issues for Amazon S3 in US-EAST-1. AWS services and customer applications depending on S3 will continue to experience high error rates as we are actively working to remediate the errors in Amazon S3,” AWS said on the status page.
Update at 11:40 a.m. Pacific: A bit of good news from Amazon. “We have now repaired the ability to update the service health dashboard. The service updates are below. We continue to experience high error rates with S3 in US-EAST-1, which is impacting various AWS services. We are working hard at repairing S3, believe we understand root cause, and are working on implementing what we believe will remediate the issue,” AWS said on the status page.
Update at 11:52 a.m. Pacific: Among the services based out of Northern Virginia that are affected today, according to the status page, are Athena, CloudWatch, EC2, Elastic File System, Elastic Load Balancing (ELB), Kinesis Analytics, Redshift, Relational Database Service (RDS), Simple Email Service (SES0, Simple Workflow Service, WorkDocs, WorkMail, CodeBuild, CodeCommit, CodeDeploy, Elastic Beanstalk (EBS), Key Management Service (KMS), Lambda, OpsWorks, Storage Gateway, and WAF (web application firewall). Yikes, that’s a lot.
Update at 11:59 a.m. Pacific: AppStream, CloudWatch, Elastic MapReduce (EMR), Kinesis Firehose, WorkSpaces, CloudFormation, CodePipeline are also dealing with issues now, according to the status page.
Update at 12:06 p.m. Pacific: Some more services are down now. We’ve got API Gateway, CloudSearch, Cognito, the EC2 Container Registry, ElastiCache, the Elasticsearch Service, Glacier cold storage, Lightsail, Mobile Analytics, Pinpoint, Certificate Manager, CloudTrail, Config, Data Pipeline, Mobile Hub, and QuickSight. Wow.
Update at 12:15 p.m. Pacific: Added information on issues affecting Apple.
Update at 12:51 p.m. Pacific: On its status page , Trello just said that “S3 services appear to be slowly coming back up now.” Update at 12:52 p.m. Pacific: And now we hear from AWS! “We are seeing recovery for S3 object retrievals, listing and deletions. We continue to work on recovery for adding new objects to S3 and expect to start seeing improved error rates within the hour,” AWS said on its status page.
Update at 1:19 p.m. Pacific: Things are looking better now. “S3 object retrieval, listing and deletion are fully recovered now. We are still working to recover normal operations for adding new objects to S3,” AWS said.
Update at 2:35 p.m. Pacific: The S3 problems have been resolved! “As of 1:49 PM PST, we are fully recovered for operations for adding new objects in S3, which was our last operation showing a high error rate. The Amazon S3 service is operating normally,” Amazon said in a 2:08 p.m. update. But several other AWS services are still having problems.
Update at 6:38 p.m. Pacific: Almost all the services affected in today’s outage are back up and running. CloudTrail, Config, and Lambda are still not fixed.
Update at 10:16 p.m. Pacific: The status now indicates that all of today’s issues have been resolved. Back to work, everyone, move along.
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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"45% of Intel's new hires are diverse, but underrepresented minorities are just 12.5% of workforce | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/45-of-intels-new-hires-are-diverse-but-underrepresented-minorities-are-just-12-5-of-work-force"
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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 45% of Intel’s new hires are diverse, but underrepresented minorities are just 12.5% of workforce Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel 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.
Change isn’t easy. Intel said today that 25.8 percent of its workforce are women, and 12.5 percent of the staff are underrepresented minorities. And that’s after a few years of trying.
About 45 percent of the company’s new hires were from diverse backgrounds in 2016, according to the company’s 2016 Diversity and Inclusion Annual Report.
The company increased the overall representation of women by 2.3 percentage points since 2014, and achieved pay parity and promotion parity for women and underrepresented minorities.
During the year, Intel introduced its WarmLine service, which is designed to provide employees with guidance and counsel on career-related issues. It also launched a multicultural retention and progression study that helped leadership better understand the barriers to retaining and progressing underrepresented minorities.
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! “Intel is evolving, and diversity and inclusion are among the most important forces driving that evolution and reinvention,” said Danielle Brown, chief diversity and inclusion officer, at Intel, in a blog post. “Meeting our diversity hiring and retention goals in 2016 demanded a continued dedication to inclusive hiring practices.” Above: Intel diversity numbers for 2016.
Intel has moved to establish equity across the company through evaluating pay, progression, and advancement of women and underrepresented minorities.
Intel exceeded the 2016 hiring target with 45.1 percent diverse hiring and is committed to surpassing this in 2017.
Positive gains were also made in the overall representation of women, which rose 2.3 points since 2014 to 25.8 percent.
“We hit our year-end goal of achieving 100 percent pay parity for both women and underrepresented minorities and achieved promotion parity for females and underrepresented minorities as well,” Brown said. “We met our overall diverse retention goal, retaining diverse employees better than parity, which means that we retained the overall diverse population at a higher rate than the counterpart majority.” But Brown said there is “still much work to be done to achieve our 2020 goal of full representation, namely with increasing the number of underrepresented minorities and countering the retention issue.” The percentage of underrepresented minorities in Intel’s U.S. workforce has increased modestly from 12.3 percent in 2014 to 12.5 percent in 2016.
Above: Danielle Brown, chief diversity officer at Intel.
“We endeavor toward our goal of full representation, as Intel firmly believes that reaching a critical mass of women and underrepresented minorities in our workforce through creating an environment where everyone can thrive, brings ample benefits not only to Intel but the entire tech industry,” Brown said.
Since its launch in 2016, more than 1,200 employees have used the WarmLine service, which focuses on support for the retention of employees.
In addition, Intel undertook its largest-ever study of retention and progression for our multicultural employees. This study surveyed over 15,000 Intel employees.
“It provided us a thorough look into the challenges our employees of color face and brought us many key insights for improvement that we have put into action,” Brown said.
In 2017, data and learnings from the multicultural retention and progression study and the WarmLine will be used to create tailored playbooks to improve diverse representation and improve inclusion within each business unit, Brown said. Those playbooks will be distributed to managers and other business leaders.
Intel also said it has achieved 100 percent pay parity for females and underrepresented minorities in the U.S. It first achieved gender parity in 2015, and it maintained that in 2016.
The company also said that it promoted five women to the level of Intel Fellow, a distinguished technical leadership position. In addition, Intel improved representation in its vice president ranks this year. Of the newly appointed U.S. vice presidents, 41 percent are women or underrepresented minorities. Intel has also made progress in diversity among early, middle, senior, and leadership levels for both gender and ethnicity.
As for other populations, such as the disabled, veterans, and the LGBTQ community, Intel said it is also making strides. Intel has a $125 million diversity fund for investing in startups with diverse leaders, and it is also investing in an “inclusive supply chain.” In 2016, Intel wanted to spend $400 million with diverse-owned suppliers, but it actually exceeded that target, at $555 million.
Intel is also holding its Hack Harassment events, where it encourages college students to come up with ways to combat online harassment.
“Moving into 2017, Intel will continue to improve the representation of underrepresented minorities and women within its U.S. workforce and establish challenging hiring, retention and progression goals,” Brown said. “Additionally, we will continue to foster an inclusive culture. Key to that culture is ensuring we focus on continuously improving our manager capability, which includes managers who are effectively trained in building and leading diverse and inclusive teams.” 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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"Your Amazon Echo will soon unlock doors | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/your-amazon-echo-will-soon-unlock-doors"
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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 Your Amazon Echo will soon unlock doors 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.
Amazon debuted a Door Lock API today that gives the makers of locks connected to the internet the power to lock or unlock doors with Alexa. The API is part of the Alexa Skills Kit.
As part of the launch, smart locks from Schlage, Yale, Kwikset, and Z-wave will use the API.
August and Vivint smart locks, which were customized to interact with Alexa last year , will also use the Door Lock API, according to an Amazon spokesperson. The August Home Alexa skill can still be used to lock and unlock doors.
If the prospect of unlocking doors with your voice freaks you out, rest easy. While the Door Lock API makes its debut today so you can say “Alexa, lock my front door,” the ability to unlock doors with your voice is not yet available.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “We’re currently working on a variety of security and safety tools within the Door Lock API in order to support unlock controls in a secure manner. We will not launch unlock support until those security requirements and options are in place,” said an Amazon spokesperson in an email to VentureBeat.
Amazon declined to share more information about the kinds of “security and safety tools” being built into the Door Lock API.
One feature that could improve security for devices that use the Door Lock API: the ability to distinguish between voices. On Monday, Time quoted an anonymous source familiar with Amazon’s Alexa strategy who said Amazon is currently working to give Alexa the ability to set certain commands to specific voices.
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"X.ai targets teams with business edition of its AI scheduling assistant | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/x-ai-targets-teams-with-business-edition-of-its-ai-scheduling-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 X.ai targets teams with business edition of its AI scheduling assistant 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.
Artificial intelligence company X.ai is expanding beyond serving individual professionals to now include entire teams. Today it launched its business edition, which lets employees use their own virtual assistant to schedule meetings across G Suite, Outlook, and Office 365 calendars. Companies can pay $59 per user per month for this capability, something X.ai thinks could reduce one of the big unnecessary headaches in the workplace: coordinating schedules.
When it launched in October , X.ai’s initial objective was to help people schedule meetings by making sense of our calendars. It has two “assistants,” Amy and Andrew, which you interact with through email — you just include a special email address in your correspondences and ask either Amy or Andrew to find a time to set up a meeting. X.ai declined to share how many users it has, but it disclosed that “hundreds of thousands of meetings” have been scheduled.
With the business edition, businesses can white-label the X.ai assistant right on their own domain. So instead of emailing [email protected], the address will now be [email protected], which gives a more professional look when interacting with clients or someone important. Amy and Andrew’s signature can also be customized and branded to the company so it appears that they are actual employees, rather than bots.
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the interest in getting Amy on board for entire teams,” said X.ai cofounder and chief executive Dennis Mortensen in a statement. “No one wants to schedule their own meetings, and yet we ask our employees to do this all the time. Having an AI scheduling assistant frees your team up to do the work they’re actually paid to do.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Since Amy and Andrew know the calendars of everyone in the organization, X.ai promises that it’ll be easy to schedule internal meetings: “you don’t have to look at shared calendars anymore,” a company spokesperson told VentureBeat.
This business edition may raise privacy concerns since the virtual assistant can “see” everything on someone’s calendar. However, X.ai sought to assuage fears, saying that its administrators do not have access to individual calendars — they can only set up accounts and add or delete users. The company said it never gives out information beyond finding available times for requested meetings.
While the business edition costs $59 per user per month, X.ai said that companies will only be billed for those team members who schedule at least one meeting a month.
The personal premium subscription plan of $39 per month remains available.
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 to do about the chatbot dilemma | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/what-to-do-about-the-chatbot-dilemma"
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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 What to do about the chatbot dilemma Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Questions about chatbots and humanity 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.
Last week, The Information reported that AI bots were experiencing a 70 percent failure rate, and the told-you-sos of the world started to point fingers. In the tests it conducted, the Silicon Valley blog said artificial intelligence-powered chatbots could successfully complete only 30 percent of requests without human assistance.
With the attention large technology companies are giving this medium, hordes of developers have been building a bot for this and a bot for that, targeting large audiences, creating inflated expectations and hope for big payoffs. Yet the implementations we have seen to date are underwhelming. In 2016, we saw unparalleled market consolidation and a general activity burst in the AI and chatbot space. You could argue it started in April 2016, when Mark Zuckerberg introduced Businesses on Messenger at F8 by saying : “I don’t know anyone who likes calling businesses.” Why is there such a disconnect between the hype the industry has generated and the relatively slow uptake? (Of course, some form of disconnect is normal for every hype.) I believe we are dealing with a dilemma here, which lies in the nature of bots themselves and when they are truly useful.
Looking for chatbot value Bots are about simplifying man-machine interaction. Conversation is the most natural form of communication for humans. Bots promise to make any engagement simpler: No more app or page downloads on a possibly spotty network just to satisfy a one-time need. No more account registrations with yet another password to memorize. Bots simply fit into the life you already have. Just open your favorite messaging app, search the business name (or scan their messaging code off an ad), start chatting, and you get the responses.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Marketing professionals are typically the first to embrace consumer innovation, as is the case with chatbots. Marketers want to bind you to their brand; they want to impress you with creativity and appeal. Yet a bot gives you a simple text interface or perhaps one enriched with some basic GUI elements like images or buttons. It’s hard to craft engaging content in a standardized messaging bubble that makes your customers want to come back to or engage with your bot. Furthermore, you give up control to the environment in which the bot lives, e.g. Facebook, or … well, mostly Facebook. Contrast that with your app or website: These are environments entirely under your control. We are giving that up when we move to messaging platforms.
As a consumer, when you’re in the market for a new product, you start with discovery. You browse and compare offers. But unfortunately, the amount of information you need to consume in this discovery phase of your customer journey does not easily fit into messaging bubbles. And that brings us to the bot dilemma.
The bot dilemma Bots are great for the occasional, simple question: “I know what I want, give me the answer as quickly and conveniently as you can.” Yet when shopping around, consumers often don’t know exactly what they want. They want to browse for offers in a space with the freedom to explore, and a conversation is not the best way to go about that task. They want to be wowed, convinced, surprised; they want visual and experiential appeal from the company that they might do business with. Bots cannot easily give them this.
Furthermore, if consumers need something frequently, they often prefer an app, not a bot. The more often we make a customer engage with our brand, the more they tend to want a rich and satisfying UI coming with it, which a bot cannot provide. And adding new bells and whistles to messaging frameworks, such as carousels with buttons and images, will make them too similar to existing mobile solutions without providing the additional value we want from customer service bots: bypassing menus and getting right to the answer to a question on the customer’s mind.
So if we bring everything together, the dilemma becomes obvious: Bot platforms like Facebook promise an audience of billions, which attracts marketers.
Due to the simplicity of their interface, bots are best for occasional, simple, directed questions.
An important aspect of the marketer’s job is to generate demand from new customers.
Marketers strive for a rich experience, and complete control over it, but a conversational interface alone makes for a somewhat poor experience.
Or, in a nutshell: Bots have attracted marketers, yet marketers don’t want to be where bots work best.
The solution: customer service Now let’s revisit why Mark Zuckerberg launched his bots program to begin with: He wants to be the place where you have conversations not only with your friends, but with your businesses, too. When do conversations happen? Oftentimes after you made a purchase. That’s when “frequently asked questions” arise, not just before you buy. “Where is my order?” “What is your return policy?” “Do you also have item X in stock?” “What’s the status of my claim?” Everything starts with a question, and bots are a fantastic fit to handle these questions.
Customer service is the area where bot developers should flock, as bots have a clear value proposition in the contact center, from reducing cost through automation to improving the customer experience through 24/7 quick access to basic information. Both marketing and customer service are about 1:1 conversations, to serve and optimally increase wallet share of the customer.
Bot developers that focus on customer service automation will be able to assign a clear monetary value to their work versus those that build the n th weather bot or questionable utilities or games that work better in the environment of a native mobile app anyway. Bots excel where marketing and customer service meet.
Tobias Goebel is the Director of Emerging Technologies at Aspect Software , a call center improvement company.
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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"Samsung paid around $215 million for virtual assistant startup Viv | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/samsung-paid-around-215-million-for-virtual-assistant-startup-viv"
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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 paid around $215 million for virtual assistant startup Viv Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Viv Labs' home page 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.
Samsung has disclosed the terms of its recent acquisition of virtual assistant startup Viv Labs. When Samsung made the deal for 238.93 billion won on October 7, the Korean won was equal to $0.0009 , meaning that the price came out to around $215 million.
San Jose-based Viv Labs, whose team built Apple’s Siri virtual assistant, is now a subsidiary of Samsung Research America, according to the filing (PDF) from earlier this month. Most of the money was for goodwill, the filing shows. Since the acquisition, Viv Labs has generated a loss of 3,424 million won, or $3.08 million. The startup took on $30 million in funding before being acquired, according to CrunchBase.
Samsung is currently planning to launch the Galaxy S8 flagship smartphone on March 29.
The phone will include the Bixby virtual assistant, not Viv, which the startup showed off last year. At the time, Viv could surface information based on voice input, like Siri. The system could also incorporate third-party services like Hotels.com, Uber, and Venmo.
Apple reportedly paid more than $200 million to acquire Siri in 2010. Siri came to the iPhone in 2011 with the launch of the iPhone 4S.
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 Galaxy S8 will go head to head with LG’s G6 , which sports the Google Assistant, just like Google’s own Pixel and Pixel XL.
Meanwhile, Google is bringing the Assistant onto many more Google devices through the Google App.
Earlier this week, Lenovo unveiled a Moto Mod for the Moto Z that brings Amazon’s Alexa assistant to that smartphone. Huawei is reported to be developing a virtual assistant of its own.
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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"Pinterest forms Labs research group under chief scientist Jure Leskovec | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/pinterest-forms-labs-research-group-under-chief-scientist-jure-leskovec"
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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 Pinterest forms Labs research group under chief scientist Jure Leskovec Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Pinterest headquarters in San Francisco.
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Pinterest today is announcing the formation of Pinterest Labs , a new research unit under the leadership of the startup’s chief scientist, Jure Leskovec.
Currently the group contains around 20 people who are spread across existing departments; they’ll keep working in their current positions, but they have the mandate to do more research-oriented activities, including collaborating with people inside and outside the company on academic papers, experimental applications, challenge problems, open source software, and releases of data. Over time, Pinterest will be increasing its research and development expenditures and bringing on people who will work completely under Pinterest Labs. And there will be office hours, seminars, and invited speakers, Leskovec said in an interview with VentureBeat.
While Pinterest Labs will certainly keep working on image recognition, it will also focus on spam filtering, ad targeting, search ranking, new user education, recommendations, user modeling, and data science in general, said Leskovec, who arrived at Pinterest in 2015 as a result of its acquisition of startup Kosei. Leskovec has since been on leave from Stanford University, where he is an associate professor.
While this is notable in Pinterest’s evolution as a company, it’s not unheard of.
Facebook , Salesforce , Snap , and Twitter are among the companies that have formed research groups focused on artificial intelligence. Google and Microsoft have funded major research programs as well. Now Pinterest will be in a better position to hire top talent and “help shape the future of machine learning,” Leskovec 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! Above: Leskovec teaches a machine learning class for Pinterest employees at company headquarters in San Francisco on February 24.
Machine learning has been part of Pinterest for many years. It’s helped the company reach its 150 million active user mark , and it’s played a big part in launches of products like Lens and visual search.
Now Pinterest wants to accelerate its work in a way that makes sense for its size and culture. Generally speaking, the company will share its learnings with the public, while also using its discoveries to advance its own products.
Lately Leskovec has been setting the stage for today’s launch by teaching an eight-week machine learning class for his colleagues — the longest-running employee education program so far in company history, a spokesperson said. At the fourth class on Friday, inside a classroom near the back of Pinterest’s new office on Brannan Street in San Francisco, Leskovec led a two-hour tour on decision trees and the bias-decision tradeoff, two common concepts in the machine learning field. (Previous sessions have covered linear models, linear discriminant analysis, and overfitting.) Around 30 Pinterest employees followed along with the help of Leskovec’s 56-page slide deck. Leskovec has two teaching assistants supporting him for the course, but judging by the speed and conviction with which he went through the material, he doesn’t need a whole lot of help.
Many employees left the classroom to attend an all-hands meeting, and Leskovec hung around and answered colleagues’ questions for 15 minutes. The dynamic was simultaneously academic and warm. (Google has also done machine learning training for its employees, but at Pinterest, which has more than 1,000 employees compared with Google’s 72,053 , things happen at a smaller scale.) Afterward he sat down to talk about Pinterest Labs, turning down an offer to take a bathroom break.
“The point is not to now take researchers, here they are in this corner and have these arrows blinking like this,” he said, gesturing with his two index fingers toward one central spot. “I think the point is to take this research spirit and make sure it’s distributed and planted across the company. That’s why we don’t have a sign, we don’t have a corner in the room. … Lots of us would spend a few days a week working with the product team and have two desks, for example. We will embed researchers to work on problems that are hard, that are important.” Leskovec has a blog post on the news here.
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5,551 | 2,017 |
"Machine learning in Microsoft Word's new Editor gave me the frights | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/machine-learning-in-microsoft-words-new-editor-gave-me-the-frights"
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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 Machine learning in Microsoft Word’s new Editor gave me the frights 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 Word, you suck.
I mean, you really suck. That’s what I wanted to write, but a new feature in the Office 365 version of Word called Editor made an interesting suggestion. The “machine” noted how the word “really” is superfluous, and it’s true. The extra word doesn’t add anything to the sentence, so I removed it.
I’ve been writing professionally since 2001 (around 10,000 published articles now), but I’m still learning, I guess. The new Editor announced today (and available immediately if you select the Fast Insider option within Word under Settings) is like hiring a grammar nanny. The Editor scans all of your prose, alerting you to passive voice and jargon. It can identify words that “express uncertainty” (the suckers, it flagged dozens of instances). For example, in a document that’s 50,000 words (long story on that one, but you should buy it next year), I kept using words like “basically” and “maybe” over and over again. I zapped them because, now that I look back at the text, they add clutter.
How does Word know when to flag words? That’s where the AI comes into play. It’s interesting, because a simple AI would scan for all instances of the word “really” and flag them. Really? If it was that dense, it would have flagged the word in that last question, but it knows enough about language, context, and even one-word questions to know not to flag them.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Another interesting discovery: I’m a champion of active voice. I was educated about the problem long ago. (Oh crap, there it is again.) Word kept reminding me about it, over and over again, until I had some of the passivity beat out of me. Fixing these problems takes time, editing them for better phrasing, but the Editor shows up in a pane to the right when you select the “See More” option when you right-click. It often makes suggestions that save time.
It also works for errors in formal language. I used the word “cushy” in my long document, which is apparently not the best word to describe a chair. (I also said it’s “maybe” or “possibly” not the right word, but Word flagged those for uncertainty.) Word suggested I use the word “comfortable” instead of cushy, and I went along with it. When I scanned for more instances of a casual tone, I found another 20-25 examples. It made me want to go back and take English again in high school. What was I thinking? Of course, I disagreed with some of the suggestions. I use the word “spiritual” in the document quite frequently, and Word kept telling me to use a word like “atmosphere” instead. Ah, not really. When the Editor kept flagging words for “descriptive adjectives,” I gave in a few times and changed them, unwillingly. (It flagged that word as too common, by the way.) A phrase like “forever ruined” was in passive voice, and it’s also too common, but I like how it reads, so I left that in.
What’s the takeaway from all of this? Machine learning is getting scary good.
It can help an old “professional writer” like me find a few alternate word choices and fix problems. It helped me eradicate passive voice. In a few cases, I picked words that were too common or too weak. How it works is a bit of a mystery still — a Microsoft spokesman would not divulge all of the secrets. (By the way, Word flagged that word for gender bias. Sorry, editing team, let’s leave it there as an example.) The biggest surprise from all of this? I have switched back to Word for now, abandoning Google Docs because it can’t compete with any of these new features. When an application uses AI that’s so helpful and powerful that you decide to use that application over a handful of other options, you know we’re in the middle of a revolution.
Word is helping me write better, which is pretty (I mean thoroughly ) astounding.
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 Assistant now has a slang dictionary, beer guide, and men's fashion tips | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/google-assistant-now-has-a-slang-dictionary-beer-guide-and-mens-fashion-tips"
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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 Assistant now has a slang dictionary, beer guide, and men’s fashion tips Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Google Home.
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About 20 conversation actions or services have been added to the Google Assistant in recent weeks.
There’s now a beer guide to tell you the difference between an IPA or an ale, a street dictionary to remind you what it means to “stay woke” or “get hyphy,” and online virtual tours from 360 Jungle.
Google Assistant conversation actions surpassed the 100 count for the first time in recent days. Google Home users can now speak with about 105 third-party services.
Finding a theme isn’t an exact science, but flip through Google Assistant’s third-party services every few weeks and patterns can emerge among the ecosystem of services forming around Google Assistant. For example, city services, elder care, and religion emerged as themes. In this latest batch, one of the themes is having fun.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Narwhal Bacon will serve up random facts and posts shared on Reddit, while Able Style will tell you men’s fashion tips. Hop over to the Able Style website while Google Assistant is talking to you and you can see suggested wardrobe visuals live onscreen. Wardrobe recommendations are made based on local weather, and in the future will be based on your preferences. This one seems a lot more fun and practical when I actually own some of the clothes that Able Style recommends I wear.
Also in this batch: more Internet of Thing (IoT) controllers for devices from Home Bond, Quick Remote, and Stringify. Religion is also top of mind with new actions.
Divine Song is an action that plays songs from the Hindu scripture Bhagavad Gita, while Today’s Bible Verse and YouVersion Stories share scripture and Bible stories.
On Sunday, Google made its biggest extension of Google Assistant to existing devices by making the assistant available for phones running Android Marshmallow and Nougat , continuing its spread to devices beyond Google Home and Pixel smartphones.
Google Assistant third-party actions like the kinds mentioned above are still limited to Google Home at this time.
To see the complete list of Google Assistant actions, open the Google Home app, go to “More settings,” and click on “Services.” 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 reportedly creating app to bring videos to the television | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/social/facebook-reportedly-creating-app-to-bring-videos-to-the-television"
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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 reportedly creating app to bring videos to the television Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Facebook video search on mobile.
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Facebook is reportedly working on a way to bring its video content to your television. The social networking company could be developing an app that lets you stream premium content it curates through set-top boxes such as Apple TV.
The Wall Street Journal shared that the unnamed app is one of several projects Facebook is undertaking to shift itself from a mobile-first to a video-first entity. By extending itself beyond the confines of a mobile phone or computer and onto additional screen real estate, the thought is it would not only improve ad load, but increase opportunities for targeting and providing quality ads to people watching videos on their televisions.
Facebook declined to comment.
In July, Facebook chief financial officer Dave Wehner made a remark that concerned advertisers, suggesting that the total number of ads the company would be able to show each user would be “a relative non-factor” for predicting Facebook’s future revenue growth a year from then. The following quarter, it warned investors that its ad revenue growth would be slowing down in 2017, which is now.
So in order to find ways to expand its advertising, Facebook is looking at the television. As a vocal proponent of videos — look at the push towards Facebook Live, Instagram Stories and Live , Messenger Day , surfacing longer videos within News Feed , and more — why not combine it with ads? This is where pre- and post-roll ads could fit in.
Other social companies have launched apps for set-top boxes, including YouTube and Twitter’s Periscope.
However, YouTube, which continues to be a major player in the online video space, is the only one that appears to have any way to monetize what’s shown on the television. Facebook’s entry could certainly shake up the market and give YouTube a run for its money.
All eyes will be on Facebook tomorrow as the company declares its fourth quarter earnings results to see if its status as an advertising behemoth has changed.
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"Trump expected to put agency heads in charge of cyber security for their organizations | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/security/trump-expected-to-put-agency-heads-in-charge-of-cyber-security-for-their-organizations"
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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 Trump expected to put agency heads in charge of cyber security for their organizations Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order cutting regulations, accompanied by small business leaders at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington U.S., January 30, 2017.
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(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday postponed signing an executive order that is expected to require the heads of government agencies to play a more direct role in reviewing and managing risks to networks under their control.
Trump, at a White House event with top officials to discuss his order, said his initiative would “hold my Cabinet secretaries and agency heads accountable, totally accountable, for the cyber security of their organizations.” “We must defend and protect federal networks,” he said.
A signing ceremony was planned for Tuesday afternoon but an aide said it had been postponed.
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 signed, the order will give the White House budget office a central role in assessing cyber risks for the entire executive branch, and will require agency heads to develop plans to modernize aging information technology systems, a White House official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Cyber breaches featured in the run-up to the Nov. 8 election, which Trump won over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, most notably with the hacking and leaking of Democratic National Committee emails. Trump said hackers tried to penetrate the Republican National Committee as well but that they failed.
Trump vowed his administration will work with the private sector to ensure owners and operators of critical infrastructure to make sure they have the support they need from the federal government to guard against cyber threats.
Trump said he would take steps to ensure cyber security is central to the U.S. military.
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton and Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Bill Rigby) 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 Elder Scrolls Online will finally visit the lands of Morrowind this June | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/the-elder-scrolls-online-will-finally-visit-the-lands-of-morrowind-this-june"
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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 Elder Scrolls Online will finally visit the lands of Morrowind this June 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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Bethesda is bringing one of its most popular settings into its massively multiplayer online role-playing game, and I’m sure that makes you want to scream with joy.
The Elder Scrolls Online : Morrowind will introduce new content to MMO when it launches for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on June 6. As the name implies, this add-on will take players back to the locations the series first explored in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, and publisher Bethesda is promising that the expansion maintains all the points of interest that fans remember from that game. This update will also include the new Warden class, an original narrative, a new player-versus-player mode, and more. The Morrowind expansion will sell for $40 as an upgrade, but you can buy it with the core game for $60 if you don’t already own it. Of course, you can also get a physical Collector’s Edition for $100.
Above: Bears? See, this is why wizard colleges in Tamriel should give instructors assault rifles.
Bethesda originally released The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind for the Xbox and PC in 2002. It is a 3D open-world role-playing adventure, and it established a foundation that later led to some of the publisher’s megahits like Oblivion, Skyrim, and Fallout 3 and Fallout 4. Morrowind takes place on the island of Vvardenfell, which differs from the European-inspired lands of that fans might remember from regions like Skyrim or Cyrodiil. Instead, Vvardenfell feels more like a remix of Japan and civilizations from the Middle-East.
The Morrowind expansion for Elder Scrolls Online will likewise take place on Vvardenfell, and this gives Bethesda a chance to present some variety to long-time players of the game. This is also one of the biggest add-ons ever for the MMO, which first debuted in 2014 on PC. That has the potential to please loyal fans while simultaneously attracting people who have a deep love for Morrowind — since this is the closest we’re probably going to get to a remaster of The Elder Scrolls III.
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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"Hoplon kicks off open beta for car combat title Heavy Metal Machines | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/hoplon-kicks-off-open-beta-for-car-combat-title-heavy-metal-machines"
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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 Hoplon kicks off open beta for car combat title Heavy Metal Machines Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Hoplon's Heavy Metal Machines 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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Hoplon has launched the open beta for its rock-and-roll racing game Heavy Metal Machines on the PC.
The title is a hard rock vehicular action combat multiplayer game, and it’s kind of a cross between Mad Max and a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game.
The game from Florianópolis, Brazil-based Hoplon takes place in a post-apocalyptic landscape ravaged by its own inhabitants. Society has been reforged through metal and madness. A new breed of gladiators engages in visceral vehicular combat. The rules are simple: two teams enter, one team leaves. The four-player team that manages to decimate the enemy’s base first wins.
