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"Nvidia is making a Fallout 4 mod to promote its new graphics cards | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/nvidia-is-making-a-fallout-4-mod-to-promote-its-new-graphics-cards"
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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 Nvidia is making a Fallout 4 mod to promote its new graphics cards Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Fallout 4's built-in mod tools is enabling some interesting promotions.
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The latest modder working on new content for Fallout 4 isn’t exactly a person working out of their basement.
Nvidia is planning to release a mod for the open-world postapocalyptic adventure Fallout 4 to show off some of the technology that developers can take advantage of in its 10-series GeForce GTX cards. The add-on, called Vault 1080, borrows its title from the GeForce GTX 1080 GPU. It features advanced lighting and shadows and around 60 minutes of new gameplay, according to the hardware company. Nvidia will show off more from the mod this weekend at the Penny Arcade Expo gathering in Seattle before Vault 1080 hits the Bethesda.net mod program.
“The team that created Vault 1080 are modders and gamers themselves — and big fans of the Fallout universe,” Nvidia LightSpeed Studio producer Dane Johnston told GamesBeat. “We spent an afternoon brainstorming, just throwing out as many ideas as we could. We discussed the things we liked about Fallout and how we could expand on them first, and specifically how we can make them better with the GameWorks technologies second. Eventually, the idea for the story and quest began to take shape.” You can get a glimpse of the new content in the teaser trailer 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! This is a new way of using mods. In the past, add-on modules were usually community-built creations that players could install into their games by fiddling with program files. For modern Bethesda games, modding tools are built into the interface on PC as well as Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Due to that high visibility, modding is easier than ever, and that played a part in convincing Nvidia to use it as a means of promoting its hardware.
“Fallout 4 is incredibly open to modding and also has a lot of NVIDIA GameWorks technology, with a key one being our volumetric lighting used heavily in outdoor scene,” said Johnston. “We saw an opportunity to do something unique by showing what volumetric lighting could bring to the atmosphere inside a vault. The level of mood and intensity this new GameWorks library afforded us made it a natural fit for the Fallout universe and makes things like dust and dreary come alive.” Nvidia regularly makes demo software to showcase its technology. At the Electronic Entertainment Expo industry trade show in Los Angeles this past June, I visited the company’s booth and experienced its VR Funhouse game.
That software is now available for free on Steam so that anyone with a relatively powerful Nvidia graphics card can play around with the interactive physics that the company is emphasizing to VR developers.
Now, with Vault 1080, Nvidia is trying something new to let gamers know that it is pushing gaming visuals forward. And maybe that’ll convince a few customers to throw down the $600 for an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU.
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it.
Discover our Briefings.
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5,714 | 2,016 |
"Eve Online gets a free-to-play option a mere 13 years after its original release | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/eve-online-gets-a-free-to-play-option-a-mere-13-years-after-its-original-release"
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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 Eve Online gets a free-to-play option a mere 13 years after its original release Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Eve Online.
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Eve Online is about to open up its complex universe.
Developer CCP Games announced today that its massively multiplayer online space game will have a free-to-play option once November’s unnamed expansion releases. Eve Online originally came out in 2003 and earned a punishing reputation for its complex economy and high difficulty. Many MMOs from that era (if they’re even still around) went free-to-play long ago, with World of Warcraft being one of the few exceptions that stuck with a subscription model (although even that market leader eventually let anyone play to level 20 for free).
Eve Online will still have a subscription service, called Omega, which will give players access to the same content they have now. Free-to-play accounts, called Alpha State, will be limited to a specific set of skills “Part of our vision for the future of Eve has included more open access for some time, but with the interconnected nature of the game comes vulnerability,” CCP noted on its website.
“We knew that if the flood gates were opened in the wrong way, we could see anything from server meltdowns to the collapse of the Eve economy. Over time, our hardware has improved, code has been untangled (mostly!) and we’ve found a design we believe in. Eve is ready for this.” 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 November expansion will also include new ships, player-built structures, and unannounced features.
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.
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5,715 | 2,016 |
"Google helps Faroe Islanders map their islands for Street View using sheep, kayaks, and more | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/offbeat/google-helps-faroe-islanders-map-their-islands-for-street-view-using-sheep-kayaks-and-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 Google helps Faroe Islanders map their islands for Street View using sheep, kayaks, and more Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Google Street View 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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A few months back, news emerged that residents of the Faroe Islands, a small archipelago between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean that’s home to almost 50,000 people, were starting to map their own roads in response to Google’s failure to arrive with its Street View mapping equipment.
With the support of a shepherd, five sheep, 360-degree cameras, and a special harness to attach the cameras to the aforementioned ovine, islanders created Sheep View 360 , a sort of next-best alternative to having Street View document the island. It seems the story struck a chord with Google, because the internet giant has arrived on the scene with a Street View Trekker and a batch of 360 cameras, courtesy of its Street View camera loan program.
Google is no stranger to mapping weird and wonderful environs — it has found itself traversing the Amazon rainforest on a zipline and has also gone underwater at the Great Barrier Reef.
And last week, Google sent a bunch of employees from the maps team to the Faroe Islands to train locals not only in use of the equipment but also in how to best capture the environment.
“Together with Google, we have decided to continue making our own version of Street View — instead of using their cars, Google has provided us with cameras, a Google Trekker, and lots of support,” explained Visit Faroe Islands’ Durita Dahl Andreassen, who also kickstarted the quirky Sheep View 360 project, in a blog post.
“We have come to love our Sheep View so much that instead of replacing it, we have expanded the fleet of cameras.” Indeed, residents and tourists are being invited to aid the sheep using whatever equipment they can find — selfie-sticks, bikes, kayaks, wheelbarrows, horses, and more. Meanwhile, check out this little skit on the Google Sheep View project… and how Google came to the rescue.
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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5,716 | 2,016 |
"Samsung unveils Gear S3 Classic and Gear S3 Frontier smartwatches | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/samsung-gear-s3-classic-frontier-smartwatches"
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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 unveils Gear S3 Classic and Gear S3 Frontier smartwatches Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch 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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I’ve not been a fan of the smartwatch, partially because it lacked the design flair of traditional analog watches. Samsung knows about that issue. In fact, the electronics manufacturer believes that’s why consumers new to this category have shied away. That’s why the company on Wednesday unveiled the byproduct of its research: the Samsung Gear S3.
Available in Classic and Frontier models, the Gear S3 offers a premium look that’s not only for casual experiences, but also is rugged enough for outdoor activities such as biking, running, and climbing. “It’s the best of design, but no compromise on functionality,” a Samsung spokesperson told VentureBeat. While both versions show updated designs, there is a difference between them: The Classic is limited to Bluetooth connectivity, while the Frontier supports that and LTE. Both have Wi-Fi capabilities.
Pricing as well as a preorder date have not been revealed for the Gear S3. However, since these two models are more on the luxury end, you might expect this to run a bit more than what you’d normally pay for previous editions of the Gear smartwatch, which recently was $299.99.
Above: Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch.
Samsung has pulled out all the stops to make its newest smartwatch shine. It has a 1.3-inch super AMOLED full circular display with a 360×360 resolution (278 dpi) that supports a variety of watch faces, something the company said was the most downloaded category. The device also supports 16 million colors through its Always On display, compared to just 8 colors on its predecessor, the Gear S2.
The Gear S3 comes equipped with a circular bezel that can be used to accept or reject phone calls or calendar notifications. Sensitivity on the display has been enhanced to work even if you’re using gloves.
Above: Taking a phone call on the Samsung Gear S3.
There’s also a built-in speaker that lets you talk directly into your watch so if you get a phone call, you can answer it like you’re Dick Tracy or Michael Knight from Knight Rider.
Through its partnership with Spotify, Samsung supports streaming music through the Gear S3 using Wi-Fi or LTE.
The dimensions of the watches have changed slightly, with the Classic spec’ed at 46 x 49 x 12.9 mm. The Frontier weights a bit more than the Classic, at 62 grams versus 57 grams.
For those who exercise or do physical activities and find carrying around a phone unwelcoming, the Gear S3 Frontier comes with LTE support, making it one of the first to offer this capability. Previous Samsung smartwatches featured 3G service. The hope is that Gear S3 Frontier wearers will go out jogging, biking, mountain climbing, and swimming without their phone in tow.
Above: Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch immersed in dry ice.
Both versions of the Gear S3 carry with it the protections that have become synonymous with Samsung’s Galaxy phone lineup, including having a IP68 rating so it’s dust and water resistant (up to 10 feet for 30 minutes), and is scratch resistant thanks to the Corning Gorilla Glass SR+ technology, which was made specifically for smartwatches. Because it wants people to use its smartwatches in extreme conditions, Samsung has even made the Gear S3 military-grade durable, meaning that it’s really strong, protected against accidental damage, shock and dust resistant, able to withstand varying high and low temperatures, and operates in altitudes of up to 15,000 feet.
Personal safety has also been addressed, with the inclusion of a barometer to notify you if it’s about to rain, GPS tracking, speedometer, and SOS, which you can use to notify friends and family if you’re in an emergency by simply triple-tapping on the screen to activate.
Both Gear S3 Classic and Frontier come with a 380 mAh battery, which is estimated to last up to four days. It does have a power-saving mode that means that even if it the battery life gets to 5 percent, there will be enough power so you can tell the time. By comparison, the Gear S2 has a 250 mAh battery for its Bluetooth model and 300 mAh for 3G.
Above: Using Samsung Pay with the Gear S3 smartwatch.
Samsung Pay also comes installed on the Gear S3 so you can pay without needing to take out your phone — if you have the LTE version, you can leave your mobile device at home and pay with your smartwatch. Just hold the back button on the Gear S3, set up Samsung Pay, add your card, and then use it to pay at any payment terminal. Samsung said that the information is stored as tokens on the devices and protected using Samsung Knox. It has not only NFC support but also MST technology, so it should work on 90 percent of terminals in the U.S., according to the company.
Like previous Gear smartwatches, the S3 comes with the Tizen operating system installed. While there are hardware and software improvements to the latest model, all apps are compatible with the S3, but Samsung added that it’s going to release an updated SDK in the future. The company said that some of the apps already leveraging the Gear S3 capabilities include Spotify (streaming music through the device), ADT (offering a premium service with a call center), Nest (dial in different profiles for your home, control temperatures, adjust fans), BMW (functionality built in through Bluetooth), and Uber (addition of a widget to summon a car to your location using Google Maps and quicker access to Uber Pool).
Above: Playing Spotify music through the Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch.
And if you’re curious, the Gear S3 supports the same wireless charging technology of previous models so you won’t need new adapters or chargers. It also comes with a 22 millimeter wrist strap in a variety of colors — but if you don’t like what Samsung offers, you can find another brand that’s the same size and use it, such as Google’s Mode wristbands.
Having a smartwatch is a good way for people to monitor their activities while exercising, but there’s also an audience of people possibly interested in using it to help them get through the day. Those latter users are more concerned about the design — while previous iterations looked good, they didn’t measure up to luxury analog watches.
Samsung hasn’t disclosed which carriers will power the Gear S3, but it’s likely that the major ones in the U.S. will support it. If the Gear S2 is any indication, it’ll be available on Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T, and U.S. Cellular.
Updated at 10:34 a.m. Pacific on Wednesday: Following the unveiling, AT&T announced that it will offer the 4G LTE-compatible Samsung Gear S3 Frontier and the smartwatch will include the carrier’s NumberSync feature, which allows phone calls and text messages to be sent and received using the same number as your primary smartphone. It did not reveal pricing.
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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"Nexar's smart dashcam recording app arrives on Android to help make roads safer | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/nexars-smart-dashcam-recording-app-arrives-on-android-to-help-make-roads-safer"
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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 Nexar’s smart dashcam recording app arrives on Android to help make roads safer Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Nexar - Android 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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Nexar , the smart dashcam recording app that leans on artificial intelligence (A.I.) to analyze road conditions and warn of hazardous events, has finally arrived on Android.
Founded out of Israel, Nexar launched initially for iPhone users in February this year. The feature-rich app goes beyond the myriad alternative dashcam recording apps out there and is striving to create a network of crowdsourced data garnered from millions of smartphones glued to windshields around the world. The app uses machine learning and computer vision technology to “interpret” the direction, speed, and acceleration of every car it sees on the roads, as it looks to understand and predict potential mishaps.
Above: Nexar: Recent Rides Not only does Nexar record road conditions such as accident blackspots, it can also track specific dangerous drivers by “remembering” their license plate and ranking them — you may receive warnings on your phone if the driver that has just pulled out in front of you has a track record of braking too hard. The app records everything and saves it to Nexar’s servers, while automatically deleting the video from your phone if it’s consuming too much of the available storage space.
Nexar’s aspirations follow what Waze has been doing in the navigation space, and the more data Nexar collects the smarter it should become. In fact, earlier this year, Nexar became one of the first companies to tap Waze’s transport SDK , bringing the Google-owned company’s crowdsourced navigation data directly into its dashcam app.
And making Nexar available on Android should go some way toward helping it collect significantly more data.
“The Android beta launch signifies the opening of Nexar to new communities of drivers seeking an immediate solution to safer driving,” said Dan Peguine, VP of growth at Nexar.
New features There are actually two notable differences with the Android version of the app. First, it has dual-camera mode, meaning that drivers can record inside and outside the vehicle simultaneously — using the front- and rear-facing cameras — on iOS it’s only possible to record through one at a time. This should help encourage uptake with professional drivers, such as those who work with Uber or Lyft, as they can track what’s happening on the roads while also recording passengers to help settle disputes at a later point.
Nexar confirmed to VentureBeat that professional drivers represent a significant market for the company, and they “serve as the backbone of the vehicle-to-vehicle network” that Nexar is creating.
The second notable difference is that on Android, Nexar can be used in the background, meaning users can switch to whatever other apps they like, and Nexar will still record. This will be important to those who prefer to use other navigation apps, such as Google Maps, in the foreground.
The company, which has hubs in Tel Aviv and San Francisco, received a $4 million Series A investment in May last year, which was followed by a $10.5 million round just a couple of months back. In terms of how it plans to make money, Nexar has a number of options at its disposal, one of which includes “bringing insurance companies and fleets to the 21st century,” a spokesperson told VentureBeat earlier this year. “We streamline insurance companies’ claims process with a unique accident reconstruction. We allow insurance companies to personalize their offerings and provide discounts to safe drivers.” Part of this includes being able to recreate accidents in 3D, using a combination of a phone’s in-built sensors and the footage it captures.
Above: Nexar: 3D Modelling Ultimately, Nexar has a large target market, which is why it could become one of the must-have apps. Anyone who drives a car — from Sunday-afternoon cruisers to 24/7 Uber drivers — could find a use for this, and the more uptake it gets, the better it should become as a safety tool for motorists.
“In the first six months of 2016, there’s been a nine percent increase of motor vehicle fatalities in the U.S.,” said Nexar CEO Eran Shir, “and this is a global trend. “Already today, drivers who use Nexar are able to get evidence and protect themselves in case of a crash. Furthermore, when drivers use Nexar, they join a network with other drivers. The network crowdsources real-time hazards on the road and eventually, as the network grows, it will warn drivers in real time of potentially dangerous situations.” Nexar says that drivers have notched up more than eight million miles in its app since its launch on iOS six months ago, with more than half-a-million “dangerous driving” incidents clocked and more than one hundred crashes documented.
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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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"How mobile data visualization helped reduce malaria cases by 93% -- Zika could be next | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/mobile-data-visualization-reduce-malaria-93-zika"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Feature How mobile data visualization helped reduce malaria cases by 93% — Zika could be next Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Zambia: Ruth Namusongole holds her baby son Ethan, who was hospitalized for two weeks with malaria.
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There are 36,000 families (and rising) who can thank mobile data visualization for helping to save their lives, and it all started with a provocative yet simple proposal.
“How would you like to help us eliminate malaria in Zambia?” That’s the pitch received by Neal Myrick, director of social impact at Tableau when PATH — an international nonprofit organization that focuses on saving lives and improving health, especially among women and children — came knocking at his door. This wasn’t a demand for monetary aid. It was a request for collaboration.
“When you go into a project with that mentality — being involved in the project itself, rather than just funding it — it helps us as much as it has helped them,” Myrick told me at Tableau’s offices in Seattle. “We’re there to do our part and support them.” Despite medical progress, malaria is still a huge killer worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of malaria deaths fell from an estimated 839,000 in 2000 to 438,000 in 2015. While a decline of 48 percent is impressive, there is still much to do, and most of the deaths in 2015 were in the WHO African Region (90 percent, in fact).
Mobile data, including location-based information and surveys, is playing a key role in helping Tableau and PATH eliminate malaria in the region.