Above: Heavy Metal Machines is a MOBA-like car combat game.
The open beta introduces a number of significant upgrades, including an all new character named Photon, a tech-savvy character who provides support.
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 beta also ha a new player game guide, voice chat, and Russian localization. The title comes from Hoplon, which was founded in 2000 and worked in the past on titles like APB: Reloaded. The company has 100 employees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usKQHN3RKUc 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 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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"Mobile advertising: Stop fraud and step up clicks (VB Live) | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/mobile-advertising-stop-fraud-and-step-up-clicks-vb-live"
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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 VB Live Mobile advertising: Stop fraud and step up clicks (VB Live) 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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Make this the year you stop letting fraudulent bots burn through your budget and start maximizing the power of mobile advertising with must-click messaging. Join our VB Live event to learn how to stay in front of your audience, ahead of your competitors, and on top of fraud.
Register here for free.
An impressive 59.5 percent of Google’s net global ad revenues will come from mobile ads this year. By next year, that number will shoot up to three quarters of their revenue. And if Google’s got it going on, you know it’s a major industry trend affecting the rest of us.
Mobile app monetization still has major untapped potential, with more canvasses opening up for mobile advertising than ever. For instance, over 2.5 billion people have at least one messaging app — a number that’s expected to reach 3.6 billion, or just about half of the human race, in just the next couple of years.
The problem is that with way more money and more comprehensive campaigns, marketers are throwing the doors wide open to fraud. Major mobile app install and engagement campaigns to attract loyal users are big, juicy targets that are attracting the attention of tech swindlers intent on latching on and sucking your budget dry.
In 2016, it was estimated that mobile app marketers lost upwards of $100 million due to app install and engagement advertising fraud. The liars and the cheaters are getting one over on us because they’re getting more sophisticated with every new OS update, learning new tricks to dupe advertisers into paying for both installs of fakery and in-app engagements of lies.
It’s everything from falsified click data to paid installs from counterfeit devices, and even fraudulent and simulated in-app events (CPA fraud). And the damage doesn’t stop there, because the impact of these false installs and events on lookalike targeting and retargeting is staggering.
Sure, the news sounds grim, but the market is fighting back, from increasingly sophisticated verification tools to collaborations with publishers in order to pinpoint specific impressions, categorize the problem, and snag actionable data in real time.
For mobile advertising, the rewards outnumber the risks, with engagement opportunities blowing open the gates, and video and 360-advertising creating new audience dynamics while crackdowns on fraud continue.
So make this the year you stop letting fraud take a bite out of your budget, and turn your mobile advertising into must-click moments. Join our latest live, interactive VB Live event for an in-depth look at how to stay in front of your audience, ahead of your competitors, and on top of fraud.
Don’t miss out! Register here for free.
In this VB Live event, you’ll: Learn what works and what doesn’t in 2017’s mobile advertising arena Mitigate the mobile advertising fraud risk in your own applications Create the most engaging mobile advertisements for savvy app patrons Use video and 360 advertising to stay abreast of the latest trends in mobile advertising Speakers: James Peng , Head of Mobile and Social Acquisition, Match Group Stewart Rogers , Director of Technology, VentureBeat Rachael Brownell, Moderator, VentureBeat This VB Live event is sponsored by Adjust.
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 launches G Suite Enterprise edition with Drive data loss prevention, S/MIME encryption | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/google-launches-g-suite-enterprise-edition-with-drive-data-loss-prevention-smime-encryption"
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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 launches G Suite Enterprise edition with Drive data loss prevention, S/MIME encryption Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn G Suite 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.
Google today is announcing the launch of a new Enterprise edition of its G Suite portfolio of cloud services for organizations. The offering comes with everything in the existing G Suite Business edition, as well as other features that should be interesting for admins that want to improve security.
G Suite includes access to Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs/Sheets/Slides/Drive, Google Sites, and Google Forms, among other things. This package was referred to as Google Apps until September.
In addition to G Suite Business, the other previously available G Suite service tiers are G Suite Basic and G Suite for Education, Nonprofits, or Government.
G Suite Enterprise introduces data loss prevention (DLP) for Google Drive, ensuring that sensitive information doesn’t get shared on Google’s cloud storage app. “G Suite’s DLP protection goes beyond standard DLP with easy-to-configure rules and OCR recognition of content stored in images so admins can easily enforce policies and control how data is shared,” G Suite product manager Reena Nadkarni wrote in a blog post.
The previously announced DLP capability for Gmail is also available for G Suite Enterprise edition customers.
Google is also making it possible for organizations to use their own S/MIME encryption certificates with Gmail, and admins will be able to query Gmail logs using Google BigQuery cloud data warehousing service.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Plus, admins at organizations that pay for G Suite enterprise edition can require end users to use two-step authentication (2FA) with Security Keys like Yubico’s every time they log in. “Admins will also be able to manage the deployment of Security Keys and view usage reports,” Nadkarni wrote.
And Google is making it possible for organizations to use third-party tools for archiving data from Gmail; this goes beyond archiving with the Google Vault service.
Perhaps the most prominent competitor of G Suite Enterprise edition is the Office 365 Business subscriptions from Microsoft. Microsoft announced S/MIME encryption support in Office 365 in 2014.
DLP is available for several Office 365 apps, including OneDrive for Business. Admins can allow employees to use 2FA with Office 365. And Microsoft lets people run queries on Exchange data in Power BI business intelligence tool and archive email data using third-party offerings.
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"Apple thinks it can get much bigger in software | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/apple-thinks-it-can-get-much-bigger-in-software"
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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 thinks it can get much bigger in software Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Apple retail store in San Francisco's Union Square neighborhood.
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Apple Music. iCloud. Apple Pay. App Store. These are some of the well-known products that fall into Apple’s otherwise amorphous Services product category, which in the quarter ending on December 31 generated more than $7.17 billion.
That might not sound like much when you note that Apple captured more than seven times that — $54.37 billion — in iPhone revenue in the quarter. But! Apple wants to really grow the Services business. Specifically, the company is seeking to double the category in the next four years, chief executive Tim Cook told investors on today’s earnings conference call.
In fact, Apple Services came through with more revenue growth than all other product categories in the most recent quarter: 18.4 percent. The iPad was the worst performer growth-wise , with a 22 percent decline. The Other Products category, which includes the Apple TV, Apple Watch, Beats, and iPod, saw an 8 percent revenue drop. The iPhone, for all the money it delivers Apple, saw 5 percent revenue growth.
Apple Services’ revenue growth isn’t unusual. It’s dropped below 9 percent just once since 2013.
Above: Apple Services revenue growth going back to 2013.
Also, while you could say Apple Services is a small base relative to things like iPhone and so will have a larger percentage growth, with the exception of things like Apple Pay and Apple Music, many of its components have been around for several years now. And besides that, $7+ billion in revenue is not small. At that size, it’s doing as much business as a Fortune 100 company, as Apple chief financial officer Luca Maestri pointed out during today’s call.
To be clear, Apple top executives haven’t given up on hardware, which is ultimately the company’s golden heritage. Despite today’s results, Cook said that he’s still optimistic about the iPad — and that he believes “the smartphone is still in the early innings of the game.” But that’s not to say Apple isn’t trying to figure out how to adjust its priorities in the years to come in order to reap the best results.
Given the Services goal unveiled today, things like exclusive music and video content and iCloud enhancements will become more important. As people buy more Apple devices, the services will likely become more widely used, and people are spending more on them, too. “Obviously the quality and the quantity of content that we make available in our services improves all the time,” Maestri said.
At the same time, Apple may well decide to bring more of its applications — like iMessage and Apple News, and even its Xcode integrated development environment (IDE) — to non-Apple hardware. Microsoft’s Office apps work well on Apple’s mobile devices. Google has made sure that its most popular applications work well on iOS. Perhaps Apple will start reciprocating more.
Lest we forget, in the words of Marc Andreessen, “Software is eating the world.” That even applies to Apple.
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"Apple returns to revenue growth in Q1 2017 with $17.8 billion profit | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/apple-returns-to-revenue-growth-in-q1-2017-with-17-8-billion-profit"
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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 returns to revenue growth in Q1 2017 with $17.8 billion profit Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Apple's retail store in San Francisco's Union Square neighborhood.
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Apple today disclosed that it produced a $17.8 billion profit, or $3.36 in earnings per diluted share, on $78.35 billion in sales in the first quarter of its 2017 fiscal year, which ended on December 31. Analysts were expecting an average of $3.22 in earnings per share on $77.38 billion in revenue.
In October Apple itself estimated that it would come in with $76-78 billion in revenue. The actual revenue result is an “all-time record,” Apple said in a statement.
That derives from record iPhone revenue and unit sales, but also record revenue and unit sales for the Apple Watch, along with a new revenue record from the burgeoning Services business, chief executive Tim Cook said on today’s conference call with investors.
This time last year, after wrapping up the 2015 holiday season, Apple posted the biggest profit for a single quarter ever : $18.4 billion. But in each of the three quarters following that, Apple saw revenue decline year over year.
Today, Apple’s earnings are riding on the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus that were unveiled in September. While dual cameras and water resistance did distinguish the new models from their predecessors, they bore resemblance to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus and 6S and 6S Plus; now consumers are looking toward a major revamp for the iPhone’s 10-year anniversary this coming September.
And yet, iPhone unit sales for the past quarter were 78.29 million , which is up 5 percent year over year. That translates to $54.37 billion in sales for the iPhone in the quarter.
The average selling price (ASP) of the iPhone for the quarter was a record-high $695, pointing to the popularity of the iPhone 7 Plus, which starts at $769 (the iPhone 7 starts at $649).
Apple sold 13.08 million iPads in the quarter, which is down 19 percent year over year. Revenue for the iPad was down 22 percent year to year.
Besides iPhone 7 sales, the other notable thing in this quarter is the introduction of the next-generation MacBook Pro, with its Touch Bar secondary display. Apple sold 5.37 million Macs in the quarter, up from 5.31 million one year earlier, contributing $7.24 billion in revenue, up 7 percent year to year.
Services revenue of $7.17 billion was up 18 percent year to year. (There was “record activity” on the App Store, Cook said.) Apple’s Other Products category, which includes the newly unveiled AirPods wireless headphones as well as the Apple Watch, came in at $4.02 billion in revenue, which was down 8 percent. Apple once again did not say exactly how many Watches were sold in the quarter.
Revenue from greater China was down 12 percent year to year, at $16.23 billion. But revenue from the Americas, at $31.96 billion, was up 9 percent. Revenue from Europe, which came in at $18.52 billion, was up slightly — 3 percent.
The company spent $2.87 billion on research and development, which is up from $2.4 billion one year earlier.
Apple believes it will register $51.5-53.5 billion in revenue in the second quarter of its 2017 fiscal year, which will end in late March.
Apple stock was up more than 2 percent in after-hours trading following the earnings beat.
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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"Apple iPhone sales rise 5% to 78.3 million, but iPad and Mac sales are still down | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/apple-iphone-sales-rise-5-to-78-3-million-but-ipad-and-mac-sales-are-still-down"
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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 iPhone sales rise 5% to 78.3 million, but iPad and Mac sales are still down Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The Apple logo on the side of the company's new retail store in downtown San Francisco, Calif. on May 21, 2016.
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Hey, look: a new iPhone sales record.
Apple sold roughly 78.3 million iPhones, 13.1 million iPads, and 5.4 million Macs in the first quarter of 2017 , which includes holiday sales — that’s up from the 74.5 million iPhones it sold in Q1 2016 , and down from 21.4 million iPads and 5.5 million Macs it sold that same quarter.
Nearly 10 years since the first iPhone’s release, way back in 2007, investors are waiting for something big from Apple, as my colleague Chris O’Brien pointed out earlier today. But for now overeager investors must settle for the iPhone 7, which managed to best analyst expectations by about 1.3 million iPhones.
Apple’s “Services” revenue, which includes money from Apple Music subscriptions, is also up this year from last, this time by a significant margin: 18 percent. However, Apple’s mysterious “Other” revenue, which includes Apple Watch and TV sales, is down by about 7.5 percent.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! More : Apple returns to revenue growth in Q1 2017 with $17.8 billion profit.
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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"Joseph Gordon-Levitt, AR sneakers, and a community of 500,000 friendly people - VB Engage | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/marketing/joseph-gordon-levitt-ar-sneakers-and-a-community-of-500000-friendly-people-vb-engage"
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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 Joseph Gordon-Levitt, AR sneakers, and a community of 500,000 friendly people – VB Engage 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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This week, Travis and Stewart finish up their Web Summit series of podcasts with a bona fide Hollywood star, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. We talk with Joe (as Stewart now calls him) about the creative, collaborative community he founded with his brother at HitRECord, and how he has not only managed to grow it to over half a million members but why everyone on the platform interacts in such a respectful way.
In the news, we talk about the difference between U.S. and EU chatbots and what AI is going to do to marketers, and we sneak in a little retail therapy, augmented reality-style. Or is that mixed reality? By listening to this episode of the VB Engage podcast, you will hear: 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! Welcome to VB Engage episode 37! [00:10] YUUUGE episode today — we’re interviewing President Donald Trump! (Just kidding.) [00:30] In fact, we are interviewing Hollywood movie star and cofounder of HitRECord , Joseph Gordon-Levitt. [01:00] HitRECord has a unique community. [01:45] But first, the news: The European Bots Landscape was released last week.
[02:25] The EU Bot landscape differs from the U.S. bot landscape. [03:00] U.S. chatbots are centered around personal assistants.
[03:30] Europe has more privacy laws than the U.S. [04:10] Travis thinks all the EU chatbots seem to have an accent. [04:45] Three questions marketers should ask before investing in AI.
[05:35] Aman Naimat wrote that article and was the cofounder of Spiderbook , acquired by DemandBase.
[06:15] Last week, we discussed Amplero and its use of AI & machine learning in marketing.
[06:45] The week before, we saw another launch, with FollowAnalytics launching its AI-powered mobile optimization suite [07:15] With all of this AI and machine learning emerging within marketing, the industry is going to change, especially in high-waste areas. [08:05] This change can impact SMBs significantly, as well. [08:45] Only 0.3% of qualified leads wind up becoming customers, 250:1. [09:00] Also in the news, Nike ID has found a way to use AR to market its shoes [09:50] You can visualize Nike ID shoes in real time in the store. [10:10] When mixed reality/augmented glasses take off, this will be commonplace. [10:45] Travis butchers the pronunciation of Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Of course, Stewart calls him on it. [12:10] This is all about reaching the right community and selling where they are. [13:00] Facebook is by far the best user acquisition channel. But where does your particular niche live online? [13:40] Next up, we talk with Joseph Gordon-Levitt about how he built that amazing community at HitRECord. [15:30] HitRECord has over 500,000 community members. [16:05] JGL started HitRECord with his brother, originally as a hobby. [17:00] When you’re an actor, you don’t get to express yourself unless someone gives you a part. [17:15] Gradually, a community grew. Some people wanted to make things together. [18:05] The collaborative process of people making things evolved into a production company. [18:00] HitRECord won an Emmy in 2014.
AN EMMY!!!! [18:25] How did he grow the community? And why has organic growth made all the difference? [19:10] You can go on HitRECord, and there are creative challenges. Small or large challenges are available. [20:15] A project is a series of challenges. The production company looks for the projects with the most potential. [21:30] HitRECord has now paid out over $2,000,000 to creative collaborators. [21:45] If someone does some work that contributes to a project that makes money, they deserve some of that money! [22:00] The HitRECord community is incredibly positive, with very few detractors or rude commenters. Just like YouTube, right? #sarcasm [23:05] When people treat each other with mutual respect, it only leads to good things. [23:50] HitRECord isn’t monetizing the community members; it is monetizing the content that the community makes together. [24:10] If you think that you’re the customer on Facebook, you’re wrong; you are the product. HitRECord has an entirely different business model. [24:55] Take that creative urge and translate it into something more productive. [25:25] Joseph Gordon-Levitt totally calls Travis “dude.” [26:00] And now JGL is doing his best Dick Van Dyke cockney impersonation of Stewart’s accent. [26:15] HitRECord TV is available currently on Netflix.
[26:25] Next week on VB Engage 038, we interview one of the founders of GrowthX and the GrowthX Academy , which is doing great things in helping startups grow by training people in the dark arts of Growth Hacking, UX, and Business Development.
If you missed last week’s episode, we chatted with Stephane Kasriel, the CEO of Upwork , which connects more than 12 million freelancers with over 5 million customers. We find out how it manages such a diverse and expansive community, and what has changed since mobile became dominant.
Thanks for tuning in and allowing VB Engage to be the highlight of your day. It’s a shame we aren’t daily, huh? See you next 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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"Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age launches July 11 for PlayStation 4 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/games/final-fantasy-xii-the-zodiac-age-launches-july-11-for-playstation-4"
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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 Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age launches July 11 for PlayStation 4 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Final Fantasy XII art.
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Last year, we got a new Final Fantasy game.
2017 won’t give us the same treat, but we’ll still get to re-experience one of the franchise’s best entries.
Square Enix announced today in Tokyo during an event celebrating Final Fantasy’s 30th anniversary that Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age will release for the PlayStation 4 on July 11. The Zodiac Age is a remastered version of the Japanese role-playing game, which first came out for PlayStation 2 in 2006.
Final Fantasy XII was the first single-player game in the series to have real-time combat instead of random battles. It also features the Gambit system, which can program characters with specific behaviors. You could tell someone to use a healing spell on any ally whose health is below 30 percent. In GamesBeat’s ranking of the Final Fantasy series , Final Fantasy XII ranked at No. 4.
The Zodiac Age remasters the game with HD graphics and a re-recorded soundtrack. It also adds new features, including the ability to fast-forward the game’s speed when travelling. It also brings a Trial Mode, which pits players against a series of 100 difficult battles.
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! It will be the first time that the U.S. will get to see features added in the International version of the game released in Japan, specifically the Zodiac Job system. In the original game, all players progressed through the same License Board, which allowed them to unlock new abilities. The Zodiac Job system makes each heroes’ progression more unique.
Square Enix often remasters older Final Fantasy games. The other single-player entry for the PlayStation 2 in the series, Final Fantasy X, already had a similar HD remaster for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and Vita.
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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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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"Zenefits adds compliance and document management apps to its HR platform | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/zenefits-adds-compliance-and-document-management-apps-to-its-hr-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 Zenefits adds compliance and document management apps to its HR 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.
Zenefits is continuing the expansion of its human resource platform, launching compliance and document management apps for small businesses, while also opening up its payroll service to five more states, adding new partners to its app store, and introducing a new pricing structure that brings it more in line with other subscription services.
With the massive redesign several months ago , Zenefits sought to reimagine how HR should look for small businesses, launching an app marketplace into a “tightly integrated online system.” Today, the next phase launches to let entrepreneurs focus on growing the their business instead of worrying about compliance and regulations.
Ensuring compliance among small businesses “A growing concern among small businesses is around compliance, especially with the new president and other issues,” explained Arisa Amano, Zenefits’ vice president of product. “We’re hearing from customers that they feel uncertain about what’s going on. People spend more than 200 hours a year on regulations and compliance, and there are steep penalties for non-compliance.” Above: Zenefits compliance assistant app To reduce the stress its customers constantly face, Zenefits has launched its compliance assistance app. Think of it as a task management tool that’ll provide the relevant regulations and deadlines personalized for each business. It currently shows the federal statutes that are applicable, but state and local laws will be added in the future. Companies can add their own deadlines and sync the app with their internal calendars. As the name implies, the app will provide guidance on all the things businesses need to adhere to across benefits, payroll, taxes, and basic HR.
“Before the compliance assistance app, we’ve always thought about compliance as being core to the [Zenefits] platform. It has been baked into individual apps and workflow,” Amano shared. “But there are many compliance deadlines that fall outside of the core HR workflow. [This app] gives HR administrators a place to manage all the requirements in one place.” In order for businesses to make sense of the regulations, Zenefits leveraged its content, legal, and compliance teams to review all the regulations and lay them out in a way that’s accurate and easy to understand.
It is ironic that Zenefits has introduced an app to ensure businesses comply with regulations after spending the past year or so settling with regulators over its own lack of compliance.
Above: Zenefits document app Another app that’s being launched today is focused on document management. This isn’t Zenefits’ version of Dropbox, but it’s a way to monitor whether employees have completed the necessary documentation. “The big thing was we’ve focused on is making sure HR administrators can use it to have all the HR documents in line. If someone is missing something, [administrators] can quickly identify it,” Amano said. “What’s most important is that you have all the documents you need for each employee.” Leveraging the data across the Zenefits platform, this documents app knows when new employees get on-boarded and will help administrators keep track of who hasn’t returned an offer letter, signed an I-9 or W-2 form, acknowledged an employee handbook, and more. There are specific fields in the app that come standard, such as an offer letter, employment eligibility, background check, whether the employee is non-exempt, and more. However, based on the needs of a business’s workflow, custom fields can be added.
The compliance and document apps are now available nationwide.
Payroll and app marketplace expansion Above: Zenefits Payroll dashboard In October, Zenefits relaunched its payroll tool.
The difference was that it was developed in-house. It was initially available in California, before expanding to Florida, Texas, and Washington. Today, it’s now available in five more states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Colorado, and Arizona. The company said that it hopes to be in 30 states by July and nationwide by the end of the year.
The Zenefits platform is also expanding, with the inclusion of new partners and verticals. The company claimed that it now has 26 integrations, with 50 more in the works. Small businesses can now leverage 401(k) apps on the all-in-one marketplace produced by Principal Financial Group and CoPilot powered by PAi. Other additions include Lyft, which lets employees use commuter benefits for rides ; Asana, Box, and Hive for work productivity; NexTravel for travel planning; Giftedd for employee engagement; Zapier to better connect applications with Zenefits; and even custom integrations designed for more proprietary systems.
New SaaS pricing To put it more in line with other subscription-based enterprise services, Zenefits has revised its pricing plan, now offering four tiers with varying levels of access. A free version still remains, but that only includes access to employee management and benefits administration. For $5 per employee per month, the company’s Silver package includes the premium HR offering, which supports paid time off, enterprise-level reporting and permissioning, the document management and compliance apps, and health benefits. At $8 per employee per month, the Gold plan adds the payroll tool. And finally, for $12 per employee per month, the Platinum offering tacks on dedicated Zenefits customer support.
For nonprofits, Zenefits is providing a 25 percent discount on its plans.
Changes afoot at Zenefits The latest changes at Zenefits are all part of its effort to turn itself around. After enduring high scrutiny from pundits and regulators, the company wants to move forward and showcase its potential. David Sacks, the outgoing chief executive , told VentureBeat that today’s announcements are an effort to “extend the strategy and product launch” from last October. “We want to make Zenefits the pre-emininent solution for small businesses,” he said.
Addressing the proverbial elephant in the room, Sacks declined to share specifics around the search for his replacement, but he noted that it’s underway. “We’re seeing a lot of great candidates…perhaps the ultimate validation [for Zenefits] is that we’ll be able to recruit a really great CEO.” He has previously declared the company to have “ a clean bill of health.
” 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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"Y Combinator backs the ACLU as the nonprofit challenges Trump | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/y-combinator-backs-the-aclu-as-the-nonprofit-challenges-trump"
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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 Y Combinator backs the ACLU as the nonprofit challenges Trump 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.
Y Combinator has a history of backing nonprofits, and today it has selected an organization that’s old — but very relevant in today’s society — to get behind. The startup program has announced that it’ll be supporting the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) , adding the nonprofit to the roster of companies participating in its latest accelerator class.
“The ACLU has always been important, but has a particularly important role right now. We are honored to be able to help, and we will send some of our team to New York for the rest of the batch to assist,” Y Combinator president Sam Altman wrote, explaining the decision. As part of the relationship, the ACLU will be able to tap into the extensive network and community Y Combinator has, as well as presenting at the demo day scheduled in March.
The selection comes as the ACLU does battle with the Trump administration over the immigration ban enacted by executive order. On Saturday, the ACLU successfully requested a stay of that directive, allowing many of those detained by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to be freed. The organization also raised a record $24 million in donations over the weekend.
Kat Manalac, a spokesperson for Y Combinator, told VentureBeat that she originally reached out to the ACLU on a project she’s working on around civic tech. Turns out the lobbying and activist group was looking for help on a project of its own, and Y Combinator and the ACLU discussed the benefits of participation in the startup program. Manalac said that not only will her organization be donating, but some team members will be assisting the ACLU personally.
Previous nonprofits that have received Y Combinator’s generosity include Watsi, Zidisha, Bayes Impact, CodeNow, CareMessage, Noora Health, One Degree, The Immunity Project, The Detroit Water Project, DemocracyOS, and 80,000 Hours.
What will investor and staunch Trump supporter Peter Thiel — a part-time partner at Y Combinator — think about this, we wonder? It’s worth noting that Y Combinator is experiencing some server issues, but you can find the entire blog post on its Facebook page or on Medium.
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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"Design, Inc. pivots its 99designs-like service to be ODesk for designers | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/design-inc-pivots-its-99design-like-service-to-be-odesk-for-designers"
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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 Design, Inc. pivots its 99designs-like service to be ODesk for designers Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Design, Inc. founders Marc Hemeon (left) and Bjoern Zinssmeister.
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.
Last year, Marc Hemeon and Bjoern Zinssmeister had a vision to provide freelance designers with the resources to monetize their worth.
Design, Inc.
was intended to be the “operating system for designers,” so entire businesses could be run through the service. At the time, the process was akin to 99designs , in that companies would list out what they wanted created and then designers would create it.
Hemeon, the cofounder of Google-acquired fflick , and Zinssmeister, a former senior engineer with Match.com, discovered that oftentimes, customers didn’t really know exactly what they wanted and that they often requested more work over time. The problem was, what Design, Inc offered just wasn’t scalable. On Tuesday, the company formally announced it has pivoted away from a 99designs-like approach to become a marketplace where companies submit their Request for Proposals (RFPs) and are matched with qualified designers — think of it as akin to ODesk.
Above: How to submit a proposal within Design, Inc. to attract potential designers.
“We thought we could make an online transaction,” Hemeon explained. “We learned we could not make an online transaction for something that happened offline. If you hire a designer, you’re going to have coffee and work with them. You can’t actually pin down the dollar amount…we were trying to capture these large dollar amounts on our platform. Turns out that no one would use the platform. We would make the introduction…and the dollar amount agreed to wasn’t the same as they had on the platform.” With the new iteration of Design, Inc. — which soft-launched in December — companies submit their proposal and usually within minutes, up to five designers respond with their bids. Companies select one they like to begin negotiations with or resubmit their RFPs to receive additional proposals. Uploading an RFP is free, but designers pay between $5 and $36 per submission for a chance to talk to the company.
After a designer has been selected, the conversations can be taken offline. What Hemeon and Zinssmeister hope for is a relationship in which both designer and client are able to work together and better understand the project needs. And projects can vary in scope, from designing PowerPoint presentations to icons, illustrations, logos, magazine layouts, websites, and more. The exact specifications of the work will be outlined after the matchmaking process.
Above: How designers submit their proposals to clients for bids within Design, Inc.
Design, Inc. is appealing to graphic designers as well as other creative professionals, including those specializing in industrial design, filmography, photography, videography, 3D artistry, and more. The company acknowledges that the current brand is a bit limiting but hopes to eventually go “super broad” in terms of who has access to the service.
Hemeon wants to match great designers with those who need compelling design. “People need folks on demand,” Hemeon explained. “We can make it happen…why are you going to spent $180,000 [hiring a full-time designer], when you just need someone great for a couple of months?” Those who rely on Design, Inc. are promised quality designers — Hemeon’s team handpicks which ones should be added to the service. And should the work be sub-par, the company shared that it will do right by its clients, which in the past has resulted in the company doing the work themselves. “If you have a great relationship with us, you’ll come back. It’s greedy to capitalize on the nickle and dime opportunity,” Hemeon stated. There is a “no asshole rule,” meaning that if you’ve provided poor service, been cantankerous, or ghosted on a project, you can be booted off Design, Inc. — this applies to both designers and clients.
Currently, more than 2,000 designers are on the platform, with 5,000 more on the waiting list. Design, Inc. already has more than 400 companies submitting proposals with more than $1 million spent on freelancers in the last six weeks. The company also has a goal for the year: helping 10,000 creative people make a living, no matter where they are.
The company boasts that its service has benefited brands like Google, Nike, Twitter, Facebook, GoPro, Evernote, Adidas, Netflix, Uber, and Salesforce.
It might have surprised some when the original incarnation of the site was focused on “spec work,” in which designers provided samples of work to clients in an effort to win bids. Hemeon admits that he wasn’t a fan of this process: “I used to believe in never doing anything for free. Anyone that asked for free was a terrible human being….I’ve changed my perspective on that. What’s interesting, if you ask the question about what’s good design? I used to think good design was BMW, Apple, and beautiful architecture. So therefore, good design was this narrow thing. I don’t believe that anymore.” “Good design is when two people can come together and solve a problem using, of course, graphics, or this language of design, to help solve a problem,” he explained. It’s this thinking that has also led Hemeon to shift Design, Inc. into its current form.
Designers not only have a profile on the service, they can also upload a portfolio of their work, which is similar to Dribble and Behance. There’s a hope of one day incorporating some of the tools Design, Inc. previously had around messaging and payments, but nothing solid has been planned. At some point, the company may make a play to become the Shopify for designers. And unlike typical marketplaces, Design, Inc. doesn’t feature any rating reviews because Hemeon thinks people are prone to either giving 1 or 5 stars, never anything in the middle. Also, he explained “because all designers are handpicked…they should be badass.” Design, Inc. has also raised $2.3 million in venture funding, backed by Harrison Metal, David Tisch’s BoxGroup, Collaborative Fund, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Okapi Venture Capital, and 500 Startups.
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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"Braintree hires former Lending Club exec John MacIlwaine as CTO | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/commerce/braintree-hires-former-lending-club-exec-john-macilwaine-as-cto"
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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 Braintree hires former Lending Club exec John MacIlwaine as CTO 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.
Braintree has hired a new chief technology officer in a move designed to ease the workload of Juan Benitez, who split his time between that position and general manager of the company. The new C-suite executive is John MacIlwaine, who joined the mobile payment provider from Lending Club. He has been tasked with leading product development for Braintree, including work in engineering, product management, design, and production engineering.
Above: John MacIlwaine Nearly five years ago, Benitez joined Braintree as the CTO before being elevated to general manager two years later. Because of the company’s pursuit of “rapid growth,” it often required employees to assume multiple roles, including Benitez. But now, after claiming to have 25 times growth in payment transactions from Q2 2013 to Q2 2016, the time appears to be right to bring on someone dedicated to the CTO role.
This is where MacIlwaine comes in. “I’m excited to be joining the team of a leading payments company whose longstanding commitment to putting customers first has enabled them to maintain an innovative culture while scaling globally to meet customer growth and demand,” he said in a statement.
Prior to joining Braintree, MacIlwaine was the CTO at Lending Club, overseeing all software development and related technological work around the peer-to-peer loan provider. According to his LinkedIn profile , he managed a team that grew from 15 to more than 400 people in three years while also scaling the platform to handle over 20 times the volume within two years. MacIlwaine was also the CTO when Lending Club went public in 2014. He left the company in December.
Benitez cited MacIlwaine’s more than two decades of experience as a chief information and technology officer in the financial services industry as being a good fit for Braintree, as he should be able to drive “innovation at scale for multiple teams.” 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.
All rights reserved.
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"Trump's FCC chair promises to slash regulations | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/trumps-fcc-chair-promises-to-slash-regulations"
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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 Trump’s FCC chair promises to slash regulations Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Ajit Pai arrives at a FCC Net Neutrality hearing in Washington February 26, 2015.
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(Reuters) — The new Republican chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Ajit Pai, vowed to pare back outdated commission regulations, but declined to say if he will move quickly to overturn the Obama administration’s landmark net neutrality rules.
One top priority is “to remove unnecessary or counterproductive regulations from the books,” Pai told reporters Tuesday after he chaired his first meeting. “We want to make sure that our regulations match the realities of the modern marketplace.” Pai, who was tapped by President Donald Trump this month to run the FCC, in December vowed to take a “weed whacker” to unnecessary FCC rules. He opposed many rules imposed by the Obama administration, including net neutrality, broadband privacy and media ownership limits.
The net neutrality rules bar internet access protections from slowing consumer access to web content. Internet providers fear net neutrality rules make it harder to manage internet traffic and make investment in additional capacity less likely. The Republican-controlled Congress is also considering rewriting the net neutrality rules.
Pai opposed the Obama administration’s 2015 net neutrality rules that reclassified broadband providers and treated them like a public utility. He said Tuesday he supports a “free and open internet” but opposes the reclassification.
In December, Pai told some small broadband providers in a letter that it would not enforce the “enhanced transparency” rules. He declined to say if he is considering not enforcing net neutrality rules for all companies even if they remain on the books.
“We haven’t made any determinations,” Pai said.
The FCC on Tuesday voted to abolish a requirement that cable systems, commercial TV and radio broadcasters retain some public inspection files.
On Friday, Pai withdrew proposed reforms of the $45 billion business data services market and $20 billion pay TV set top box market. He declined to say if he will formally close any pending dockets.
A number of cable and wireless trade associations on Friday asked the FCC to put new broadband privacy rules on hold while the Republican-controlled FCC considers whether to scrap the rules.
Pai declined to say if he thought the AT&T and Time Warner merger should be subject to FCC review. The companies said this month they only expect a review by the U.S. Justice Department.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) 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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"'People prefer cash' -- and that’s good news for bitcoin | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/people-prefer-cash-and-thats-good-news-for-bitcoin"
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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 ‘People prefer cash’ — and that’s good news for bitcoin Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn “Sorry, Bitcoin: Cash Is Still King Around the World.” So says an article that Time published in its money section last month. The article is based on research published by the International Journal of Central Banking (IJCB), which showed consumers around the world still prefer cash to electronic payment methods. According to the IJCB report: “Cash is still used extensively — particularly for low-value transactions. In some European countries such as Austria and Germany, cash even dominates consumer payment choices for all transaction values.” While the IJCB report doesn’t mention bitcoin, the author of the Time article interpreted the data as bad news for bitcoin. However, a careful read of the report discloses the opposite: The fact that people prefer cash to electronic payment methods is actually good news for bitcoin.
High demand Bitcoin is a young form of payment. It isn’t realistic to expect it to beat cash in less than only a decade. Bitcoin adoption is doing very well, though; especially when we take into account that it isn’t a company and thus doesn’t have a marketing department, let alone an aggressive one like major credit card companies can afford.
Adoption is actually overtaking the network’s technical capacity, leading to the bitcoin scaling debate.
The community is experiencing pressure to scale the network due to an overflow of transactions, which means the number of people using bitcoin is growing.
Bitcoin or something similar is actually a perfect currency for the future, according to the IJCB report. We can arrive at this conclusion through a keen reading of the reasons the report gives for consumers choosing cash over electronic payment methods.
Privacy and security One reason the report gives for a consumer preference for cash is a desire for anonymity and security. It states: “ Anonymity and security concerns are sometimes cited as influencing people’s payment behavior. However, the level of anonymity and security people require when making payments is difficult to measure empirically.
” Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies afford users the ability to spend money online without disclosing their identity. Indeed, bitcoin brings the properties of cash into the online setting. Electronic payments demand you identify yourself before sending or receiving money. That is not the case with either cash or bitcoin.
Refuge from financial crisis The report also says consumers prefer cash over electronic payment methods because they don’t trust financial institutions, especially when they are the cause of economic crisis: “ A more relevant explanation for cash preference arises if a country has a history of banking crisis, which often coincides with high inflation and may affect trust in banks.
” Bitcoin offers its users an opportunity to hold and spend their money apart from financial and banking institutions. While the report states this is a problem of the developing world, the US housing crisis of 2008 and the Greek government debt crisis of 2014 say otherwise. With each new banking crisis, consumers become more wary of commercial bank payment methods.
Already there are signs that consumers consider bitcoin an option when there is a financial crisis. During the Greek financial crisis, the price of bitcoin shot up when there was a huge demand for it by consumers who wanted to safeguard their financial value.
Cash online The report also showed that in all the countries surveyed, older generations use cash the most. It states that preference for cash grows with age. From the report: “ Regarding age, we find that persons older than thirty-six use significantly more cash than persons younger than thirty-five. Also, the results provide support for a certain habit persistence in some countries, where cash use increases homogeneously with age: people aged sixty and older are more likely to use cash than people between the ages of thirty-six and fifty-nine.
” As time progresses, an electronic payment method that mimics cash will become more attractive. With increasing Internet access and more people and businesses going online, an electronic payment method that mimics cash may be the only option for those who prefer the properties of cash. And this is where bitcoin comes in.
Rupert Hackett is general manager of Bitcoin.com.au and BuyaBitcoin.com.au.
He specializes in the digital currency and digital payment space, writes for multiple bitcoin and tech websites, and is an acting Board Director for the Australian Digital Currency Commerce Association (ADCCA).
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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"Nintendo President spells out how Pokémon generated big financial results | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/nintendo-president-spells-out-how-pokemon-generated-big-financial-results"
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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 spells out how Pokémon generated big financial results Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima.
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Nintendo reported better-than-expected growth in its third fiscal quarter ended December 31 yesterday, and today, Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima credited the growth of the Pokémon brand during the quarter.
“Our basic strategy remains unchanged,” Kimishima said. “We seek to expand the number of people who have access to Nintendo [intellectual property].” Nintendo shipped more than 14.69 million units of its new Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon games on the 3DS handheld, and it has sold through more than 13 million units. That’s a much better start than previous Pokémon titles, thanks in no small part to the popularity of the Pokémon Go mobile game, which has generated more than $1 billion in sales for Niantic, The Pokémon Company, and Nintendo.
Above: Pokemon Sun and Moon “Pokémon games tend to be long-selling titles in the U.S. and European markets,” Kimishima said. “We can see that these titles still have excellent sales potential. We hope to maintain this momentum going forward to ensure that Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon also achieve long-selling status.” 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! Nintendo said it has an increasing share of players in their 20s and 30s compared to past titles. That’s important, as Nintendo is targeting that group with its upcoming Nintendo Switch game console.
About 17 percent of Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon players were trying a Pokémon title on Nintendo 3DS for the first time. Nintendo credited Pokémon Go and the 20th anniversary Pokémon celebrations that began at the start of 2016. That strengthened the brand.
The Pokémon Go lift also helped hardware sales. For the first two quarters of the fiscal year (which closes March 31, 2017), 3DS sales were down year-over-year. But in the third quarter, 3DS hardware sales grew.
Meanwhile, Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS, released in December last year in Japan, continues to sell well and is expected to become a million seller soon, Kimishima said. In Japan, this title has the momentum to close in on the total sell-through for Wii U version, which launched the previous year.
Above: Pokemon Go hit $950 million in revenue in six months.
“We were able to reach consumers who own a Nintendo 3DS system, but who do not own a Wii U system,” Kimishima said. “This shows the size of the latent Nintendo 3DS market. This title is also off to a good start in the U.S. and Europe, where it was released in December as well.” In the U.S., promotional activities aimed at children and parents were effective at increasing sales.
“We believe we were able to assert brand presence during the holiday season, including Black Friday, through Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon,” he said. “This was the sixth year-end period since the launch of Nintendo 3DS, but major titles continued to drive hardware sales, and sell-through of hardware and software for the entire year was up compared to the previous year.” Kimishima said efforts to sell to kids and females have paid off this year, enabling the 3DS to penetrate into wider demographics.
“As we approach six years since the launch of Nintendo 3DS, it is a common assumption that the platform is entering its final stage,” he said. “However, I believe we have shown that compelling software can continue to drive hardware sales. We have often asserted that software drives hardware sales in our dedicated video game system business, and this is further proof of that fact.” Above: Super Mario Run is mammothly popular on iOS.
But he said that other software hasn’t sold as well, and the ongoing challenge will be to get consumers who own the hardware to make a second or third purchase. All told, the 3DS has now sold 62 million units over six years. He said that the pricing for the 3DS hardware is a lot lower than the upcoming Nintendo Switch, so he doesn’t believe the hardware will cannibalize each other.
“We have heard speculation that Nintendo Switch will replace the Nintendo 3DS, as both are game systems that can be played outside the home, but Nintendo 3DS has unique characteristics that differ from those of Nintendo Switch,” he said. “Furthermore, the price points and play experiences offered by the two systems are different and we do not see them as being in direct competition. We plan to continue both businesses separately and in parallel.” Amiibo toy figures sold 6.5 million units, compared to 20.5 million units sold in the same period a year ago. Kimishima said that the remake of the nostalgic Famicom and NES home consoles in palm-sized versions were popular, and he apologized that there were big shortages of the products. But he said Nintendo is increasing production.
For smartphones, Kimishima said the main goals are to reach the maximum number of consumers with Nintendo games, generate synergy with dedicated video game systems, and that each game released on mobile is of the highest quality.
Super Mario Run, released on dEcember 15, had more than 78 million downloads in 151 countries. In the first four days alone, the downloads topped 40 million. There’s an upward trend in both downloads and purchases of the full game. The percentage of players buying the full $10 game has grown slowly.
To make it last longer, Kimishima said, “We are taking a number of steps to ensure that Super Mario Run can be enjoyed for a long time, both by those who have already made the full purchase and by those who have downloaded the application but not yet made the purchase. We are also taking steps in-game to raise the ratio of purchases among consumers downloading the application for the first time.” That includes adding an easy mode and holding periodic events where special items appear. Nintendo is also releasing the game in more countries.
Meanwhile, Nintendo released a major update of its Miitomo social app that debuted last year. And Nintendo has also launched Fire Emblem Heroes as a free-to-play game on mobile. Super Mario Run for Android will debut in March, but Nintendo delayed the release of Animal Crossing on mobile.
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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"New Sector 5 Chromebooks Include Free Microsoft 365 Suite | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/new-sector-5-chromebooks-include-free-microsoft-365-suite"
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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 New Sector 5 Chromebooks Include Free Microsoft 365 Suite Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn ALEXANDRIA, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–January 31, 2017– The following was issued by Sector 5, Inc.
(OTCQB: SFIV): Chromebooks had traditionally been designed to run Google Chrome apps only. Now, the new Sector 5 E1 and E2 Chromebooks will run Android Apps and have access to the Google Play Store. In addition, Google has confirmed that the Sector 5 E1 Chromebook will receive Android support.
Users will be able download Skype and Microsoft Office apps or play games like Minecraft, Hearthstone or Clash of Clans.
Roger McKeague, Sector 5 CEO stated, “As Chromebooks continue to gain widespread popularity as cost-effective laptops, one concern was whether the app ecosystem was robust enough. Adding Android apps and the Google Play Store brilliantly answers this. We have just extended our Google Chrome OS Brand Features and Support Agreement for another 2 years.” To read more about the E1 Chromebook click here.
About Sector 5 Sector 5, Inc. (OTCQB: SFIV), is a Proud American Corporation, that sells, manufactures and develops new innovative consumer electronics under Sector 5 and other brands. The Company markets its partnership with Google approved Chromebooks to educational organizations, other B2B and B2C sales channels, with retail sales on Amazon. It is in development of several new products to serve the educational, business and retail markets. Follow the company on www.twitter.com/sectorfiveinc and www.facebook.com/sect5 and find further information at www.sector-five.com.
For Sector 5’s Forward Looking Statements, click here.
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"iPad in free fall after sales plunged 22% in Q1 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/ipad-in-free-fall-afters-sales-plunged-22-in-q1"
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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 iPad in free fall after sales plunged 22% in Q1 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The Apple Pencil and the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.
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If anyone at Apple has any bright ideas about how to save the iPad, now is the time to speak up.
In the earnings for the first quarter of 2017 announced today, Apple overall reported a strong quarter that would have been even better if it had not been sucker punched by the iPad.
The company said it sold 13.1 million iPads , down 22 percent from the 16.1 million it sold during the holiday season last year. iPad revenue was $5.5 billion, down 19 percent from $7.1 billion a year ago.
Last year, the iPad was comfortably Apple’s No. 2 product after the iPhone. Now, it’s fourth, behind the iPhone, Macs, and Services — even the “Others” category (Beats, Apple Watch, Apple TV) has almost closed the gap.
The gathering gloom over the iPad deepens further when you consider that three years ago during the holiday period, Apple sold 26 million of them.
What may be most troubling for Apple is this shocking plunge comes after a sustained push that included rolling out a larger iPad Pro and the Pencil (not a stylus!) to broaden its appeal, particularly for business users. Apple has signed several big partnerships with companies like IBM and Cisco Systems. None of this apparently has translated into helping the apple of Steve Jobs’ eye rediscover its momentum.
On a call with analysts and reporters, CFO Luca Maestri insisted that things were not as bad as they seemed. He said Apple sold more iPads in Q1 than it had projected internally. He also pointed to double-digit growth of iPad sales in China and India. And he said Apple has 85 percent market share among tablets that cost more than $200.
“iPad is incredibly successful,” he said.
On the same call, CEO Tim Cook insisted the iPad still had a bright future, and blamed part of the poor showing on a component shortage caused in part by an underestimation of demand. He also repeated his belief that even if unit sales are sluggish, the universe of iPad owners and users continues to grow, a base the company can still leverage for sales of apps and other services.
“I still feel very optimistic about where we can take the product,” he said. “When we look at the number of people buying iPads for the first time … The customer satisfaction for the iPad Pro is 99 percent. It’s stunning. We are still currently in this [supply] shortage issue now. And I’m not projecting to get out of that totally during the quarter. So it will dampen this quarter somewhat. Beyond the 90-day clock, I’m very bullish on iPad. … If I zoom out of the 90-day clock and look at it [more broadly], we’ve got some exciting things coming.” 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 open-sources Chrome for iOS | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/google-open-sources-chrome-for-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 Google open-sources Chrome for 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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Google has uploaded its Chrome for iOS code into the open source Chromium repository. In other words, Chrome for iOS has now been open-sourced like Chrome for other platforms, letting anyone examine, modify, and compile the project.
Chromium is the open source web browser project that shares much of the same code as Google Chrome, and new features are often added there first. Google intended for Chromium to be the name of the open source project while the final product name would be Chrome, but developers have taken the code and released versions under the Chromium name. Eventually, many browser makers started using it as a starting point; Opera, for example, switched its browser base to Chromium in 2013.
Since its inception, Chromium was a desktop-only affair. That changed in May 2015 with the open-sourcing of Chrome for Android.
Chrome for iOS took even longer, as its code was kept separate from the rest of the Chromium project because Apple requires that all browsers for iOS must be built on top of the WebKit rendering engine.
Supporting both WebKit as well as Chrome’s rendering engine Blink adds extra complexities that Google “wanted to avoid placing in the Chromium code base.” It took years of “careful refactoring” before the Chrome team was comfortable moving the code into the Chromium open source repository.
Here is the team’s explanation: Given Chrome’s commitment to open-source code, we’ve spent a lot of time over the past several years making the changes required to upstream the code for Chrome for iOS into Chromium. Today, that upstreaming is complete, and developers can compile the iOS version of Chromium like they can for other versions of Chromium. Development speed is also faster now that all of the tests for Chrome for iOS are available to the entire Chromium community and automatically run any time that code is checked in.
Developers interested in building an iOS browser now have a new starting point. This announcement means you can expect to see improved, as well as completely new, iOS browsers from third-party developers.
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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"Clearlake Capital Backed Vision Solutions Announces Sale of Double-Take Software to Carbonite | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/clearlake-capital-backed-vision-solutions-announces-sale-of-double-take-software-to-carbonite"
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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 Clearlake Capital Backed Vision Solutions Announces Sale of Double-Take Software to Carbonite Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn SANTA MONICA, Calif. & IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–January 31, 2017– Vision Solutions, Inc. (“Vision”), a global data protection, high availability and IT automation software provider backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Clearlake”), announced today that Double-Take Software, Inc. (“Double-Take”) has been acquired by Carbonite, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARB) (“Carbonite”), a leading provider of cloud and hybrid data protection solutions.
“Clearlake is pleased to have contributed to the success of Double-Take, which is an excellent fit with Carbonite. We look forward to the combined company’s continued success,” said Behdad Eghbali, a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Clearlake. “This is an exciting time at Vision, which will concentrate on providing data protection, high availability, and IT automation software solutions to its global customer base.” “The Vision Solutions team is focused and excited about the future,” said Nicolaas Vlok, President and CEO of Vision Solutions. “Now, more than ever, Vision Solutions will seamlessly serve Power Systems customers and partners through a combination of innovation, reliable support, and growth execution. Clearlake has been an excellent partner with financial, strategic and operational know-how, and we look forward to our continued partnership as Vision eyes its next phase of growth.
“We wish the Double-Take team well,” Vlok continued. “Carbonite has shown an avid appreciation for the potential of the Double-Take business and technology, including the skills and talents of the team, and we believe Double-Take customers will continue to see great success moving forward.” Vision’s products focus on helping enterprises grapple with the severe cost of downtime, while addressing the challenges associated with exploding volumes of enterprise data and the concerns around insufficient IT security measures.
“We are excited to enter into this new phase of our partnership with Vision and its management team, as we accelerate execution on our strategy to grow the core Vision platform organically and through acquisition. The market outlook for enterprises requiring data protection software and IT automation tools remains incredibly attractive and we believe Vision’s software solutions are well positioned to address important enterprise IT challenges,” added Prashant Mehrotra, a Partner at Clearlake.
Shea & Company, LLC acted as financial advisor to Clearlake, Vision and Double-Take.
About Vision Solutions Vision Solutions is a leading provider of high availability, disaster recovery and IT automation software solutions for the modern data center. For more than 25 years, customers and partners have trusted Vision to protect and modernize their environments, whether on-premises or in the cloud. Visit visionsolutions.com and follow us on social media.
About Clearlake Capital Group Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. is a private investment firm with a sector-focused approach. The firm seeks to partner with world-class management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to dynamic businesses that can benefit from Clearlake’s operational and strategic expertise. The firm’s core target sectors include industrials, energy and power; technology, communications and business services; and consumer products and services. Clearlake currently has over $3.0 billion of assets under management. More information is available at www.clearlakecapital.com.
About Carbonite Carbonite (Nasdaq: CARB) is a leading provider of cloud and hybrid data protection solutions for small and midsized businesses. Together with our partners, we support more than 1.5 million individuals and small businesses around the world who rely on us to ensure their important data is protected, available and useful. To learn more about the cloud solutions voted #1 by PC Magazine readers, as well as our partner program and our award-winning customer support, visit us at carbonite.com.
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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"AMD slightly beats earnings targets as revenue hits $1.1 billion in Q4 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/amd-slightly-beats-earnings-targets-as-revenue-hits-1-1-billion-in-q4"
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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 AMD slightly beats earnings targets as revenue hits $1.1 billion in Q4 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn AMD CEO Lisa Su introduces Zen.
Advanced Micro Devices reported fourth quarter earnings that beat Wall Street’s expectations.
AMD is the No. 2 maker of PC processors and graphics chips behind Intel, and its results are a bellwether for the PC industry. The company is readying its Ryzen desktop processors for launch in the first quarter. These chips have a chance to take the performance crown away from Intel for the first time in a decade.
Analysts expected earnings per share to be a loss of 2 cents per share on revenue of $1.07 billion. AMD reported a loss of 1 cent a share on revenue of $1.11 billion on an adjusted basis. AMD credited higher graphics chip sales for the revenue growth, which was up 15 percent from a year ago. Revenue was down 15 percent from the prior quarter, largely due to slower seasonal sales of semi-custom chips (which means chips for video game consoles).
“We met our strategic objectives in 2016, successfully executing our product roadmaps, regaining share in key markets, strengthening our financial foundation, and delivering annual revenue growth,” said Lisa Su, AMD president and CEO, in a statement. “As we enter 2017, we are well positioned and on-track to deliver our strongest set of high-performance computing and graphics products in more than a decade.” AMD is also preparing its Radeon Instinct artificial intelligence chips, based on its new Vega graphics architecture.
For the first quarter, AMD said it expects revenue to decrease 11 percent from the previous fourth quarter, plus or minus 3 percentage points. The midpoint of guidance would show Q1 revenue being up 18 percent from the previous year.
Non-GAAP gross profit margin is expected to be about 33 percent, and operating expenses are expected to be about $360 million. In after-hours trading, AMD’s stock is up 2.3 percent at $10.61 a share.
Annual revenues were $4.27 billion, up 7 percent from a year ago. The net loss was $497 million, compared to a net loss a year ago of $660 million.
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"AMD CEO says Zen and Vega products are on track for big 2017 launches | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/amd-ceo-says-zen-and-vega-products-are-on-track-for-big-2017-launches"
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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 AMD CEO says Zen and Vega products are on track for big 2017 launches Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn AMD CEO Lisa Su (left) and Raja Koduri, senior vice president of AMD's Radeon Technologies Group.
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Lisa Su, CEO of Advanced Micro Devices , said in a conference call with analysts today that AMD is on track to ship its Zen processors and Vega graphics chips on time in 2017.
AMD contends that its new designs will be the most competitive in a decade when compared to rivals Intel and Nvidia. AMD reported a slight loss for the quarter ended December 31, but it beat analysts’ expectations on both earnings and revenues. In after-hours trading was up 5 percent to $10.90 a share.
Su said that AMD is on track to ship its Ryzen desktop processors in the current first quarter. It will also ship Zen-based data center server processors in the second quarter. And it will ship laptop and embedded Zen-based chips in the second half of the year.
Meanwhile, Su said that the company is also on track to ship Vega graphics chips in the second quarter. Those chips could help the company gain high-end graphics and gaming computer customers. Vega will also be targeted at machine intelligence applications, a mainstay for both Intel and Nvidia.
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! “We are returning to the high end of the market, where we have not been in years,” Su said.
Su said the overall company is on track to grow profits and revenues in 2017, and that the products haven’t been this competitive in years. She said that potential server customers are giving “overwhelmingly positive” feedback on the new chips. That could translate into better shipments in the second half of the year, Su said.
“AMD had a solid 2016 and Q4 2016,” said Patrick Moorhead, analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. “Nearly every indicator was improved from 2015 to 2016, driven by the game console business and by a new Polaris graphics launch. This is really positive as Ryzen desktop and notebook, Naples server, and Vega graphics are all upsides in 2017. AMD and CEO Lisa Su has architected what looks like a turnaround. It’s all up to AMD to flawlessly execute this year.” Su said there is “pent-up demand” for high-end chips in the gaming space, and AMD will try to fulfill it. She said there is a lot of customer engagement and a “nice pipeline,” but AMD is not yet ready to talk about customer design wins.
“This year is about our product launches and making sure we have the right software lined up,” Su said.
As for the longer term, Su said the server and data center customers are “investing in a road map.” AMD is also planning on following up the Zen chips with new families of processors over time so it creates a “multi-generational road map,” she said.
AMD plans to ship a combo chip, Raven Ridge, in the second half of 2017. That chip will be an accelerated processing unit (APU), with both graphics and processor on the same chip.
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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"900 Iran-educated techies have helped power top U.S. tech juggernauts | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/900-iran-educated-techies-have-helped-power-top-u-s-tech-juggernauts"
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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 900 Iran-educated techies have helped power top U.S. tech juggernauts Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn There have been columns at length about how President Trump’s executive action on seven Muslim-majority countries has impacted international relations and geopolitics at the macro scale. With many tech companies giving guidance to employees of different nationalities and tech leaders going on record as saying this is an enormous moral and logistical problem , there hasn’t been a clear sense of the magnitude of disruption this recent executive action has had on one of the fastest-growing and most prosperous industry sectors in America.
Capturing an approximation of this effect would involve estimating the numbers of tech workers affected by this ban in technology.
I started by researching all seven nationalities affected by the ban, but it became apparent that U.S. tech is benefitting significantly more from people trained in Iran than from those trained in the other six countries, so I’ve focused my attention there. By researching on LinkedIn and compiling a list of the Iranian universities in the top 1,000 global universities (including standouts such as Sharif University of Technology) and where their alumni work (both in terms of company and geographic location), I found that there are roughly 924 graduates of Iranian universities currently employed by 12 of the largest U.S. technology companies by market capitalization.
Given that there have been zero terror-related fatalities committed by refugees in the United States since the 1980s and, as the Cato Institute has pointed out, the chances of being killed by a permanent legal resident are about 1 in 1.3 billion and that, in fact, no foreign nationals from Iran have been implicated in a terror attack on U.S. soil, the cost/benefit curve quickly becomes clear.
To put it starkly, there are hundreds if not thousands of nationals from different countries building their lives in America, creating technology that benefits everybody, and paying taxes while contributing to the prosperity of America.
If there has been a silver lining to this whole situation, it is the constant reminder from the stories of those denied entry and those threatened that immigrants make America great.
Roger Huang is a migrant from Canada who has settled in San Francisco. He helps people around the world get high-skills digital jobs with Springboard , and in his off-time he writes technical tutorials , dances salsa, and enjoys tofu poke bowls.
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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"What AI is revealing about the sales process | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/what-ai-is-revealing-about-the-sales-process"
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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 What AI is revealing about the sales process Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn A sales rep, as shown on the AppMesh site 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.
Recently, my firm commissioned researchers to visit the websites of some 538 companies across nine industries, make a sales inquiry, and ask to be contacted. Surprisingly, fully one-third of the companies completely ignored these seemingly hottest of sales leads. Of the companies that did respond, more than two-thirds gave up following up after only one or two tries, despite proof that more contact attempts yield greater success. On the positive side, 42 percent of responding companies did so within 5 minutes, representing a 36 percent improvement over the previous year. However, despite the relative ease and importance of personalization in contact, over one-third of companies scored poorly in personalizing their replies.
This research points to some interesting things that AI can teach us about sales. Specifically, it shows where sales organizations fall short and points to how solutions leveraging artificial intelligence can fill in the gaps.
Failing to respond to customer inquiries costs companies serious revenue. According to Gartner, businesses spend an average of 10 percent of revenues on marketing.
And since marketing’s primary goal is lead generation, ignoring over a third of all leads is a dangerous waste of resources and opportunity. In most organizations, the root cause is a disconnect between the marketing and sales departments. This leads to finger-pointing, with marketing claiming that sales doesn’t follow up, and sales complaining about low-quality leads. This is because, despite today’s technology, lead follow-up is generally manual, laborious, and error-prone. But, unlike humans, AI can accurately and at scale parse what, when, and how customers should be contacted, ultimately putting more leads in the funnel and driving greater sales productivity.
Companies also frequently give up on leads too early. Customer touches are a chance to engage leads and set appointments, but each human touch costs time and money, so typically salespeople follow up only about two times before abandoning a lead. Salespeople behave this way not because they’re lazy, but because they’re savvy and self-interested. They are “spending someone else’s money” for leads, so the incentive is to try once or twice, then move on. This maximizes return on salesperson time and commission, which is good for the salesperson but not for the company. But AI changes the cost/benefit equation when it comes to lead follow-up, reducing the cost per lead and enabling sales to implement best practices, usually 7 to 10 touches. With AI, salespeople are able to pursue hot leads as they would anyway, while fixing the follow-up problem in a scalable and sustainable way.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! AI helps drive personalization of responses, which also leads to better sales results. Data shows that personalized messages increase email open and clickthrough rates more than 100 percent and that a greater number of “personalization elements” per email increases sales odds. Using an autoresponder for a first touch, while prompt and easy to deploy, is highly impersonal and therefore tends to cause customers to tune out. Autoresponders also fail to impress today’s sophisticated customers due to a lack of relevant personalization information, such as a reference to the customer’s specific interest. And while it may be infeasible for most sales teams to respond to every lead with a personal message, even automatically generated responses can go a long way if they are thoughtful and individualized using AI tools. More sophisticated systems that leverage AI can go even further by interpreting and specifically responding to the details of a given inquiry, mimicking a human response.
There are many tools available to help sales teams be more effective. But AI doesn’t compete with other sales tools — it competes with the status quo, because lead generation, lead engagement, and sales have been done the same way for decades. Sometimes organizations don’t understand that better ways of doing things exist, and some fear that AI can create job displacement. Yet ironically, early adopters of AI in sales have found the contrary, often having to actually increase the number of sales-related hires in order to handle the increased flow of qualified leads.
Soon, using AI to manage inbound leads will be commonplace and have much broader business implications. The Harvard Business Review quotes Gartner’s prediction that, by 2020, customers will manage 85 percent of their relationship with an enterprise without interacting with a human at all. The most important advice for any organization not already planning to deploy AI is to do something.
Sales is usually the best place to start, given the 5.6M non-retail salespeople in the U.S. and the poor lead follow-up in many organizations today. The result will be greater sales and marketing effectiveness and efficiency and, ultimately, greater sales.
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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"Slack expands beyond teams to entire organizations with Enterprise Grid | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/slack-expands-beyond-teams-to-entire-organizations-with-enterprise-grid"
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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 Slack expands beyond teams to entire organizations with Enterprise Grid Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Slack launched Enterprise Grid that evolves communication from teams to whole organizations 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.
After observing the groundswell of adoption by employees in individual teams, Slack has set its sight on making its productivity platform available across entire organizations.
It has launched Enterprise Grid , a new product that not only scales the core Slack experience to hundreds, if not thousands more, but gives IT administrators the regulatory and security controls across the entire company.