The story starts with data collection, both in paper form and via mobile devices. Looking for developing disease transmission patterns and overlaying data on maps to show movements and travel patterns, a story starts to emerge.
“We were able to isolate some of the highest infection areas — unsurprisingly, along a large lake on an international border — and see how those folks are traveling through the area,” Jeff Bernson, director of results management, measurement, and learning at PATH, told me. “Remember, the malaria parasites spend most of their lives as stowaways in asymptomatic people. By understanding the travel patterns of people throughout the province, the Ministry can better manage both prevention and treatment programs across those corridors.” Early on in the project, these visualizations helped focus resources in exactly the right locations.
“Once we understand the travel patterns, we can also model out the data to understand the compounding benefits of concentrating our efforts on select districts within the province,” Bernson said. “The Ministry can now make resource allocation decisions with a precise understanding of the first-, second-, and third-degree benefits.” As the partnership to end malaria expanded, holding the data at local centers started to become crucial and opened up new eradication possibilities.
“Before, you could see malaria cases across the entire region, but you couldn’t see it at a district level,” Myrick said. “By localizing data and providing the best information on a local area-by-area basis, they can be more accurate with the allocation of limited resources.” The results are clear for all to see. In two rainy seasons, cases of malaria have been reduced by a staggering 93 percent.
Above: Visualization showing malaria cases coming back during the rainy transmission season. The peak of the 2015 transmission season is significantly lower. The visualization shows the percentage of cases (in purple) detected by community health workers, illustrating earlier local detection and treatment.
“We’ve made great strides so far that indicate we’re on the right track,” Bernson said.
You see that big orange spike in early 2014? That is the height of Zambia’s rainy season when the mosquitos thrive. In 2014, as the Community Health Worker program was just mobilizing, the Ministry was able to see that the problem reached far beyond the cases that the district health centers were seeing. But with that more localized data, they were also able to detect and treat more that half of the overall cases detected in Southern Province during the transmission season. Now look at the same stretch in 2015. No big spike. Continued testing across the districts showed far lower incidence of the parasite in asymptomatic carriers and fewer outbreaks overall. This is why we are so excited.
The effort involved here is not insignificant, of course.
Data is recorded in facility registries and logbooks, with weekly reporting of simplified malaria information sent by mobile phones with Java-based data entry forms, via data-enabled mobile telephone networks, and to a centralized data server with pre-programmed data quality and analysis functionality. The result? Critical information and reports are sent back to those who need to see them in near real time.
Above: Mobile location and survey data, overlaid on maps and topographical information, helps illustrate migration patterns and focus resources where needed.
And Tableau’s efforts go beyond just providing the technology. Eight people have been meeting weekly for a year, doing pro bono work to find and structure the data, produce visualizations, and discover patterns. Tableau has also committed to providing two people on the ground in Zambia and providing pro bono product support.
The data in this part of the story focuses on the southern province of Zambia, home to over 1.8 million people in a country that has a population of 14.5 million. But eradicating malaria is as important for the economy as it is for the people affected by the disease.
A recent report released by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (in conjunction with the United Nations) estimates that the eradication of malaria would save 11 million lives over the next 25 years and unlock a staggering $2 trillion in economic benefits.
With experts estimating that an annual spend of just $5.1 billion would be necessary to eliminate malaria as a serious public health threat, the math works out in everyone’s favor.
“PATH’s work in Zambia has actually been really illustrative as we look at the broader world of Global Health programs,” Myrick said.
Over the past year, we’ve started working with members of the Asian eHealth Information Network and other governments in Africa quickly to increase the analytics competency of health ministries around the world as part of our commitment to the Global Health Security Agenda.
With so many more data collection tools available — driven by the growing number of mobile survey apps — there is huge potential to solve major global health issues if we can make the connections between collection, storage, and analysis as accessible and reliable as possible.
Above: Ephraim Sikalundu (center), data collector, and Vincent Munsaka (right), community health worker, stand with Rachel Mokosha (left), district malaria focal person, looking mobile phone data.
So what lies ahead for the Zambian project, and where does the partnership to eradicate malaria through reliable data go next? “Next will be to establish as accurate a topographical structure as possible, which means that we can get extraordinarily granular with the data,” Myrick said. “With mobile location data, we can then work out movement patterns and add in predictive modeling on weather data (humidity, for example) — house by house, village by village. They’ll be able to establish clean houses, expand to clean villages, and ultimately to clean towns. People will know what precautions to take, as we’ll know which locations have the highest risk, based on data visualization.” And that’s not all. There are other ways that mobile devices can help reach 100 percent eradication.
“Mobile technologies could also potentially be used to prevent malaria in other ways,” Duncan Earle, MACEPA director for country programs (MACEPA is the Malaria Control and Evaluation Partnership in Africa), told me. “For example, information and behavioral messages targeted to individual cell tower coverage populations could focus mobile alerts during outbreaks. Welcome messages upon crossing borders could remind people of the country’s commitment to elimination and share health messages. Better data and visualizations will help us to understand how close we are to zero and to maintain it with a robust surveillance system once we get to elimination.” And then there is Zika, another mosquito-borne disease that is making the headlines on an almost daily basis.
The partnership is set to give a presentation on this project and explain everything it has learned about other mosquito-borne illness — including Zika — at SXSW Eco in October.
What started with a simple request has become a five-year plan to eliminate malaria in Zambia by 2020, which would make it the first sub-Saharan African country ever to achieve this lofty goal.
But with mobile data, information visualization, and the diligence on display at Tableau and PATH, that dream is closer to reality than ever.
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"Lenovo launches Yoga 910 convertible laptop, Yoga Book with keyboard you can draw on | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/lenovo-launches-yoga-910-convertible-laptop-yoga-book-with-keyboard-you-can-draw-on"
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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 Lenovo launches Yoga 910 convertible laptop, Yoga Book with keyboard you can draw on Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The Lenovo Yoga Book.
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In conjunction with the IFA consumer electronics conference in Berlin today, Lenovo is announcing new products: the Yoga Book, with a flat keyboard that doubles as a writing surface when used with the compatible stylus; and the Yoga 910, the next device in the Yoga convertible laptop series.
The Yoga Book, available in Android and Windows 10 versions (starting at $499 and $549, respectively), is the more distinctive device of the two. Because the keyboard surface is very pressure-sensitive, it’s able to create a virtual version of what you’re writing even when you’re writing on a sheet of paper sitting on top of the keyboard, or even on the back of the keyboard. As a result, you can have two copies of your handwritten notes. Because of its compact size, it might not be the best choice for full-blown desktop computing, but it could be a good choice for getting important things done when you’re on the go.
Above: The keyboard of the Lenovo Yoga Book.
It’s a bit like Microsoft’s Surface, but the emphasis is on writing on the keyboard, not so much on the display. Seeing your writings appear on the display as you write on the flat writing surface might just be more natural for some people anyway. The outlines of the keys are there when you want to tap on them, and they disappear when you’re done with them, with the push of a button. While I found it a bit awkward to type on at first because there aren’t any real physical keys, I could see how you would get used to it after a while.
The device, which is the result of three years of development inside Lenovo, comes with 15 hours of battery life, an Intel Atom x5 chip, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a 10.1-inch FHD display, weighing in at 1.52 pounds and measuring 9.6mm thick. It ships with a “real pen” stylus powered with Wacom technology that doesn’t need charging.
Above: The Lenovo Yoga 910.
The Yoga 910 features a redesigned keyboard, a larger trackpad, a 13.9-inch 4K display surrounded by a thinner bezel, a fingerprint scanner, and an aluminum magnesium alloy case with a rubberized inlay. And Lenovo says it has up to 15.5 hours of battery life, using the latest Intel Kaby Lake Core i series chips up to Core i7. A headphone jack is onboard, along with USB-C connectivity. The laptop starts at $1,299 and becomes available in October.
For me, the Yoga 910 has a premium feel, it looks good from a distance, and it’s easy to type on. Judging by the positive reception of the Yoga 900, the 910 should fare well with consumers, too, but we’ll get a better sense once we get a review unit.
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"Completing the loop: Monetizing to engage | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/completing-the-loop-monetizing-to-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 Sponsored Completing the loop: Monetizing to engage Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn This sponsored post is produced by AdColony.
So often, publishers are told to balance the need to engage with the desire to monetize, but this is a half truth that sacrifices the true potential of an app.
Engaging users and monetizing them is not a zero sum reality. One need not come at the expense of the other. In fact, the apps that engage the best have the most potential to monetize, and the apps that monetize the most strategically are able to improve user engagement and retention in the process.
And this isn’t just me talking. At GamesBeat, I sat down at a panel with brilliant people from Disney, GSN, and Kongregate to ask one very important question: Is monetization and engagement at odds with one another, or are they interlocking pieces to solve the same puzzle? Their answers were clear: when the core loop of your game is intrinsically interesting, ad monetization — when done smartly — strengthens that loop. As Greg Canessa, SVP at GSN Games attested: “It’s about creating a compelling core loop that is fun and addictive that people want to keep coming back to. From that comes monetization opportunities.” Simply, when it comes to monetization and engagement, “There’s not one without the other,” Tammy Levy, the Director of Product at Kongregate, reminded us.
It’s true. While rewarded video has been shown to increase IAP conversion by encouraging otherwise non-monetizing users to make their first in-app purchases, it’s critical to first have an app and an in-app store that is compelling.
As Chris Heatherly, SVP at Disney Mobile Games noted, “People want to pay in games that they like.” It’s simply a matter of giving them a taste of what premium goods can offer to drive those in-app purchases.
The role of video in cementing both engagement and monetization For some, providing a taste of the premium experience involves short video previews within their storefront. For others, it means offering rewarded video as a form of ad monetization to keep users within the app’s core loop longer.
So how does ad monetization strengthen the core loop once it is established? With rewarded video, the path is clear. Users who are apt to churn after a frustrating level or encounter are given a lifeline: watch a video to continue. Whether continuation is enabled by an extra chance or consumable, the result is the same. The user will stay in the app longer, will be more likely to complete their session on a positive note, and will be more likely to return for subsequent sessions.
Over time, that user is more likely to retain and is four times as likely to make in-app purchases than they would’ve been had they not been given that chance to continue.
Granted, there is often hesitation around offering rewarded videos to users who have already made a purchase. However, our studies have shown that rewarded video does not cannibalize IAP potential. In fact, rewarding paying users at the right moment can actually drive increased revenue by increasing purchase frequency by up to 53 percent.
Simply put, the loop becomes more lucrative the more monetization is used to engage.
Thus, it’s not a matter of balancing IAP against ad monetization or revenue against retention. It’s a matter of enhancing an intrinsically interesting core loop with monetization and engagement strategies that are complementary. When this happens, both the publisher and the user will enjoy the result.
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].
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 starts testing stabilization for 360 video | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/media/facebook-starts-testing-stabilization-for-360-video"
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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 starts testing stabilization for 360 video Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Facebook's new process for stabilizing video.
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At its @Scale conference in San Jose today, Facebook is announcing that it’s developed a new system for stabilizing 360-degree video and that it’s starting to test the system before rolling it out to all users on Facebook and its Oculus virtual reality platform.
The stabilization software reduces the bit rate by 10 to 20 percent while maintaining video quality, and it takes just 22 milliseconds per frame.
“This approach uses a new ‘deformed-rotation’ motion model that we designed specifically for 360 video, and a new hybrid 3D-2D technique for optimizing the model parameters in order to make shaky 360 videos incredibly smooth,” Facebook research scientist Johannes Kopf wrote today in a blog post.
The new system makes it simpler to speed up video that’s been stabilized. Facebook has a dedicated hyperlapse algorithm now, Kopf wrote. Over time Facebook will “incorporate the new hyperlapse adaptation into the functionality we offer,” Kopf wrote.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! This builds on Facebook’s previous work for stabilizing video. In 2014 the company introduced the Hyperlapse iOS app.
Google and Microsoft have both previously released software for stabilizing video.
For more detail on the system, check out Kopf’s full blog post.
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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"Social whales: The industry must shift priorities to create strong game communities (VB Live) | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/games/social-whales-the-industry-must-shift-priorities-to-create-strong-game-communities-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 Social whales: The industry must shift priorities to create strong game communities (VB Live) Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn PC gaming If Moby Dick taught us anything, it’s that whale hunting doesn’t equal long-term success. But that’s only if you’re thinking of whales in terms of high-paying players. Join captains of the game industry in this VB Live event as they take a deep dive into how community — and social whales — transform your game from small fry to big tuna.
Access the free VB Live event on demand right here.
Mobile gaming has launched an entirely new generation of diverse, sophisticated players who are as far from the stereotype of the hunched-over basement troll as it’s possible to get. Now that games are mainstream entertainment with massive audiences, marketers need to shake off the old whale-hunting model of monetization to find ways to welcome these new players, who are seeking more meaning and looking for connections in games.
The key today is rethinking your definition of value to encompass all player types.
“It’s just a giant mistake to say that only the hardcore players who are paying you a lot of money are the people who are adding a lot of value to your community,” says Wright Bagwell, CEO of OutPost Games. “There’s a whole ecosystem of people that add a lot of value. They’re the people who are great YouTube or Twitch stars who inspire other people to come play. They are people who play very socially, who are going to be telling their friends to come and play.” Dean Takahashi, lead writer at GamesBeat, points out that the “social whales” — a term coined by Dmitri Williams at Ninja Metrics — are some of the most overlooked and most important users. “These are the people who are the life of the party,” explains Takahashi. “They’re not spending money directly in the game, but they may be a clan organizer or some kind of leader in the game, and they attract other people — and those other people will spend a lot of money.” Bagwell points out that the term “spenders” is used frequently as well, and that’s just as limiting a perception of your users. “If you want people to keep coming back to your game, you have to think of people not as spenders but as investors,” he says. “People can spend money to invest in improving their skills, or helping out other players, or even paying to support players that they like. But you’ve also got people who are investing their time to either socialize or investing time to get really good at playing your game, which in turn inspires other people to want to play. That’s a form of investment too.” And when you get people invested in your game, then you’ve got people thinking about playing that game as a pastime that they might want to do for the rest of their life, he adds, rather than just a way to spend money to pass the time.
Of course spenders are valuable to any monetization and marketing strategy, notes Alexis Fritzsche, developer partner manager of mobile apps at Google, but the problem is when it becomes a laser focus. “We all love revenue and at the end of the day, these are businesses,” Fritzche says. “However, when you have these social whales that are bringing in let’s say organic installs, and people who can go out and find whales for you, and you’re not paying to actually acquire them — if you haven’t put together a marketing strategy for them, you’re just missing out.” The huge success of SongPop, the head-to-head music trivia game from FreshPlanet, comes from the connections that like-minded music fans are encouraged to create with features like chat, says Mathieu Nouzareth, FreshPlanet’s CEO. “You can also build many-to-many communities where people can find friends,” he adds. “And if they can find friends in the game, then they’ll stay for a very long time. With people who spend time in your game for weeks and months — this is how you monetize the game.” One of the most essential components of building a foundation for a community is enabling a direct relationship with your players.
“You’ve got to think of your games these days as a service, and you’ve got to offer good service to your customers,” explains Bagwell, going beyond the boxed-product mentality where you finish the game, issue it onto the shelves, and move on to the next thing.
“Find a way to receive feedback or communicate with the players,” says Takahashi. “It’s surprisingly simple — if you can communicate with them and they can communicate with you, then good things can happen.” To learn more about how to create a gaming community — and the essential lessons of Pokémon Go, Clash of Kings, and Minecraft, catch up on this VB Live event now! Don’t miss out! Access this VB Live event on demand — and join gaming experts as they deconstruct what it means to build and maintain a thriving games community and learn to: Understand the aspects of gaming platforms that can help a community succeed Define and refine the elements of community success Turn content marketing opportunities into actionable insights Utilize Google to harness unique insights and tools to maximize community performance Speakers: Mathieu Nouzareth, CEO of FreshPlanet Wright Bagwell, CEO of OutPost Games Alexis Fritzsche, Developer Partner Manager, Mobile Apps, Google Dean Takahashi, Lead Writer, GamesBeat Wendy Schuchart, Moderator, VentureBeat 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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"HTC invests $5 million in VR studio from Pixar and Lucasfilm veterans | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/games/htc-invests-5-million-in-vr-studio-from-pixar-and-lucasfilm-veterans"
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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 invests $5 million in VR studio from Pixar and Lucasfilm veterans Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Quar: Battle for Gate 18 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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HTC sees a VR developer that it likes.
Steel Wool Studios, a virtual reality studio made up of veterans from Pixar, LucasFilm, and Telltale Games, announced today that it has received $5 million in Series A funding from HTC. Steel Wool will use the funds to support its game, simulation, and narrative VR experiences. HTC is the company behind the Vive , one of most prominent VR headsets. Market watchers are predicting that VR could generate $40 billion in revenues by 2020 , but the sector can only grow if consumers have access to quality games, films, and other experiences.