“This is an evolution of Slack’s very beginnings to help teams do the best work together,” remarked Noah Weiss, the head of Slack’s Search Learning and Intelligence (SLI) group, in an interview with VentureBeat. “Slack has always been a tool for large enterprise, but it grown from the bottom up (from sales, marketing, engineering, etc.) and it spreads. What we wanted to do is build a tool that not only teams loved, but also entire companies, deployed across the enterprise.” Above: Shared channels within Slack’s Enterprise Grid.
For the most part, users won’t see much difference when migrated to Enterprise Grid — they’ll have the same workspaces, channels, reactions, and threaded replies.
A major advantage of this product is the ability to better collaborate among different departments with shared workspaces. When you have the number of employees like you would at a company such as Salesforce, Procter & Gamble, or Coca-Cola, having a single Slack workspace won’t cut it — it has a high propensity for information overload. Enterprise Grid lets individual teams maintain their own workspaces and channels within it, but you can have a shared channel that bridges the two workspaces for multiple product teams.
Slack touts this as being a boon to company collaboration because now there will be a “new single layer that spans the entire company, and enables people to find each other, information, and workspaces relevant to their role or team.” Traditionally, if you wanted to consult with someone outside of your team, it would have to be done via email, phone, or through a third-party communication service, but now it’s all managed within Slack.
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: Slack’s Enterprise Grid allows IT administrators to set organizational policies for all users.
Behind the scenes, the chief information officer (CIO) and IT admins can maintain the necessary security protocols to comply with corporate governance policies.
Administrators are able to control permissioning and configure app integrations based on individual workspaces. Across the board, employees could be barred from sharing public files, controls who can create or archive channels, where people can post, and more. And with more than 900 apps in Slack’s App Directory , admins can supervise what gets deployed across entire organizations.
Among the features included in Enterprise Grid are identity management, allowing organizations to sync with services like Okta to ensure current employees have access, as well as compliance checks to prevent data loss and preserve security. Slack has received HIPAA and FINRA certification, similar to what Box has done , which can expedite implementation in highly regulated companies such as in health care and financial services. The company is also working with PaloAlto Networks, Bloomberg Vault, Skyhigh Networks, Netskope, Relativity by KCura, Smarsh, and other data loss prevention providers so companies can know their data is being protected.
And just like with Slack’s core offering, all data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
Enterprise Grid is only available in the cloud, so those looking for on-premises installations are out of luck.
Appealing to large-scale organizations It should be noted that today is the public launch of Enterprise Grid. Slack did test out the app with dozens of companies like eBay, Capital One, and IBM.
Above: Showcasing team overviews within Slack’s Enterprise Grid.
The launch of Enterprise Grid was teased back in November when Slack chief technology officer Cal Henderson revealed the company was beta testing a solution. “We are in beta with various enterprises,” he said. “For IT, there is a challenge of sprawl. Many teams have individually expensed Slack.” Some large-scale deployments that have been made include with IBM and Autodesk, and now Slack is adding PayPal and SAP to the mix.
Through its relationship, SAP will soon launch bots on Slack , including ones for Concur (expense tracking), SuccessFactors (HR administration), and its own Hana Cloud Platform (real-time reporting). Other partnerships that have been made include with Google , Salesforce , and IBM Watson.
Slack’s Enterprise Grid puts the company in direct competition with similar solutions from Cisco , Microsoft , Atlassian, and Facebook , all of which seek to capitalize on communication and productivity in the workplace. Steve Goldsmith, the general manager of Atlassian-owned HipChat, claimed that Slack wasn’t thinking about the bigger picture: Many of the chat tools that claim to be for the enterprise actually have limited team capacity, and work around enterprise scale with some creative licensing and federation. Modern work relies on cross-functional teams to be successful. In certain situations, a team of developers may need to collaborate with customer service teams, communications and sales. These services that include federation of team channels are creating artificial barriers to efficiency, in a time when effective cross-functional teams are the objective of every C-suite leader in the world.
When asked about the competition, Weiss believed it vindicated Slack’s position. “Instead of CIOs saying that they have hundreds or thousands of people using [these services], now very large companies are confirming to CIOs that this is an important category,” he remarked. “At the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding. It’s how people feel about Slack every day.” One thing that could appeal to companies is the customization that could occur within Slack — basically a build-it-your-way system. While you receive the standard chat interface, there are hundreds of apps that you can integrate to make Slack work right for the multitude of teams that exist. And developers seem to be excited about the prospect of getting their work in front of larger audiences.
“We are excited that Slack’s enterprise offering will provide ways to manage multiple teams in the organization and foster cross-communication among those teams,” says Bhaskar Roy, head of growth for Workato.
“Starting today, we have support Slack for Enterprise with the ability to easily integrate and automate workflows across multiple Slack teams. Further, IT admins can also manage and govern these integrations using Workato’s administration console, Aegis.” Preview of things to come As the head of SLI, a group centered around artificial intelligence , Weiss shared some of the work that will soon be released by Slack, all centered around preventing information overload. Among these features is an improved search capability that will not only surface relevant messages, but appropriate people, channels, and files — all within a single results screen. The team is also working on what they’re calling faceted search, which promises to apply filters and the ability to refine searches.
It’s easy to get caught up with small teams, but when you’re dealing with an entire organization, things can get more complicated. This is why Slack will soon launch channel highlights, prioritized readings, and daily briefings, all of which provides things the company thinks you need to know based on what’s happening and how you use the service. Channel highlights does as intended, providing you a “while you were away” view on recent activity, while prioritized readings looks at activity across all channels. Lastly, daily briefings is described as your chief of staff so you can catch up at the beginning or end of day on what’s going on across teams.
The features Weiss previewed will be available in the coming weeks.
As for Enterprise Grid, Slack is making that available now and while an exact price hasn’t been disclosed, the company did say that it will be slightly higher than the Slack Plus plan. It’ll also support up to 500,000 users.
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.
All rights reserved.
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"SAP starts making Slack bots for its enterprise software | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/sap-starts-making-slack-bots-for-its-enterprise-software"
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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 SAP starts making Slack bots for its enterprise software Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn SAP logo 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.
Enterprise software company SAP announced today that it has created chatbots for users of its Concur expense tracker and SuccessFactors HR software. The bots will initially be available exclusively to users of Enterprise Grid , a new service from chat app Slack for large corporations that also launched today.
More bots are on the way from SAP, a company that works with 335,000 customers and 2.5 million developers.
“These are certainly the first bots that we’re releasing into the market,” SuccessFactors VP David Ragones told VentureBeat in a phone interview. “You can expect to see a lot more bots coming from SAP in the future built on Slack.” Initially the SuccessFactors bot will create, add feedback, and allow review of the kinds of achievements often seen in employee reviews. More HR additions may be made in the future. The Concur bot will allow users to do things like ask questions about your travel itinerary, submit expenses, upload receipts, and ask for summary of an expense report.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “Specifically with Concur, we think about bringing our services to where our end users spend their lives, and increasingly enterprise users are spending their lives inside Slack,” Concur VP of platform John Gibbon told VentureBeat in a phone interview. “So we don’t have the hubris to think that people will wake up in the morning and want to spend their lives inside their expense tool. What we wanted to do was make it easier for our end users to do the effortless expense.” Above: SAP SuccessFactors Slack bot screenshot Also making its debut today is a Slack plugin for SAP HANA Cloud Platform, a tool for app development that lets teams keep track of development activity within a Slack channel.
“The way that we think about that is we want to best enable SAP developers to develop great applications and allow them to have rich and deep access to Slack in the process of creating those applications,” Ragones said.
Don’t expect to see these bots in the Slack App Directory just yet. Both Concur and SuccessFactors bots are still in beta, and will be available to the general public later this year, Ragones said.
Last fall, SAP acquired travel and hotel booking company Hipmunk , a company whose services are available on platforms like Facebook Messenger and Slack. An SAP spokesperson declined to respond when asked if Hipmunk will be incorporated into Concur in the future.
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.
All rights reserved.
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"Patients are about to see a new doctor: artificial intelligence | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/patients-are-about-to-see-a-new-doctor-artificial-intelligence"
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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 Patients are about to see a new doctor: artificial intelligence 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 World Health Organization has estimated that there is a global shortfall of approximately 4.3 million doctors and nurses , with poorer countries disproportionately impacted. In the U.S., these shortages are less acute; instead, the country struggles with ever-increasing health care costs, which often translate into limits on the time a patient is able to spend with a doctor. One study estimated that U.S. doctors spend on average just 13 to 16 minutes with each patient.
So against this backdrop of a global shortage in doctors and nurses, and cost-driven strains in patient care, let’s take a look at some of the ways AI systems are being evaluated for use in medical care.
Enhanced medical diagnosis In August 2016, an artificially intelligent supercomputer did in 10 minutes what would have taken human doctors weeks to achieve. Presented with the genetic data of a 60-year-old Japanese woman suffering from cancer, the system analyzed thousands of gene mutations to determine that she had a rare type of leukemia. Arinobu Tojo, a professor of molecular therapy at a hospital affiliated with the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Medical Science, said, “It might be an exaggeration to say AI saved her life, but it surely gave us the data we needed in an extremely speedy fashion.” Globally, scientists and doctors are making use of AI systems to tackle a long list of issues. Artificially intelligent computers are being designed to analyze gene mutations, make better use of scientific studies, and enhance doctors’ clinical knowledge beyond their first-hand experience. Machine learning is enabling much of these efforts.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Machine learning in medical care The foundation for the use of artificial intelligence in medical care is machine learning, the process by which computers “study” huge datasets to discover insights. Physicians and machine learning scientists, for instance, supply a smart computer with archived medical photos to train the system to spot certain disease markers or mutations. The more data a machine-learning system has, the more adept it becomes at providing accurate results.
Researchers at Imperial College London are testing machine learning applications in treating traumatic brain injuries. When they fed their algorithm images of such injuries, the system identified brain lesions and learned to discern white and gray matter. That ability could provide researchers with valuable information about these life-altering and often fatal conditions.
In one example of machine learning applications in medicine, scientists experimented with how machine learning might facilitate diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy, a condition that causes vision impairment and blindness. The team trained the system using 128,000 images of healthy eyes. They then had the algorithm analyze 12,000 images and graded its ability to recognize signs of disease. The results indicated that the system “matched or exceeded the performance of experts in identifying the condition and grading its severity.” Machine learning could be a game-changer in medicine because, unlike humans, computers don’t get tired and do have an infinite capacity for learning and memorization. Instead, AI is being designed to enhance diagnoses by providing doctors with data-driven insights derived from patients’ histories and conditions. Physicians can then use those reports to create treatment plans based on previously unavailable information. These systems can also provide vital insights in geographic areas where doctors, particularly specialists, are few and far between. Which, as the World Health Organization data reflects, is practically everywhere.
AI in the exam room AI’s impact may also be felt in people’s day-to-day health management and routine doctor’s visits. Most of us have typed a list of symptoms into a web search at one point or another, and sorted through conflicting or alarming diagnostic information. Search companies are beginning to attach their platforms to AI systems with the goal of providing health information that is personally relevant.
Of course, search engines are not replacements for real doctors. But it’s arguably better to see results vetted by experts from Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic than to scour questionable community forums that offer little in the way of knowledge or reassurance.
AI is also being designed to help with disease prevention and management. Information pulled from hospital databases, electronic records, in-home monitors, fitness trackers, and implanted devices could help health care providers predict which patients show high indicators for conditions such as congestive heart failure.
Facilitating human connections A study by the American Medical Association followed a group of 57 physicians through 430 hours of patient care. Here’s what it found, according to the Forbes article: Physicians spent 27% of their time in their offices seeing patients and 49.2% of their time doing paperwork, which includes using the electric health record (EHR) system. Even when the doctors were in the examination room with patients, they were spending only 52.9% of the time talking to or examining the patients and 37.0% doing […] paperwork.
For all of the potentially groundbreaking research we’ve described here, the true test of AI’s impact in medical care might be whether it can make a dent in the paperwork problem.
AI-driven efforts are already underway to combat the administrative burden. Some health companies are using apps to cut down on the time nurses and doctors spend gathering patient information. Outsourcing triage and patient interviews to algorithms could cut down on health care costs, but it carries the risk of further reducing the time doctors spend with their patients. The goal would be to improve doctor-patient interactions by freeing physicians from laptop screens to focus on the people in front of them.
And that’s really where the true potential of AI in medicine lies. Rather than replace interpersonal connections and involvement, AI can reduce the burden on doctors and nurses so they can focus on the uniquely human elements of patient care. No one will complain if AI helps lower health insurance premiums or helps physicians find the right treatments faster. But people look to doctors and nurses for reassurance, comfort, and insight. Machines simply cannot replicate a human’s bedside manner.
Additional reporting by Mehdi Ghafourifar and Brian Walker.
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"Businesses ordered 35,000 robots last year, mostly for assembly line automation | VentureBeat"
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Last year was a good one for the robotics industry.
North American businesses ordered 35,000 robots in 2016, a 10 percent increase from 2015, according to a report on Tuesday by trade organization Robotic Industries Association. Meanwhile, sales on those orders in the region reached an all-time high of $1.9 billion last year, beating the previous record set in 2015 of $1.8 billion.
“We really haven’t quite seen anything quite like this,” Robotic Industries Association CEO Jeff Burnstein said.
The automobile industry, which took shipment of over 20,000 robots and their components in 2016, is partly driving the boom. The food and consumer goods industries, electronics, plastics, and life sciences were also big customers.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Overall, manufacturers shipped nearly 31,000 robots in North America last year. U.S. companies ordered 27,000 robots followed by Canada with 2,700, and Mexico with 4,700.
Robots that place and pick up objects on factory assembly lines were the most popular models. Those that help with packing came next followed by ones that cut or forge materials, explained Burnstein.
Although robot prices have declined over the years, the main reason companies want robots is to better compete with each other on speed and productivity, Burnstein said. Technological advances that allow robots to better track their location in warehouses and avoid injuring humans who work alongside them are also playing large roles in the boom.
Still, North American countries are behind others in adopting robots. The Robotic Industries Association does not track robotic orders or shipments outside of North America, but Burnstein said “China is the world’s fastest growing robot user” and that European companies are also on the rise.
Burnstein is a board member of another robotic trade group, the International Federation of Robotics, that compiles worldwide statistics on robot orders and shipments. That organization has not yet released it’s 2016 data.
But according to previous IFR reports, China dominated in 2015 with roughly 69,000 robots shipped in that country, followed by Japan with 35,000 robots and South Korea with 38,000 robots.
Alex Shikany, director of market analysis for the Robotic Industries Association, said the trade group does not project future shipments. However, he said that for the past four years, the overall North American robotic market has grown nearly 13% annually, and the group does not expect any changes to that outlook.
Burnstein cautioned, however, that the U.S. robot market is tied closely to automobile manufacturers. When they introduce new car models, they invariably buy more robots and related equipment.
“When they slow down, their investments go down,” Burnstein said.
This story originally appeared on Fortune.com.
Copyright 2017 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 is going mobile | VentureBeat"
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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 AI is going mobile 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 advent of certain technologies — notably inexpensive high-speed internet, secure cloud storage, mobility solutions, and low-cost devices — has allowed the fantastic possibilities of the past to become reality. One of the platforms that has been enabled is artificial intelligence. And AI’s ability to process information, at high speeds and at scale, unleashes endless new opportunities and infinitely better management of processes, systems, networks, and information.
In 2016, we use voice-recognition systems to turn on lamps, driverless cars are being trialed, and robot hotel receptionists work in Japan. In fact, every industry — from health care to finance to travel to fashion — is being affected by new AI technologies. These applications can help travelers plan vacations, doctors select the right treatment plans for patients, and lawyers find important legal research in a much shorter time.
Perhaps the biggest area being affected by the rise of AI is mobile. Mobile devices put AI at consumers’ fingertips through the likes of Siri, Cortana, Alexa, and Google Assistant, personal digital assistants embedded in your smartphone.
For now, however, personal assistants are simply that — assistants. They can’t make connections or fully understand the patterns of everyday life. And they don’t learn from interactions, as truly artificial intelligent applications running on platforms built by IBM, Facebook, Google, and others can.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! But this is about to change.
According to Gartner , by year-end 2018, consumer digital assistants will recognize individuals by face and voice across channels, and by 2020 smart agents will facilitate 40 percent of mobile interactions. Gartner also predicts that virtual personal assistants agents will “monitor user content and behavior in conjunction with cloud-hosted neural networks to build and maintain data models from which the technology will draw inferences about people, content and contexts.” So while Siri, Alexa, and Cortana won’t be appearing as super-human life forms anytime soon, what Gartner’s prediction does foreshadow is that they will become a huge trove of data for companies and consumers alike to tap into.
Personal assistants aren’t the only way devices will get smarter. Applications — programs that live in the mobile-first world — are gradually becoming more entwined with the devices themselves. Rather than simply checking for an IP connection and basic device characteristics, applications will find themselves diving deeper into handsets they live on and peering into the networks that serve them, enabling customers to enjoy a more seamless experience.
These smarter applications will transform the handset from a mere assistant to an essential, particularly when a user is in unfamiliar territory. Earlier we mentioned that new AI applications can help consumers plan trips, providing hotel and restaurant recommendations, for example. But if you’re traveling to a foreign country (and, crucially, a foreign network), having an AI-capable smartphone is one thing, but having a connected, AI-enabled smartphone is quite another. Cross-border mobility will be a fundamental expectation, as users will refuse to tolerate their smart device being hamstrung by outdated network approaches to roaming. AI could herald the end of the era of roaming, which represents a great opportunity for operators.
With the ability to quickly analyze massive amount of consumer behavior and data, mobile devices with artificial intelligence applications can recognize a person the way humans recognize other people — by individual characteristics. It’s now possible to analyze and recognize multiple facets of an individual and use these together to make a picture of “you.” This goes beyond just simple voice or facial recognition. For example, some video games use AI to analyze the way a person speaks and their body language. There are also AI applications that can actually detect and distinguish animals in the wild through a smartphone camera. From a picture, the application can provide information like the scientific name of the animal and other details a person likely wouldn’t pick up on their own.
Ultimately, AI will make it possible for the network itself to adapt to the needs of the end users, reconfiguring for bandwidth and speed dynamically as the end user population moves around.
Networks provide a seamless use of any and all communications paths. For example, you don’t need to know if you are on Wi-Fi or a cell network to make a call using Facetime on your iPhone — it just works. The key is, right now it runs on top of existing network paradigms. Imagine a mobile device on which the user doesn’t even have to think about cell coverage or Wi-Fi, their phone just connects to any network available, including IoT networks, Bluetooth, and others.
For consumers, the most exciting promise of artificial intelligence is having phones that can take care of menial daily tasks. For businesses, the data behind artificial intelligence will really change the way they operate and utilize information. The massive amounts of data that AI systems can process in short periods of time can provide companies with invaluable insights about their customers’ behavior and point to how they can adjust their business practices to better meet the needs and demands of customers.
There is little argument that AI is going to change the way people live, work, and behave. What is an open question is whether today’s era of data operators will become the catalyst of that change. To succeed, AI needs to become critical, and the first operator to discover the “killer” AI application that becomes a basic expectation of a smartphone, rather than a gimmicky extra, will open up a market of infinite opportunity.
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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"SoftBank consortium will buy Uber shares at a $48 billion valuation, down from $67.5 billion | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/transportation/softbank-consortium-will-buy-uber-shares-at-a-48-billion-valuation-down-from-67-5-billion"
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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 SoftBank consortium will buy Uber shares at a $48 billion valuation, down from $67.5 billion Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi poses for a portrait during the 2010 Reuters Travel and Leisure Summit.
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(Reuters ) – A consortium led by SoftBank Group Corp will buy a large number of shares of Uber Technologies Inc in a deal that values the ride-services firm at $48 billion, Uber said on Thursday, in a victory for new Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi.
The price is a roughly 30 percent discount to Uber’s most recent valuation of $68 billion. The deal will trigger a number of changes in the way the board oversees the company, which is dealing with federal criminal probes, a high-stakes lawsuit and an overhaul of its workplace culture.
SoftBank and the rest of the consortium, which includes Dragoneer Investment Group, will own approximately 17.5 percent of Uber, a person familiar with the matter said. That stake includes a share purchase, through a tender offer, from earlier investors and employees at the $48 billion valuation, as well as a $1.25 billion investment of fresh funding at the $68 billion level.
Uber said the deal will close early next year. On Thursday it said that existing investors had agreed to sell enough shares for SoftBank to go through with the transaction.
SoftBank itself will keep a 15 percent stake, while the rest of the consortium will own approximately 3 percent, according to a second person familiar with the matter.
Khosrowshahi, who took the top job in August after Travis Kalanick was forced to step down in June, helped negotiate the deal. Uber is losing more than $1 billion each quarter, and a new cash infusion is critical. The company is also planning an initial public offering in 2019.
Uber will use the investment “to support our technology investments, fuel our growth, and strengthen our corporate governance,” a spokesperson, who declined to be named, said.
When the deal is completed, the company will make governance changes, expanding Uber’s board from 11 to 17 members including four independent directors, limiting some early shareholders’ voting power and cutting the control wielded by Kalanick, who remains on the board and is still one of the largest stakeholders.
‘Smart Thing’ “The stockholders did the smart thing. The price is less important than locking in the governance changes and securing the support of the world’s most powerful technology investor,” said Erik Gordon an entrepreneurship expert at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.
Rajeev Misra, chief executive of SoftBank’s Vision Fund , a $98 billion tech investment vehicle, will join the Uber board, The Wall Street Journal reported. SoftBank will get two seats on the expanded board, a source told Reuters.
Misra said in a statement that SoftBank has “tremendous confidence in Uber’s leadership and employees.” Uber board members agreed in early November to governance changes to pave the way for the SoftBank deal.
Some initial investors in the consortium, including General Atlantic, dropped out over disagreement about the price offered to shareholders, Reuters previously reported.
SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has taken a keen interest in ride-hailing companies around the world, and already has sizeable stakes in China’s Didi, Brazil-based 99, India’s Ola and Singapore Grab, all of which have competed with Uber. Didi last week raised $4 billion , including some investment from SoftBank.
The Uber investment comes after a year of troubles for the company, including a lawsuit by Alphabet Inc’s self-driving car unit Waymo that alleges trade-secrets theft and federal investigations that span possible bribery of foreign officials in Asian countries and the use of software to evade regulators.
Over the past year, a former employee’s charges of endemic sexual harassment led to an internal review, London said it is stripping Uber of its license and Uber revealed it had covered up a major hack.
Venture capital firms Benchmark, which owns 13 percent of Uber, had indicated that it would sell a portion of its shares, SoftBank said last month. Menlo Ventures, another large shareholder, would tender shares, Managing Director Shawn Carolan said at the time. Carolan on Thursday praised the deal without describing Menlo’s participation. Benchmark did not respond to a request for comment.
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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"WhatsApp rings in the New Year with global outage | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/social/whatsapp-rings-in-the-new-year-with-global-outage"
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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 WhatsApp rings in the New Year with global outage Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn WhatsApp 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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WhatsApp went down in several parts of the world today, including parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The crowdsourced website DownDetector found the largest concentration of outages in portions of England, Germany, and virtually all of the Netherlands, as well as parts of Italy, Spain, and Central Europe.
Outages were also reported in many major cities around the world, from Rio de Janeiro to Kuala Lumpur, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Mumbai, and Toronto.
Outages tracked by DownDetector began to spike around 9 a.m. Pacific, while a WhatsApp spokesperson said outages started around 10:30 a.m. Pacific.
“WhatsApp users around the world experienced a brief outage today that has now been resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience,” a WhatsApp spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email. The spokesperson did not share the cause of the outage.
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 isn’t the first New Year’s Eve outage for the chat app used by 1.3 billion monthly active users.
Outages were also experienced in 2015 in many of the same parts of Europe.
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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"Watch VR reunite a group of former N64 developers | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/video-exclusive-how-vr-reunited-a-group-of-former-n64-developers"
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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 Watch VR reunite a group of former N64 developers 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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Presented by Intel You might not recognize the name, but chances are good that a lot of the folks at Phaser Lock Interactive worked on a game you love — especially if you were a diehard Nintendo 64 fan.
The small group of coders and animators that founded the Austin-based company first met 20 years ago when they were colleagues at Iguana Entertainment, which was best known for games like Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, Turok 2, and South Park. That experience led to lifelong friendships and a Facebook page that helps them keep in touch.
But they never thought they’d be back more than a decade later to work on cutting edge virtual reality 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! Cofounder and chief creative officer Michael Daubert was one of those people. Daubert recently gave us a tour of Phaser Lock HQ, where he talked about the studio’s past, present, and future. Watch the video below to find out how VR brought the band back together and what it’s like to be one of the first indie devs to champion the new technology.
Sponsored posts 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].
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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"The 10 best games of 2017 and GamesBeat's Game of the Year | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/the-10-best-games-of-2017-and-gamesbeats-game-of-the-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 The 10 best games of 2017 and GamesBeat’s Game of the 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.
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So 2017 was … well, the games were great. We spent 2.5 hours last week determining our top 10, and that list has some all-time greats on them.
This is the culmination of our GamesBeat Rewind 2017 coverage. We’ve looked at some of the biggest trends, the best strategy games, and more. For our top 10, we don’t vote. Voting has gotten us into some messes in 2017, we came to a consensus through yelling and gritted teeth. You can hear that discussion by clicking play on the video above of the audio podcast below. Enjoy, and we’ll see you in 2018 where you shouldn’t @ us for whatever we get wrong here.
10. Horizon: Zero Dawn Developer: Guerrilla Games Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment Platforms: PlayStation 4 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! GamesBeat reviews editor Mike Minotti: “Like with God of War and Uncharted before, Horizon: Zero Dawn should be the start of another PlayStation iconic franchise. It offers a gorgeous and interesting world rich with adventure (including plenty of giant robots to kill). While it borrows heavily from the likes of Far Cry, it’s a more interesting and less repetitive effort than we’ve seen from that series.” 9. Nier: Automata Developer: Platinum Games Publisher: Square Enix Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4 Mike Minotti: “ Nier: Automata is the game that came out of nowhere. I didn’t play the first Nier. I don’t think I even considered playing the first Nier. But the buzz for Automata roped me in, and the pedigree of Platinum Games when it comes to action is so high, that I decided to try it.
Surprisingly, it’s not the combat that makes Automata so memorable. Instead, its tortured world, bizarre characters, and quirky twists ensared me. It’s both wonderfully weird and beautifully melancholy.” 8. Persona 5 https://youtu.be/g3JkO-82YQ8 Developer: Atlus Publisher: Sega Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 Dean Takahashi: “Persona 4 is such a beautiful RPG that it seemed like an impossible task to ask any sequel to surpass it, but Persona 5 manages to keep the series’ conceits working while adding meaningful improvements. Dungeons are more fun to explore and you have more options in battles. Other, smaller quality-of-life changes make things easier, like getting texts from friends when they want to hang out.
This is a deep and gorgeous RPG that’s slicker than Fonzie after wrestling with an oiled pig. If you loved Persona 3 or Persona 4, you’re going to be ecstatic with how Persona 5 keeps the momentum going and delivers one of the greatest JRPG experiences of all time.” 7. Divinity: Original Sin 2 Developer: Larian Studios Publisher: Larian Studios Platforms: PC GamesBeat managing editor Jason Wilson: “Divinity: Original Sin 2 shines in every area: It tells a story of powerful heroes struggling not just against people who hate them for whom they are (and the threat they represent) but the essence of godhood. Are you a god? Is one of your companions a god? Will your enemy become divine? You deal with all these questions in a world rich in quests that run the gamut of emotions. It also gives you more choice than any of the other RPGs I’ve played this year, giving you an outstandingly written selection of “origin” characters such as Beast, a dwarf with a royal vendetta; or Fane, an undead sack of sarcasm.” 6. Wolfenstein II Developer: Machine Games Publisher: Bethesda Softworks Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One GamesBeat reporter Jeffrey Grubb: “The New Colossus delivers on upping the stakes by bringing the game to the United States and establishing it as the best potential platform for staging a true fight against the Nazis. But Wolfenstein II shines whenever you can feel how resistant the people of the United States are to the idea of overthrowing their new emperor. That is effective both dramatically and as a commentary on our current politics.
Developer Machine Games also brought the most amazing characters, quality storytelling, and well-paced gameplay to The New Colossus. You’ll want to spend time with these people and learn their fate — sometimes that will warm your heart, and sometimes it will break it.” 5) Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Developers: Publisher: Atlus USA Platform: PlayStation 4 Dean Takahashi: “You could say that the weak villains, repetitive play, lack of multiplayer, and clipping bugs could doom a game like Hellblade. But I’ll happily overlook those because of the great character, compelling acting, awesome cinematics, beautiful environments, variety of gameplay, and its deep exploration of madness. It is a difficult game to beat, and it is hard to experience.
The ending of the game will leave you wondering just what was real and what was an illusion. I thoroughly enjoyed the dramatic arc of each major scene. It starts out calm, moves to disturbing, and then descends into chaos and madness. I think the storytellers and designers exercised tight creative control, with a game that is understated as well as explosive.” 4) PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Developers: The PUBG Corporation Publisher: Bluehole Studios Platform: PC Jeff Grubb: “This is a once-in-a-generation game. We’re already seeing major companies trying to copy it with their own games like the aforementioned GTA Online mode and Fortnite: Battle Royale.
Bluehole’s last-player-standing shooter is already changing the gaming industry.
But this isn’t about some academic exercise in experiencing an influential game. You are cheating yourself if you miss out on making your own memories with this game even while it is still in Early Access.” 3) Night in the Woods Developers: Infinite Fall Publisher: Finji Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Mac, Linux GamesBeat reporter Stephanie Chan: “I love everything about Night in the Woods — ominous dream sequences filled with deep indigo blues and sinister reds, casual references to fluid sexuality, random minigames, barely contained anger and melancholy. I still listen to the soundtrack at least every other week.
Its landscape is familiar to me, speckled with dead malls and blown-out junkyards as well as marvelously rich and beautiful trees in the fall. The characters’ friendships feel real — some are defined with easy acceptance, and others by simmering resentment, the kind that arises when you’re stuck with someone and you can’t get out. This is the kind of game I wanted to play when I was a little queer girl growing up in Ohio.” 2) Super Mario Odyssey Developers: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Switch Mike Minotti : “Super Mario Odyssey captures the best parts of Mario’s past 3D adventures. It has Super Mario 64’s open design while matching Super Mario Galaxy’s sense of awe. But the capture mechanic gives it a creative edge. It’s a huge game. Even once you finish the Odyssey’s final boss, you’ll want to go back to levels to keep exploring and collecting Moons. Thanks to the sharp controls, large worlds, and creative quests, boredom feels like an impossibility.