The studio’s first VR games is Quar: Battle for Gate 18, which came out in April along with the HTC Vive’s launch. The interactive simulation Mars Odyssey is Steel Wool’s next project. It will come out on Steam on September 9 and has players fixing the NASA Mars Exploration Rovers while exploring the red planet.
“The Steel Wool Studios team carries an impressive pedigree of creative talent that has already proven its ability to build cutting-edge content for the nascent VR category,” said HTC Corporation CEO Cher Wang in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “Taking a look at Mars Odyssey and Steel Wool’s other projects under development, it’s immediately clear that this studio will drive VR adoption with great content that balances amazing visual fidelity with strong storytelling.” 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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"2K enters the VR scene with Carnival Games | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/games/2k-enters-the-vr-scene-with-carnival-games"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages 2K enters the VR scene with Carnival Games Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Carnival Games VR.
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The midway is coming to virtual reality.
Publisher 2K has announced its first virtual reality title, a new entry in the Carnival Games series. It will come out for the HTC Vive and PlayStation VR on October 28 for $20. An Oculus Rift release will follow later this year. Analysts are predicting that VR could generate $40 billion in revenues by 2020 , so it makes sense to see a major publisher like 2K get involved.
The original Carnival Games was a surprise hit for the Nintendo Wii, being one of the few third-party games to become a major success on the motion control-based system. According to 2K, the series has sold over 9 million copies worldwide. 2K was rewarded for investing in the Wii experiment early, something it could replicate with the blossoming VR market.
“Virtual reality is an exciting new emerging platform that has the potential to enhance the way that interactive entertainment is created and experienced,” said Sarah Anderson, senior vice president of marketing at 2K, in a press release sent to GamesBeat. “As our first foray into this space, we wanted to deliver a highly accessible entertainment experience that would allow players to immerse themselves in the familiar, classic fun of our Carnival Games series. With its stylized interactive environments and all-new features, Carnival Games VR will deliver the magic of the midway like never before.” 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! Carnival Games VR will include 12 experiences, including Ring Toss, Pop Darts, and Shooting Gallery.
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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"Newzoo: Esports revenues are on pace to grow 52% this year | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/esports/esports-revenues-52-growth-2016"
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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 Newzoo: Esports revenues are on pace to grow 52% this year Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn ESL is one of the event organizers that publishers contract to run pro leagues.
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Competitive gaming is going through a growth spurt in 2016.
Esports-related revenues are on pace to generate $493 million in 2016, according to a report from intelligence firm Newzoo.
That’s up more than 51.7 percent from 2015, and it is also a 7 percent increase from the projection that Newzoo made to kick off 2016.
Most of the growth comes from gaming publishers investing in the space as well as media rights selling off to broadcasters faster than expected. The rest of that revenue comes from event sponsorships, video advertising, and ticket sales.
Newzoo now projects that esports will drive $1.1 billion in revenues by 2019. Competing intelligence firm SuperData Research claims that esports is a $892 million market , but Newzoo does not include esports gambling in its figures, which is where most of that discrepancy comes from.
Above: Newzoo sees continued gains for esports revenues.
“More and more publishers are embracing esports strategically as a way to increase the longevity of their games through increased player engagement, and to boost franchise awareness among a broad audience through live competitions and tournaments,” Newzoo marketing director Emma McDonald explained in a statement. “For the latter reason, many publishers have looked to third-party organizers to help them set up tournaments around their new franchises. In total, Newzoo estimates that by the end of 2016, publishers will have spent close to $100 million to organizers to help them set up a tournaments, competitions, and leagues for their franchises.” 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! An example of those kinds of esports-as-marketing tournaments is Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six: Siege Pro League.
The French publisher wants to keep players coming back, and it is working with event organizer ESL to put on regular seasons.
As for the media rights, that is something that is starting to shake out thanks to deals like Turner, which runs cable networks like TBS, running Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Overwatch in its Eleague events.
But those deals are a secondary or tertiary business model after increasing engagement.
“Many game publishers, however, still use esports as a marketing tool to drive the engagement of their player base, which leads to higher in-game spending,” wrote McDonald. “This is beneficial mostly to the publishers themselves.” But the growing popularity of esports, as well as the pro teams and players, means that media rights will continue to increase in value for the foreseeable future.
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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"U.S. Treasury accuses EU of claiming tax revenues from Apple owed to U.S. | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/u-s-treasury-accuses-eu-of-claiming-tax-revenues-from-apple-owed-to-u-s"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages U.S. Treasury accuses EU of claiming tax revenues from Apple owed to U.S.
Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew attends a news conference at the close of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Chengdu in Southwestern China's Sichuan province, Sunday, July 24, 2016.
(Reuters) – The United States has accused the European Union of grabbing revenue intended for U.S. coffers when it ordered Apple to pay up to $14.5 billion in back taxes, a decision that could cause friction at an international summit in China next week.
The EU executive this week retroactively scrapped a tax deal Apple had with Ireland, arguing the technology giant was effectively paying a tax rate of a fraction of 1 percent on its profits.
“I have been concerned that it reflected an attempt to reach in to the U.S. tax base to tax income that ought to be taxed in the United States,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said on Wednesday at an event to discuss Washington’s position ahead of a meeting of the Group of 20 industrial nations in China next week.
The Apple row is the latest spat between Brussels and Washington over company regulation. Earlier this month, the Treasury issued a detailed legal argument that the EU Commission’s approach went against European laws.
Lew said making Apple pay higher taxes in Ireland could let the company deduct those payments from what it owes to the United States, reducing U.S. tax revenues.
The European Commission rulings appeared to be highly focused on U.S. companies, Lew said.
“We think that it undermines the environment in Europe for international business because it creates uncertainty that ultimately will not be good for the European economy,” Lew said at an event hosted by the Brookings Institution in Washington.
For now, other U.S. companies under scrutiny for their EU tax arrangements are staying in the background as Lew, Apple and certain industry trade groups lead the charge against the European Union action.
Online retailer Amazon, for example, declined to comment on an EU investigation of the tax treatment of royalties paid by a Luxembourg unit. In the past, Amazon has said that it received no special treatment.
However, a trade group representing U.S. technology companies said it is concerned the European Union will hit other firms with retroactive penalties.
“It appears … they’ve invited folks to come forward and try and claim a piece of this settlement,” said Jennifer McCloskey, director of government affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council, a business group representing more than 60 global companies, including Apple.
The EU has ordered coffee chain Starbucks to pay more Dutch taxes while Amazon and restaurant group McDonald’s are still being investigated. Also, the EU has made a series of accusations that Google, part of Alphabet, has abused its market power.
Apple has said it will appeal the ruling, issued on Monday.
Critics in the U.S. Congress have denounced the move as a predatory money grab that would encroach on U.S. government jurisdiction and ultimately add to the federal deficit.
European officials, however, have suggested that U.S. laws were encouraging companies to avoid taxes, and the EU denies it is “grabbing” U.S. tax receipts.
It notes that the United States has chosen not to apply tax rules that would bar Apple from earning the money tax free. Since the EU’s argument is based on the fact that the income in question is earned by a subsidiary effectively not liable for tax anywhere, the EU says that if the United States did tax the money, the position would be different.
Officials from the United States, the European Union and other G20 economies will meet in Hangzhou, China next week and were due to discuss how to clamp down on international tax avoidance.
The G20 endorsed a package of measures last year to tackle corporate tax avoidance, but questions have remained about whether countries will follow through on the plans.
The Obama administration so far has failed to convince a divided Congress to overhaul U.S. business tax laws, which feature above-average tax rates, encouraging companies to be taxed overseas.
Lew said it appeared unlikely America would reform business tax laws before Obama’s term ends in January, but that progress could be made early in the next administration. The United States will hold a presidential election on Nov. 8.
(By Jason Lange; Addtional reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Jeffrey Benkoe 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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"Tile unveils wallet-sized Tile Slim, starts licensing its tech to third parties | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/tile-unveils-wallet-sized-tile-slim-starts-licensing-its-tech-to-third-parties"
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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 Tile unveils wallet-sized Tile Slim, starts licensing its tech to third parties 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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Bluetooth tracker company Tile has a new product: the $30 Tile Slim , a tracker about as thick as two credit cards that fits easily inside your wallet.
While the original Tile tracker is sticking around, Tile boasts that the Slim is “the world’s thinnest Bluetooth tracker designed specifically for wallets.” Like the original Tile, the Silm was designed to help you keep track of items you often lose (or can’t afford to lose) — like your wallet, blazer, or laptop (via an adhesive).
Fresh off an $18 million round , Tile is also beginning to sell its tracking tech to third-party hardware companies, starting with scooter maker EcoReco, PowerPack maker Nomad, and “smart wallet” maker Zillion.
Every tracker Tile makes is part of a larger user network that enables the company to locate lost items beyond the physical range of Bluetooth — say, if you lost your keys at a cafe, someone else’s Tile could reveal their location in Tile’s app.
“Opening our platform to allow other companies to build Tile’s smart location technology into their products will expand our network quickly,” said Tile CEO Mike Farley, explaining that this “creates value for our community of partners and consumers by finding items even faster.” 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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"Microsoft releases new Windows 10 preview with improved app and update downloads | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/microsoft-releases-new-windows-10-preview-with-improved-app-and-update-downloads"
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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 improved app and update downloads Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Windows 10 Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
Learn more.
Microsoft today released a new Windows 10 preview for PCs and phones. The highlight is a significant change to Delivery Optimization of app and update downloads.
Windows 10 is a service.
As we wrote in our deep dive on how Microsoft is still building Windows 10 , this means Windows Insiders are getting new builds even though the operating system launched in July 2015. The most recent significant update is the Windows 10 Anniversary Update , released earlier this month.
The big news today is that Windows Insiders can now use Delivery Optimization to download new builds, OS updates, and app updates not just from other PCs on their local network, but also from other PCs on the internet. Keep in mind that this is a two-way street: Your PC can also be used to send parts of apps or updates to other PCs.
In November, Microsoft turned on Delivery Optimization, which allowed users to get updates from PCs on a local network. Since then, Microsoft has seen a 30 percent to 50 percent reduction in internet bandwidth usage required to keep multiple PCs on the same local network up-to-date. Now the company is getting ready to turn on the ability to get updates from PCs on the internet as well.
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 feature is really just peer-to-peer downloading and uploading: In addition to downloading apps, app updates and OS updates from the Windows Update servers, Delivery Optimization will look for nearby PCs on your local network or on the Internet that have Delivery Optimization enabled and find the app or OS update you need that may be even closer to your PC. Rather than downloading an entire file from one machine, Delivery Optimization breaks the download into small pieces and uses what is assessed as the fastest, most reliable source for each piece of the file. Delivery Optimization is also mindful of local disk usage, use of cellular networks, battery life, and other network activity. It is also integrated with and builds on the existing security measures in Windows Update and Windows Store to check the authenticity of each file downloaded from other PCs. Particularly for PCs with challenging network conditions, this is designed to provide a better and more reliable download experience.
Delivery Optimization is located under Settings, Update & security, Windows Update, Advanced options, and then “Choose how updates are delivered.” Delivery Optimization is on by default, though you can turn it off or choose to use it only for your local network.
The desktop build includes the following improvements and bug fixes: Fixed the issue with being unable to use the power button on the Start menu.
Fixed the issue causing Cortana’s text to speech capabilities to not work. Cortana should be able to read text messages out loud for you, tell jokes, sing, or give verbal prompts as expected.
Fixed the issue causing the Settings app to crash on certain editions of Windows 10 when navigating to different settings pages due to a missing .dll file.
We made a number of improvements to translations, including fixing an issue in Windows Update where it would say “your phone is up to date” in French when confirming that your PC was up to date.
Changing functionality via Settings > Update & security > Windows Insider Program such as your ring settings should now work again on this build. For more information – see this forum post.
Fixed a compatibility issue from a recent platform change that causes apps such as Yahoo Mail, Trivia Crack, Google and the Skype Translator Preview app to crash.
Fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders experiencing a delay in Mail notification toasts appearing.
Fixed an issue where the “Open with” dialog’s “Look for another app on this PC” link wasn’t working if the dialog appeared after using the “Run” dialog to open a file with an unassociated file type.
We have updated the Connect flyout so that the clickable area for each device listed now spans across the full width of the flyout.
Fixed an issue where if a Chinese Input Method Editor is active it could result in logging in to not succeed after device goes into and is woken up from Connected Standby.
Fixed an issue where for certain websites in Microsoft Edge, using CTRL + A to select all text and then copying it and trying to paste it into Notepad wouldn’t paste anything.
Fixed an issue where importing favorites into Microsoft Edge from Internet Explorer would fail if the Favorites folder had been redirected to another folder, for example “C:\Users\<user>\Documents\Favorites”.
Today’s update bumps the Windows 10 build number from 14905 for PCs (made available to testers on August 17) to build 14915.
This build has four known issues: Adobe Acrobat Reader crashes when you try to launch it.
You may experience a black screen when signing out and switching to another user account and will be unable to log in to that account. A reboot of your PC should allow you to log in to that account.
Bash may not work after upgrading to this build. To get it working again, go to “Turn Windows features on or off,” scroll down and check “Windows Subsystem for Linux (beta)” and click ok. After a reboot, Bash should work again.
The Settings app may crash when going to Settings > Personalization.
If you’re OK with the above known issues and want to get build 14915 now, head to PC Settings, select “Update and recovery,” then “Preview builds,” and then click the “Check Now” button.
The Windows 10 Mobile build also includes a bunch of improvements and fixes, but Microsoft has yet to openly discuss its plans for the future of the platform.
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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"A Microsoft chatbot is insulting people again, and that's a good thing | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/microsoft-chatbot-is-insulting-people-again-and-thats-a-good-thing"
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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 A Microsoft chatbot is insulting people again, and that’s a good thing Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Earlier this month Microsoft shared news of new bots in the Skype Bot Shop, including new ones from StubHub, Hipmunk, and IFTTT.
Also released that day but not publicized was Your Face , a bot created by Microsoft that combines computer vision, emotion recognition, and facial recognition APIs from Microsoft Cognitive Services.
Your Face doesn’t have a name like Siri or Cortana but he has the face of an old man and is a pretty salty curmudgeon. Upload any photo or GIF and the bot will guess the age, analyze expression, and share a few opinions about the face sprinkled with salty curmudgeonness. Upload a photo or GIF of your own face and it will probably insult you. It’s one of the first artificial intelligence-driven bots by Microsoft to dole out insults since its Tay bot made racist, anti-Semitic remarks on Twitter in March.
Your Face called VentureBeat editor in chief Blaise Zerega a man with “a grin that knows no decency and a weedy excuse for a mustache.” For the record, Zerega does not have a mustache. No comment about his grin, however.
Using the face API to identify them, Your Face likes to talk a fair deal of trash about mustaches. It made fun of my “itsy bitsy mustache” on more than one occasion, a comment that hits a little close to home for guys like me who grow very little facial hair. It’s basically always peach fuzz.
I shared some of the random things that can be found in my Camera Roll with Your Face. As we saw with the performance of WTF Is That bot , computer vision results can vary.
This GIF of a sloth wearing a monocle was accurately identified as an animal, and the robot photo I uploaded was accurately identified as a toy, but there were instances when Your Face demonstrated less than accurate vision.
When it saw the old Budweiser mascot Spud MacKenzie it said “I don’t share your strange obsession with dogs sitting on tables,” when in fact Spud was about to play the drums.
A man wearing a horse mask holding a cocktail was incorrectly “seen” as a man standing next to a horse.
After sharing 20 photos, what was most striking to me was Your Face’s consistent inability to correctly discern men from women. A photo I took at a Girls in Tech event was inaccurately identified as a 36-year-old man.
Just like Your Face, Xiaoice and Tay can identify a person’s gender, emotion, and age, and comment on a person’s appearance.
Lili Cheng is manager of FUSE Labs at Microsoft Research. She helped build Xiaoice and Tay, and her experience building chat apps for Microsoft goes back to the 1990s.
She talked about Xiaoice and Tay in June at a two-day gathering of developers, industry leaders, and entrepreneurs that Cheng helped organize called Botness.
Xiaoice was born out of a hackathon and collaboration between Microsoft Asia and Bing teams, Cheng said. With the personality of a teenage girl, Xiaoice went live on WeChat, and was invited to join 1.5 million chat groups and spoke with 10 million users before WeChat shut it down.
“It kind of increased the hype a little actually by shutting it down immediately because people were like what was that?” Cheng said.
In June 2016, Xiaoice had 40 million users.
Along with the ability to carry on idle chit chat, Xiaoice can search for information, answer questions, schedule reminders, perform real-time translation, and be an emotional support. She did the weather report, calling herself the “first artificial intelligence lady to be on television.” Like Alexa, new Xiaoice skills are shared weekly.
It was in this context that Microsoft debuted Tay, a bot made to have a personality with a bit of an edge and willingness to insult you.
“Our biggest worry with Tay was no one would pay attention. That wasn’t really the case,” Cheng said.
After Xiaoice basically became the first AI-powered celebrity in China, within 24 hours Tay was a Trump voter tweeting quotes from Hitler’s Mein Kampf and bragging about smoking weed in front of the police.
The Tay Twitter account was shut down and has yet to return.
Weeks before Satya Nadella declared conversations as a platform a force as important to computing as the graphic user interface, company executives were apologizing for a racist, sexist chatbot that got famous for the wrong reasons. That’s sort of the antithesis of the rollout you want, and likely a very different strategy than the company initially planned, with Tay at the lead of the marketing charge to convince people that natural language is “the new interface.” An analysis of Twitter data by Microsoft found specific groups fed information to Tay, Cheng said.
“The kind of gamer trolls were at the core of a lot of the misbehavior but then we had a lot of anti-feminists, there were a lot of Trump supporters, and then a lot of tech people,” she said.
Last month Skype added the ability to invite bots into group chat. Cheng believes Tay performed better in groups.
“I think the difference between a chatbot that you interact with friends and in small groups and something that’s really public and on the internet, it just surprised us. We probably should’ve thought more about and we will the next time,” she said.
Tay and Your Face insult people with words but photo analysis can get companies in trouble too.
Last summer, Google issued an apology when its computer vision falsely identified a British woman of African descent as a gorilla. This summer, Google drew criticism again when people found the sharp difference between the results of a Google Image search for “three black boys” and “three white boys.” Telling someone they have a politician’s smile is a lot less risky than creating a bot that ends up quoting Hitler. Even if Your Face is light hearted, it’s nice to see Microsoft build something with a sense of humor again.
People have disagreements over whether bots will replace apps, and whether bots are overhyped, but speak to developers making bots, engineers training AI, and tech giants like Microsoft, and everyone agrees that natural language processing isn’t perfect, there’s progress to be made in personal assistants etc.
Both Tay and Xiaoice are the product of experiments, experiments instrumental to the creation of the Microsoft Bot Framework , Cheng said.
If bots are going to change business, help address homelessness, act as a lawyer, or help citizens connect with government services like Microsoft is testing in Singapore, let’s hope experiments at Microsoft and elsewhere stay feral and wild. On platforms being used by billions of people, there’s more at stake than dad jokes and pizza.
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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"Libre Wireless Technologies Announces Collaboration with Silicon Labs to Enable Compelling New DAB/DAB+ and Wi-Fi Connected DAB/DAB+ Solutions | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/libre-wireless-technologies-announces-collaboration-with-silicon-labs-to-enable-compelling-new-dabdab-and-wi-fi-connected-dabdab-solutions"
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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 Libre Wireless Technologies Announces Collaboration with Silicon Labs to Enable Compelling New DAB/DAB+ and Wi-Fi Connected DAB/DAB+ Solutions Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–August 31, 2016– Libre Wireless Technologies, Inc.
, a leading embedded Wi-Fi and wireless solutions provider, today announced its strategic working relationship with Silicon Labs to develop and produce a range of turn-key wireless DAB/DAB+ modules and software solutions for next generation radios and audio products featuring DAB/DAB+ combined with Wi-Fi connectivity and media streaming capability.
Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB/DAB+) continues to be a significant digital broadcast technology in several regions around the world. Meanwhile, Wi-Fi audio streaming is becoming very popular for audio products and consumers are beginning to expect it across the board. By combining forces, Libre Wireless and Silicon Labs can deliver extremely cost-effective DAB/DAB+ streaming solutions in turn-key embedded modules that deliver to companies proven DAB/DAB+ performance and the most compelling wireless streaming features all with the fastest time to market, lowest risk and lowest cost.
“Libre Wireless Technologies continues to lead the market with LibreSync, the most cost-effective and advanced wireless streaming technologies and module solutions,” says Hooman Kashef , Chief Executive Officer of Libre Wireless Technologies. “As we enable Wi-Fi streaming features for the mainstream products at lower cost, lower power and with the most powerful MRA technology in the world (DDMS), our alliance with Silicon Labs makes perfect sense given their leading expertise in RF IC design and their now proven and certified DAB/DAB+ solutions shipping in the market today.” “We are delighted to collaborate with Libre Wireless Technologies in enabling the next wave of DAB/DAB+ technology for the world of consumer audio,” said Brian Mirkin, General Manager of Silicon Labs’ broadcast products. “The combination of Libre’s Wi-Fi connected solutions and Silicon Labs’ best-in-class multi-band digital radio broadcast receivers brings the digital content and CD-quality user experience of DAB/DAB+ radio into the mainstream of wireless streaming audio. We applaud Libre’s innovative approach of extending cutting-edge digital broadcast content over Wi-Fi into the connected home market.” Libre plans to release new DAB/DAB+ and DAB/DAB+ combined Wi-Fi module products integrated with their industry-leading LibreSync software SDK for the industry’s best price/performance options. More details on specific products as well as customer sampling will come in fourth quarter 2016.
About Libre Wireless Technologies Libre Wireless Technologies has extensive expertise and experience in developing Wi-Fi/Wireless technologies with IoT and Media streaming software and SDK platforms, electronic modules and RF/antenna design solutions. The Libre team has deep Wi-Fi/BT technology, IoT and A/V system design experience combined with worldwide sales, technical support and design partnerships. The LibreSync platform incorporates unique media streaming technology, broad mobile platform ecosystem support, seamless interoperability, scalable price/performance solution options, optimized and flexible Wi-Fi/Bluetooth options (1×1 11n, 2×2 11n, 11n/ac) and extensive system level features. Optimized for performance, power, size and cost, LibreSync solutions provide ODMs and CE Brand customers with the most complete, flexible and ecosystem leading media streaming platform available.
About Silicon Labs Silicon Labs (NASDAQ: SLAB) is a leading provider of silicon, software and solutions for the Internet of Things, Internet infrastructure, industrial automation, consumer and automotive markets. We solve the electronics industry’s toughest problems, providing customers with significant advantages in performance, energy savings, connectivity and design simplicity. Backed by our world-class engineering teams with unsurpassed software and mixed-signal design expertise, Silicon Labs empowers developers with the tools and technologies they need to advance quickly and easily from initial idea to final product.
www.silabs.com View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160831005854/en/ Libre Wireless Technologies, Inc.
Jordan Watters, Chief Revenue Officer (512) 757-9490 [email protected] www.librewireless.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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"HP launches Elite Slice modular PC, Pavilion Wave triangular tower | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/hp-launches-elite-slice-modular-pc-pavilion-wave-triangular-tower"
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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 HP launches Elite Slice modular PC, Pavilion Wave triangular tower Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The HP Elite Slice.
HP today is announcing new desktop PCs with unusual designs. The Elite Slice is a modular PC that will let customers choose which stackable components they want to use, while the Pavilion Wave is a tower in a triangle shape that features two microphones and noise reduction capability to enable high-quality speech recognition.
The concept of a modular PC could be compelling to people who like the idea of only using the hardware they want and of upgrading to the latest systems. It draws on the idea of selecting components when you build and maintain your own computer — but here you don’t have to worry about the more technical aspects of installation and repair. You just snap on the pieces you want and snap off the ones you don’t.
HP is offering modules for collaboration (there are touch buttons for easy control of Skype for Business), audio (tuned by Bang & Olufsen), wireless charging, and ODD (for using CDs and DVDs). The system runs up to a Sixth-Generation Intel Core i7 chip with Intel Graphics HD 530, and it offers up to 32GB of RAM and up to 512GB of solid-state storage (SSD), alongside USB-C, USB-A, DisplayPort, HDMI, and headphone ports. The machine starts at $700 and will be available beginning in September.
This follows the launch of Asus’s Project Avalon modular PC project and the revelation of Microsoft’s patent application for a modular PC.
The Pavilion Wave is interesting, too, not least for its triangular appearance. It’s optimized for speech. Sure, computers have come with mics before, but clearly, Microsoft is thinking about how to present the best possible experience with the Cortana virtual assistant embedded in Windows 10, which the PC ships with.
Above: The HP Pavilion Wave.
The Pavilion Wave has up to a Sixth-Generation Intel Core i7 chip with Intel HD 530 Graphics, up to 16GB of RAM, up to 2TB of hard disk space, up to 128GB SSD, USB-C and USB-A ports, HDMI, an SD card reader, and Bang & Olufsen multi-directional audio. The PC starts at $550 and will become available on September 23, according to a statement.
Clearly HP is thinking about ways to stand out and stay relevant. Its laptops, like the Spectre, have managed to stand out. Now, less than one year after its split from Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP is thinking about the classic desktop experience, even in the age of mobile devices.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Google's OnHub router can now control Philips Hue lights | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/googles-onhub-router-can-now-control-philips-hue-lights"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Google’s OnHub router can now control Philips Hue lights Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The TP-LINK OnHub router.
Google today said that its OnHub internet router can now connect to and allow users to control Philips Hue lights.
They’re a common example of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, and now that OnHub can control it, the router is looking smarter.
“Now anyone connected to your OnHub can type ‘On.Here’ in a computer, tablet, or mobile browser and control the most popular features of your Philips Hue lights from there,” Google product manager Ben Brown wrote in a blog post.
Google first introduced the TP-LINK-made OnHub a year ago.
An OnHub from Asus appeared in October.
OnHub has since gotten support for the IFTTT app-connecting service. And Google has also enhanced it with the introduction of user-customizable shells for the router.
Routers are not the sexiest hardware for the home. But now Google is pushing one with a simple onboarding experience, and startup Eero has also been getting attention for its network-connected routers that provide better connectivity by creating a mesh network.
Meanwhile, Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant has been racking up IoT-related skills, and Apple’s upcoming iOS 10 operating system will enable iPhones and iPads to control IoT devices through the Home app.
To celebrate the OnHub’s first birthday, Google is dropping the price of the TP-LINK OnHub from $199.99 to $179.99 on the Google Store and Amazon.
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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"Google Patents' search engine gets global push with launch in U.K., Japan, and 9 other markets | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/google-patents-search-engine-uk-japan-korea"
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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 Patents’ search engine gets global push with launch in U.K., Japan, and 9 other markets Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Google Patents 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 is boosting its patents search service this week with the news that it’s adding 11 more national patent offices to the mix.
First launched in 2006, Google Patents initially only worked with searches through the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), but it was expanded to cover the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2012, followed a year later by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the respective patent offices for Germany, Canada, and China.
The purpose of patent search engines is to help budding entrepreneurs, inventors, or anyone working on new products establish whether anyone else has already filed for patents in the same field and determine whether they’re duplicating something that’s already been done. It’s also a useful tool for patent examiners to research “prior art” (existing inventions) when assessing a patent application.
Google Patents has now been given its biggest expansion to date, with users able to search for patents and applications from the U.K., Japan, South Korea, France, Spain, Belgium, Russia, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Luxembourg. As with its other local patent archives, the new collection is searchable in English as well as the source language, thanks to the smarts of Google Translate.
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"Coursera for Business launches to tap the billion-dollar corporate e-learning market | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/coursera-for-business-launches-to-tap-the-multi-billion-dollar-corporate-e-learning-market"
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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 Coursera for Business launches to tap the billion-dollar corporate e-learning market Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Coursera for Business Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Online education company Coursera has launched a new business-focused offering aimed at giving enterprises a direct pipeline for training and development resources.
Founded out of Mountain View, California in 2012, Coursera partners with universities and other educational institutions to serve more than 20 million online students a range of courses across business, technology, science, and more. Now, with Coursera for Business , the California-based company has opened itself to additional revenues from the lucrative corporate e-learning market, which some reports suggest was worth $12 billion in the U.S. alone in 2015 and could hit $31 billion globally by 2020.
For launch, Coursera counts a number of notable names as clients, including L’Oréal, Boston Consulting Group, and Axis Bank. Much of the same philosophy of the normal Coursera programs is being ported into the enterprise edition, except it will feature specially curated curricula tailored to a company’s goals, with the ability to track employee enrollment and learning progress. It can also be co-branded with a special homepage through which employees access the courses, while single sign-on means that workers can log in using their usual company accounts both on the web and through Coursera’s smartphones apps.
“Coursera was founded to help transform lives through access to high quality learning experiences, and we’ve seen extraordinary success in supporting people’s career goals,” explained Coursera CEO Rick Levin. “We recognize that one of the best ways we can scale the impact of Coursera and our university partners is by working with the organizations that share the vision of equipping their employees with the knowledge and skills to excel in their careers.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Coursera is one of a number of so-called MOOCs — massive open online courses — to come to the fore in recent years, and has raised almost $150 million in VC investment since its inception four years ago. Earlier this year, Udemy closed a $60 million round to take its total funding past the $170 million mark, while over the past year Duolingo has raised $45 million , and rival Udacity celebrated five years in business.
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"Chrome 53 arrives with new developer features | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/chrome-53-arrives-with-new-developer-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 Chrome 53 arrives with new developer 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.
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Google today launched Chrome 53 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This release is mainly focused on developers, but there’s no reason for anyone to hold off on updating. You can update to the latest version now using the browser’s built-in silent updater, or download it directly from google.com/chrome.
Chrome is arguably more than a browser: With over 1 billion users , it’s a major platform that web developers have to consider. In fact, with Chrome’s regular additions and changes, developers have to keep up to ensure they are taking advantage of everything available.
Chrome 53 also brings Google’s Material Design mantra, first introduced at the company’s I/O conference in June 2014, to Windows. Chrome for iOS got Material Design back in January 2015 with version 40 and Chrome for Mac received Material Design last month in version 52.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Chrome 53 supports Shadow DOM V1, which allows an element to encapsulate its style and child DOM away from the main document. This is useful when trying to maintain large code bases of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Chrome will support V0 of the API until enough developers have moved to V1.
Other developer features in this release include: Sites that send notifications to Android devices running Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) or later may now provide a badge to show in the status bar in place of the Chrome logo.
Notification objects now provide getters for reading the notification action buttons and vibration pattern.
Cross-origin plugin content smaller than 5×5 pixels no longer loads for users that have set “Detect and run important plugin content.” The allow-presentation sandbox flag allows sites to control whether an iframe can present to external devices.
Pattern attribute values on input elements now use the unicode flag , improving syntax checking and other regular expression ergonomics.
3D-positioned elements will be flattened if an ancestor has opacity less than 1.
To prevent visual artifacts , all content will be re-rastered when its transform scale changes, unless it has the will-change: transform CSS property.
Low-pass and high-pass biquad filters now support more filter characteristics.
–webkit-filter is now an alias for the unprefixed filter property and will behave identically, instead of having separate behaviors.
–webkit-user-select now supports an all property which forces a selection to contain an entire element and all its descendants.
The Web Bluetooth API is available experimentally on some platforms, as an origin trial , allowing sites to communicate with nearby devices using the Bluetooth Generic Attribute Profile (GATT).
The text-size-adjust property allows sites to control whether font size automatically scales on mobile devices.
Chrome 53 also includes 33 security fixes, of which Google chose to highlight the following: [$7500][ 628942 ] High CVE-2016-5147: Universal XSS in Blink. Credit to anonymous [$7500][ 621362 ] High CVE-2016-5148: Universal XSS in Blink. Credit to anonymous [$7500][ 573131 ] High CVE-2016-5149: Script injection in extensions. Credit to Max Justicz (http://web.mit.edu/maxj/www/) [$5000][ 637963 ] High CVE-2016-5150: Use after free in Blink. Credit to anonymous [$5000][ 634716 ] High CVE-2016-5151: Use after free in PDFium. Credit to anonymous [$5000][ 629919 ] High CVE-2016-5152: Heap overflow in PDFium. Credit to GiWan Go of Stealien [$3500][ 631052 ] High CVE-2016-5153: Use after destruction in Blink. Credit to Atte Kettunen of OUSPG [$3000][ 633002 ] High CVE-2016-5154: Heap overflow in PDFium. Credit to anonymous [$3000][ 630662 ] High CVE-2016-5155: Address bar spoofing. Credit to anonymous [$3000][ 625404 ] High CVE-2016-5156: Use after free in event bindings. Credit to jinmo123 [$TBD][ 632622 ] High CVE-2016-5157: Heap overflow in PDFium. Credit to anonymous [$TBD][ 628890 ] High CVE-2016-5158: Heap overflow in PDFium. Credit to GiWan Go of Stealien [$TBD][ 628304 ] High CVE-2016-5159: Heap overflow in PDFium. Credit to GiWan Go of Stealien [$n/a][ 622420 ] Medium CVE-2016-5161: Type confusion in Blink. Credit to 62600BCA031B9EB5CB4A74ADDDD6771E working with Trend Micro’s Zero Day Initiative [$n/a][ 589237 ] Medium CVE-2016-5162: Extensions web accessible resources bypass. Credit to Nicolas Golubovic [$3000][ 609680 ] Medium CVE-2016-5163: Address bar spoofing. Credit to Rafay Baloch PTCL Etisalat (http://rafayhackingarticles.net) [$2000][ 637594 ] Medium CVE-2016-5164: Universal XSS using DevTools. Credit to anonymous [$1000][ 618037 ] Medium CVE-2016-5165: Script injection in DevTools. Credit to Gregory Panakkal [$TBD][ 616429 ] Medium CVE-2016-5166: SMB Relay Attack via Save Page As. Credit to Gregory Panakkal [$500][ 576867 ] Low CVE-2016-5160: Extensions web accessible resources bypass. Credit to @l33terally, FogMarks.com (@FogMarks) [ 642598 ] CVE-2016-5167: Various fixes from internal audits, fuzzing and other initiatives.