This is another Mario all-time classic that we’ll be remembering and celebrating for decades to come.” 1) The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Developers: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Switch Jeff Grubb: “Zelda’s problems are tiny, and they look even smaller next to the its gigantic accomplishments. Nintendo has made a special video game in Breath of the Wild. As the name suggests, it is a breathing wilderness that Nintendo brought to life by abandoning the structured, predictable Zelda formula. At the same time, it feels like the ultimate culmination of the ideas we encountered in the first Zelda in 1987. And I think the result of all of its interlocking systems is a game that wants to slam you with moments of epiphanies. For me, my experience with Link’s Awakening was about getting that one major flash of insight and then using that to understand the rest of the game and then the rest of the Zelda series. For Breath of the Wild, Nintendo made a game that could replicate that moment over and over.
In his presentation at the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco, Breath of the Wild technical director Takuhiro Dohta said, “We really want players to have these moments where they interact with the world and think, ‘Wow! I’m a genius!” And that was always the core of Zelda, Breath of the Wild found a way to build an entire game where those moments were no longer scripted and instead emerged naturally from the player interacting with the systems.
And while I don’t know if I ever felt like a genius while playing Breath of the Wild, I did feel like I was 11 years old and unlocking the magical secrets of Zelda all over again.” 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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"GamesBeat Rewind 2017: the 10 best strategy games | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/gamesbeat-rewind-2017-the-10-best-strategy-games"
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2017 was a strange, though good, year for strategy games. After the sensational 2016, with five major releases and some fascinating indie games, this was always likely to be a consolidation year. So while we didn’t see too much new and exciting to blow strategy players away, we did get a bunch of improvements and enhancements to existing games in the form of sequels, expansions, and mods. Good? Sure, but perhaps not the explosion of amazement that gaming at large had in 2017.
So here’s my top 10 for the year, bearing in mind that this was a period of subtle enhancement more than a period of bold strides forward. Side note: Due to professional conflicts I am unable to include Sega’s Dawn of War 3 and Total War: Warhammer 2. You can read some reviews and decide if they’re worthy of inclusion for yourself. Also, my lack of a Nintendo Switch prevented a full play of Mario + Rabbids, which I enjoyed in preview.
(Although I suspect it’s more of a hyper-tactical RPG like Divinity: Original Sin 2, so I possibly wouldn’t include it here anyway.) But these exceptions leaves us with a strong group of games this year, and here are the most worthy.
Honorable Mentions: the city-builders Above: Kingdoms and Castles There are two kinds of city-builders. There’s the kind that are a pool of math you can dive into, pulling out blueprints and using protractors to create the ideal set of industrial suburbs without excess pollution. (That’s Cities: Skylines, which itself received a couple of interesting expansions this year.) And then there’s the kind where you chill out, put on a podcast or three, and make cute or shiny buildings pop up, defend against some Vikings, and waste a few happy hours. That’s Aven Colony and Kingdoms & Castles, in quite different ways — the former deceptively simple, the latter deceptively tough.
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! All three of these games seemed quite fun, I just didn’t quite make enough time with each to confidently include them.
10. Europa Universalis 4: Mandate of Heaven Above: Europa Universalis 4: Mandate of Heaven (Steam) EU4 is the best grand strategy game on the market, and has been pretty much since its release … over four years ago. It’s also been a difficult game to make expansions for, since it already starts with every country in the world being playable. Yet Paradox keeps finding ways with its expansion packs to tweak EU4 just enough to maintain interest. Mandate of Heaven, the biggest of their three expansions this year, adds even more of an ebb and flow to a game already built to simulate that by dividing it into four eras, with bonuses to chase and Golden Ages to trigger. It’s just enough to keep the game feeling fresh after, uh, 542 hours of play.
9. Endless Space 2 Above: Endless Space 2 (Steam) As tired as I am of the, well, endless attempts to try to iterate on Master of Orion, games like Endless Space 2 demonstrate just why the theme is so appealing. Wildly diverging empires, like interdimensional vampires and trees whose roots extend from system to system, are the chief appeal of this space 4X game, and empires even have more interesting choices of internal factions, with different races and political parties. Meanwhile, a clever interface and technological progress web helping mitigate some of the genre’s key annoyances. Amplitude did a wonderful job of supporting and expanding Endless Space 2’s predecessor, Endless Legend, but things haven’t gone so well for ES2 yet, with some big early proponents casting a side-eye at recent updates. 2018 should be better.
8. Oxygen Not Included Above: Oxygen Not Included (Steam) The survival-strategy genre is poised to explode into the mainstream the way that roguelikes did a few years ago. The key thing they’re missing? They need to look and feel good, the way that Dwarf Fortress and RimWorld, and excellent as they are at generating stories, just don’t feel. Klei’s Oxygen Not Included may be the turning point.
It came out in Early Access this Spring in an already-promising state, and has steadily been adding new mechanics. Look for it to be higher on this list next year, if all goes well.
7. Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock Above: Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock (Steam, Matrix Games ) All right, raise your hand if you saw this coming: First, that a Battlestar Galactica game would be released in the year of our Twelve Lords of Kobol 2017, and then, that it’s actually quite good? Another tactical management game, Black Lab Games’ Deadlock has a very XCOM-like strategic layer combined with its own fast, fun turn-based ship-to-ship combat system. It’s a pretty remarkable success at making the most of a great license for what’s clearly a game on a tight budget, much like BSG itself was a great show on a tight budget. If you missed the words “DRADIS contact,” this was made for you.
6. Tooth and Tail Above: Tooth and Tail (Steam, GOG, PlayStation 4) The dream of cracking the real-time strategy genre for a console audience has been alive almost as long as the genre itself, with varying success. Pocketwatch Games’ Tooth and Tail is one of the most successful attempts, simplifying the genre down to its bare bones in order to keep it fast and accessible to controller play. But that’s not really what gets it stuck in your head. The story of a Russian Revolution-style civil war in an animal kingdom, based on stronger animals devouring weaker, is enthusiastically creepy in a way that ends up serving the game overall.
5. Ultimate General: Civil War Above: Ultimate General: Civil War (Steam) I am more conflicted about Ultimate General: Civil War than any other game this year. I was tremendously excited when it came out in Early Access in late 2016, seeming like it would be my dream of game of a detailed, accessible Civil War battle engine. But Game-Labs’ development on it focused more on a single-player campaign that I didn’t care about instead of making the battles more varied and fun, or adding multiplayer. It’s still a blast to play slightly less well-covered battles like Chickamauga and Chancellorsville as well as Gettysburg and Antietam, and I enjoyed my time with the game overall. I’m just permanently stuck with the dream of what might have been.
4. Battle Brothers Above: Battle Brothers (Steam, GOG) Beyond XCOM itself, it was a great year for tactical management games (or XCOM-likes) , primarily this little gem of a dark fantasy game from Overhype Studios. Controlling a small mercenary company on a shoestring budget in a world headed toward an apocalypse is like catnip, and Battlebros’ goofy/violent aesthetic stylings and simple, effective tactical combat only enhanced its pull. Only a lack of continued support (Battle Sisters, nooo) and a slight undercurrent of medieval meanness held this one back.
3. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen Above: XCOM 2: War of the Chosen (Steam, PlayStation 4, Xbox One) XCOM 2, already an impressive game, received not one but two effective expansions this year. Firaxis’ official expansion, meanwhile, went about upgrading the base game’s resistance leader fantasy in a totally different, more colorful way. Adding resistance factions — with their own hero units — fleshed out the world and gave players more options in fantastic ways. Meanwhile, the addition of new enemy leaders, the Chosen, fleshed out the plot. This didn’t address all of the difficulty and motivational issues with the vanilla XCOM 2 game, but it still helped make a good game that promised more into a great game with a few aspects I wish were a little better.
2. XCOM 2: Lo ng War 2 Above: XCOM 2: Long War 2 (Steam) Long War 2 was a sequel to a major mod for the first XCOM, given official promotion by Firaxis , a rare feat. Pavonis Interactive’s goal in The Long War’s is to shift XCOM from more of a tactical RPG, where you have increasingly powerful elite squads, to a wargame, where you’ve got dozens of troops, many of whom will be casualties. Long War 2 dives into the fantasy of being the resistance commander, pushing the player to make hard decisions about which aspect of rebelling against the aliens will be most successful. The XCOM 2 interface, sadly, isn’t built to manage that level of depth, which is the only thing keeping my most-played game of the year off the top spot. It gets the nod above the official expansion, only because I like its class system slightly better.
1. Steel Division: Normandy ’44 Above: Steel Division: Normandy ’44 (Steam) I had several options for the top slot — games I perhaps played more, or games I perhaps talked up more. But it’s Eugen Systems’ Steel Division: Normandy ’44 that best captures what I want to say about strategy games in 2017. This is an astonishing achievement: a ridiculously detailed, hardcore wargame that plays like an accessible RTS. It’s a game where you play very specific tanks and squads in the hedgerows of Normandy, but it also feels like a metaphor for World War II strategy and tactics overall. Sending a group of tanks bursting through a hedgerow to turn the flank of an enemy, only to find a nest of anti-tank guns and be driven back until you can get air support, sounds like it should be an abstract concept — but here it’s directly literal. No strategy game I played this year made me think that a genre had shifted quite so much as Steel Division did for the tactical wargame.
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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"GamesBeat PC gaming editor Jeff Grubb's top 10 games of 2017 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/gamesbeat-pc-gaming-editor-jeff-grubbs-top-10-games-of-2017"
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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 PC gaming editor Jeff Grubb’s top 10 games of 2017 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn What a hot boy.
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This has been such a spectacular year for games, and that affected me in an unintuitive way. As I was putting together this list, I wasn’t sure if I would have 10 games to fill it out with. Now, to be clear, I’ve liked way more than 10 games this year, but I just wasn’t sure if I loved them all enough to enshrine them below.
A big reason for my initial shortage is because I’m letting myself bounce off games quicker these days. Even stuff that I enjoy, like Horizon: Zero Dawn or Divinity: Original Sin 2, aren’t doing quite enough to keep me coming back. So while I like a lot of those, I don’t want them in my top 10 since I’ve only played through their first 5-to-10 hours or so.
I know why I’m not sticking to these games, and it comes down to two huge changes in my life. First, the Switch has freed me up to play games in ways that better suit how I live. That doesn’t mean I need every game on Nintendo’s handheld, but if you’re only on the PC or a TV … well, that brings me to the second change. I’ve played some of my all-time favorite games this year. If I get time to sit down and play some new game, it better win me over quickly or else next time, I’m probably just gonna go back to PUBG.
All that said, I was able to fill out my top 10, and now — of course — I’m in a situation where I’m leaving one or two off that I feel sore about. Oh, well. Not going to complain about too many good 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! 10. Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy Developers: Bennett Foddy Publisher: Bennett Foddy Platform: PC This game was made for me. It’s deliberately cruel and impenetrable in terms of its gameplay, and then developer Bennett Foddy pairs that with a voiceover track where he talks about our modern trash culture.
It’s a game where you have to get a man wielding a giant hammer to the top of a mountain only by swinging said hammer. What won me over with Getting Over It is that, no matter how much progress you make, you could fall all the way back down to the base of the mountain if you screw up badly enough. I know that seems unnecessarily punishing, but I appreciate that someone is still making games that want to cause me a bit of pain that aren’t called “Dark Souls.” 9. Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment Developer: Yacht Club Games Publisher: Might and Delight Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, Wii U, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, 3DS, Vita, and PC Specter of Torment is another Yacht Club Games throwback to the Nintendo Entertainment System. It takes some of the character and stage elements from Shovel Knight and remixes and builds on them to create one of the most refreshing platformers in years.
Yacht Club is so successful because it is playing around with stranger mechanics now that it is three games in the Shovel Knight universe. Specter Knight doesn’t have a double-jump or bouncing attack. Instead, he can jump through enemies as he attacks them. His moveset combines combat and platforming into a single elegant ballet.
8. Heat Signature Developer: Suspicious Developments Publisher: Suspicious Developments Platform: PC Heat Signature is a space-heist game with simple visuals and lots of freedom to pursue challenges however you want. You control a character who must covertly rendezvous with other ships to rescue people, or steal loot, or assassinate someone. You get a bunch of tools, like local teleporters, to help you accomplish this, which are all cool and open up how you can approach a mission.
But I adore Heat Signature because of a mission where I went in guns blazing, got knocked out, and then ejected into the vacuum of space. My spacesuit had enough oxygen to protect me for about 100 seconds. That gave me just enough time to remote control my ship to come pick me up. I should’ve just retreated, but I was determined. I turned my ship back for the escaping craft, re-entered quietly this time, and killed everyone before steal their shuttle as my prize.
Heat Signature is very good.
7. Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle Developer: Ubisoft Publisher: Ubisoft Platform: Switch Mario + Rabbids has some problems. I don’t like the overworld or the puzzles between missions, but the tactical battles — the meat of the experience — make up for everything I dislike.
To put it simply, this is XCOM with Mario and Ubisoft’s weird precursors to the Minions. But Ubisoft’s designers really went wild loading up your characters with a ton of abilities. This means you can do really elaborate, powerful attacks. And the game keeps things fresh by introducing new enemies that challenge you to change your style.
6. Cuphead Developer: StudioMDHR Publisher: Microsoft Platform: PC, Xbox One Cuphead is beautiful and a technical marvel, but it is also just a really great, challenging run-‘n’-gun-style platformer. I had fun spending time learning and perfecting my tactics for each boss before moving on. I even have it in my head that I’ll go back to get a perfect grade on every boss … but I’m not sure that’ll ever really happen.
5. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus Developer: Machine Games Publisher: Bethesda Softworks Platform: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Wolfenstein II is special. In my opinion, it has the best characters and the best writing in any game ever made. It isn’t subtle about its political message, which is not “Nazis are bad.” That is an understood truth in a Wolfenstein game. Instead, Machine Games uses its game to say that actually even the people who live under Nazi oppression but don’t mind so much because they can still live comfortably are just as bad.
At the same time, Wolfenstein II deftly pulls off a pulpy sci-fi story with bonkers twists and memorable moments. It is one of my favorite pieces of fiction right now, and I hope Machine Games gets the chance to close out its trilogy.
4. SteamWorld Dig 2 Developer: Image & Form Games Publisher: Image & Form Games Platform: PC, Switch, PlayStation 4 All I really want from a game is a tight, satisfying gameplay loop, and SteamWorld Dig 2 might have the best loop this year. This is a Metroid-style game where you can dig tunnels underground. As you explore these caverns, you’ll collect jewels and other valuables until you can’t carry anything else. This encourages you to go back to the surface to cash in your earnings, and to buy new upgrades and tools to help you explore even deeper the next time you descend. It’s really well done.
That loop works especially well because Image & Form has built a beautiful 2D world with a lot of variety. The map also always makes you feel like you are just a few more meters away from finding your next big character upgrade.
SteamWorld Dig 2 is so effortless in its execution of its elements that it almost makes me wonder why every game isn’t this wonderful.
3. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Developer: The PUBG Corporation Publisher: The PUBG Corporation Platform: PC, Xbox One Here’s a new game that only just came out last week … of course, I played 400 hours of it before that point while it was still in Early Access.
As I said in my review-in-progress, PUBG is a seminal shooter. It represents a shift in this massive genre equivalent to Call of Duty usurping Halo in 2007. It does this by introducing a game type (100 people drop on an island — kill everyone until you are the last-person standing) that is simple enough for anyone to immediately understand. It then has a dedication to realism that really makes the struggle to win feel like a truly dramatic undertaking.
But PUBG isn’t just amazing in its setup or that exhilaration of winning. It’s the moments between where anything can happen that keeps me coming back months after I started playing back in April. And sure, a lot of those emergent moments were due to janky physics or busted systems (cars exploding after tapping a fence or buildings not rendering for you so you can see through walls for your team). But just as often it is about coming up with stupid plans that actually kind of work.
Watching @MattBodega go from plan to execution in PUBG is my gaming moment of the year.
pic.twitter.com/0GISQ2VcH2 — Jeffrey Grubb (@JeffGrubb) November 5, 2017 2. Super Mario Odyssey Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Switch Mario is the game I’ve probably spent the most time playing this year relative to the amount of time I’ve written or made videos about it, so I’m glad to finally have a reason to take the time to explain why it is so great.
Super Mario Odyssey is the culmination of Nintendo spending the last several decades thinking about how to make better games. The best example of that is how no matter where you stand in one of Odyssey’s many levels, you can almost always see three to four interesting things that you’ll want to explore. It also spreads its moons (the collectible this time around) across a spectrum of difficulties.
Sometimes you’ll find a moon just because you got on top of a building, and other times you’ll get one for completing a challenging platforming section. In some instances, you have to figure out adventure-like puzzles to unlock a moon, and sometimes you just have to go buy the right outfit form the clothing store. You’re always collection moons no matter what you’re doing, and this gives this relatively open-world sandboxy platformer a tightly designed sense of pace because you can approach each kingdom however you want. If you decides to do something, chances are the game will reward you for that.
It also doesn’t hurt that the game has the tightest controls of any platformer ever and a complex, weighty physics system.
1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Developer: Nintendo Publisher: Nintendo Platform: Switch I’m going to try to distill my love for Breath of the Wild for you here, but you can also just read my review , which I stand by.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has a massive open-world that enables you to go anywhere, but that’s not what makes it interesting. It’s that just over every hill, you are about to find something of interesting or noteworthy. It’s like if Nintendo spent years adding meaning and things to do to a procedurally generated Minecraft map.
But while the map is amazing, it’s the systems that power this world that blew me away. The reason I fell in love with Breath of the Wild is because it has taken a crucial piece of Zelda design — the discovery — and made it cutting edge. What I originally loved about older Zelda games was figuring out how to solve a puzzle or defeat a boss. But in those games, the developers would lay out a single correct solution. In Breath of the Wild, the development team built a series of systems and then built puzzles, bosses, and enemies to let you experiment. It’s still Zelda, but Nintendo has updated it from digital to analogue.
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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"Drawfee releases 5 titles from its livestreamed game jam | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/drawfee-releases-5-titles-from-its-livestreamed-game-jam"
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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 Drawfee releases 5 titles from its livestreamed game jam Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Teddy Dief and Ethan Redd, two-thirds of The World Trees at the Drawfee Game Jam.
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Drawfee is normally a zany art channel on YouTube, but earlier this month, it hosted a two-day game jam sponsored by the anime hosting site Crunchyroll.
Developers such as Teddy Dief (Hyper Light Drifter), Jo Fu ( Ghosts of Miami ), and Ethan Redd ( Blazing Legion: Ignition ) participated in the event, and you can download all five PC games for free on its page today.
Drawfee spun off from the comedy websites CollegeHumor and Dorkly. It started initially as a fun way for staff illustrators to warm up, but it’s since taken off as its own channel on YouTube. Artists Nathan Yaffe and Caldwell Tanner founded Drawfee, and they take turns hosting the episodes along with CollegeHumor illustrator Jacob Andrews and Dorkly’s head illustrator and managing editor Julia Lepetit.
The way it usually works is folks will comment with a concept, and then the illustrators will record themselves drawing and riffing off of it. Head of video at Dorkly Tony Wilson describes the series as what it’d be like “if Bob Ross was really into anime.” For instance, several episodes have played with the idea of “ bad Japanese role-playing game ,” building out a whole world that poked fun at genre tropes. Other episodes have titles like “ Three Artists Try Drawing Zelda Bosses from Memory ” or “ Artists Draw Dragon Ball Super Characters (That They’ve Never Seen).
” “One of the core things that started off Drawfee was that they would be doing a lot of live videos, asking, well, what should we draw next, guys?” said CollegeHumor editor-in-chief Andrew Bridgman in a phone call with GamesBeat. “They’d be reacting to the comments and seeing what people suggest and then trying to build that in. That helped make things even weirder, and also make the audience feel like they were part of the experience.” 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 game jam was initially broached by indie studio Vlambeer cofounder Rami Ismail, who learned about Drawfee from his wife, indie dev and Train Jam organizer Adriel Wallick.
“She’d been showing him some episodes of the show, and he started to get really into it, and then he just made a casual tweet at Drawfee saying, ‘Hey, when’s Drawfee going to do a game jam based on their bad JRPG series?'” said Wilson in a phone call with GamesBeat. “A few of us saw that in the office and we started talking about how exciting it was that the guy from Vlambeer likes Drawfee videos, and then we started saying, ‘Wait a minute, why don’t we make this actually happen?'” Wallick and Ismail brought on a lot of the developers who participated in the jam, such as Dief, who asked composer Akash Thakkar to join and help out with music and sound design.
Above: Kickin’ It: Shoes Your Destiny 48 hours to make a game The entire game jam was livestreamed on Facebook , so viewers could get a peek at the development process as well as offer suggestions. Drawfee also provided some ideas that the developers could pick from, recording concept videos before the event. However, the teams didn’t have to stick with the original idea. For instance, Dief and his team members, Redd and Jenny Jiao Hsia ( Beglitched ), ended up developing a game that was quite different from the initial brainstorming session.
The three adopted The World Trees as their team name, and they originally planned on making a JRPG-esque game that involved killing gods with airships and collecting them in a purse.
“I mean, it’s a funny joke to say that JRPGs always feature killing gods because it’s true, but — I don’t know,” said Dief in a phone call with GamesBeat. “We were in a nonviolent mood, I suppose. With that as a start, we also had this idea of turning [the gods] into pins and collecting them. That was really a jumping-off point, because we started looking at pin designs and aesthetics for the game, and all of our references ended up being these ’90s bright-colored Japanese malls and American malls.” Their game, Zodiac Mall Ball, is a brawler on roller skates where up to four players compete for coins and collectible pins to appease the gods. It’s got a colorful aesthetic, a kind of mishmash between Hsia’s and Redd’s artwork. Dief asked them to join the jam because he’d seen their work on Twitter and was a fan. But it was somewhat challenging to figure out how the two would collaborate on the project, since they both have very strong styles.
“I know that they have different aesthetics, but I was betting on the fact that because they both like simple shading and flat colors, maybe something cool would come out of them working together,” said Dief.
Dief has participated in dozens of game jams before, and he says he was a little worried about being on camera for the entirety of the Drawfee jam. However, the community was fortunately very positive — plus his main focus was on making a good game.
“I knew that the challenge of building a jam and making it entertaining is hard. But I knew that at the very least, I was going to get a jam out of it, and a jam, for me, early in my career, was an amazing way to try ideas and not be too scared of them failing, because expectations were low,” said Dief. “At this point in my career it’s really cool, because I get a chance to do collaborations. That was one of the reasons I really wanted to do the jam.” Above: Zodiac Mall Ball Behind the scenes on game development An interesting aspect of the Drawfee Game Jam is that it gave the viewers a look at the creative process that goes into making games. It’s something that devs occasionally volunteer by sharing development logs and posting in-progress screencaps. And most indie studios are always tapped into social media, hearing what fans hear about their work.
“I think that the consequences of game-makers becoming visible have been a mixed bag,” said Dief. “But I think that it’s necessary. I think that the idea of people being familiar with who makes these things, and how the audience engages with us, and how we engage with them, it’s in its infancy. There’s not a lot of proper platforms to manage it.” Dief says that ultimately, it was nice to have the community following along with the process. Unlike on longer projects, where developers often have to keep quiet about the kind of work they’re doing, Drawfee provided a constant audience and the team could share artwork and design as they went.
“I think just exposing this process, exposing what we go through and the amount of work it takes to put these things together, hopefully increases an empathy there,” said Dief. “Because for creators, and especially game-makers, a big part of our job is empathy. We have to think about what the player is going to expect coming into the game and the experience we’re giving them minute to minute, how they’re feeling and what they want from the game, what the game is giving them and what the game is holding back from them. And so — I’m just a fan, I guess, naturally, of players being able to return that empathy and understand the process we go through to give them something we hope they’ll love.” 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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"Cuphead is the most beautiful game of 2017 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/cuphead-is-the-most-beautiful-game-of-2017"
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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 Cuphead is the most beautiful game of 2017 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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We’re at a point where you don’t have to play to the strengths of the consoles or PC graphics cards to get great visual results. Developers have enough power to do whatever they want. For the “Most Beautiful” category in our GamesBeat Rewind year-end event , we want to consider any visual style to determine the best-looking release. And the past year has delivered some stunners whether you prefer something photo-realistic or something more stylized.
The Most Beautiful Game of 2017 is … Cuphead Other finalists: Super Mario Odyssey, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice Listen to us discuss this category in the audio version of the podcast right here: In an alternate universe where Cuphead never existed, this was a much tougher choice. But Cuphead, the old-timey run-and-gun platform from StudioMDHR is so original and gorgeous that its win here felt inevitable.
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! If you somehow haven’t seen it, Cuphead looks like a cartoon from the early 20th century come to life. A team of artists have re-created the styles of Fleischer Studios and early Walt Disney through a series of mindblowing boss fights. What’s incredible about Cuphead, though, is that it is simultaneously an artistic masterpiece and a technical powerhouse.
Just about every person on Earth knows what an old cartoon is supposed to look like, and StudioMDHR somehow borrows those visual styles and is able to mimic them so accurately in real-time that my wife thought it was the real thing the first time she saw it. I love the look of games like Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Hellblade, and more, but Cuphead is one of those rare reminders of the amazing things games are capable of.
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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"Ukraine may soon have world's largest Apple museum, thanks to MacPaw founder's obsession | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/offbeat/ukraine-may-soon-have-worlds-largest-apple-museum-thanks-to-macpaw-founders-obsession"
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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 Ukraine may soon have world’s largest Apple museum, thanks to MacPaw founder’s obsession 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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If you want to get a sense of the extent of Apple’s cultural might, glance about 6,200 miles east of the company’s Cupertino headquarters to the capital city of Ukraine. Sometime in 2018, the Eastern European city of Kyiv will somewhat improbably become home to a new museum devoted to Apple products.
While the city that Americans refer to as “Kiev” is hardly a backwater — either culturally or economically — its connection to the world’s most valuable company isn’t so obvious. There is no previously unknown connection to Steve Jobs, no massive Apple facility in the country, no hidden backstory that reveals an unlikely chapter between Ukraine and Apple.
Instead, the answer to the question “Why Ukraine?” is simple: Oleksandr Kosovan.
One of Ukraine’s best-known entrepreneurs, Kosovan is founder and CEO of MacPaw , the company that makes CleanMyMac software and Setapp, a Mac application subscription service.
Founded in 2008, the company now has about 100 employees and is one of Eastern Europe’s most successful startups.
The company’s roots lie in Kosovan’s Apple obsession, explained Julia Petryk, MacPaw’s head of public relations. While attending Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Kosovan spotted Apple’s newly released transparent keyboard for the Mac in 2003 and fell head over heels. Though he didn’t own a Mac, he had to have that keyboard.
“That was the only piece he could afford back then,” Petryk said. “He saved a month of salary to buy it.” Above: The transparent Mac keyboard Kosovan bought in 2003.
Eventually, of course, he did buy his own Mac. Later, he started a company devoted to making Macs run better.
As MacPaw grew, the company reserved a space in the corner of its offices for displays of older Apple products. But early in the summer of 2016, Kosovan heard that the legendary Mac repair store Tekserve in New York was closing.
Tekserve was an Apple store before there were Apple stores, but the owners said they simply couldn’t compete anymore.
But in the shutting down, the owners also said they needed to find a new home for 40 Macs that spanned nearly the entire history of Apple: A 128K Macintosh signed by Steve Wozniak; an Apple Lisa; even a NeXTcube from Steve Jobs’ second act. A decision was made to auction them off, but Kosovan put in a bid of $47,000 for the whole collection and won.
Winning presented its own issues, however. Shipping that much computer hardware between the U.S. and Ukraine was going to pose a customs nightmare. So the company enlisted friends and friends of friends to bring the collection over one Mac at a time as they happened to be traveling back and forth.
Eventually, they all landed in MacPaw’s HQ, where a more proper display was constructed for them. The company’s employees were excited, but so were several other local Mac fans who volunteered to come in and get all the Macs back in working in order, Petryk said. The company allows the general public to visit, as well as conducting tours for students.
Above: MacPaw’s current Mac museum in its HQ.
As final touches were being put on the new display last spring, MacPaw got wind of another collection being sold by someone in Poland: Kosovan acquired that collection too. In addition to even more Macs, this haul included iPads, iPhones, iPods, product posters, and advertising materials — a bounty that was going to be too big to cram into the display space in MacPaw’s office.
So MacPaw recently announced that it has begun looking for a space in Kyiv to create a separate museum for all of these Apple products. The company will celebrate its 10th birthday in July 2018, and the new museum will be among 10 charity projects it plans to focus on this coming year, Petryk said.
The idea is to create a richer experience, with interactive exhibits that tell the story of Apple, in addition to displays of the Apple products. There’s no firm price tag on the project. But for Kosovan, the museum is a way to pay homage to a company that changed his life, as well as to hopefully inspire a new generation.
“He was always grateful for the inspiration that Apple gave him,” Petryk said. “We hope it will be interesting not only for geeks, but for anyone who is looking for inspiration in creative work.” 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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"Talon is a $129 motion-sensing ring, preorders start on January 9 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/talon-is-a-129-motion-sensing-ring-preorders-start-on-january-9"
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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 Talon is a $129 motion-sensing ring, preorders start on January 9 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Titanium Falcon's Talon is a smart motion-sensing ring.
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Everything is becoming smart, so why not our rings? Titanium Falcon recently unveiled the Talon, its smart ring that can sense motion and be used to control a variety of devices in the home, from games to virtual reality experiences.
San Jose, California-based Titanium Falcon has been prepping its product for a while, and it will start taking preorders for the $129 Talon on January 9, 2018. These preorders will begin during CES 2018, the big tech trade show in Las Vegas. Talon is aimed at simplifying device control for users, making managing tech more fun and convenient.
Talon is an all-in-one lifestyle device for gameplay, virtual reality, augmented reality, the smart home, internet of things, mobile phones, and more. For VR/AR, Talon is solving a specific pain point of not being able to see the controller while using a VR app and the resulting break in experience that causes.
Above: The Talon is a lifestyle-oriented motion-sensing device.
Talon has proprietary noise reduction technology, sensor fusion algorithms, and other innovations that make it both accurate and fast. Preorders are expected to ship in the spring of 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! At that point, the company hopes new apps for Talon will be available for mobile mini-games and camera use. The device also has HID functionality, making it compatible with most mobile games.
“Being that gesture control is a definite part of our technology-driven future, Talon is the perfect introduction for consumers to begin acclimating to this new frontier of interaction with technology,” said June Guo, founder and CEO of Titanium Falcon, in a statement. “We knew that in order for Talon to become an essential, everyday accessory, the form factor had to be truly wearable, and it had to be affordable. In addition to being user-friendly and aligned with our natural human gestures, Talon is the only smart ring coming to market to minimize the drifting and response-time challenges of previous gesture rings.” Users can easily calibrate and control Talon via a Bluetooth connection. As it is an open-source smart ring, it also syncs with different devices and applications. Developer kits are currently in the hands of potential partners in the gaming, VR, mobile, and IoT spaces.