If you add all those up, you’ll see Google spent a whopping $56,500 in bug bounties this time around — and that number is lowballed, given all the rewards that have yet to be decided. As always, the security fixes alone should be enough incentive for you to upgrade.
Chrome 53 for Android and iOS are also on their way, but Google has not shared exactly when they will ship. Chrome 54 will arrive in October.
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"Box acquires team behind data analytics startup Wagon, service shutting down on October 3 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/box-acquires-team-behind-data-analytics-startup-wagon-service-shutting-down-on-october-3"
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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 Box acquires team behind data analytics startup Wagon, service shutting down on October 3 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Wagon Analytics for OS X.
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Cloud file syncing and sharing software company Box today announced that it has acquired the team from Wagon Analytics , a startup that built an application analysts could use to query and analyze their data.
“In joining Box, the Wagon team will be helping build out our analytics platform to provide deeper insights that help customers make the most of Box,” Box cofounder and chief executive Aaron Levie wrote in a blog post.
“The Wagon team’s deep engineering and product expertise in user experience, data modeling, and quick visualizations complements our strength in analytics.” The Wagon application, which supports a variety of databases and provides an easy way of sharing analysis with colleagues, is available for OS X and Windows; a Linux version is marked as “coming soon” on the startup’s website. The service will shut down on October 3, the team wrote in a blog post.
“Wagon and Box believe that shared knowledge empowers individuals and unites teams. Box helps enterprises do more with their content and get their work done faster by acting as the central, modern content platform,” the Wagon team wrote. “Fortune 500 companies across every industry trust Box to sit at the center of their businesses. We’re excited to build data analytics products at Box to help people understand their data and work better, together.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Wagon was founded in 2014 and was based in San Francisco. Cofounder Matthew DeLand, Mike Craig, and Jeff Weinstein previously worked at Groupon. Investors include Fuel Capital, Harrison Metal, Homebrew, Lerer Ventures, and SV Angel. Competitors include Mode Analytics.
Also today, Box announced its earnings for the second quarter of its 2017 fiscal year, which ended on July 31. The company reported a net loss of 30 cents per share, or $38.1 million, on $95.7 million in revenue. Box added 4,000 customers in the quarter.
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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"Björk holds weirdly magical live motion capture press conference to tease new virtual reality album | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/bjork-holds-weirdly-magical-live-motion-capture-press-conference-to-tease-new-virtual-reality-album"
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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 Björk holds weirdly magical live motion capture press conference to tease new virtual reality album Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Björk in motion capture form.
When it comes to the fantastical and strange, everyone is always going to have a hard time topping Icelandic singer Björk.
But today Björk took another step into the realm beyond where the rest of us live by conducting a press conference in which she appeared as a live motion capture avatar. While Björk was 1,200 miles away wearing a “mocap” (motion capture) suit in a studio at the Icelandic Media College in Reykjavik, her image was appearing in a London gallery rendered in a swirling rainbow of colors and objects.
On her Facebook page , Björk said the motion capture stream was intended to emphasize her embrace of new technology and the role virtual reality played in the creative process that led to her new album, Vulnicura.
“Technology is enabling women to work outside the already formed hierarchical systems,” she wrote. “The laptop arriving in 1999 gave me a personal studio to make ‘Vespertine,’ the touchscreen 2006 helped me map my own idiosyncratic musicology outside the classical canon and reconnect it w nature and make ‘Biophilia,’ VR is helping making a new stage free of politics where sound and vision is swirling free in 360 fully liberated.” (sic) 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 rendering of her motion capture badself today was aided by #D technology from Autodesk and Unity. The image was then digitized and streamed by engineers from London’s The Imaginarium Studios.
You can get a glimpse of it here in this video clip on her Facebook page: The album Vulnicura is set to be released later this year in VR formats.
Here’s a bit more detail on the album from a press release: Björk has long supported the convergence of music, art, and technology, embracing VR early as new medium and means for engaging fans. In September, she’s gearing up to release the full Vulnicura VR album, also developed on the Unity platform for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear headsets. But, canned VR experiences just scratch the surface of the platform’s true potential. Today’s live motion capture stream represents a major leap forward toward the near future where individuals can be placed at the center of real, live performances and entertainment experiences, from concerts to speeches and sports events, via VR.
UPDATED: Here’s a longer clip of the press conference for a better sense of the mocap streaming in action.
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"Do you hear an Echo? Baidu's personal assistant tech to power Harman speakers | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/baidu-artificial-intelligence-harman-kardon-speakers"
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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 Do you hear an Echo? Baidu’s personal assistant tech to power Harman speakers Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Harman Kardon Onyx speaker Artificial intelligence from Chinese tech giant Baidu will be incorporated into Harman Kardon speakers, according to Baidu.
The announcement comes a day after speaker maker Sonos teamed up with Amazon’s Alexa.
Utilizing Baidu A.I., speech-enabled Harman speakers will let users carry out tasks, shop, and search the internet with their voice.
The integration was announced at the annual Baidu World conference. With more than a billion visitors a month, Baidu is, among other things, the fourth-most-popular website in the world, according to Alexa data.
“Baidu A.I. technologies that will be incorporated into Harman Kardon include automatic speech recognition (ASR) in English and Mandarin, on-device wake word, natural language understanding (NLU) and processing (NLP), text-to-speech (TSS), voiceprint, a recommendation system, and a dialog system,” a Baidu spokesperson said.
Development of personal assistants will begin immediately, but no timeline has been set for when consumers can expect to be able to order a Harman Kardon speaker for their home.
At last year’s Baidu World , Baidu unveiled its virtual assistant Duer and added it to Baidu apps.
In January 2015, Baidu and Harman started working together on Carlife to compete with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Carlife can make calls, get directions, and operate third-party apps. Automotive partners include BMW, General Motors, and Mercedes-Benz.
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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"Acer Brings Tobii Eye Tracking to Four New Predator Gaming Devices | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/acer-brings-tobii-eye-tracking-to-four-new-predator-gaming-devices"
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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 Acer Brings Tobii Eye Tracking to Four New Predator Gaming Devices Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn BERLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–August 31, 2016– Today at its annual IFA Global Press Conference in Berlin , Acer unveiled four new Predator gaming devices with integrated eye tracking hardware from Tobii, including the Predator 21 X, the world’s first curved screen gaming notebook. The company also revealed the world’s first three gaming monitors with integrated eye tracking, including one curved screen model intended to provide gamers the most immersive and realistic experiences seen before. The addition of these devices to Acer’s Predator gaming line make it the most comprehensive eye tracking gaming portfolio to date, accommodating the widest range of forward-thinking gamers.
This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160831005231/en/ Predator Z27IT 27″ Curved Screen Gaming Monitor with Integrated Tobii Eye Tracking (Photo: Business Wire) “We continually strive to push the envelope of gaming and bring it to new heights with a complete portfolio of premium Predator gaming devices that offer the most cutting-edge, transformative technologies,” said Jerry Kao, president of IT Products Business at Acer. “Predator is one of the industry’s most respected and admired gaming brands, and we are proving this true once again by bringing entirely new experiences to gamers, made possible with Tobii eye-tracking technology.” In gaming, eye tracking re-envisions what’s possible, allowing gamers to interact with their environments more seamlessly, interact with characters more realistically and even enhance immersion and user experience. Combined with curved displays, eye tracking creates groundbreaking immersive experiences. Simulator gamers, like those that play Elite Dangerous and Euro Truck Simulator 2, are able to look around freely in any direction without having to orient their character or vehicle in the same direction – the scene camera will orient itself based on the user’s gaze and attention. This eye tracking implementation, called ‘Infinite Screen’, is one of many different ways Tobii is improving realism and immersion in PC gaming.
Specifically, Acer products with integrated Tobii Eye Tracking announced today, include: Predator 21 X Curved Screen Gaming Notebook Predator Z27IT 27″ Curved Screen Gaming Monitor Predator XB251HQT 24.5″ Flat Screen Gaming Monitor Predator XB271HUT 27″ Flat Screen Gaming Monitor “Acer’s integration of eye tracking in four different gaming devices at once is the most solid demonstration of the industry’s growing belief in eye tracking gaming to date,” said Oscar Werner, president of Tobii Tech. “The Predator line is poised to set a new benchmark in hardware specifications and the experiences gamers will demand in the future.” Gamers who purchase a Predator device with Tobii Eye Tracking, have the chance to play over 40 Tobii Eye Tracking Enabled titles including Tom Clancy’s The Division and Assassin’s Creed Syndicate.
Tobii is actively working with PC game developers and studios of all sizes to rapidly expand the Tobii Eye Tracking game portfolio and expect over 100 eye tracking titles by the end of 2017. Most recently, the company announced eye tracking integrations in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Master of Orion.
Please visit Tobii Apps to view the continuously updated game portfolio.
To check availability, specifications and prices in specific markets, please visit www.acer.com.
About Tobii Tobii is the global leader in eye-tracking. Our vision is a world where all technology works in harmony with natural human behavior. Tobii operates through three business units: Tobii Dynavox makes specially designed computers that are controlled by eye movement or touch screens for use by people with special needs due to spinal cord injuries, CP, ALS or other medical conditions. Tobii Pro develops and sells eye-tracking equipment and services used today by more than 3,000 companies and 2,000 research institutions, including all of the world’s 50 highest ranked universities. Tobii Tech further develops Tobii’s technology for new volume markets such as computer games, personal computers, virtual reality and vehicles. Tobii is headquartered in Sweden and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (TOBII). The group has around 700 employees. For more information, please visit www.tobii.com.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160831005231/en/ Tobii Tech Stephan Floyd, +1 781-223-2005 Head of Content, PR and Brand [email protected] VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"ABODO Raises $4.8 Million in Series A Funding Round | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/abodo-raises-4-8-million-in-series-a-funding-round"
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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 ABODO Raises $4.8 Million in Series A Funding Round Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn MADISON, Wis.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–August 31, 2016– ABODO , a leader in apartment listing technology, today announced the completion of its Series A financing, totaling $4.8 million.
Led by existing investor 4490 Ventures, this investment follows exponential growth since ABODO’s 2014 Series AA round. American Family Ventures and Flyover Capital are also participating in this round of funding.
“ABODO is bringing innovation to a sector that has lacked significant innovation for decades,” said Greg Robinson, Managing Director of 4490 Ventures. “ABODO gives a younger apartment seeker an experience that is modern and consistent with their mobile lifestyle.” By combining a mobile-first approach with a high-quality inventory of apartments nationwide, ABODO provides its Millennial and young professional users with the tools they need to find and rent apartments in a convenient and timely manner. As a result, ABODO has seen its user growth increase 600 percent over the past year.
ABODO CEO Alec Slocum said, “This round will be used to continue our mission to innovate in the apartment listing space in order to bring meaningful change to the way people find apartments today. We’re extremely excited to use the funding for continued national growth and expansion.” Including this Series A round of funding, ABODO has raised more than $8 million since the company’s 2012 inception.
About ABODO Founded in 2012 and now a team of 28, ABODO is the country’s leading hyper-local apartment search service. The company is driving the rental search experience by combining the largest inventory of available apartments with a simple and intuitive user experience. ABODO is a privately held venture-funded company, headquartered in Madison, Wis.
For more information, visit ABODO.com.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
Discover our Briefings.
VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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5,741 | 2,016 |
"Why a bot store is not an app store and developers should think twice | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/a-bot-store-is-not-an-app-store"
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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 Why a bot store is not an app store and developers should think twice Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn While the appeal of chatbots and conversational commerce is undeniable, I’m highly skeptical about their future in bot stores built on existing messaging platforms such as Messenger, Kik, Telegram, and Slack, even after taking into account the massive infrastructure, reach, and distribution these offer developers.
Since the bot craze started last year, the industry has created thousands of bots — mostly meaningless and glorified versions of IVR systems — across an assortment of messaging platforms. Whether we’re booking flights or checking the weather, we have bots for almost every use case.
Even POTUS has a bot now! As per recent estimates, there are at least 11,000 bots on Messenger and 20,000 bots on Kik.
You can understand why all the existing platforms are pushing aggressively for bots as they want to win the race and become the next app store equivalent. However, are these platforms really sold on the potential of bots? Do they really understand bots’ strengths and weaknesses? Have they put real thought behind what a bot store should look like? Are they providing the right support and tools to the developer community? It’s more likely that their efforts are driven by a desire to showcase themselves in the eyes of the market and the developer community. It’s no surprise that Telegram, Kik, and Messenger came out with their bot stores in close succcession — so as not to allow anyone to become the de facto leader. The same motivation is probably behind the recent launch of similar features from Facebook (quick replies) and Slack (buttons).
I’m not saying things won’t improve in the bot ecosystem or on messaging platforms, but it’s good to take a step back and be aware of the reasons developers might burn their fingers if they approach bot stores as they would app stores.
First of all, discovery of bots on any messaging platform is very limited right now. There’s hardly any organic way for developers to get in front of massive audiences in bot stores. This was the single most important pain point raised by the bot developers at a recent event. The best reply I heard from a platform lead was “So far, we’re relying on developers themselves to leverage their existing audience.” But this attitude defeats the single most important motivation to develop bots on existing platforms.
Bots offer great promise, but the very problem they intend to solve (e.g., a universal conversation flow) comes into question if developers are banking on individual messaging platforms. For example, to get a bot to understand user preferences, developers would need access to personal data from Facebook, Slack, Twitter, LinkedIn etc., yet it’s very unlikely that each of these platforms would to make their data available to a competitor. For reference, look at how much compatibility iOS and Android offer and imagine that for five to six leading messaging platforms. It could get dirty soon! Even if data was easily accessible across platforms, there’s a great degree of effort required in maintaining bots across diverse platforms. Think about the effort it takes to maintain apps across two leading app platforms, Apple and Google. With multiple messaging platforms having their own bot kits and stores, approval processes and stringent requirements — even with help from several bot deployment platforms — cross-platform bot management will soon become a huge pain.
In terms of control — unlike app stores where developers have access to native systems to define their app’s experience — in bot stores, developers are left waiting for the messaging platforms to define the interface and move desperately needed features through the pipeline. This makes it impossible for bot developers to control the end to end experience of their users, who will soon start churning out.
Moreover, Apple and Google provided robust payment infrastructure to app developers, allowing them to create solid paid, freemium, or ad-supported business models. In the case of bot stores, no one currently provides any kind of sophisticated payment system that would allow bot developers to start thinking about not just the novelty of bots but how to shape them into a solid revenue generating business.
Developing and deploying a bot is relatively easy compared to building a native app on iOS or Android. This will soon lead to a proliferation of bots and a crowded space for developers — more congestion than we face with apps right now. In order to stand out, developers will start falling into the trap of distribution via paid in-bot ads or featured listings in the stores, spending more and more money to reach out to their target audience.
I believe that bot developers can save themselves from pain down the road by using existing platforms as test beds for their initial bot experiences but then carefully evaluating if it makes sense for them to break free and develop their unique bots and businesses independent of the big platforms.
This post originally appeared on Medium.
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"How Amazon's Alexa will work with Sonos | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/amazon-alexa-sonos-guide"
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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 How Amazon’s Alexa will work with Sonos Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Sonos' Play 1 Speaker, pictured with Amazon's Echo Dot, at a 2016 event announcing a partnership between the two companies.
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Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa is coming to Sonos speakers in 2017, and you — a Sonos owner, an Echo beta tester, or maybe both — are naturally curious: “How will it work?” “Do I need new speakers!?” “What does this mean???” Everything’s OK — we have some answers now.