Titanium Falcon was founded in 2014.
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"ProBeat: Eve-Tech is the most interesting startup of 2017 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/probeat-eve-tech-is-the-most-interesting-startup-of-2017"
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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: Eve-Tech is the most interesting startup of 2017 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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Countless tech startups break out in a given year. The majority fail. Of the ones that don’t, some are boring, some are copycats, and some are worth mentioning, but not necessarily highlighting. Just one startup stood out to me in 2017: Eve-Tech.
To be clear, Eve-Tech was founded back in December 2013 ( see this timeline ). But the Finnish startup only launched and started shipping its groundbreaking device, the Eve V, this year.
Eve V is described as the world’s first crowd-developed computer. I’m sure there’s another company that will argue and want to claim the title, but Eve-Tech has pulled off the feat successfully. The Eve V is a 2-in-1 detachable convertible (it can be used as a tablet and a laptop) meant to compete with Microsoft’s Surface Pro.
And it does. If you’re not looking for the most powerful device in its class (the specs in all of Microsoft’s Surface devices can be upgraded to the max, for a price) but rather are interested in “bang for buck,” then the Eve V nails it.
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 Eve-Tech is not interesting because it managed to create a competitive device. That’s been done before and will be done again. Chinese startups in particular have become very good at building devices that outclass the competition at a lower price.
No, Eve-Tech is interesting because of the crowdsourcing aspect. Crowdfunding a new gadget is one thing, but crowdsourcing every specification? That’s something else. The Eve V was designed by 1,000 community members whose names are listed on the inside flap of every Eve V box.
Also, the Eve V doesn’t ship with any bloatware, just like Surface devices but unlike every other Windows 10 computer. This is a device you may actually want , as opposed to one you settle for.
The Eve V includes a few nice hardware touches. There’s a built-in fingerprint scanner, which is slowly becoming more common on laptops. The keyboard has seven backlight colors, which you can easily switch between using Fn+V. Oh, and the keyboard isn’t just detachable — you can use it wirelessly over Bluetooth. Tired of laptops with a single USB port? The Eve V thankfully has two.
That said, the Eve V certainly isn’t perfect. In fact, it has a few obvious drawbacks: the bezels are noticeably thick and the backspace button is stupidly labeled “oops!”.
Another example: Eve V is terrible for gaming. The community chose battery life over including a proper GPU. That said, the team encourages gamers to connect an eGPU via the Thunderbolt 3 port for those times when you do need the extra juice.
You can’t please everyone.
I, for example, don’t want a Surface Pro replacement. I want a 15-inch desktop replacement. Someone else wants the lightest laptop on the market while yet another wants the most powerful. And so on and so on.
But this is exactly why Eve-Tech is worth watching. Eve V isn’t a device that tries to please everyone — it’s a device that lets its community pick the compromises.
The big question is whether Eve-Tech will be a one-hit wonder. How many more devices does it make sense to build? How frequently will the original Eve V get updates, and how regularly can new customers expect a spec bump? When does it make sense to refresh what exists and when do you start from scratch? Eve-Tech’s community has a lot more to decide.
ProBeat is a column in which Emil rants about whatever crosses him that week.
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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"Apple patent filings and Energous FCC approval suggest non-contact wireless charging is almost ready | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/apple-patents-and-energous-fcc-filing-suggest-non-contact-wireless-charging-is-almost-ready"
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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 patent filings and Energous FCC approval suggest non-contact wireless charging is almost ready 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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Two days ago, Energous announced that its “wireless 2.0” non-contact charger had been approved by the FCC. Today, two new Apple wireless power patent applications were published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Coincidence? Perhaps. But it looks like we might finally get truly wireless charging devices in 2018.
VentureBeat exclusively reported last year that regulatory documents indicated Energous and Apple have been working together since 2014. Separately, Bloomberg reported that Apple hoped to release a zero-contact wirelessly charged iPhone “as soon as 2017,” but was working to increase the distance between the charger and charging devices. This year’s iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus , and iPhone X all shipped with Qi-compatible wireless charging capabilities, requiring only physical resting on an optional powered pad for refueling, rather than connection to a cable.
In 2013, Energous began work on a zero-contact charging solution called WattUp, capable of supplying power to nearby devices through the air. With WattUp, a device could recharge as it sits on a desk or in a pocket, just as it can receive wireless data without a physical connection to a router or cellular tower. Apple is believed to be developing software and device-specific implementation solutions for the technology.
Energous says its FCC-approved first-generation WattUp Mid Field transmitter can send power through the air to devices up to three feet away, and is intended for desktop charging. An upcoming Near Field version is meant to replace USB charging cables for some computers within a 10cm range, while a Far Field version will charge devices from across a room. The company claims that WattUp is “the only technology that can do both contact-based and non-contact-based wireless charging, as well as charge multiple devices at once,” each automatically refueled until it is topped off.
Required ahead of sale to consumers, the FCC’s approval verifies that the wireless power supply “met consumer safety and regulatory requirements.” This approval is important not only because of the conceptual novelty of wireless power transmission, but also because of the potential for consumer concern over the spontaneous heating or explosion of devices that aren’t physically connected to chargers.
As for Apple’s patents, the first describes creating ideal schedules for a truly wireless charger capable of sending power to phones, laptops, tablets, and watches, such that the charger knows the order of priority for refueling the devices; the second explores hiding wireless charging equipment inside furniture, vehicles, and other enclosures. The first was filed on June 9, 2017, and the second was filed on June 1, 2017. Both were published today, but neither has been approved yet.
Patents don’t confirm anything on their own, but these two do demonstrate Apple’s continued development of both software and hardware solutions for contact-free charging. Whether these patents will lead to a commercial Apple product, in partnership with Energous or independently, remains to be seen.
It’s also not clear if the three-foot distance and cable-free convenience offered by WattUp’s Mid Field version are enough to justify a presumably expensive charging solution, or whether companies will wait for approval of the more powerful Far Field version. Energous has not yet announced a price for WattUp chargers or receivers.
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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"Apple apologizes for slowing down iPhones, offers $29 battery replacements until December 2018 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/apple-apologizes-for-slowing-down-iphones-offers-29-battery-replacements-until-december-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 Apple apologizes for slowing down iPhones, offers $29 battery replacements until December 2018 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn iPhone 7 Plus.
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Apple last week admitted that it was indeed slowing down iPhones based on the performance of their batteries.
After multiple lawsuits and investigations by foreign governments unsurprisingly followed, Apple today published a letter of apology and offered a concession to affected iPhone users.
Starting in late January 2018 and continuing through December 2018, Apple will offer $29 battery replacements for any iPhone 6 or later iPhone model, which represents a discount of $50 off the normal price of an out-of-warranty battery replacement. Apple will also release an iOS update in “early 2018” to provide additional battery health details, including a notification that the battery no longer supports peak processor performance.
As for the apology, here’s the pertinent section: We know that some of you feel Apple has let you down. We apologize. There’s been a lot of misunderstanding about this issue, so we would like to clarify and let you know about some changes we’re making.
First and foremost, we have never — and would never — do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades. Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.
Benchmarks provided by Primate Labs’ Geekbench diagnosed the initial issue and suggested that the scope of device slowdowns could be significant: A device scoring 2,500 points on the Geekbench test on day one might score only 1,000 or 1,500 points after a year or two of use. Apple previously suggested that performance would only be modestly affected in edge use cases calling for peak processor utilization, but some civil suits and criminal investigations have suggested that Apple’s actions constituted deliberate planned obsolescence.
A knowledgebase article discussing the effects of battery aging upon iPhone processor performance has been added to Apple’s website under the name “ iPhone Battery and Performance.
” It notes that in extreme cases, “the user may notice effects such as: Longer app launch times Lower frame rates while scrolling Backlight dimming (which can be overridden in Control Center) Lower speaker volume by up to -3dB Gradual frame rate reductions in some apps During the most extreme cases, the camera flash will be disabled as visible in the camera UI Apps refreshing in background may require reloading upon launch.” 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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"10 big issues Apple should address in 2018 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/10-big-issues-apple-should-address-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 Opinion 10 big issues Apple should address in 2018 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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For Apple-focused writers, no subject is as thankless as a “what should Apple do” article. Why should any mere journalist presume to offer guidance to a company that has weathered decades of second-guessing, only to emerge at the very top of the heap? Some of Apple’s more… devoted fans treat even light criticism of the company as heresy.
I believe that even wildly successful companies can get better, and that for all of its financial acumen, Apple could clearly benefit from some outside perspective to improve in 2018. In that spirit, here are 10 topics for consideration and discussion; I hope they inspire Apple to “think different” next year.
10. Let iOS devices automatically adjust to cars, offices, and homes Two years ago, Apple introduced a new feature called Proactive that was supposed to use time or location information to help surface apps and information — a narrower version of Google Now.
iOS devices need to be smarter and more capable than that.
Between location services, Bluetooth pairing, and Wi-Fi/cellular connections, your iPhone should know when it’s in your car and be able to follow predefined “car rules,” like “don’t start randomly playing a song from my music library just because you connected to my car stereo.” (Seriously, why does it still do that?) Similarly, a “home” profile might tell an iPad to automatically connect to a favorite speaker system or a bedroom TV, while an “office” profile could route all audio to AirPods and automatically open a specific work app. You could create profiles for the specific scenarios that fit your life, triggered by location, time, or pairing with certain accessories, and your iOS device would behave accordingly.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! 9. Make iPods relevant again Apple killed the iPod Shuffle, Nano, and Classic, but the iPod Touch is still alive. The iPod name is still a solid brand, and in the hands of the right dedicated marketing and third-party software team, the Touch could easily be refocused and pitched as a viable competitor to Nintendo’s Switch — which has been deemed a mega hit on the strength of selling 10 million units in a year.
Heck, if Apple doesn’t know what to do with the iPad Mini (kids still love it), the smaller tablet could fall into the iPod family, too.
Alternatively, Apple could simply repurpose the iPod Touch in a new housing as a $150 desktop-tethered competitor to Amazon’s video-capable Echo models.
The OS, apps, and chips are all there — all that’s needed is a new screen and housing. Again, using the iPod name for a product that’s not meant for computing would be fitting.
8. Streamline the iPad, iPhone, and Apple Watch families Thanks to competing 9.7-inch and 10.5-inch devices in the middle of the iPad family, as well as Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + Cellular versions of every iPad at every capacity, the iPad lineup has become too big. Similarly, the iPhone family now includes eight different devices , six of which ( iPhone 6s, 7, and 8 ) don’t all need to exist — they stand out like a repetitive sore thumb in the image above. And there are too many versions of the Apple Watch to count, thanks to multiple series, sizes, materials, straps, and branded strap bundles. These product lines are a mess, just like Apple’s 1990s Mac lineup was before Steve Jobs took an axe to it.
Solution: Streamline every product line. Keep three iPads (say, 9-inch/11-inch/13-inch without Home Buttons) in regular and Pro versions, the latter with higher capacities and integrated cellular as an option. Launch two iPhones — iPhone 11 and iPhone 9 — each in three screen sizes (S/M/L), with the 11 a year ahead of the 9 in processor speed, camera performance, and materials.
And sell two Apple Watches — Series 4 and Series 3 — each in two sizes, in aluminum/steel/ceramic materials, always with an Apple sport band included. Since Apple Watches are supposed to be personal and customizable, users should be able to download new Faces from a Watch-specific store, and customize any Watch to look the way they prefer. Buy a Nike or Hermès band separately and get a download code for a special watch face.
7. Get real already with the Apple TV It’s unfortunate but not surprising that the Apple TV business remains disappointing for Apple — every generation, it somehow finds ways to lag behind smaller competitors in everything from pricing to apps. It currently sells 3 Apple TV models at $149-$199 prices that don’t make much sense, given that Roku’s most powerful 4K device sells for under $100, and the market has largely shifted to sub-$70 streaming sticks.
Apple blew its chance to get people to buy Apple TV apps and games (the latter over a stupid joystick policy), so a $99 Apple TV 4K with 16GB would be fine for most people; unless something huge is going to change with developers this year, the Apple TV only exists to stream videos and music. Support for 4K or better-than-720p streaming from iOS devices with 4K video cameras is overdue, too.
6. Improve MacBook Pro battery performance Owners of the 2016 and 2017 MacBook Pros know that the machines radically underperform Apple’s marketed longevity estimates under most conditions. A Bloomberg report late last year suggested that Apple knew as much when it shipped the 2016 Pros, as a more capacious battery solution flunked testing at the last minute, leaving the Macs underequipped.
These machines simply cannot be used for “Pro” purposes as long as users would expect, and Apple should provide a solution, perhaps a working version of the tiered battery originally planned for the machines. If iPhone 6-like class action suits are necessary to make MacBook Pro buyers whole on this, so be it.
5. Whip Siri into shape and release affordable Siri Speakers I discussed this topic in a separate article yesterday — to sum it up, Apple needs to improve and expand Siri’s capabilities to match its best AI assistant rivals, as well as to offer Siri devices that can be placed all throughout a home. Amazon (Echo Dot) and Google (Google Home Mini) have figured this out, and are being rewarded for it with record hardware sales and chart-topping app downloads.
There is no way Apple’s upcoming $349 HomePod is going to have the same impact. It’s time to adjust course, now.
4. Reinvigorate the Apple accessory market Apple’s pitch to accessory developers for the past 13 years has been “pay us fees, follow our rules, make exclusive accessories for us, and gather money from our customers.” For users, Apple’s pitch has been “Apple-approved accessories cost more because they’re tested to be safe and device-compatible.” But as Apple’s recent HomeKit security debacle , prior failures with AirPlay speakers, and botched transition to Lightning connectors demonstrated, the company’s “do it our way” approach isn’t working so well for consumers or developers. Over the past decade, Apple has reduced a once thriving accessory market to rubble, and turned millions of customers towards more reasonably priced alternatives from no-name brands and cloners. As AR, VR, AI, and other disruptive technologies gain steam, it’s time for Apple to overhaul its accessory licensing business and start working with the next generation of hardware developers rather than trying to control them.
3. Merge Mac and iOS apps with a cross-platform focus on touch input Bloomberg confirmed this month what (most) Apple fans have wanted for years: Macs will soon be able to run iOS apps.
Apple could deliberately try to keep forcing people to buy separate laptops and tablets, but it needs to look at the bigger picture and embrace what customers want.
Step one: Let any iPad and iPhone app run in a window just like Xcode’s iOS development tool Simulator, with the trackpad or mouse handling as much interaction as possible, and enable developers to choose alternate Mac UIs if they want. That will pave the way for Apple to… 2. Release touchscreen Macs, already Apple has been embarrassingly, completely wrong on this one; people want touchscreen Macs, and it’s crazy that you can walk into a Microsoft Store today and find many Mac-like laptops and desktops that allow seamless touch and stylus input… at lower-than-Mac prices.
The MacBook “Touch Bar” has turned out to be an expensive distraction for Apple; few developers care about it, and users don’t seem to be using it. So it’s time to embrace touchscreens across as many Macs as possible — combined with trackpads and styluses, they’ll make a lot of users happy. Happier than the Touch Bar does, for sure.
1. Fix your PR department If Apple outwardly cares about its customers, you’d never know it from its public relations department. Readers generally don’t realize that Apple commonly ignores requests from writers who are covering Apple’s products and events. They also might not know that Apple commonly seeds information to specific “friendly” writers who reprint the company’s statements verbatim, or that Apple limits access to its events and new devices to people who won’t be particularly critical.
In 2018, if Apple is going to claim to be a virtuous company, it needs to clean up its main interface with its customers: its public relations department. Rather than using fanboys and shills to disseminate information, Apple needs a properly functioning PR department that reaches out and responds to a wide array of people. It similarly needs a fair system of extending access to events and new products to journalists with different viewpoints. A more open and responsive Apple will lead to more reasonable coverage from the press, and quite possibly fewer lawsuits from angry, arguably misled customers.
Given how 2017 ended for Apple , wouldn’t that make the new year wonderful? 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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"2017: Year of the podcast | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/media/2017-year-of-the-podcast"
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The year 2017 will likely be remembered for many things across the technology spectrum, from major breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI) and milestone moments in autonomous vehicles to Amazon conceding that a major offline presence in groceries was needed to compete in retail.
But buried within the big headline-grabbing stories of the year were microtrends that sprang up almost by surprise. And one of those relates to the humble podcast.
Podcast push Though the podcast is far from a new medium, 2017 saw a surge of activity related to the audio broadcast format.
A couple of weeks back, Apple finally launched its podcast analytics feature so creators can garner more data about how their listeners consume podcasts on iOS devices and can gain potentially valuable insights into their listening habits.
This could be a game-changer not only in terms of how podcasters use data to inform their handiwork but in their ability to attract revenue by giving advertisers more information about listeners.
When the feature was quietly announced at WWDC back in June, some of those in the know suggested that Apple’s podcast analytics tool was the biggest thing to have happened to podcasting in quite some time, given that Apple’s mobile platforms still play a pivotal role in the podcast industry.
It may look obscure, but this is the biggest thing to happen to the podcast business since Serial first went nuclear https://t.co/4tWfvckKM9 — Matthew Lieber (@mlieber) June 10, 2017 But Apple’s announcement was really the cherry on the cake for a year that saw interest in podcasting hit new heights in terms of popularity, ad revenue, and investment.
Big bucks In a one-month period between August and September , New York-based podcast studio and network Gimlet Media raised $20 million, with big-name backers including advertising giant WPP. In August, San Francisco-based podcast hosting and distribution company Art19 closed a $7.5 million series A round from notable New York- and Menlo Park-based VC firms Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI) and DCM Ventures. Later in the month, HowStuffWorks revealed it was spinning out from its parent company as an indie podcast network backed by a fresh $15 million series A investment.
Fast-forward to September, and Google investment arm GV led a $10 million investment in Anchor , a New York-based mobile-focused platform that makes it easy for anyone to record audio on the move and transform that audio into a podcast. This came a week after Stockholm-based podcasting platform Acast raised $19.5 million from a group of Swedish investors.
Podcasting platforms haven’t traditionally garnered significant sums of cash, yet over a two-month period five podcasting companies announced more than $70 million in raises. And that’s not including CastBox, a podcasting startup founded by a former Googler last year, which announced $16 million in funding in October — this was a delayed announcement and constituted a series of investments from early 2016 to June 2017.
The upshot of all this is that podcasting has emerged as a hot industry for investment. But why? Consumers, it seems, are hungry for audio-based entertainment. The proliferation of smartphones is leading to an explosion in digital audio content, and companies such as Amazon and Google are pushing their voice-enabled smart speakers out to the masses — which bodes well for continued growth. “With some of the biggest companies in the world investing in smart speakers, microphones, and content, audio and voice will only become more popular in the coming years,” Anchor cofounder and CEO Mike Mignano told VentureBeat in an interview earlier this year.
Though the major tech firms have increasingly invested in video , audio holds a number of advantages — you can drive to work, cook dinner, or wire your house while listening to podcasts. “Audio is great because it saves you time,” added Mignano. “You can consume it no matter what you’re doing.” This multitasking is something people would once do while listening to broadcast radio, but on-demand audio could be changing the landscape. Why listen to your local radio news bulletins when you can turn to podcasts to soak up all things boxing or baseball as you decorate your house? “The content environment is shifting quickly, and as radio becomes less and less relevant, audio-on-demand will take its place,” said Acast cofounder and chief strategy officer Karl Rosander.
A report by Edison Research and Triton Digital earlier this year delved into digital media consumption trends, with audio and podcasting featuring prominently. The report found that 67 million Americans, or 24 percent of the population, listen to podcasts each month, which represents a rise of 3 percentage points on the previous year’s 57 million figure.
Additionally, the report found that 60 percent of Americans are now familiar with the term “podcasting,” an increase of 22 percent in two years.
The Apple factor There is no shortage of channels through which to consume podcasts. Countless cross-platform distribution platforms and apps are available, from SoundCloud and Pocket Casts to Stitcher and beyond, making it easy to subscribe to your favorites. However, reports generally indicate that more than 55 percent of podcast listening takes place through Apple’s native iOS Podcast app or iTunes. This is why Apple’s move to open up data to creators (beyond the number of downloads) could prove crucial for the industry’s continued growth — advertisers love data.
U.S. podcast ad revenues are expected to have grown by around 85 percent for 2017, compared to last year’s $119 million, according to recent data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). And this is something that the ad agencies are noticing, too.
“Our clients’ media spend has increased 300 percent vs. 2016, and I’d say we have 2 to 5 potential clients cold-calling us every week, interested in learning more about podcast advertising,” said Kurt Kaufer, partner and CMO at audio-focused advertising agency Ad Results Media , in an interview with VentureBeat. “Advertisers are really seeing success, which in return is fueling the ecosystem — raising talent, raising content, and raising ad dollars.” Apple’s analytics service, which is available in beta now, should allow podcasters to track unique devices and playback metrics, including when the audience drops off during a show. Advertisers will surely be more inclined to spend on podcasts if they know exactly how many people are listening to their ads, rather than paying a fee based on a show’s overall number of downloads, for example.
“We’re optimistic about the idea that creators will have access to more data, as we feel it will create more efficiency in the marketplace,” explained Steve Shanks, partner and CRO at Ad Results Media. “This, in turn, will help the entire industry, both on the advertising and content sides. With increased data and insights, we’ll have the ability to better predict the potential winners and losers for our campaigns, which should create even better results for our clients.” Of course, the data revealed by the analytics may have the opposite effect — if it turns out that one million people download a podcast but only 5 percent bother listening to the ads, this could deter potential advertisers. But the data arms everyone with the right tools to tackle whatever needs tackling — even if it means rethinking how advertising is delivered through podcasts.
“While some might see this as a complete game-changer for podcast advertising, we still have a ‘wait and see’ mindset,” added Shanks. “While results are everything for us, and we’re excited to see Apple’s interest in developing its analytics platform, it’s still anyone’s guess what exact data will be provided and how this may shift the perceived performance of each individual podcast.” When U.S. presidential candidates kick off their campaigns with a podcast and online language-learning platforms branch into podcasts to help you learn Spanish, you know there is probably something major bubbling under the surface.
If 2017 was big, 2018 could prove a particularly pivotal year for podcasting as a business.
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"GamesBeat Rewind 2017: Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is the best DLC/standalone/whatever it is of the year | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/games/gamesbeat-rewind-2017-uncharted-the-lost-legacy-is-the-best-dlc-standalone-whatever-it-is-of-year"
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I loved Uncharted: The Lost Legacy.
I’m just not sure what to call it.
Naughty Dog planned for the this PlayStation 4 adventure to be downloadable content for 2016’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. But the project’s scale grew, and The Lost Legacy turned into a standalone experience. It’s kind of a sequel, kind of a continuation of Uncharted 4. It’s hard to categorize.
But it’s great. The Lost Legacy features the same thrilling combination of climbing, exploring, and shooting as Uncharted 4. But it gives the franchise a new perspective by focusing on Chloe, a female adventurer with a multicultural heritage, instead of usual series hero Nathan Drake.
The Lost Legacy also experimented with a section that focused on a large, open map. Most of Uncharted has featured linear levels, so it was a nice way to make this entry feel different. I was surprised how easily the Uncharted formula worked in this more open-world setting. I have always defended the series’ linear nature, but The Lost Legacy now has me wondering what larger open-world Uncharted game could be like.
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 Lost Legacy isn’t as long as a normal Uncharted, but it also wasn’t as short as I was anticipating. Again, its length puts it in this awkward place: not quite long enough to easily categorize as a full-blown entry in the series, but not short enough to compare to most DLC campaigns. But whatever it is, The Lost Legacy is one of 2017’s best gaming experiences.
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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"Drop is a VR productivity environment for HTC Vive | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/games/drop-is-a-vr-productivity-environment-for-htc-vive"
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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 Drop is a VR productivity environment for HTC Vive 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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Drop Software Inc. wants to change the way people access information in virtual reality. Its flagship VR title, Drop, provides a 360-degree environment that folks can use to browse the internet. It raised a seed round of an undisclosed amount in August, drawing investments from HTC as well as firms such as Macro Ventures, Autochrome Ventures, and Backstage Capital. Drop is available on the HTC Vive headset.
“If I told you to open your MacBook right now the first thing you’d do is open Safari or Google Chrome or something along those lines,” said Drop Software’s CEO and co-founder Russell Ladson in a phone call with GamesBeat. “We’ve done it on desktops. We’ve done it on mobile phones. For our team, we asked ourselves, ‘What does this look like in VR?'” Ladson says that users spend an average of 26 minutes inside Drop, typically performing actions such as sending emails, watching videos, and reading articles. Its audience is primarily folks who use their VR headsets six to eight hours every week. Some of its users have called it a “virtual Pinterest board,” referring to how they can visually organize content around them in a 3D space.
Drop has had to tackle a few issues in the course of developing its user interface, a few of which it’s still working out. Ladson says that input is a big challenge, particularly because the team doesn’t believe keyboards are the best way to interact with a virtual environment.
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! “We built an initial version of Drop using hand gesture technology and a keyboard, and we found that—the idea of using hand gestures in the environment makes sense when it’s a one-off action, but it can’t be the primary part of the interface, because of arm fatigue,” said Ladson.
Other issues include readability of websites and figuring out how to optimally use the 360-degree environment. In Drop, users can point at a window and pull it toward them, enlarging it so it’s easier to read. When they’re done, they can toss it away and it will poof out of existence.
“The tutorial is the first thing you have to use before it even allows you to search in the environment. It’s almost mandatory,” said Ladson. “The reason we did that was because people wouldn’t necessarily know, once they did a query, that all they had to do was point the laser pointer at that web link, and that panel will fly out to you.” Drop isn’t the only virtual browsing space out there. Earlier this year, Oculus announced a new Dash interface for its Rift headset , which can run PC applications. It also has developed the Oculus Browser , which enables folks to surf the web and look at 3D content. Google also released a version of its web browser Chrome that is VR-capable.
“That’s what we’re seeing right now in this idea that VR does have this amazing use case, to be a productivity suite, a place where I go and I lock in for the first two hours of my work day,” said Ladson. “That’s where I get everything done. That’s going to change the way that people work. I think we’ll move from this idea of how open floor plans became so popular to everyone having some type of VR station. Especially as more standalone headsets become available on the market.” It’s not just VR, either. Drop is talking to some companies that specialize in augmented reality and exploring how it could create a similar browsing environment for AR. It’s also interested in incorporating other technologies, such as AI assistants that use voice, such as Amazon’s Alexa.
The main challenge it has to solve is distribution, which Ladson says it’s approaching by talking to more hardware providers. Not only will that get Drop in front of more users, but it may help with monetization down the line. Most browsers bring in cash by signing deals with search engines, as Mozilla did with Google in the early 2000s.
By the end of 2018, Drop is planning to roll out to the Rift as well as Microsoft Mixed Reality headsets.
“We want to create that first piece of hardware that replaces the smartphone and becomes as ubiquitous as the smartphone,” said Ladson. “But we know that for us, that’s a 7-10 year vision type of thing. We just felt that it made sense to start here today with the early adopters, the early enthusiasts, and start understanding the space from there.” 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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"Stop calling cities 'the next Silicon Valley' | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/stop-calling-cities-the-next-silicon-valley"
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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 Stop calling cities ‘the next Silicon Valley’ Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Map of Silicon Valley 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.
I’ve written previously about finding ways to have better conversations about Heartland startups in 2018.
Now I’d like to make one of my own goals public in the hopes that others will join me: Let’s stop thinking of tech ecosystems as trying to be “the next Silicon Valley.” Comparing Kansas City or Omaha to Silicon Valley is helpful in understanding how large a gap still exists between these cities, but it does little to shed light on the kind of progress tech hubs outside the Bay Area are actually making.
There’s a reason San Jose and San Francisco receive roughly 40 percent of U.S. venture capital funding each year.
Silicon Valley’s tech ecosystem has been able to build upon 60 years’ worth of failures and successes. That’s nearly 6 times as long as many of the accelerators and incubators that Heartland cities created have been in existence.
VentureBeat’s Heartland Tech channel invites you to join us and other senior business leaders at BLUEPRINT in Reno on March 5-7. Learn how to expand jobs to Middle America, lower costs, and boost profits. Click here to request an invite and be a part of the conversation.
Think of Silicon Valley as a family tree. Most of its startups are either founded by people who previously worked at another tech company in Silicon Valley or they receive funding from a venture capital fund that counts a number of ex-CEOs and entrepreneurs among its partners.
A startup that goes on to sell for hundreds of millions of dollars doesn’t just add another success story to Silicon Valley — it also encourages employees to start companies of their own. One of the most powerful examples of this spin-off effect is Fairchild Semiconductor, founded in San Jose in 1957. Former cofounders or former employees of Fairchild went on to found Intel, AMD, and VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers — all of which continue to play formidable roles in Silicon Valley today.
If you search some of the top tech publications for headlines containing the phrase “next Silicon Valley,” you’ll see that Reno , Salt Lake City , and Detroi t have at some point or another been proclaimed the next Silicon Valley (and yes, I’ve been guilty of using the phrase too).
These three growing tech hubs have seen a significant increase in either the amount of venture capital funds, the density of startups, or the number of technology jobs in their city. Utah, for example, saw a roughly 300 percent increase in venture capital funding from 2010 to 2017. But the state still only accounts for about 1-1.5 percent of all U.S. venture capital funding each year. And that’s okay — Silicon Valley wasn’t built in five, 10, or even 15 years.
To be fair, many tech journalists have begun to shy away from labeling cities “the next Silicon Valley” over the past couple of years. But there are still steps media organizations and stakeholders (government leaders, investors, entrepreneurs) in Heartland cities can take in 2018 to more accurately describe their city’s growth.
1) Don’t pitch your city as some variation of Silicon Valley In 2017, Wisconsin attempted to rebrand itself as Wisconn Valley after securing an agreement from Foxconn to build an LCD factory in the state. This moniker joined Silicon Alley, Silicon Beach, and Silicon Slopes as names cities have adopted to make themselves seem more tech-friendly. As Wired pointed out, these names are hardly original and they don’t do a very good job of explaining what is unique about the city in question. In a similar vein, Dallas, Des Moines, Kansas City, Nebraska, and Indiana have all referred to themselves as part of the “Silicon Prairie” at one point or another — which brings me to point number two.
2) Think about the specific metric that makes a city worth watching A number of puzzle pieces had to fall into place in order to make Silicon Valley the dense tech ecosystem it is today. Is a city or state seeing an uptick in the number of advanced manufacturing startups? In the number of software jobs? In the amount of government funding earmarked to support startups? Focusing on how a city developed one particular strength might help it garner national attention and even inspire another city that’s struggling with similar challenges.
3) Take a long-term view Don’t pretend that having one or two successful startups makes it easier to build a company in a particular city. Be honest about what resources a city still lacks, and better yet, highlight the people or organizations that are trying to ease that challenge.
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 things I learned from building a startup outside Silicon Valley | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/4-things-i-learned-from-building-a-startup-outside-silicon-valley"
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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 4 things I learned from building a startup outside Silicon Valley Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn St. Louis, Missouri 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.
Building a startup in Silicon Valley has its advantages: close proximity to investors, availability of talent, and an appetite for — and history of — innovation.
However, not every successful startup begins in Silicon Valley. It can be expensive to sustain company growth there, or the startup might solve a pain point that exists outside the Valley. Even more simply, you just might have been somewhere else when you started the business. For these and other reasons, there are an increasing number of startup hubs in cities like Austin, Seattle, Toronto, and more recently Phoenix that produce innovative technology companies.
My own business, Varsity Tutors , stemmed from an immediate need I saw in my hometown of St. Louis. As a student at Washington University in St. Louis, I struggled to find high-quality tutoring for one of my courses. I quickly realized that most people don’t have convenient access to great one-on-one tutors, and Varsity Tutors was thus born.
Like any startup, we’ve experienced our challenges. Some were influenced by our location outside Silicon Valley. But over the past 10 years, we’ve also benefited from our decision to build a business elsewhere. Through that process, I’ve learned several things that can help other founders who are weighing a similar decision.
Silicon Valley has a lot of distractions Maintaining focus is critical to business success, and there are a lot of distractions in Silicon Valley. As a founder, it can be tempting to want to spend your days networking, taking coffee meetings and attending cocktail events in hopes that you’ll meet the “right” people. But all of those meetings take up precious time. Another distraction comes from trying to outdo the startup that shares your coworking space or that’s located just down the road.
Beyond competing to be the market leader, in Silicon Valley technology companies fight to hire top talent with extravagant or unusual perks and lavish parties.
Facebook and Google have even started to offer housing accommodations to employees. Outside of the Valley, you encounter fewer distractions, and you can focus on building a strong and successful company.
It’s easier to cultivate civic pride outside Silicon Valley There are more than 31,000 startups in Silicon Valley , according to AngelList. As many as 9 out of 10 of them will ultimately fail. It can be both discouraging and overwhelming to start a company in the area. It is immensely difficult to stand out there.
In St. Louis and other similar cities, the number of startups is much lower. We’ve found that the local community rallies behind us for most announcements or initiatives we launch. In the early days, local TV stations and newspapers covered our news, no matter how small. Local civic leaders continue to recognize our business and include us in conversations about St. Louis as a growing tech hub. I still have deep ties to Washington University, my alma mater, where Varsity Tutors is touted as a local entrepreneurial success story.
Cultivating the same civic pride isn’t easy in the Valley, and we rarely see it with early-stage startups. It’s not until companies in the Valley are in the later stages of their lifecycle, often market leaders, that they’re able to garner the same enthusiasm and support around the product, mission, or leadership.
People outside the Valley may not understand your vision Individuals in Silicon Valley are, in many ways, more accustomed and receptive to concepts that dramatically alter the face of an industry. Consider Airbnb — its founders spent their early days selling collectible cereal to pay their bills, all while trying to convince investors that people would welcome the opportunity to sleep in a stranger’s home. The idea sounded improbable, but Silicon Valley understood that sometimes you have to take risks. The risk worked out, and Airbnb is now valued at $31 billion.
In the Midwest and in other parts of the country, people are more risk-averse, and they may be more skeptical of radical ideas. When I founded Varsity Tutors, many people thought it would fail — in part because it was an unfamiliar concept to build a digital marketplace around what had been an offline service. It was challenging to convince people in our community that technology would fundamentally change how live instruction was accessed and consumed. Ultimately, it took more time than it might have in Silicon Valley to get people on board with our mission and our value proposition.
Cost of living provides a real operating advantage When starting a company, saving money should be top of mind from day one. The costs of operating a business are significantly affected by the cost of living in a city. Take San Francisco, for instance. There’s no question that rent in San Francisco is astronomical compared to other parts of the country. The average one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco costs $2,800 per month, while in St. Louis, you can get a similar apartment for $720. And studies have shown you don’t need to make as much money in other areas of the country to reach peak happiness (because it costs less to meet your basic needs).
From leasing an office space to paying employees, the cost of living in a city affects a company’s bottom line. Operating a business outside of Silicon Valley can enable you to save money early on and be more strategic about how you spend that money to grow your business.
No matter your location, growing a startup isn’t easy. Silicon Valley offers a convincing case for startups to succeed, with easy access to investors and an environment that encourages innovative thinking. But it’s not the only path, and it isn’t free of challenges — it can be difficult to continually compete with others and to distinguish yourself there. Meanwhile, companies like CrossChx in Columbus, Ohio; Fanatics in Jacksonville, Florida; and my own Varsity Tutors are thriving in environments that haven’t traditionally been associated with startups. With the right leadership, team, mindset, and customer focus, no location is an obstacle to success.
Chuck Cohn is the founder and CEO of Varsity Tutors , a platform that connects students and professionals with personalized instruction to achieve any goal. Experts on the platform have delivered over two million hours of live, personalized instruction to students online, on mobile devices, and in person.
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"12 companies that could make 2018 epic for U.S. tech IPOs | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/12-companies-that-could-make-2018-epic-for-u-s-tech-ipos"
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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 12 companies that could make 2018 epic for U.S. tech IPOs Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Dropbox for Android.
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At the risk of sounding like a broken record, next year the IPO dam could finally bust wide open. And while we’ve probably written that line in some form for the last several years, this time it might really be true.
Maybe.
A quick review: In 2017, there were 37 tech IPOs in the U.S. that raised a total of $9.9 billion. That’s a solid increase from the 21 IPOs in 2016 that raised a paltry $2.9 billion. But it’s still considerably below the 56 IPOs in 2014 that raised $32.9 billion.
While 2017 got off to a strong start, a number of factors tamped down IPO enthusiasm, particularly the sputtering IPOs of Snap and Blue Apron.
The year was decent, but it should have been better.
So why be optimistic for 2018? “We believe that 2018 could be a banner year for technology IPOs,” wrote Renaissance Capital in its annual year-end IPO analysis.
“A deep bench of tech unicorns has had years to prepare offerings. Volatility is low, corporate taxes are on their way down, and public market valuations are as good as they can hope for. Many tech firms will likely need capital, while employees and investors will seek much-needed liquidity.” Consider these factors cited by Renaissance Capital. Of the 261 companies on its Private Company Watchlist, more than 50 have picked banks or confidentially filed to go public.
By the same measure, CB Insights counts 355 venture capital and private equity-backed U.S. technology companies in its 2018 Tech IPO Pipeline.
The firm defines these as companies that “demonstrate significant momentum based on our private company Mosaic ratings.” Mosaic is CB Insight’s “proprietary company rating algorithm.” Those companies have collectively raised more than $100 billion in financing.
Naturally, anything and everything could go wrong. An IPO stumble could spook investors. The stock markets’ bull run could end. Armageddon. It’s a crazy world, after all.
Still, both firms are betting that a number of big names that have been regulars on these annual IPO lists will finally — finally! — make their debuts on their public markets. These will almost certainly include Sweden’s Spotify, which is negotiating to list directly on the U.S. exchanges. China’s Xiaomi is also rumored to be eyeing an IPO in the U.S. in 2018. Both of those could provide a massive shot of adrenaline, but since they’re not based in the U.S, we’re excluding them from the list.
Here are the top 12 that could make 2018 a historic IPO year: 1. Lyft Raised: $4.1 billion Valuation: $11.5 billion Thoughts: Saw big growth in 2017 thanks to the slow-rolling implosion of Uber.
2. Dropbox: Raised: $600 million Valuation: $10.35 billion Thoughts: Online file sharing and storage unicorn reportedly turned EBITDA -positive in 2017. Might as well sneak out the window when it can.
3. Adyen: Raised: $266 million Valuation: $2.3 billion Thoughts: The payment company was founded more than 10 years ago. Soon it will be able to start growing a beard.
4. Cambium Networks Raised: ? Valuation: ? Thoughts: A bit of a mystery contestant. The Illinois company makes a cloud-based Wi-Fi platform. But Renaissance ranked it as one of its most likely prospects for the coming year.
5. Zscaler Raised: $138 million Valuation: $1.1 billion Thoughts: The enterprise security services company is in the right market at the right time.
6. Airbnb Raised: $3.4 billion Valuation: $31 billion Thoughts: One of the top five valuations for a private venture-backed company. The question is whether it’s passed enough regulatory hiccups to ease investors’ worried minds.
7. Pinterest Raised: $1.4 billion Valuation: $12.3 billion Thoughts: It’s like the last rodeo at the social media corral. Sure, why not? 8. Qualtrics Raised: $400 million Valuation: $2.5 billion Thoughts: Company helps clients manage internal and external data on one juicy platform. More people doing more stuff online equals more data.
9. Domo: Raised: $690 million Valuation: $2.3 billion Thoughts: Still hard not to say “…arigato, Mr. Roboto” when someone says this name.
10. AppNexus: Raised: $600 million Valuation: $10.35 billion Thoughts: Company’s platform optimizes programmatic online advertising, which is all the rage in these digital days, even if it makes the Mad Men of yore weep and drives a knife into the heart of all the creative types who wear black turtlenecks on Madison Avenue.
11. Zuora: Raised: $242 million Valuation: $1 billion Thoughts: Helps manage online subscriptions, which are indeed a pain. CB Insights ranks this one as a top 5 prospect for 2018 IPOs.
12. Credit Karma: Raised: $368 million Valuation: $3.5 billion Thoughts: Making a karma joke seems too easy, so we won’t. CB Insights also places it in the top 5 prospects.
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"Stripe wants to modernize commerce for the internet age | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/commerce/stripe-wants-to-modernize-commerce-for-the-internet-age"
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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 Stripe wants to modernize commerce for the internet age Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Stripe chief business officer Billy Alvarado 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.
Back in 2010 , Patrick and John Collison cofounded Stripe , which quickly gained a following thanks to how easily it let developers integrate a payment system with a few lines of code, something that financial tech giants like PayPal lacked at the time. More than seven years later, the Y Combinator alumnus has matured; its mission of helping developers process online payments has moved beyond transactions to tackle an even more important problem for entrepreneurs: setting up an online business.
Modernizing the internet for commerce The internet has long had an “infrastructural deficiency,” according to Stripe’s chief business officer, Billy Alvarado.
While businesses long to establish themselves online, optimizing the experience has been difficult. “The original architects of the internet knew that commerce needed to be woven into its fabric, but, for whichever reason, [they] didn’t quite get around to implementing it. What resulted was that — almost 30 years into the web — people were confronted with dated finance industry tools and legacy infrastructure, an economic system that simply wasn’t native to the internet.” “It took more than 20 years for ecommerce to become a $2 trillion global industry,” Alvarado explained. “In the next three years, that’s expected to double to $4 trillion. At the same time, the cost of starting an online business has dropped three orders of magnitude, while the amount of time it takes to expand internationally has halved… As more people come online and smartphones become widely accessible, the opportunity to create more businesses, increase economic activity, and ultimately create more jobs also grows exponentially.” Accepting online payments may seem simple now, but the process involves many complications, such as numerous payment methods, off-site redirects, checkout flows, international sales requirements, multiple languages, and the myriad rules within each country. All of this can be a headache for any fledgling business owner — it’s tough enough planning a brick-and-mortar operation, but scaling it to the global arena comes with an excessive amount of stress.
It’s easy to imagine that a large part of Stripe’s customer base comes from Silicon Valley, but Alvarado said that nearly half of all its U.S. merchants are businesses based in the Midwest and the South, and it has a large number of international users. “Tithely, a global platform for churches based in Nashville, Tennessee, used Stripe Connect to expand into Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, in a matter of months,” he shared. “There’s a misplaced belief that innovation in the U.S. is concentrated along the coasts.” While traditional tech companies are quicker to adopt new technologies, the question is how Stripe can reach out to the mainstream business users — those in the Heartland.
Above: The Missouri Star Quilt Company is using Stripe to transform its brick-and-mortar business into a multimillion-dollar online business that’s saving the small town it’s in.
Alvarado responded by citing the Missouri Star Quilt Company as an example, explaining that this brick-and-mortar store has used online commerce to “revive its local economy.” “What started as a quilting supplies store in… Hamilton, Missouri, has grown into an Amazon for Quilting,” he said. “About 90 percent of its multimillion-dollar business is now online, and it uses Stripe to sell to quilting aficionados all over the world. It’s now the largest employer in Caldwell County, with hundreds of employees, physical stores, and even restaurants.” This echoes what we’ve heard from others in the financial technology space over the years. Square, one of Stripe’s key competitors in certain spaces, has also been touting ways its offerings can boost economies and improve the odds for small businesses.
Summing up Stripe’s position, Alvarado said: “Stripe’s mission is to fix this incomplete part of the internet’s tooling, to build the economic infrastructure for the internet. We’re building the tools, APIs, and the platform to help businesses accept payments, and for new kinds of companies to build previously impossible products and services at internet scale — the kinds of things that you couldn’t do 10 years ago.” AWS dreams While he didn’t disagree with those who describe Stripe as a payment processing service, Alvarado stressed that there’s much more to the company, including a suite of software and tools to help start and operate an online business.
We’re told that Stripe only dedicates 10 percent of its documentation to payments. The majority of the company’s focus is on things businesses will have to deal with when “operating at scale,” including security, managing compliance, identity verification, anti-money laundering tools, and more.
In fact, Stripe would rather be considered the Amazon Web Services (AWS) of the financial tech space than a traditional payment processor. Just as AWS has become the technological source for everything companies need to get up and running, Stripe wants to be a major player in the commerce space.
At the GeekWire Summit in October, cofounder John Collison offered a bit more commentary on this aspiration, saying Stripe wants to give companies basic but “extremely useful services” to start with, and build from there.
The company’s Atlas product is perhaps its most alluring offering for business owners outside of the United States, and it could prove the foundational product that Stripe needs to truly stake its claim. Launched nearly two years ago, the service helps businesses based internationally incorporate in the U.S. Today, “thousands of founders” across 130 countries, including the U.S.
, have signed up for the service.
Stripe CEO Patrick Collison accompanied Barack Obama on his historic visit to Cuba in 2016, when the president became the first U.S. head of state to visit the country in 88 years. In conjunction with the trip, and perhaps as a symbol of warming relationships between the U.S. and Cuba, the company announced that Stripe Atlas would be available to Cuban entrepreneurs , giving them access to a U.S. bank account and making it possible for them to establish a business entity in the country. Although this was a historic moment for the company, the United States’ changing policy over Cuba could impact Stripe’s support.
Above: Stripe cofounder and CEO Patrick Collison Perhaps a notable sign of Atlas’ prominence in Stripe’s arsenal is the hiring earlier this year of Sarah Heck , who previously led the global entrepreneurship outreach efforts for the Obama Administration.
Besides Atlas, Stripe has other products available around the commerce space, not specifically dealing with payments. Alvarado mentioned Radar (fraud management), Sigma (business analytics), Connect (global payment management), and the most recent addition, Elements (ecommerce checkout solution) as examples of the company’s full-stack offering.
Above: Former Uber engineer Susan Fowler has joined Stripe to lead its engineering-focused publication Increment.
Stripe has also expanded into adjacent areas that businesses might find necessary as they establish themselves not only online, but also globally. In the past few years, it has acquired several startups, including onboarding, payments, and 1099 compliance service Payable , the developer toolkit formerly known as Tonic (since rebranded to RunKit), and entrepreneur resource site IndieHacker.
It has also enlisted the help of Susan Fowler , the former engineer at Uber whose blog post toppled the CEO reign of Travis Kalanick.
She’s now overseeing the production of an engineering publication called Increment to share tips and advice on building software systems at scale.
While there are obvious integrations the aforementioned startups can make within Stripe’s products, they’re helping the company capitalize on areas that entrepreneurs will likely come across when doing business, such as building mobile apps, managing their employees and independent contractors, and looking for advice and resources on how to be a better business owner.
The desire to mimic AWS’ success specifically in the commerce space should probably be viewed with some skepticism for now, especially since it’s unclear whether developers and business owners are really viewing the company as the de facto source for all their ecommerce needs. The marketplace is cluttered with many players, not to mention firms like Square, PayPal, Clover, and Shopify. However, Stripe has many of the building blocks it needs to move forward to meet this ambitious goal.
“While our product stack has deepened to meet the needs of this new generation of businesses, our mission remains the same: We want to reduce the barriers to starting and operating a business, regardless of location, and accelerate the internet economy,” Alvarado explained.
The business evolution Above: Stripe’s office For nearly eight years, Stripe has been pushing to reshape how companies conduct business on the internet. We asked if Alvarado’s team noticed any trends over the time period.
Complex business models “The internet has given rise to new business models that are highly complex to operate at scale,” he said. “Think of multi-sided marketplaces that connect buyers and sellers, or SaaS companies that have to manage several subscription plans at once.” Alvarado claimed businesses adopt Stripe because they don’t just need help with processing payments, but want someone with expertise in the infrastructure and technology to power these complex systems.
Developer resource allocation Developers may be in high demand, but their time is limited. So companies have to be cognizant about optimizing their usage — will their time be devoted to maintenance work (what Alvarado described as “technical debt”) or the core product? “Developers today expect to use tools built to maximize their leverage. With online documentation and cloud-based technology, the standard is to spin up new servers or tools within minutes,” he said. “Stripe has always put the needs of developers first. This philosophy has heavily shaped our approach to developer tooling… We’re always asking ourselves: How can we enable developers to build better products for their users, faster? How can we help our users get the most value out of the limited developer resources they have available?” Startups want to be enterprises, enterprises want to be startups Alvarado’s third observation is perhaps not a unique one — startups eventually look to go up-market, targeting larger companies as potential customers, while those in the enterprise envy the agility of startups and seek to move just as fast.
In Stripe’s case, “we’re placing more focus on how we can become a revenue engine for our users’ businesses, creating value not just for developers, but for their finance and accounting teams. This isn’t only pushing us upstream, but up the stack too.” What’s next? Above: Stripe Amid all of the movement Stripe has made, it’s far from satisfied with its progress. “We’ve yet to fully realize the internet’s potential as an economic platform,” Alvarado remarked. “Stripe wants to change that. That entails building the tools, the partnerships, and the infrastructure that will lower barriers to entry for upstarts, and accelerate the next wave of great technology companies.” He didn’t mention an initial public offering, but based on comments Patrick Collison made last spring , we shouldn’t expect one anytime soon. But there’s likely great interest should Stripe look to public money (it’s raised $440 million to date and is valued at $9.2 billion ). Still, that AWS dream has yet to be realized.
While competitors PayPal and Square have moved into dispensing capital to business customers, Stripe isn’t interested. Instead, Alvarado said that Stripe will focus on helping users “scale and be more successful” and suggested that no matter what businesses need, his company will develop the tools and technology needed to “keep them ahead of the curve.” “We want to help startups innovate as fast as they can write code, and help established businesses get the reliability they expect out of a financial partner while still innovating at the speed of software,” he stated. “We’ve been chipping away at this challenge for over seven years, but when we step back and look at the bigger picture, Stripe is really only just getting started.” 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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"Donald Trump wants U.S. Postal Service to charge Amazon 'much more' | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/commerce/donald-trump-wants-u-s-postal-service-to-charge-amazon-much-more"
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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 Donald Trump wants U.S. Postal Service to charge Amazon ‘much more’ 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.
(Reuters) – President Donald Trump called on the U.S. Postal Service on Friday to charge “much more” to ship packages for Amazon, picking another fight with an online retail giant he has criticized in the past.
“Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
The president’s tweet drew fresh attention to the fragile finances of the Postal Service at a time when tens of millions of parcels have just been shipped all over the country for the holiday season.
Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2017 The U.S. Postal Service, which runs at a big loss, is an independent agency within the federal government and does not receive tax dollars for operating expenses, according to its website.
Package delivery has become an increasingly important part of its business as the Internet has led to a sharp decline in the amount of first-class letters.
The president does not determine postal rates. They are set by the Postal Regulatory Commission, an independent government agency with commissioners selected by the president from both political parties. That panel raised prices on packages by almost 2 percent in November.
Amazon was founded by Jeff Bezos, who remains the chief executive officer of the retail company and is the richest person in the world, according to Bloomberg News. Bezos also owns The Washington Post, a newspaper Trump has repeatedly railed against in his criticisms of the news media.
In tweets over the past year, Trump has said the “Amazon Washington Post” fabricated stories. He has said Amazon does not pay sales tax, which is not true, and so hurts other retailers, part of a pattern by the former businessman and reality television host of periodically turning his ire on big American companies since he took office in January.
Daniel Ives, a research analyst at GBH Insights, said Trump’s comment could be taken as a warning to the retail giant. However, he said he was not concerned for Amazon.
“We do not see any price hikes in the future. However, that is a risk that Amazon is clearly aware of and (it) is building out its distribution (system) aggressively,” he said.
Amazon has shown interest in the past in shifting into its own delivery service, including testing drones for deliveries. In 2015, the company spent $11.5 billion on shipping, 46 percent of its total operating expenses that year.
Amazon shares were down 0.86 percent to $1,175.90 by early afternoon. Overall, U.S. stock prices were down slightly on Friday.
Millions of Parcels Satish Jindel, president of ShipMatrix Inc, which analyzes shipping data, disputed the idea that the Postal Service charges less than United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) and FedEx Corp (FDX.N), the other biggest players in the parcel delivery business in the United States.
Many customers get lower rates from UPS and FedEx than they would get from the post office for comparable services, he said.
The Postal Service delivers about 62 percent of Amazon packages, for about 3.5 to 4 million a day during the current peak year-end holiday shipping season, Jindel said. The Seattle-based company and the post office have an agreement in which mail carriers take Amazon packages on the last leg of their journeys, from post offices to customers’ doorsteps.
Amazon’s No. 2 carrier is UPS, at 21 percent, and FedEx is third, with 8 percent or so, according to Jindel.
Trump’s comment tapped into a debate over whether Postal Service pricing has kept pace with the rise of e-commerce, which has flooded the mail with small packages.Private companies like UPS have long claimed the current system unfairly undercuts their business.
Steve Gaut, a spokesman for UPS, noted that the company values its “productive relationship” with the postal service, but that it has filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission its concerns about the postal service’s methods for covering costs.
Representatives for Amazon, the White House, the U.S. Postal Service and FedEx declined comment or were not immediately available for comment on Trump’s tweet.
According to its annual report, the Postal Service lost $2.74 billion this year, and its deficit has ballooned to $61.86 billion.
While the Postal Service’s revenue for first class mail, marketing mail and periodicals is flat or declining, revenue from package delivery is up 44 percent since 2014 to $19.5 billion in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2017.
But it also lost about $2 billion in revenue when a temporary surcharge expired in April 2016.
According to a Government Accountability Office report in February, the service is facing growing personnel expenses, particularly $73.4 billion in unfunded pension and benefits liabilities. The Postal Service has not announced any plans to cut costs.
By law, the Postal Service has to set prices for package delivery to cover the costs attributable to that service. But the postal service allocates only 5.5 percent of its total costs to its business of shipping packages even though that line of business is 28 percent of its total revenue.
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"Bitcoin is going to crash and burn thanks to speculators | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/commerce/bitcoin-is-going-to-crash-and-burn-thanks-to-speculators"
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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 Bitcoin is going to crash and burn thanks to speculators 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.
During the late ’90s, Silicon Valley venture capitalists and New York City investment bankers used phrases such as “monetizing eyeballs,” “stickiness,” and “B2C” to justify the ridiculous valuations of Internet companies. They claimed conventional methods were inapplicable in valuing the dot-com companies — which had no revenue — because we were entering an entirely new economy.
Believing these people, and afraid to miss out on the gold rush, small-time investors, grandma and grandpa, and barbers and taxi drivers invested their life savings in companies such as Pets.com, Webvan, and eToys. The bubble burst, and they lost everything. Through a transfer of wealth in the billions of dollars from Main Street to Wall Street, VCs, unscrupulous CEOs, and bankers had effectively enriched themselves at the expense of hundreds of thousands of ordinary investors, leaving them to despair about their futures.
History is repeating itself now with Bitcoin. This time, it isn’t just Main Street U.S.A. that is about to lose its shirt; it is also the developing world. Technology has made it possible for hypesters in Silicon Valley, China, and New York City to fleece anyone, anywhere, who has a bank account and an Internet connection.
The story that Bitcoin victims are being sold is that, because we cannot trust government-issued currencies, Bitcoin is the future of money. One investor calls Bitcoin “a gift from God to help humanity sort out the mess it has made with its money.” A PayPal director predicts that Bitcoin’s price will reach $1 million in the next five to 10 years; asset managers say it is the new gold.
This is complete nonsense. Yes, the price of Bitcoin may yet double or even quadruple — because its price is based on pure speculation, and these stories are feeding such speculation. But Bitcoin’s market price is almost certain at some point to crash and burn, just as the dot-coms did, and for the same reason: because it is all hype. And there will be no one to turn to when it does, because no government or bank is backing it up; and the people who are hyping Bitcoin will have cashed out and be long gone.
Bitcoin’s price is not a reflection of its growing usage as currency; it reflects merely demand for the mirage of its speculative value. Its price is rising only because people all over the world are hearing stories of how others doubled or tripled their money in a short period — and they don’t want to miss out. Unsophisticated investors are taking out loans to buy Bitcoins. Those who have spent the currency feel remorseful when they see its price subsequently increase, so they hoard it.
Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group to be a digital currency. It allows money to be transferred directly between individuals using cryptography. The bank ledger is distributed to all users, and complex mathematical transactions ensure transaction integrity. Such a system makes it difficult for governments to know the identities of people exchanging money, so it has become a haven for money laundering, drug dealing, and corruption.
Beyond its usability for crime, Bitcoin has major design flaws.
Bitcoins are created (or “mined”) at predetermined and gradually decreasing rates, with a total limit of 21 million issuable coins. The rate of increase in available Bitcoins is not keeping pace with the number of people keen to buy them, so the price of a Bitcoin keeps increasing. Because its price increases, both its “miners,” whose computers do complex calculations to earn the currency, and those who buy Bitcoins from others feel reluctant to use them as currency by spending them. Instead, they sit on their coins while they wait for the price to rise further. With Bitcoin supply constrained and increasingly falling short of demand, instead of functioning as a currency, Bitcoin is a speculative empty asset.
Then, there are problems with the technology itself.
First, anyone who has access to a Bitcoin password (or private key) has the authority to spend the Bitcoins it unlocks; loss of the password means loss of all of the associated Bitcoins, with no recourse. Second, linear growth in the chain of blocks that make up Bitcoin is resulting in exponential growth in the computation necessary to process and verify transactions: transactions that used to take 10 minutes now take hours. Third, with Bitcoin transactions fees hovering above $25, a $5 payment now costs $30. This obviously is not a workable digital currency.
What is most worrisome for the planet is the energy expenditure that verifying transactions now requires. The Bitcoin network is reportedly consuming energy at an annual rate of 32TWh — about as much as the entire nation of Denmark. Each transaction consumes 250kWh, enough energy to power an average Western home for nine days. China has become the dominant Bitcoin-mining nation, with its provinces providing ultra-cheap energy to miners.
Digital currencies surely are the future, but other options make more sense than Bitcoin. Take China’s WeChat Pay and Alipay, which now process $5.5 trillion of payments. Or India’s Unified Payments Interface, which makes it possible to transfer money between people within seconds — for no fee. This occurs bank to bank, provides customer support and security, and has little overhead. So there are better and simpler ways.
Vivek Wadhwa is Distinguished Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University Engineering at Silicon Valley.
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"Huawei plans global push to combat its slowing smartphone sales in China | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/huawei-plans-global-push-to-combat-its-slowing-smartphone-sales-in-china"
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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 plans global push to combat its slowing smartphone sales in China 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) – China’s Huawei Technologies on Friday flagged overall and smartphone revenue figures for 2017 that represented its slowest growth in four years, and vowed to extend its global reach with more premium products next year.
The telecom equipment and smartphone maker expects 2017 revenue to rise 15 percent to 600 billion yuan ($92.08 billion), Chief Executive Ken Hu said in his New Year’s message.
That represents the slowest growth since 2013 for Huawei. Its fast revenue growth in recent years has been slowing as Chinese telecom carriers complete the construction of the world’s largest 4G mobile network and as competition intensifies in the smartphone market.
Hu said Huawei’s smartphone shipments in 2017 totaled 153 million units and its global market share topped 10 percent, cementing its position as the world’s third-largest smartphone maker after Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc.
Huawei said it would focus on profit after posting near-flat annual profit growth in March, weighed down by its fast-growing but thin-margin smartphone business and marketing spending.
Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer business group, in a separate New Year’s message said the group will strive to obtain a larger share in the high-end market globally, after recording “significant” growth in markets such as Italy and Germany in the past year.
“In 2018, we will have disruptive products and innovative technology to lead the global market. I believe that 2018 will be the first year that we will truly be walking the road to global prominence,” Yu said.
In October Huawei launched its Mate 10 series, its most expensive model to date and powered with AI-enhanced chips which the company says are faster than Apple’s iPhones. The model “sold extremely well”, Yu said, without disclosing a number.
Yu said the division’s revenue is expected to rise 30 percent to 236 billion yuan – also its slowest growth since 2013.
“We need to better understand the needs of high-end users outside China and fashion-savvy young consumers in China,” Yu said.
Industry tracker IDC forecasts China’s total smartphone shipments in 2017 to shrink slightly versus a year earlier.
Hu also said Huawei’s enterprise business needs to “maintain mid-to-high growth speed and become a pillar business for the company in five years”.
He also called on the company’s consumer business to improve profitability, its new public cloud business to increase in scale, and its core carrier business to outperform the industry.
By Sijia Jiang 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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"360 VR advertising is the industry's first sticky monetization model | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/360-vr-advertising-is-the-first-sticky-monetization-model-for-the-vr-industry"
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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 360 VR advertising is the industry’s first sticky monetization model 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.
Monetizing VR content continues to be a tricky challenge for creators and publishers alike. There’s just hardly any rules of thumb to follow as the industry busies itself with building up a track record of trial and error, and while the addressable market of geared-up users continues to grow. Paid content works in some cases, albeit mostly for premium titles, but it’s not pairing so nicely with mobile VR, which in turn struggles to live on in-app purchases or subscriptions.
In fact, the only model that appears to have found its legs is VR advertising, and it’s thanks to the positive feedback loop that the major players in the space — namely, Immersv, OmniVirt, and Vertebrae — have established with advertisers, who are more than convinced at this stage about what 360-degree VR ads in particular are capable of delivering in the form of pre-roll and interstitial placements before and in between the free-to-play content.