While Sonos left a few details in the dark ahead of the 2017 launch, here’s a list of everything we know so far.
tl;dr Sonos is partnering with Amazon because it believes voice assistants like Alexa represent the future of how people will listen to music at home.
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? Sonos says it will add Alexa support to all existing speakers via a free software update sometime in the year 2017. We’ve heard hints of an “early 2017” release, but a company spokesperson wouldn’t say exactly when the public release will arrive.
How will it work? Apparently like this: Can I try it early? Sonos plans to release a “private beta” in 2016, but the company hasn’t shared how many people will get it and when. Sonos also wouldn’t tell us how you, dear reader, can sign up. Good luck! “It will be a pretty small pool this year,” said Sonos partnerships and product exec Ryan Taylor.
Update December 29, 2016 : When pressed for details on the beta, a Sonos spokesperson added, “Our engineering teams are making excellent progress. As we announced in August, the Sonos and Alexa integration will be broadly available publicly in 2017.” What will I need to control Sonos via voice? Minimum: One Sonos speaker and one Amazon Echo device or Fire TV.
Can I use the speakers I already own? Yes! According to a Sonos spokesperson [emphasis ours]: Voice control for Sonos will be available as a free software update that will work with existing Sonos products and Alexa-enabled devices.
Do I have to buy Amazon’s Echo or Fire TV? Yes. Sonos and Amazon aren’t putting Alexa inside Sonos hardware yet and Sonos declined to say if future Sonos speakers will ship with Alexa and built-in microphones.
Doesn’t the Play 5 have two microphones? Yes! But according to Sonos, those currently unused microphones won’t ever be used to enable Alexa. They aren’t “far-field voice capable” and were originally added to work with Sonos’ Trueplay tech.
The company decided later to exclusively use its app to tune speakers, according to Taylor.
Can I plug an Echo into my Play 5? You can plug an Echo Dot into a Play 5 via line-in , but you won’t be able to control other speakers or groups of speakers. Other missing features include Sonos-specific voice commands and integration with Sonos’ app. There are also services that Sonos supports that Alexa does not, like Apple Music.
Will Sonos release hardware with Alexa built in? Sonos won’t say. According to Taylor, “We have a long term strategic collaboration with Amazon … I can’t comment on more. There’s a lot of work to do.” Wait, what’s Alexa? “Ugh.” Oh, hey, sorry, here you go: Alexa is Amazon’s voice-controlled personal assistant. It’s like Siri and Google Now. You can find it inside Amazon’s Echo devices, its Fire TV streaming box, and in third-party gadgets like this fridge speaker.
Why can’t Amazon use Alexa’s API today? Integrating with existing Alexa APIs apparently won’t work, in part because of Sonos’ multi-room functionality. According to Taylor: What we’re doing is building more than what exists today.
There’s the AVS SDK , the Alexa Skills SDK — we’re actually building on top of both of those and pushing both of our platforms forward together, which is why there’s this joint development effort.
There’s not really a defined way to control multiple zones from a single Echo device today.
“This is not an Alexa skill,” a spokesperson for Sonos later clarified. ( Thanks @ markcwebster ) Will Sonos work with Siri / Google Assistant? “We definitely see a future where there’s options for voice control,” Taylor told VentureBeat. He added: Just like we do with iOS, and Android, and desktop — and multiple music services — we want to be able to interface with multiple assistants over time. We don’t have anything to announce there, but the way we think about that world is very similar to the way we think about smartphone platforms … and we’re going to bring it to market to consumers as it becomes available.
Can I control Sonos via the Alexa app? No matter what, you’ll need an Echo device to use Alexa with Sonos next year. But you may need the apps to set everything up, according to a Sonos spokesperson: The current plan is that during setup you may need to authorize music services with both apps, then simply use commands to play and control , but the goal is to make the process even simpler and we will always work to improve the experience over time.
( Thanks @bradknewman ) Can I pick a default music service like Spotify? Yes, you’ll be able to set a default music service like Spotify, a Sonos spokesperson told VentureBeat. “When we launch, at minimum, we will support the current lineup of music services that are compatible with Alexa,” the spokesperson added. ( Thanks: @ Peter ) Will Alexa only play music through Sonos or can all of Alexa’s features play through Sonos speakers? Sonos won’t say. A company spokesperson told us, “We’ll have more details to share on the experience with Sonos and Alexa in 2017.” (Thanks @ rxlowry ) Can I use Amazon’s Echo as a second Sonos speaker? Sonos won’t say if an Echo can double as a second Sonos speaker — “We’ll have more details to share on the experience with Sonos and Alexa in 2017.” (Thanks anonymous) We’ll update this list as we learn more. Have a question? Ask on Twitter ! Updated December 29, 2016 with new responses from Sonos.
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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"3 corporate departments that chatbots will disrupt | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/3-corporate-departments-that-chatbots-will-disrupt"
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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 3 corporate departments that chatbots will disrupt 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.
Last month, when Peter Yared, the CTO and cofounder of Sapho , moderated a panel on the role of chatbots in the enterprise at VentureBeat MobileBeat 2016, opinions were drastically varied. People had varying opinions as to when, and more importantly how, chatbots would take shape within modern companies. Despite the differing opinions, all the panelists agreed that we are standing at the edge of massive change with regards to how companies use human-like — but totally machine-driven — conversations and tools to facilitate interactions internally and externally. It’s clear that chatbots are one piece of the puzzle that’s needed to improve the efficiency and engagement of enterprise software.
In short, what Peter and the panelists discussed was that disruption is coming, and chatbots are creating a shift toward more conversational interactions with machines. Conversation-based interactions are inherently a good thing — that is how human beings interact, after all. However, chatbots still have a long way to go before they are capable of natural and fluid conversation.
The disruption has already begun, but where will we see the most impact in the corporate world? 1. Customer service One of the most obvious, well-publicized and high-value areas chatbots will make their mark is in the customer service department. We all know the pain of dealing with automated phone services (when was the last time you enjoyed calling your credit card company? Never? I thought so!). Chatbots present the opportunity to make this interaction more seamless — both externally for customers and internally for those reps that can avoid unnecessary engagements.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Some of the world’s top brands have already rolled out chatbots to assist with customer service — Uber and Pizza Hut are two notable examples of major brands stepping up to the plate. Both Uber and Pizza Hut have quite publicly collaborated with Facebook Messenger to reach customers on the platform they are already on. These early cases are simple, but lay the groundwork to train consumers to interact with services via text-based conversations. Yes, just ordering a pizza might be a fairly basic example, but from there, as conversations become more intuitive and contextual, chatbots will be able to slowly augment human service workers in more complex scenarios — like troubleshooting a technical issue, for example. By providing customers with a frictionless method to check in on the status of orders, sales, refunds, etc., consumer-focused businesses can alleviate the strain on customer service departments, freeing up service workers to focus on requests that require a human element.
2. Human resources Another department that I see chatbots capable of effecting massive change in is human resources. HR is notoriously process-heavy, and any decision on hiring, onboarding, or firing inevitably loops in several different departments and seniority levels. Chatbots present the opportunity to give stakeholders involved in any personnel decision better access to the data stored within enterprise systems and an easy way to act upon that information quickly.
For example, a hiring manager may be able to ask, “What is the salary range for a full stack developer?” rather than hunting through past emails or clunky databases to get the information she needs. Alternatively, it could prevent HR from receiving a deluge of emails regarding where things stand. An employee could ask an HR chatbot, “How many vacation days have I taken this year?”, preventing an unnecessary back-and-forth. These types of interactions will typically be limited to simple questions without follow-ups; however, this would be incredibly useful to workers.
3. Marketing Lastly, data-reliant departments like marketing could easily see chatbots becoming the norm for accessing information in a timely, straightforward manner. As chatbots become more domain specific and better at processing English queries, a VP of marketing could ask, “What is the ROI on campaign C?” and then shift the strategy quickly by offering a follow-up command like “OK, divert 20 percent of marketing budget to that campaign.” The key point here isn’t just that the chatbot is able to surface the information, but it is also able to act upon it on behalf of the user based on how that user responds. To me, it’s this near-future ability to cut corners that excites me about the workplace tools of the future, like chatbots, as much as the possibility of human-machine interactions.
While these types of natural conversations aren’t quite functional enough to allow for simple back-and-forth (yet), chatbots that operate with GUIs (graphical user interfaces) have already started to make progress in our day-to-day work. Essentially, much like Google responds with graphical cards in response to textual queries, chatbots are beginning to see these types of graphical interfaces emerge through collaborations with companies like Slack, which just rolled out interactive buttons, for example. Facebook has also made progress with these, unveiling “rich bubbles” that prevent endless back and forth.
While querying chatbots are still nascent, integrating single-purpose micro apps are a workplace tool of the future that can make things easier on the target audience right now, whether that’s a consumer or an employee. Micro apps surface and deliver bite-size information in small cards that users can act upon. It’s not yet the AI dream that many hope chatbots will one day become, but it’s a step toward making personalized interactions with machines part of our daily lives.
What we can learn from the recent rise of chatbots is that much of the way we interact within businesses and with customers is broken. It’s process-heavy, and employees and customers alike usually need to jump through hoops to get the information they need or the response they want. Whatever the solution — chatbots, micro apps, or whatever — we’re experiencing a definite shift in the industry where software users are expecting more intuitive, personalized digital experiences. It’s our job to deliver them.
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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5,744 | 2,016 |
"U.S. government says SMS codes aren’t safe – so now what? | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/security/the-govt-says-sms-codes-arent-safe-so-now-what"
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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 U.S. government says SMS codes aren’t safe – so now what? 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.
We’re all familiar with the SMS text message based security codes used as a security feature by huge numbers of websites from social networks to email to online payments. This is the feature that aims to verify your identity after you log in with a password, by sending a text message to your phone with a code that you use to access the site.
But SMS security codes aren’t safe and should be avoided. That’s the news that’s been circulating over the last few days from NIST – the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the U.S. Government agency that sets the standards for everything from the electric power grid to atomic clocks to personal health records.
So what’s wrong with SMS codes? Are they really unsafe? And if they are, what can we use instead? SMS codes are really just one form of what’s called “two-factor authentication,” or 2FA. The goal of a 2FA system is to help guarantee that the person logging in with your password is actually you rather than a hacker who has guessed or stolen your password, or recovered it by cracking the passwords in a password dump from a hacked web site. “Two factor” refers to the fact that the system uses more than one way of verifying your identity – the password is the first factor, and the SMS code is one way of providing a second factor.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! There are several problems with SMS-based systems that led NIST to decide that SMS-based systems are insecure: SMS messages can be delivered through a Voice Over IP (VoIP) network rather than a mobile carrier and are only as secure as the websites and systems of the VoIP provider. If a hacker can interfere with these systems, she can intercept the SMS security codes or have them rerouted to her own phone.
The phone number used for SMS messages is associated with a SIM card (not with a phone) through a database maintained by the carrier (either a mobile carrier or a VoIP provider). If a hacker can persuade the carrier’s customer support agents that she is the user and has lost her phone, the phone number can easily be linked by the carrier to a new SIM card that the hacker has. All SMS security codes would then be sent to the hacker rather than to the legitimate user.
So where does that leave us? If SMS-based systems aren’t safe, are we stuck with the bad old world in which users have to log in with nothing but a password, making them vulnerable to password theft? Fortunately, no – there are other 2FA systems that remain safe to use. Some examples of these are: Hardware tokens that generate time-based codes.
These are the keyfob or credit-card sized dongles that display a numeric code that changes frequently (usually every minute). Each hardware token generates a unique sequence of codes, and a website can require the user to input the current code as proof that they have physical possession of the dongle.
Apps that generate time-based codes, such as the Google Authenticator app.
These work just like the hardware tokens, but instead of a dongle, you use an app on your phone. Once the app is set up, the sequence of codes is unique, just like the hardware dongles.
Hardware dongles based on the U2F standard from the FIDO Alliance, a group of companies working together to define new authentication methods. These hold a unique key enabling access to the website, and you unlock access to it using your fingerprint.
Systems that use push notifications to your phone , such as Google’s system for Android phones. These send a push notification to your phone that you acknowledge to approve the login. Your phone is identified not by its phone number but by unique keys, so again this can’t be redirected by a carrier.
And there’s no reason to stop at two factors. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) systems can use more than two factors at once for even higher levels of security.
So, while SMS codes may be risky, users have a choice of other solutions they can start using right away.
Richard Reiner is Chief Technology Officer at True Key by Intel Security.
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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"Free DLC for indie games: financial suicide -- or smart marketing? | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/free-dlc-for-indie-games-financial-suicide-or-smart-marketing"
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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 Free DLC for indie games: financial suicide — or smart marketing? 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.
In the dawn of the success of CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher 3 and its welcomed, arguably innovative, or perhaps retro attitude toward free content, it is easy to see why even the little guys may want to follow those giant footsteps. But is it viable for indie developers to do so? And more to the point, why do it at all? As the quest designer and writer of a small indie studio, it fell to me to share our wisdom and folly with the indie community. I will dissect our recent experience with free DLC and talk about our own journey: the good, the bad — and the damn right ugly.
So who are “we,” exactly? Above: Thea: The Awakening is MuHa’s strategy-RPG-survival mix.
Thea: The Awakening is a strategy-survival-4x (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) role-playing game from MuHa Games with a core team of four people, and more important, only one programmer. As such, we had our limitations, both financial and physical, to overcome as our project grew in scale and scope. In an effort to gain funds, we proudly failed two Kickstarters and raided our personal savings.
The saving graces came largely from selling our own framework (Honey Hex Framework) on the Unity Asset Store ( http://u3d.as/9e1 ), which boosted our tight budget and enabled us to finish the game. At the very end of the development process, we also found a publishing partner who took over the sales and distribution of eventual box sets and localization costs. While this partnership had no impact on our production budget, it provided additional possibilities for the game’s development, although the effects of this cooperation would only become available post-release. We published Thea on Steam Early Access in September 2015 and then fully released on November 20. To date, we’ve sold approximately 70,000 copies. We also released two major DLCs since, and both of them were free.
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! So why choose to give away content, and did it work? Nothing in life is free, right? Above: Giants is Thea: The Awakening’s free DLC.
So why do it? Building a relationship with our fanbase and building our “brand” as we want it, that was one of the key reasons for releasing free DLC. Sounds idealistic and it is. That is what being indie is all about, or at least it is in our books.
We really do value our fans and we do believe in free content for a game you already paid for. We have shown this by listening to feedback, carefully considering reviews, even the bad ones, staying very active on the Steam forums and implementing much of the user feedback we get straight into the game, sometimes within hours after we received it. Now, this isn’t supposed to be bragging, but I just want to make clear that providing the free DLC is part of our larger company “policy” which is simply to do the best we can for the gamers who already invested their money and trust in us.
In case you think we’re a bunch of starving idealists, or we’re lying, I’d like to make it clear that Thea’s sales covered our costs on first day of the launch, and as of this writing, we have sold just over 70,000 copies. While this doesn’t mean we’re swimming in cash, it did mean that we had more money than we expected after release. With that in mind the decision was made that we will now give back to the community and create the content. Thanks to the sales, we were able to consider features either requested by people on the forums, or things we always wanted to add, but had no resources to do so before.
And so, our first free DLC, The Return of the Giants, was born, adding such features as localization, full voice-overs for all events in English, over 70 more events (including a new main storyline, an event editor, more art, music), and an abundance of gameplay improvements and features.
It is during this phase that our partnership with a publisher bore fruit, as they were able to cover the costs of the localization. Seeing as our game has over 250,000 words, this was no small task and one that would not be able to cover ourselves. In exchange, the publisher got the rights to distribute our game on all platforms except Steam, Humble, GMG, and GOG as well as box sets, and we would split profits from those proceeds.
Did Giants pay off? Well, financially speaking the crude answer is: no.
1 2 View All 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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5,746 | 2,016 |
"Razer's Turret keyboard-and-mouse combo is essential for PC-gaming couch potatoes | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/pc-gaming/__trashed-65"
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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 Review Razer’s Turret keyboard-and-mouse combo is essential for PC-gaming couch potatoes 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.
You have a ton of options when it comes to playing PC games on your television, but I still think nothing beats a mouse and keyboard.
PC-gaming product manufacturer Razer has a new keyboard-and-mouse combination for your lap, the Turret. It is available now for $160. This setup features a wireless 2.4Ghz (and Bluetooth) gaming mouse and keyboard along with a charging dock that houses both devices when they’re not in use. The keyboard also comes equipped with a fold-out mouse pad with a surface specifically designed for the Turret mouse.
I’ve put in dozens of hours with the Turret, and I’ve found a lot to like.
Above: While it looks fine on a desk, Razer definitely designed the Turret for laps.
What you’ll like Great for TV gaming 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’ve always preferred using a gamepad when playing games on a television. Sitting back with a controller was way easier, and that trumped any of the benefits of using a mouse and keyboard.