Why 360-degree VR ads work “In any new market, the ability to streamline creative production and content distribution will make it easier for brands and agencies to experiment with new formats,” Michael Rucker, cofounder and COO at OmniVirt , said. “360 VR Video has become the most utilized format for both of these reasons.” 360-degree VR ads represent a particularly sticky model because, first of all, users are well-adjusted to the compromise of paying with their directed attention for a short period of time in order to access worthwhile content. Indeed, as Agatha Bochenek, head of mobile and VR/AR advertising sales at Unity , mentioned in her talk in May at Vision 2017, “almost 80 percent of consumers want ads in exchange for more content.” 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! “Having options like pre-roll or using ads as content gates allows developers to monetize their work, particularly things like videos or experiences that might not have a good direct channel to monetize. This model is very successful on web platforms like YouTube, so it seems logical that it would work well on VR,” Rob Carroll, advisor and VR developer evangelist at Immersv , said. “I feel that pausing the app content and then showing the ad in a controlled environment is the best way to show ads in VR. It doesn’t require the developer to try and place ads into their world, and it allows the ad provider to make sure the experience the user is having is a good one.” Secondly, the user engagement levels for 360-degree VR ads are huge compared to traditional digital ads, which makes for an easy transition process for advertisers that are increasingly positioning VR units as a staple in their campaigns. In partnership with Vertebrae , 360 VR ads have even recently been backed as a standardized format by the IAB, the leading authority in digital ad standardization.
“In the early days of VR advertising, 360 video has offered the best reach, and the main reason we worked with the IAB to standardize 360 as a format is because it scales across different headset environments in our network (both pre-roll and interstitial), and onto mobile web and apps (as interstitial and expandable display),” Vince Cacace, founder and CEO at Vertebrae, said.
Above: Snapchat 360° Ad by OmniVirt How 360-degree ads perform In virtually every case study of a 360-degree VR ad, you’ll find that the view-through rates are well over 50 percent, if not exceedingly so. One such case was the KFC Add Hope campaign run by Advrtas in South Africa back in June, where the ad unit hit a whopping 91 percent view-through rate for its 55,000 delivered views. Likewise, in a campaign in which OMD teamed up with Immersv to drive reach and downloads for the “ Let Hawaii Happen ” VR app, Immersv leveraged its ad network to reach over 50,000 users and converted a smart 25 percent to follow through and download the full experience on the app store. The ad unit achieved a 70 percent view-through rate.
“360 Ads are performing well through our network. We see a view-through rate north of 75 percent and a click-through rate north of 15 percent for these units. 360 Ads represent about 50 percent of our inventory,” Mihir Shah, cofounder and CEO at Immersv, said. “The remainder is our Surround Ads, which are 2D video ads in a 360 scene. These also perform exceptionally well.” Above: OMD and Immersv team up on the Hawaii Tourism VR/360 Experience To add another angle to the depth of engagement we’re talking about here, a joint study released back in October by YuMe, Isobar, RLTY CHK, and RetinadVR compared how players responded to pre-roll 360-degree video ads relative to 2D brand logos that are present in-game and 3D interactive product placements that were inserted into the game play. While the conclusion was that, regardless the format, over two-thirds of players found immersive advertising to be highly memorable and less intrusive than traditional digital advertising, 360 VR ads outperformed the other formats by a huge margin.
For example, while the 2D branded logos and 3D objects scored an aided recall of 50 percent and 25 percent on the following day, 360 VR ads achieved 86 percent aided recall. That might not be either surprising or a fair comparison given 360 VR ads are notably more direct and “in your face” compared to the other approaches, it nevertheless offers the kind of exceptional returns that has been critical to convey to advertisers early on so that they have no choice but to welcome VR as a permanent member of the family.
Shah said that Immersv is in fact currently seeing 50 percent month on month growth in demand for their 360 and Surround Ad units throughout their network, which is telling if you had any doubts left that VR is well on its way to becoming a stable ecosystem. I assure you, 2018 will continue to testify to that.
“There is no question that 360 VR ads will continue to be the main way that brands and advertisers are engaging the VR in 2018. The launch of Facebook and Google’s standalone headsets will drive further consumer adoption of the medium and encourage more brands to invest in creative for this space. With 360 VR a staple feature of every major advertising agency now, it is becoming even easier for good creative to be developed in this medium,” Rucker said.
Amir-Esmaeil Bozorgzadeh is a cofounder at Virtuleap, a sandbox for creative developers to showcase their WebVR concepts to the world, the host of the Global WebVR Hackathon, and the startup behind the Gaze-At-Ratio ad metric.
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"Everything Amazon's Alexa learned to do in 2017 | VentureBeat"
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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 Everything Amazon’s Alexa learned to do in 2017 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Amazon Echo 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’s Alexa is leading the AI assistant pack. Echo devices are dominating smart speaker sales, and that was before Amazon brought the devices to more than 80 nations around the world.
To defend its crown, Amazon moved fast this year to outpace competitors like Google Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana.
Apple’s delayed HomePod is due out next year, while Samsung and Facebook are also reportedly planning to debut smart speakers.
It can be challenging to keep up with all the features Alexa has added to stay ahead of some of the largest tech companies on the planet, so here’s a rundown of everything Alexa learned to do this year.
If you’re the new owner of a smart speaker like a Sonos One or Echo Dot, see this story about 10 things to try with your Alexa-powered device.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! A more expressive voice Earlier this year, Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) tags were introduced to give Alexa a more expressive voice. More natural voice features were made available to the makers of Alexa skills in the U.S., the U.K., and Germany.
In the United Kingdom, SSML can be used to train an Alexa skill to say “blimey” or “Bob’s your uncle,” while skills can be trained to say “bada bing” or “boom” in the United States. SSML can also be used to make Alexa whisper or change her tone of voice, along with many other effects. Siri and Google Assistant also gained more natural or expressive voices this year.
Music alarms This is fun, especially if playing music is the main reason you like having Alexa around.
Earlier this month , ahead of the release of the Echo Spot, Alexa learned how to create musical alarms. That means you can choose from millions of songs to wake up to every day.
Alarms can be set based on artist, genre, or song name, or even based on lyrics from a favorite song whose name you’ve forgotten.
If you live in a house where the rights to DJ Alexa music volley back and forth, good luck to you.
Alexa goes beyond the Echo At the start of 2017, Alexa was basically only available in the Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Tap, but this year we saw the introduction of the second-generation Echo and the Echo Plus with a Zigbee smart home hub.
Also released by Amazon this year: the Echo Look, which uses computer vision to be your fashion stylist; the Echo Show, which introduced Alexa’s first visual interface; the Echo Spot, to extend that visual interface to your bedside and replace your alarm clock; and the Echo Wand, a remote-like device with a barcode scanner and Alexa inside that sticks to your fridge.
And Alexa isn’t just in devices made by Amazon anymore. This year, Alexa was made available in speakers from Sonos , Harman Kardon, Lenovo, and other brands.
For a foothold in more smartphones, in March Alexa became available in the Amazon shopping app, and in September in the Amazon Music app.
There are also plans to bring Alexa to a variety of appliances, like the Sanbot Nano home robot, and vehicles from Ford , Mercedes-Benz , and Hyundai.
Create reminders and add events to more calendars In its rush to be your everything, Alexa launched without some features you may consider rather basic. Among them: reminders. How this feature remained unavailable for so long is beyond me, but in June, Alexa finally learned how to set reminders.
Also among the low-hanging fruit Amazon was smart to pick: Calendar integration with Office 365 and iCloud was made available this spring.
Make phone calls and send messages Alexa is now able to make free phone calls in Canada and the United States.
You can also use Alexa to send messages to other users of the Alexa app or Echo devices. The back-and-forth between Alexa and its main competitor, Google Assistant, has been an undertone this entire year, and the introduction of phone call and messaging features is no different.
Whereas Google Assistant is able to send SMS messages , Alexa still only sends messages via the Alexa app, a feature first made available this spring.
Alexa as home intercom This summer, Alexa learned how to broadcast voices to Alexa devices and act like a home intercom system. Since the average Alexa device owner purchases more than one device to make voice control available throughout the home, this makes a lot of sense.
Because it is made available through Drop In, Alexa’s voice and video call feature, you don’t even need to be home to yell at your kid or ask whoever’s in the kitchen to check whether you have milk.
25,000+ voice apps At the end of 2016, Alexa had roughly 5,000 skills. In the past year, that number has quintupled to more than 25,000. This far exceeds the third-party offerings from competitors like Google Assistant or Cortana, who only have hundreds of voice apps.
New skills added in roughly the past year include This Day in History from the History Channel , the Twitch Alexa skill for streaming video gameplay, and series made especially for kids or for Echo Buttons.
A great addition in the past year is the ability to discover Alexa skills without saying its exact name. The need to remember the name of a skill is a limitation of the voice-first interface, but now you can say things like “I need a ride” to hear recommendations like the Lyft skill.
Whereas last year you could ask for a joke, now you can ask for a joke about dogs or trees or whatever’s on your mind. If you play a popular game skill like The Magic Door, you may now receive a recommendation to play another popular game.
Fleshing out discovery and recommendation features may give developers more incentive to make Alexa skills, and it could teach Alexa device owners that they no longer have to remember the name of their go-to voice apps.
Double Jeopardy! was the first Alexa skill to be offered with a paid subscription. Next year, more paid subscription or one-time payment Alexa skills will be made available. Paid skills available today include Teen Jeopardy!, Sports Jeopardy!, Match Game, Heads Up, and History’s Ultimate History Quiz.
Alexa, your personal gaming assistant In addition to the expansion of Alexa recommendations when you play a game skill or say “Alexa, let’s play a game,” for much of 2017 the Alexa team at Amazon has worked to improve the assistant’s game-playing chops.
This past spring, Amazon began to pay skills developers based on the level of engagement their skills are able to create, starting with game makers.
In August , Amazon began to release Alexa skills that require parental approval for kids under 13 — like SpongeBob SquarePants and Sesame Street.
Last month, Alexa began to act as a personal assistant for Destiny 2, one of the most popular games of 2017 , and last week saw the debut of Echo Buttons, a simple, first-of-its-kind device made especially for multiplayer gameplay.
Next year, Alexa will begin to act as the host for a set of board games called Voice Originals, starting with When in Rome , which was created by Sensible Object, a graduate of the inaugural Alexa Accelerator. Next year, the Gadgets API and SDK will also extend game skills that interact with Echo Buttons and other hardware made by gaming companies.
Alexa perks for Amazon Prime members This year, Amazon began to extend a steady stream of exclusive perks to people with both an Echo device and Amazon Prime. In March, two-hour deliveries were made available through Prime Now for things like groceries, and even alcohol in select cities.
In July , Amazon made it possible to get a $99 Amazon Prime annual membership with an Echo device.
This fall, the Double Jeopardy! skill was made available free of charge to Echo device owners with a Prime membership.
Last year, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos posited that Alexa could become one of Amazon’s four pillar offerings , alongside the company’s marketplace, AWS, and Amazon Prime. Alexa is clearly a big part of Amazon’s roadmap, but to what extent Amazon unites Prime and Alexa in the years ahead remains anyone’s guess.
Unique voice recognition Alexa can now recognize up to 10 unique voices in a household , beating out Google Assistant’s ability to recognize up to six voices.
Unique voice recognition gives Alexa the power to make sure kids don’t add items to the shopping list or ensure only your calendar events are mentioned if you ask Alexa about your schedule.
Alexa skills developers will be allowed access to unique voice identification provided by Amazon next year, giving them the ability to remember past interactions and deliver more personalized experiences.
Unique voice recognition is also being used to help Amazon recognize a user’s emotional state or mood. This effort will begin with understanding when a user becomes frustrated so Amazon can determine whether Alexa responded to a question or command in the right way. No timeline or details about recognition of emotions beyond frustration have been provided, but emotion recognition could eventually help Alexa respond to you more empathetically, or learn your emotional baseline to recognize when you’re lonely or having a bad day.
Smarter Alexa skills In addition to the introduction of a visual interface with elements like cards and videos, this year developers were given the ability to access user location so, for example, a restaurant or other business can recognize where you are and serve up customized results or make deliveries.
Next year, Alexa developers will gain access to unique voice identification and be able to accept payments via Amazon Pay through third-party voice apps and deliver proactive notifications.
Better smart home voice control In 2017, Alexa gained the ability to do things like change the color of a room with smart lightbulbs, so if you’re feeling orange, just say so. Alexa also learned to control smart home cameras and share security camera footage through an Echo Show or a television with a Fire TV stick.
Other important smart home milestones reached this year include the ability to group Echo devices together for music throughout the home , and hands-free Fire TV control with Alexa.
Alexa-Cortana partnership In what could turn out to be a momentous event in the history of AI assistants, this summer Seattle-area tech giants Microsoft and Amazon agreed to pair Alexa and Cortana across each other’s devices so that Cortana will be available through tens of millions of Echo speakers and Alexa will be available through more than 500 million Windows 10 PCs.
This appears to be one of the biggest partnerships of its kind to date. When the partnership was announced, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos talked about assistants growing into areas of specialization, but that doesn’t match up with rhetoric heard from the Alexa team at Amazon, who say they want the AI assistant everywhere.
Indeed, there are a number of advantages and disadvantages to a Cortana-Alexa partnership.
For example, last month Alexa for Business launched at AWS re:Invent, an initiative that is sure to compete directly with Cortana’s apparent focus on productivity.
In 2018, we should get some answers to how the Alexa-Cortana partnership will work in practice and the kinds of limitations these competitors put in areas like the workplace, where both want to make inroads.
Routines for command customization and scheduled actions Routines allow you to create custom voice commands and trigger multiple actions with the utterance of a single word or phrase. Today, you can do things like make a routine for when you wake up in the morning that turns on your lights, gives you a weather report, tells you about traffic for your commute, and reads you the news. Routines can also schedule tasks so you can do things like play the news at a specific time every weekend.
You can also use this skill for parlor tricks, so when you say “Alexa, get turnt up,” she responds by saying “Let’s party.” Routines that help you get stuff done, like reading your to-do list or your calendar events, seem like a natural next step.
Japanese and new English dialects Last year, Alexa and Echo devices expanded to users in the United Kingdom and Germany, trickling into the assistant’s two first countries outside the U.S. with things like the Flash Briefings API and Alexa Voice Service access to extend Alexa into devices beyond Echo smart speakers.
In late 2017, Alexa learned to speak even more languages, with support extended to English speakers in Canada and India and to Japanese speakers in Japan. Next year, Alexa will be available to English speakers in Australia. For now, international versions of Echo devices rely on these language settings, though the expansion to more than a dozen Spanish-speaking countries alludes to the fact that Alexa will soon be able to habla español.
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"AI Weekly: AI democratization depends on tech giants | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/ai-weekly-ai-democratization-depends-on-tech-giants"
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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: AI democratization depends on tech giants Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Microsoft Artificial Intelligence and Research Group executive VP Harry Shum prepares to speak onstage at Build, a Microsoft developer conference held in Seattle in May 2017.
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 saying often heard from companies like Google and Microsoft is that they want to democratize AI. That’s a nice word, democratize — it’s got “democracy” in it — but it’s unclear how these companies define democratization, and, like AI, it has an air of hype to it.
Democratization in almost every context means delivering opportunities and benefits to everyone, but what exactly does democratization of AI mean to tech giants currently hoovering up much of the world’s AI talent supply ? Google chief scientist Fei-Fei Li has talked about it in relation to tensor processing units , and CEO Sundar Pichai in relation to AutoML , machine learning made to create machine learning.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella describes democratization as putting AI in the hands of “every developer, every organization, every public sector organization around the world.” 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 implications of AI that touches every industry and sector of society demand that tech giants consider democratization beyond championing the use of their own AI services. This year, steps were taken toward that goal.
Google acquired Kaggle this spring to fuel machine learning competitions and support ideas from anywhere, while Microsoft’s AI Fund supported startups like Bonsai , a company working to simplify the implementation of TensorFlow (use of the open source library for machine learning skyrocketed this year ). There’s also programs like Nvidia’s Inception, which has supported more than 2,000 AI startups in about a year’s time.
Democratization should also mean supporting ventures into areas not traditionally touched by AI, like Microsoft’s $50 million AI for Earth initiative to aid in the fight against climate change, and championing the creation of standards so that AI in health care doesn’t disproportionately benefit men over women or that predictive policing doesn’t unfairly target people of color.
In addition to driving efficiency gains, AI is expected to destabilize the labor market, taking 30 to 40 percent of jobs by 2030 , according to a PwC study. Those losses will disproportionately hit certain jobs, cities, and nations around the world.
Therefore, the definition of democratization must also include what Andrew Ng calls a New New Deal , to help workers displaced by AI find jobs or get paid to study new skills.
Physicist Stephen Hawking is best known for being an AI doomsayer, but speaking at Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal last month, he actually said he’s optimistic about AI’s potential to do things like reverse climate change or eradicate disease, but we’ve got to be careful.
According to Hawking , AI could end humanity or greatly advance the human race; it could end poverty or lead to “new ways for the few to oppress the many.” In 2018 and the years ahead, we will come to understand how the actions of dominant companies at the forefront of AI execute on democratization, and whether the benefits of AI improve everyone’s lives or exacerbate existing inequalities.
Governments have a major role to play, and individuals have their own responsibility, but tech giants have an opportunity to take actions that define democratization in the best way possible. Doing so would allow them to be seen as proactive members of society, not the benefactors of one of the most disruptive forces of modern times.
If hugely influential companies like Google and Microsoft want to have a positive impact, they need to make sure they do right by the rest of the world as they push the field forward and define what it means to democratize AI. They have the power to ensure this new and rapidly growing technology benefits everyone’s lives. Here’s hoping, for our sake, they make the right choice.
For AI coverage, send news tips to Blair Hanley Frank and Khari Johnson , and guest post submissions to Cosette Jarrett — and be sure to bookmark our AI Channel.
Thanks for reading, Khari Johnson AI Staff Writer P.S. Please enjoy this video: Decentralized Artificial Intelligence From VB 10 things your new Alexa-powered smart speaker can do If you got an Amazon Echo Dot or Echo Spot this holiday season, you weren’t alone. According to Amazon, “tens of millions” of Alexa-enabled devices were sold this holiday season. If you’re the new owner of an Echo smart speaker from Amazon, or other speakers with Alexa inside like the Sonos One, congrats. Here’s 10 essential tasks to learn to do with Alexa, the most popular AI assistant for smart speakers on the market.
Read the full story Above: Apple HomePod made its debut at WWDC on June 5, 2017 at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, California.
Early indicators of Amazon Echo and Google Home holiday sales highlight cost of Apple’s HomePod delay While Apple almost completely dominates the smartwatch market, it looks increasingly likely that the emerging electronics category of smart speakers — where the company already lags far behind — is on a far faster path toward mainstream acceptance. And that makes Apple’s failure to deliver […] Read the full story Above: Google Home Max and Mini shown next to the original Google Home 10 things to try with your new Google Home smart speaker If you got a Google Home Mini, Google Home, or Google Home Max recently, congrats. With Google’s AI-powered assistant inside these and other speakers, you can ask questions about virtually anything, set reminders, get info about your commute to work, go shopping, and control devices in your home, all without lifting a finger. Home speakers even have features you can’t get […] Read the full story Amazon’s Alexa wants to learn more about your feelings Amazon’s Alexa team is beginning to analyze the sound of users’ voices to recognize their mood or emotional state, Alexa chief scientist Rohit Prasad told VentureBeat. Doing so could let Amazon personalize and improve customer experiences, lead to lengthier conversations with the AI assistant, and even open the door to Alexa one day responding to queries based on your emotional state […] Read the full story How Alexa carved out a place in my Siri-only life Like many Apple users, I’ve carried a Siri device everywhere since 2011, so when Amazon introduced the original Echo speaker in November 2014, I couldn’t accept an AI assistant that was “anchored” to the $200 speaker’s single room. Why would I want to use Amazon’s Alexa only in my kitchen, for instance, when I could […] Read the full story I gave my parents a Google Home for Christmas and watched them lose their minds My parents have not heard of Alexa or Google Assistant, and probably have no idea Cortana exists on their Windows 10 computers. They may have approved of their son studying Computer Science, but they’re not particularly tech-savvy themselves. My father hates the burden of smartphones (he turns his off or leaves it at home at every opportunity), and my mother doesn’t even have a phone. I figured the original Google Home would be as decent a starting point as any.
Read the full story Beyond VB Google’s voice-generating AI is now indistinguishable from humans Humans have officially given their voice to machines. A research paper published by Google this month — which has not been peer reviewed — details a text-to-speech system called Tacotron 2, which claims near-human accuracy at imitating audio of a person speaking from text.
(via Quartz) Read the full story How Facebook teaches photos to talk Facebook’s News Feed is a feast for the eyes, filled with photos, videos and status updates. That’s not great for visually impaired individuals, so Facebook has turned to artificial intelligence to improve their experience. A blind person can now hear an audio message describing a friend’s photo that shows people dancing or riding bikes.
(via CNN) Read the full story The Pentagon’s new artificial intelligence is already hunting terrorists After less than eight months of development, the algorithms are helping intel analysts exploit drone video over the battlefield. Earlier this month at an undisclosed location in the Middle East, computers using special algorithms helped intelligence analysts identify objects in a video feed from a small ScanEagle drone over the battlefield.
(via Defense One) Read the full story Researchers fooled a Google AI into thinking a rifle was a helicopter Tech giants love to tout how good their computers are at identifying what’s depicted in a photograph. In 2015, deep learning algorithms designed by Google, Microsoft, and China’s Baidu superseded humans at the task, at least initially. This week, Facebook announced that its facial-recognition technology is now smart enough to identify a photo of you, even if you’re not tagged in it.
(via Wired) Read the full story 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 operators will play a critical role as bots redefine the workplace | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/ai-operators-will-play-a-critical-role-as-bots-redefine-the-workplace"
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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 AI operators will play a critical role as bots redefine the workplace Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn IBM Watson servers 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.
Treating AI like it’s a person has its benefits. When IBM named its AI “ Watson ,” the company hoped people would see it as warm and approachable, a “humble genius” even. According to Ann Rubin, vice president of branded content and global creative at IBM, in a conversation with Adweek , it worked.
It’s no surprise then that emerging AI platforms like Salesforce’s Einstein, Amazon’s Alexa, and my company’s Albert followed suit. Some companies are now taking the humanization process even further, positioning their technology as your newest colleague or employee.
This makes enough sense from a task perspective: AI will do work like a colleague. But from a psychological one, the moment AI makes the leap from tech platform to teammate — and takes on a more traditionally human role — humans begin expecting it to be a bit more like them. Or, at least, to exhibit more humanlike traits, like accountability, transparency, and communication skills.
AI’s not good at any of these things. It’s bad at sharing the details of its day, what it’s up to, or why it does what it does. And it’s an awful listener. Some might describe their human colleagues in similar terms, but unlike humans, AI’s inability to communicate is never out of rebellion, introversion, fear of sounding stupid, an inherently brooding demeanor, or any other distinctly human traits.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Today’s autonomous technologies simply aren’t programmed to explain themselves — they’re programmed to perform. Take a self-driving car that has veered into the right lane when its human passenger would have preferred it stay in the lane it was in. There’s currently no way for the vehicle to communicate why it made its decision. This might leave its human passenger frustrated, wondering “Why?” Humans are programmed to want to know why.
They want to understand the reasoning and logic that goes into a decision. And AI has this information in spades. But as AI developers can testify, an AI processes thousands to millions of variables in the same time that a human can process hundreds. Explaining the “why” would not only be difficult, it would be lost on the listener.
The human need to understand why perhaps reveals an underlying assumption: that technology has motives and operates according to its own free will. Neither is true, of course. AI doesn’t have an opinion or agenda; it will do whatever the user wants it to. It just needs guidance and boundaries that ensure it achieves its goals in a way that reflect the user’s own values and priorities.
It’s this precise insight that has inspired the rise of a new breed of AI operators — everyday AI experts who will act as conduits between AI and its human colleagues. One part AI whisperer, another part operations professional, the AI operator’s sole purpose is to strengthen AI in places where human intervention is required: communicating what it’s doing and learning, understanding business goals, and offering its thoughts in the form of insights (rather than raw variables considered in the decision-making process).
These AI experts will emerge from different walks of life. While data analysts who understand patterns and correlations might feel more immediately comfortable interacting with an AI system, those in more operational roles will be better equipped to act as an interface between teams, pushing projects forward and putting the AI’s insights to work to help people do their jobs.
No matter who fills this role, the goal will be the same: Set parameters and guidelines. Speak “robot.” And translate what it has to say back into “human.” Robots are rough around the edges. Left to its own devices, an AI will get from point A to point B in the quickest way possible, but it won’t always look pretty. An AI operator’s job is to make sure that the risks it takes aren’t at odds with what a company is comfortable with — even if helps them meet their goals.
Take an AI platform that’s tasked with executing a retailer’s Black Friday promotion across social media and online channels, from start to finish. Prior to letting it loose on these channels, the AI operator would step in to guide the AI and, in a sense, share with it the strategy and objectives: “Here’s the promotion, here are the creative assets, here are the types of audiences we’re targeting and the channels we’re interested in using. Our goal is to generate 2.5 times more revenue than in other months, and we’re willing to invest more aggressively than usual to do it.” The AI operator would also make upfront decisions about what “being more aggressive” means. Is it OK to spend 30 percent upfront on audience discovery? Can it spend 20 times more than usual on keywords? Should it focus primarily on new audiences or should it also focus on existing customers? The AI can go either way on each of these decisions. The AI operator knows how to tell it to go in the direction the organization wants it to.
Unlike humans, who often collaborate with one another to figure out how to move projects forward, AI only wants to be told the what in very generic terms. It requires less thinking and more manual input. Take the Black Friday example, where the directives were: “2.5 times more revenue, increased investment, these audiences, those channels, go.” Once the AI operator tells it this, it will determine the how on its own.
AI’s disinterest in talking through its approach doesn’t mean collaboration is off the table. It just looks a little different. AI’s way of collaborating involves offering analysis and insights that the AI operator can then use to make decisions about strategy and feed an updated plan back to it.
This basic give-and-take relationship is one of the many ways AI is redefining what it means to be a colleague in the age of robots. While humans might have invented workplace dynamics, robots are stepping in to redefine them. Somewhere between them and us is the AI operator, whose ability to speak robot will help man and machine move beyond these initial growing pains.
Tomer Naveh is chief technology officer at Albert , an artificial intelligence marketing platform for the enterprise.
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 exciting AI innovations from 2017 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/5-exciting-ai-innovations-from-2017"
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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 5 exciting AI innovations from 2017 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.
2017 was full of technological advances and introductions of cool new gadgets. A common theme among some of the most notable advances and new devices was the integration of artificial intelligence in smart and innovative ways. Despite a handful of flubs , AI-powered technologies still helped make the world a little smarter, kinder, and more innovative this year.
Here are some of the moments when AI really shone in 2017.
NASA’s discovery of two new planets Earlier this month, NASA announced it used machine learning to discover two new planets. Researchers used old data from the Kepler space telescope to locate the two new additions to our galaxy. This wasn’t the first time researchers applied AI to sift through the massive amount of data NASA’s telescopes collect, but it is a promising example of how neural networks can find even some of the weakest signs of distant worlds. Thanks to AI, we have now discovered a planetary system that ties our solar system in the number of planets it has, which brings us one step closer to discovering more of the mysteries the giant void around us contains.
Resistbot 2017’s chatbots are smarter and easier to use than ever before. This year, you couldn’t throw a rock in Silicon Valley without hitting someone eager to talk about how chatbots are the future of customer care and corporate communication. Although 2017 was chock-full of chatbot releases, one standout was Resistbot.
This AI-powered chatbot makes it as easy as possible to contact your political representatives. I think we can all agree this year has been all over the map politically. Resistbot provides an automated service to send letters and concerns to representatives — it allows the American people be heard. Thanks, Resistbot.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Leka Smart Toy The Leka Smart Toy helps children with autism and other developmental disabilities interact with their teachers, caregivers, and peers. The toy, which made headlines in January, provides steady and predictable functions that help children connect and trust playing with the robot. The device is aimed at schools and therapy institutions to help children — and even some adults — develop interpersonal skills to facilitate learning. Caregivers can control the device or let it run in an autonomous state.
We’ve seen an abundance of tech advances this year that aim to automate and diminish problems that are somewhat trivial. The Leka Smart Toy took the road-less-traveled and utilized AI to make the world a better place for individuals facing developmental challenges. Sure, we all appreciate having the power to make hands-free online purchases and change the channel without a remote, but Leka and other smart toys serve a more meaningful purpose than some of the most popular digital assistants we saw in the news this year. Which brings us to the next impactful AI innovation in 2017, the advancement of smart speakers.
The advancement of smart speakers OK Google, are you better than Amazon Echo? Smart speakers dominated the consumer technology market in 2017 — this is what the botpocolypse actually looks like, FYI. If you haven’t heard of Google Home or Amazon Echo, it’s possible you live under a rock. They were some of the top-selling holiday gifts this season thanks to their many capabilities that make everyday tasks easier for their owners. While it’s possible they are a little overhyped, it’s important to recognize the success they’ve had in bringing AI and smart home technology to the mainstream consumer market this year.
Amazon’s Alexa-powered devices provided some of the most useful innovations this year by making multiple tasks truly hands-free. In 2017, Amazon made it possible to change the content you stream on Netflix, track online purchases, make calls and send texts , play music in multiple rooms , and control your smart home devices — all using your voice.
Google also announced a few interesting innovations for its own smart speaker technology this year. The tech giant unveiled the Google Home Mini in October, which provides a smaller, more affordable version of its Google Home to compete with Amazon’s Echo Dot. The higher-end version of this smart speaker, the Google Home Max , also made its way to the market earlier this month. This iteration provides a better listening experience in larger spaces with a larger, higher-quality speaker.
iPhone X It’s impossible to make a 2017 AI innovation list without including one amazing device *cough cough* the iPhone X. Apple added some incredible AI technology to their latest smartphone — just when we thought that smartphones couldn’t get any smarter. The release of the iPhone X didn’t disappoint. Fans jumped at the opportunity to drop $1,000 for the 5.8-inch screen.
This phone is truly spectacular: It includes an infrared camera, a flood illuminator, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, a speaker, a microphone, a front camera, and a dot projector. All of these powerful components work together to create the phone’s headline-generating features: Face ID, Portrait mode, and Animoji.
These five technological advances paved the way to create even more groundbreaking AI innovations in 2018. My humble plea is to see more of next year’s tech releases employ AI in an uplifting way beneficial for our world and the people who live in it.
Scott Bay is a digital journalist who reports on the latest technology trends, focusing specifically on travel, security, and AI.
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