The Turret changed my mind. This keyboard-and-mouse combination is comfortable and features high-quality components. I recently spent an entire Sunday plowing through mud and rivers in the truck-simulator game Spintires on my PC. But instead of secluding myself in my office or burying my nose in a laptop, I plunked down on the floor and played using the Turret.
The Razer device worked well on my lap or if I put it down on a table. When it is on my lap, I’m always impressed by how natural my arm position feels when I have my hands on the mouse and WASD keys (may PC games use these for basic controls). Something about the Turret’s width makes it so my body always finds an ergonomic position.
Above: The keyboard and mouse on the charging dock.
Battery life is great Since the Turret is wireless, you’ll need to rely on battery power. Thankfully, the mouse and keyboard seem to last forever. In my testing, these never ran out of juice. Even when I forgot to charge the mouse for six days — each with some long Overwatch sessions — I never ran out of energy.
Dock works well Having the dock also means you don’t have to worry about power most of the time because you can pop the keyboard and mouse back where they belong when you’re finished for the day. If you always do that, your Turret should always have full power every time you go to grab them for the next round. You’ll never really think about the battery because of this.
What you won’t like The mouse doesn’t work well on certain other surfaces While the Turret mouse works well on the built-in pad, it has gliding plastic material that tends to create more friction with a lot of other surfaces. The Turret mouse kept getting caught on my professional gaming-surface mouse pad from Monoprice. This means you’re kinda stuck using the mouse with the keyboard.
Attracts a lot of dust The underside of the mouse is always dirty for me. The gliding material attracts all kinds of dust that is difficult to get out without getting serious about cleaning. That’s not a big deal to me, because it never interfered with gameplay, but I still found it annoying.
Above: The mouse looks nice and clean on the top, but it’s underside collects dust like crazy.
Conclusion The Razer Turret works well in a lot of really specific circumstances. If you want a keyboard-and-mouse set that’ll make playing certain games easier on a TV, this is a comfortable, high-quality solution.
It could serve as a decent wireless keyboard and mouse for your desktop setup as well — although you’ll start running into barriers if you want to swap out the built-in mouse pad for something roomier.
I, however, am happy to keep it docked next to my TV any time I want to fire up Civilization V or Invisible, Inc. in the family room.
Razer’s Turret is available now for $149.99. The company sent us a sample unit for the purposes of this review.
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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"Why we’ll soon see Pokémon-free zones | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/why-well-soon-see-pokemon-free-zones"
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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 Why we’ll soon see Pokémon-free zones 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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Back in 2006, I remember wondering how many people were literally walking to their doom at any given time because their eyes were glued downwards onto their BlackBerries while they crossed a busy street. Fast-forward 10 years and now it’s an augmented reality game that has many of us completely oblivious to our surroundings.
Pokémon Go has managed to grab the whole world’s attention almost overnight, making augmented reality mainstream much sooner than analysts expected. But, along with all the excitement, the blockbuster game is causing unexpected and unintended collateral damage wherever it finds a pool of players — which is seemingly everywhere. Accidents, death, trespassing, and inappropriate behavior are all being attributed to the game.
It seems impossible to pause the whirlwind that is Pokémon Go long enough for society to address the challenges it brings. But we’re beginning to see some scattered responses.
Bans on the game have already been issued by an ancient shrine in Japan, the Auschwitz Museum in Poland, and the Holocaust Museum in Washington, where the game’s presence is, understandably, seen as inappropriate.
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! Authorities at military bases and other controlled locations are having to warn their personnel not play the game while on duty. And they’re also facing Pokémon-playing trespassers: A French player in Indonesia was arrested for trespassing into a military complex and fleeing the scene when confronted by guards.
The IDF in Israel has banned the app in military bases because of concerns about AR’s inherent always-on state that could result in video and audio recordings of highly sensitive areas. And the Pentagon has reminded civilians not to use the game as an excuse to break the law or put themselves in unnecessary risk.
Meanwhile, Canada is on the watch for fence-hoppers trying to access military zones. Speaking of Canada, a couple of Canadian teenagers are apparently the first to have illegally crossed an international border in pursuit of Pokémon.
A few countries have taken a much broader stance against the game. Saudi Arabia has issued a fresh fatwah , reviving a 15-year old edict that damns the Pokémon animated universe as containing symbols of “deviant religions” and organizations. And in Iran, where players are using a VPN in order to download the game, the government has said that if Niantic wants an official launch of the game in the local market, it will have to host the game inside the Islamic Republic and consult with the government on where to place Pokéstops or Gyms.
In Russia, the Kremlin has preemptively warned against Pokémon being captured anywhere near Putin’s lofty abode, and some high officials have even condemned the game as a clever ploy for spying by the CIA. A formal ban is imminent, they say.
On the other end of the spectrum, private citizens may soon seek restrictions on the game too. The owner of one home mislabeled as a Gym has been caught off guard by the large number of people suddenly wandering around his property, including unwelcome late-night visitors.
And then there’s the question of safety.
Reports of crimes, injuries, and deaths are piling up, and the first Pokémon Go murder has been reported in Guatemala , where two players were ambushed and shot while playing the game at night. Stories like this abound worldwide and are a serious cause for concern.
Policy makers will likely have to respond to the problem. Which begs the question, where does the responsibility lie: The players who forget themselves and cross through dangerous traffic or stumble off cliffs in order to capture a ‘Pikachu’, the developers who inadvertently invite the potential collision, or the app store distributors like Apple and Google that need to adjust their submission guidelines for AR games that disrupt reality? “Should a sports equipment company be responsible if a baseball flies into a neighbor’s yard and one of the kids runs over to get it?” said Kevin Pomfret, a partner at law firm Williams Mullen who focuses on geospatial technology. Clearly not. But, he said, “That is very different than placing a Pokémon in a dangerous place or on private property.” Still, Pomfret told me that the rules for AR games shouldn’t be hard to establish. “If there are restrictions in the real world, consideration should be given to their applicability to the augmented world,” he said. “I believe that many, if not all of the concerns associated with Pokémon Go can be addressed with those that already exist, or with some minor changes.” However, some are saying that the game’s developer, Niantic, needs to do a better job of addressing the many butterfly effects resulting from the game.
“Children do all sorts of dangerous things because someone told them to. Augmented reality is no different,” Ben Gamble, a lead developer at location-based mapping company Augmentra told me. “With the added context and rewards, the immersion can lead to serious consequences.” Niantic’s trainers guide does caution players, but is it mere lip service? The game will naturally invite players to do irrational things, given how emotionally invested they are in the experience. A segment of its fans will simply not practice common sense and mindfulness of their surroundings, and this fact needs to be recognized.
One action Niantic could take immediately would be to provide an easy way for locations — such as homes, churches, or military bases — to opt out of the game. The company does currently have an opt-out request form, but the process is unnecessarily obscure and doesn’t guarantee a location’s removal from the game.
What’s for sure is that we have officially entered a brave new world. It may soon be commonplace to see residential tenants, businesses, and public institutions errect augmented geofences to keep unwelcome guests out, with signs reading “Augmented Reality Free Zone.” Amir-Esmaeil Bozorgzadeh is currently working on Virtuleap , a VR startup in the EdTech space. He is Managing Partner at Gameguise, a Dubai-based publisher of online games in the Middle East and a consultancy to global game developers and publishers that need local help in understanding and operating in the market.
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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"Uber merges its China operations with Didi Chuxing in $35 billion deal (updated) | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/uber-reportedly-merges-its-china-operations-with-didi-chuxing-in-35-billion-deal"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Uber merges its China operations with Didi Chuxing in $35 billion deal (updated) 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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Uber is believed to have conceded domination of China’s ride-hailing market to rival Didi Chuxing, but it’s not walking away empty-handed. It’s now confirmed that Uber will merge its Uber China service with Didi’s in a deal that values a combined company at $35 billion. In return, Uber will receive a $1 billion investment.
The deal was reported by Bloomberg , which said that investors in Uber China will be receiving 20 percent of the new Didi Chuxing.
With this move, Uber will likely save itself quite a bit of money that it’ll be able to invest into other markets, thereby accelerating its growth. The company was said to have been losing $1 billion a year in China in its ongoing battle with Didi. In February, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick told Betakit: “We have a fierce competitor that’s unprofitable in every city they exist in, but they’re buying up market share. I wish the world wasn’t that way.” The irony of Uber’s departure from China isn’t lost on anyone, as the company has been known to drive out competitors such as Hailo and Sidecar in the U.S. But in an added twist, Uber has made a deal with a major player, and also investor , in Lyft’s ridesharing alliance.
In a blog post that Bloomberg obtained, Kalanick explained that “Uber and Didi Chuxing are investing billions of dollars in China, and both companies have yet to turn a profit there. Getting to profitability is the only way to build a sustainable business that can best serve Chinese riders, drivers, and cities over the long term.” Didi Chuxing was born last year in a bid to shake off any impression of it being an “illegal taxi service.” China’s government had been cracking down on ridesharing, but last week it legalized ride-hailing services.
Now that Uber is freeing up capital, how will it spend it? Expanding into new markets? Focusing more on autonomous vehicles through its Carnegie Mellon program? Or will it double-down in key existing markets to further dominate its competition? Update at 10:16 p.m. Pacific on Sunday: A blog post from Kalanick announcing the deal is said to be making its way through WeChat. It says that Uber was doing more than 150 million rides a month in China, but that “being successful is about listening to your head as well as following your heart.” Here’s @travisk blog post on Didi/Uber deal, which is all over China’s WeChat: Here https://t.co/B2KMIofUp3 pic.twitter.com/fl3lS9Trth — Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) August 1, 2016 Update at 10:20 a.m. Pacific on Monday: Didi Chuxing has confirmed the acquisition of Uber China. Uber will receive 5.89 percent of the combined company “with preferred equity interest which is equal to a 17.7 percent economic interest in Didi Chuxing.” Kalanick will join the board of Didi.
Uber China will retain its independent branding, but Didi will integrate the managerial and technological experience and expertise of both companies.
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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"Google Maps for iOS now lets you add multiple stops to trips | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/google-maps-for-ios-now-lets-you-add-multiple-stops-to-trips"
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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 Maps for iOS now lets you add multiple stops to trips Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Multiple destinations in a trip in Google Maps for iOS.
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The Google Maps app for iOS now lets users add multiple destinations in a single trip, just like on the web and, more recently, on Android.
Just a few weeks ago, when Google announced that you could have multiple stops on trips in the Android version of Google Maps, the company said the feature would come to iOS, and now it’s here. The feature is part of version 4.21.0 of the iOS app, which arrived in the App Store on July 25.
All you have to do is enter a destination, select the blue navigation button, hit the three dots near the top right corner of the screen, and tap “Add stop,” Google Maps product manager Aditya Dhanrajani wrote in a blog post.
Add as many stops as you like.
If you’re in the middle of a trip in navigation mode, you can also add a stop, using the magnifying glass icon to find a specific place. You can also remove stops as necessary, by swiping up from the trip duration menu on the bottom and hitting the X next to specific stops, or by hitting the X button to the left of the trip duration and tapping “remove stop.” Alternatively, you can choose the “exit navigation” button, then tap in to the destinations at the top to cancel destinations. From there, you can also add more stops or swap the order of the stops as you see fit.
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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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"Expedia explains why your app may be pointless, what you’re doing wrong—and how you can fix it (VB Live) | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/expedia-explains-why-your-app-may-be-pointless-what-youre-doing-wrong-and-how-you-can-fix-it-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 Expedia explains why your app may be pointless, what you’re doing wrong—and how you can fix it (VB Live) Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Every marketer thinks they need an app—and most of them are wrong according to the SVP of Expedia. In Part 3 of our Masters of Mobile Data series, Aaron Price explains why, when, and how you should be investing in an app that will keep users engaged and pay off in the long run.
A mobile app might not even be worth your time and spend, says Aaron Price, SVP at Expedia, the world’s largest online travel services company — especially if you’re not going to do it right.
“If you don’t have a compelling reason for someone to engage with you in a mobile app, you’re going to fail,” Price says. “Because there’s not a lot of difference between opening a browser and opening an app — and most people are already in a browser already all day long on a mobile device.” One of the biggest challenges is the noise — the plethora of mobile apps in all categories that are clamoring for space and attention on users’ smartphones. You need to hook those users fast, and hook them first. And most importantly, give them a reason to open your app up again and again.
“Typically, once they get into one app in a category, people usually don’t start using multiple apps within that same category,” warns Price. “Unlike the internet, unlike websites, it’s fairly uncommon for someone to download all the competition’s apps and mix between them. They’re sticking to one app that they prefer.” But still companies keep creating apps, and when they manage to get their most loyal users to download it, the app languishes, forgotten. What gives? That’s the even bigger challenge. “The first piece is that you can’t necessarily assume that you can take your existing interaction model and just put it into a mobile app and assume that people will want to use it more or be more likely to use it,” says Price. “You have to have some unique functionality. Some compelling reason for users and consumers to want to be in the mobile app.” Some of that could be speed, which is a frequent driver behind app development, but users are looking for reasons to believe.
Expedia offers everything from technical and product-oriented features such as unique alerts and notifications for every step of your trip and fully-functional trip organizational tools to sales, offers, and bargains only delivered to the mobile app user.
How you get the app in front of potential users is also far more important than most marketers realize, Price adds.
“While app stores are great and app store optimization is important and paid app download campaigns are important, you’re still going to get the vast majority our your downloads from your own site and your own users,” he says. “In ads and calls to action on your site, you have to give users a reason to first download the app, and then you have to give your users a reason to open it.” The barriers to entry are tough to overcome in the mobile app space, Price admits. But, he says, “Most companies will find that mobile app users become their most loyal and valued users.” Price is joined by Rob Willey, VP of Marketing for TaskRabbit, who will together explore the overall topic of maximizing the lifetime value of app users.
Don’t miss out! Register here for free.
Join this exclusive VB Live event and learn how to: Use the right technology to maximize LTV of app users Optimize each user engagement to avoid app abandonment and churn Apply acquisition-engagement tactics such as: pre- and post-install segmentation, organic growth, retargeting and reward-based acquisition Speakers include: Aaron Price, SVP of Marketing, Expedia Rob Willey, VP of Marketing, TaskRabbit Jillian Burnett , Director of Customer Success, mParticle Stewart Rogers , Director of Marketing Technology, VentureBeat Moderator: Rachael Brownell, VentureBeat This VB Live event is sponsored by mParticle.
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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"25 iOS apps with dark themes | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/dark-theme-ios-apps"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages 25 iOS apps with dark themes Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The stock Clock app in iOS 10 features a dark theme.
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If you’re like me, you look at screens all day and late into the night. Your eyes could probably use some relief. Fortunately, an increasing number of applications offer dark themes, which display text, images, and videos on top of dark backgrounds. At least for me, they’re easier on the eyes in the nighttime, and even in the daytime.
While the iOS operating system does have an Invert Colors option (Settings > General > Accessibility > Display Accommodations) that forces apps with a light background to go dark, iOS is lacking a full-blown dark mode that keeps photos and other content looking the way it should. So app-specific dark themes are generally a good way to go at this point.
Here’s a list of 25 apps that currently ship with dark themes. They’re all free, unless otherwise noted.
1.
iA Writer Above: iA Writer’s dark theme on iPhone.
This is a simple writing app with support for Markdown formatting, Word documents, the WordPress content management system, and Dropbox sync. It costs $4.
2.
Word Flow Above: Word Flow for iOS.
This was originally the default virtual keyboard that Microsoft shipped with Windows Phones. Microsoft brought it to iOS in April.
3.
Spotify Above: Spotify.
You may have heard of this music streaming app. It’s easy to overlook that the default user interface, on mobile, web, and desktop, is a dark theme.
4.
iBooks Above: iBooks.
Apple has offered a dark theme in its standard-issue book-reading app since 2011.
5. Clock Above: Clock app in iOS 10.
Apple has refreshed the look of its default Clock app for iOS 10.
It now uses a dark theme by default.
6.
Pocket Above: Pocket.
The dark theme in this read-it-later app is so good — it’s what inspired me to put together this article in the first place. I love to read longer stories in Pocket while in bed, before going to sleep.
7.
Pocket Casts Above: The new look for Pocket Casts.
A dark theme became available in this podcasting app from independent developer Shifty Jelly just a few days ago.
8.
Weather Underground Above: Weather Underground.
This app is more sophisticated than the default iOS Weather app, with interactive maps, radio and video feeds, and health information.
9.
Instapaper Above: Instapaper.
This read-it-later app offers a helpful text-to-speech (TTS) feature.
10.
Google Maps Above: Google Maps.
When you’re driving at night or travel through a dark area, like a tunnel, the standard mode of this map app goes dark. But you can actually enable the dark theme for the entirety of your trips. When you’re in the middle of a trip, tap the three dots on the bottom right, tap “Navigation settings,” and hit the night option in the “Color scheme” section.
11.
Twitterrific 5 for Twitter Above: Twitterrific.
This free third-party Twitter client from The Iconfactory has some premium advanced features, including an ad-free experience.
12.
Ulysses Above: Ulysses.
This premium writing app from third-party developer The Soulmen won an Apple Design Award earlier this year. It supports Markdown and Word formatting, lets users publish drafts to Medium, and provides a Style Exchange , where users can download themes from third-party developers. It costs $25.
13.
Tweetbot 4 for Twitter Above: Tweetbot.
This premium Twitter client from third-party developer Tapbots offers a Stats view so you don’t need to check Twitter Analytics so frequently. It costs $10.
14.
Simplenote Above: Simplenote.
WordPress company Automattic acquired Simperium, the company that built this note taking app, in 2013, and has thankfully kept the app alive and up to date.
15.
Coda Above: Coda.
Development studio Panic made a premium Coda app that includes a text editor, file transfer capability with support for Amazon S3, a terminal, and even a playground for experimenting with JavaScript code. It costs $25.
16.
YouTube Gaming Above: YouTube Gaming.
Google introduced this live game streaming app last year, following the rise of Twitch and its acquisition by Amazon in 2014.
17.
YouTube Music Above: YouTube Music.
Google launched the YouTube Music app last year, as a place to discover music that’s already available on YouTube. From this app you can upgrade to the YouTube Red subscription service with audio-only mode, background play, and offline support.
18.
Steam Mobile Above: Steam Mobile.
With its dark blue background, the iOS app from gaming platform Steam looks a lot like the desktop version. And that’s a good thing. You can chat with friends, browse the store, and peruse your library.
19.
Reddit Above: Reddit.
Online discussion board Reddit launched its official iOS app just a few months ago, after acquiring third-party Reddit client Alien Blue in 2014.
20.
Fantastical 2 Above: Fantastical 2.
This app from developer Flexibits has dedicated iPhone and iPad versions, for $5 and $10, respectively. It won an Apple Design Award in 2015.
21.
Portfolio Above: Portfolio.
If you’re not happy with Apple’s pre-installed Stocks app, which itself has had a dark theme since iOS 7 came out in 2013, the Portfolio app from developer Mazuma Labs is worth checking out. You can import trades from Google Finance and Yahoo Finance, and it can send you notifications for price movements, earnings, and news.
22.
Feedly Above: Feedly.
This RSS reader picked up lots of usage after Google announced that it was killing Google Reader in 2013.
And the Feedly iOS app has had a dark theme this whole time.
23.
Evernote Above: Evernote.
This note taking app has a dark theme, but it’s not available when you’re viewing or editing files, or when you’re using the Work Chat feature.
24.
Overcast Above: Overcast.
This 2-year-old podcasting app offers a dark theme as a “Patron” feature. That is, you can get it if you pay $3 for three months, $6 for six months, or $12 for a year of support from the app’s maker, Marco Arment , the founder of Instapaper and a cofounder of Tumblr.
25.
Xbox Above: Xbox.
This app from Microsoft lets you check updates from friends, exchange messages, browse the Xbox Store, check your achievements, and interact with content on your Xbox One.
Enjoy! 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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"KickassTorrents mirrors go down, but new KAT sites quickly spring up | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/media/kickasstorrents-mirrors-go-down-but-new-kat-sites-quickly-spring-up"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages KickassTorrents mirrors go down, but new KAT sites quickly spring up 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 official KickassTorrents website (also known as Kickass Torrents, or just KAT) may be dead, but the war to keep its name alive rages on. The torrent site version of whack-a-mole is never-ending.
Earlier this month, the original KAT site went down after alleged founder Artem Vaulin was arrested.
Soon after the most popular torrent site disappeared, genuine mirrors and fake sites quickly sprang up to take its place.
Update on December 16, 2016 : KickassTorrents is back thanks to original KAT staff One apparently legitimate mirror was kickasstorrents.website, which came online courtesy of an isohunt member’s handiwork.
It no longer works.
Another alternative was kat.am , referred to by many as the “official” reincarnation of the original KickassTorrents site. It too has died.
But the owner of kat.am has already launched two replacements: kickass.cd and kickass.mx (Update: kickass.mx is dead). And, in contrast to other mirror sites, new torrents are being added frequently.
“We are not worried, because if it’s not us, someone else will keep the game running,” the owner told TorrentFreak.
“If not the alleged owner, it can be us. If we are not there, still there will surely be someone else. This never ends.” Another alternative is kickass.la (Update: This one is gone as well). This site doesn’t appear to have any new torrents being uploaded, meaning it is a very basic mirror of the original.
It’s important to remember that all of these torrent sites have nothing to do with the original. Logging in with your existing account won’t work, for example, because these are simply copycats piggybacking on the KAT brand.
For now, at least, it looks like KickassTorrents is gone for good. KAT may have outgrown The Pirate Bay, but that may have been its ultimate mistake. The Pirate Bay may not be as large as it once was, but it is definitely the most resilient torrent site. And with KAT all but out of the picture, The Pirate Bay will likely gain more users.
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"What Instagram's analytics API means for social marketers | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/marketing/what-instagrams-analytics-api-means-for-social-marketers"
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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 Instagram’s analytics API means for social marketers 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 savviest social marketers aren’t throwing pasta at the wall to see what sticks anymore. Social media marketing has become a more data-driven endeavor, with an emphasis on analytics and the insights gained from using data to make decisions.
As social media networks mature, they usually release a native analytics platform that marketers can use to hone their campaigns. These analytics often include standard metrics, such as reach and engagement, as well as proprietary metrics, such as shares, retweets, and snap replays.
Over time, as the social platforms mature, they release analytics APIs. These APIs empower developers to create tools that enhance marketers’ experience with the platform.
Now Instagram, which has kept its analytics under lock and key since it was founded, will soon be releasing the company’s analytics API.
Instagram has already presented incredible opportunities for social marketers. The launch of the API will provide marketers will the final missing piece: meaningful analytics! This article shares what marketers can expect from the launch and how it can help their campaigns.
Cashing in on Instagram marketing Even without native analytics at their disposal, a handful of brands have used Instagram as a primary driver for sales and revenue.
Caeden , a fashion-centric wearable technology company, found great success marketing on Instagram. With the goal of driving purchases, and a tertiary goal of feature-benefit education, Caeden was able to increase its reach as much as 50 percent and increase revenue by 17 percent.
In the right hands, there is massive potential with Instagram Marketing. The most pressing issue right now, however, is how inaccessible and complicated the analytics are.
It’s almost impossible to track the outcomes of marketing efforts on Instagram. Short of navigating a time-consuming labyrinth, your options for insights are limited. Trackable links in bios, vanity coupon codes, and spreadsheets detailing who liked what, where, when, and how are your best bets for gleaning any meaningful insights from your Instagram activity.
Instagram analytics will bring mission-critical insights According to Instagram for Business’ latest blog post , brands will soon be able to create business pages that boast enhanced features, such as calls to action, contact capabilities, insights, and content promotion. This is not an afterthought or a “nice to have.” This is huge news for data-driven social marketers.
Currently, analytics tools can only measure the most top-level metrics when it comes to Instagram. These metrics include follower growth over time, daily engagement, and the best times to post, based on historical data.
Above: Instagram’s Insights tool. Source: Instagram Instagram had previously banned third-party apps that used the API to pull in posts from Instagram. The third-party apps had essentially recreated Instagram inside their product.
Instagram made this move because it only wants to work with third-party developers that are accretive to its ecosystem. Facebook, for example, highly values its third-party partners because they help clients manage their accounts, buy ads, and report metrics. Instagram, a company that is owned by Facebook, has the same preference. It wants tools that helps brands manage their Instagram account, buy ads, and analyze their results. It doesn’t want partners who just replicate Instagram, taking away eyeballs in the process.
What the analytics API means for social marketers The release of Instagram’s API will give social marketers opportunities that weren’t possible before. Third-party tools will be able to provide cross-platform insights and link your social data to your website data. Here’s how that can help social marketers: Social channel comparison capabilities Tools developed by parties outside Instagram make it possible to compare your metrics against other social platforms. Wouldn’t it be great to know how the value you’re getting from your Instagram campaigns compares to that offered by Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn? You wouldn’t get those insights from Twitter’s Native Analytics Tool.
Continuity between web and social analytics Instagram’s analytics can’t tell you what a user is doing once they leave the app and reach your website. Once a user’s interaction with your brand goes outside of Instagram, Instagram simply cannot account for that user anymore. As a result, you’re only seeing a very small part of an extremely important story.
Instagram, like most social channels, is the top of your conversion funnel.
Once a user is on your website, they can progress further to becoming a paying customer. Missing out on those web activity insights could be a critical oversight in measuring and improving your ROI on social.
What’s next? Needless to say, we’re extremely excited for Instagram to release its analytics API. The impact of the release could extend far beyond the platform itself. With the ability to compare your marketing efforts on Instagram with other channels, and the way Instagram activity links to website activity, the API gives unprecedented access to data. This adds a critical new dimension to how marketers can measure and increase their ROI.
Graham Gullans is the cofounder and COO of LiftMetrix , a social media ROI measurement solution for enterprises. Graham is also a prolific angel investor and board member of Zoomcar, the largest car rental company in India. Graham spends his free time flying planes and earning air miles through credit card points.
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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"Indie development studios to discuss Unreal Engine benefits at GamesBeat…lightning f-a-s-t! | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/games/indie-development-studios-to-discuss-unreal-engine-benefits-at-gamesbeatlightning-f-a-s-t"
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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 Indie development studios to discuss Unreal Engine benefits at GamesBeat…lightning f-a-s-t! Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn System Era's Astroneer This sponsored post is produced in partnership with Epic Games.
Through Epic Games’ long history, it’s been behind some of the game industry’s biggest titles, such as the Gears of War series, the Infinity Blade games on iOS, and the forthcoming Paragon and Fortnite. It’s also created one of the industry’s most popular, multiplatform game engines, Unreal Engine, which is used by dozens of developers to create their products, from BioShock to the Mortal Kombat games.
However, behind the scenes Epic has also helped out numerous developers with grants, contests, and increased exposure to their projects, including the February 2015 announcement of a $5 million fund to issue grants to Unreal Engine developers and awards for the best Unreal Engine games at this year’s E3 trade show in partnership with GamesBeat.
Two development studios — Los Angeles’ High Horse Entertainment and Seattle’s System Era Softworks — were selected by Epic to give talks at the upcoming GamesBeat 2016 event August 1–3 in Southern California. They’ll be among the five “lightning round” presentations, which gives each company just five minutes to cover its topic. The lightning round will be moderated by GamesBeat’s own Stewart Rogers , with the other presenters being Dima Veryovka (co-founder of Colabee Studios ), Omar Siddiqui (CEO of Kiwi ), and David Levitt (CEO of Pantomime Corporation ).
High Horse Entertainment High Horse was started by two software engineers — Jay Mattis and Timothy Rapp — who cut their teeth at Activision, building up a combined 20 years of development experience on such franchises as Call of Duty and Guitar Hero, but decided that they “didn’t want to keep making the same game for a decade.” “We wanted to challenge ourselves,” Mattis says. “We took a really hard look at what our strengths were, what the state of the market was, and felt that…mobile is pretty saturated, but there’s still room to grow for indie teams in the sort of console and PC market. That’s what we decided to go after.” The pair’s first project under the High Horse name will be called Disc Jam , which Mattis describes as “a mix between air hockey, tennis, and Frisbee.” It’ll be an easy-to-learn game, supporting games for 2–4 players (in any combination of local or online players). Plans are for the title to be simple to play, but enable gameplay at a very highly competitive level and ranked leagues. Disc Jam is currently targeted for release on PC (via Steam) and PlayStation 4, but Mattis says High Horse is interested in launching the game on other platforms. The pair is hoping to have the title out in Q4 ’16/Q1 ’17 timeframe.
Mattis said High Horse chose to use Unreal Engine, because it’s a way to do a lot with a little.
“If we wanted to go write our own engine, that’s certainly something we could do, but we found it’s really important to pick and choose your battles carefully,” he says. “Working with Unreal…we feel like we have that engine team, and they’re working on what they’re working on — and with the full source code, we can really get in there and change the things we need to change to make that work for us.” Mattis’ lightning-round presentation at GamesBeat 2016 will focus on the transition from a 200-person development team at a Triple-A studio to an indie studio that’s comprised of just two guys. Despite being a small studio, they’re working on a project they still hope will have high production values, and the talk will touch on lessons they’ve learned, how they leverage their strategic partnerships, and their unique production methods.
System Era Softworks Brendan Wilson, System Era’s co-founder, has a similar story about how the studio was founded in 2014: The six-person studio (five principals with one full-time contractor, spread between the studio’s Seattle headquarters, Toronto, and Salt Lake City) had extensive game development experience at various companies including 343 Studios, Tecmo/Koei, Ubisoft, and Valve, contributing to such projects as the Assassin’s Creed franchise and the Halo series. Despite all that Triple-A experience, though, Wilson said they had a “craving for something different, something smaller, something more nimble” with a higher level of personal satisfaction.
Astroneer is System Era’s debut project, a single-player game with co-op that builds off the team members’ mutual interest in aerospace technology and manned space exploration. With most of their previous Triple-A projects being centered around violence, they were motivated to create a game that was a radical departure from that style.
“[Having kids] changes your perspective a little bit,” Wilson explains. “I got really interested in making games that are completely accessible to everybody [and] that are completely non-violent. Astroneer has some survival elements and some dangers, but you’re never fighting anybody, you’re never shooting anybody, and there’s no blood. It’s meant to be a positive experience, a constructive experience, and something I’d be completely proud to have my sons play.” Wilson says that Astroneer will be a sandbox game of exploration, adventure, and survival, “set in a completely procedural world, where you have full control over the environment. We like to say, if Minecraft is the LEGO of video games, we’re Play-Doh.” You play as an Astroneer, which he says is “kind of a futuristic gold rusher,” and your mission is to land on a planet (each one is unique), and explore with tools that enable you to deform the terrain, build, and use the resources you find to craft all sorts of things.
Wilson reveals that the game was initially demoed for companies in another game engine, but the studio switched over to Unreal Engine because it was the artists’ preference for how quickly visual assets can be created. However, when Unreal Engine went open source, “that was really the clincher for us.” He says they didn’t want to have to rely on someone else’s support team for help if a problem cropped up or they hit performance bottlenecks. The real-time terrain deformation, for instance, requires a lot of multithreaded calculations, something that Unreal Engine handles easily, and being an open-source engine, his team can solve any problems themselves, usually in short order. The engine also enables speedy prototyping, so new ideas can be tested quickly and easily.
System Era is currently targeting Astroneer as a PC release on Steam, but isn’t able to discuss yet the other platforms for which the game may also be developed. There’s no firm release date at this point, but Wilson said the company is hoping to bring it out this fall.
Wilson’s talk at GamesBeat 2016 will elaborate on how hard it is to make a game, but how building a game studio is harder — especially when none of the team members have done it before. He says that simultaneously launching a studio and constructing a game is “like navigating shark-infested waters in a storm while teaching yourself to sail,” though with the big benefit of retaining creative and financial control of everything they do.
Sponsored posts are content that has been produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. The content of news stories produced by our editorial team is never influenced by advertisers or sponsors in any way. For more information, contact [email protected].
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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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"GamesBeat University talks will be livestreamed at GamesBeat 2016 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/games/gamesbeat-university-talks-will-be-livestreamed-gamesbeat-2016"
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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 University talks will be livestreamed at GamesBeat 2016 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Gordon Bellamy of USC and Asra Rasheed speak on a panel on diversity at GamesBeat 2015.
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Gordon Bellamy, visiting scholar at the University of Southern California, has kindly agreed to emcee our GamesBeat University talks at GamesBeat 2016. Bellamy, who did the same for us last year, will host the university talks during the breaks in the mainstage action at GamesBeat 2016 on Tuesday. The university talks are livestream-only educational sessions that will take place while the physical conference on our mainstage is on breaks or in breakout sessions. Check the livestream post on Monday for the link or head to twitch.tv/gamesbeat.
Here’s our schedule of talks.
Above: Brandon Laatsch, founder of Stress Level Zero.
12:45 pm August 2 Tuesday What we learned about VR development.
Fireside chat between Dan Fiden, chief strategy officer of FunPlus, and Brandon Laatsch, founder of Stress Level Zero.
Above: Wanda Meloni of the Open Gaming Alliance 1:05 pm 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! For a more open and diverse game business.
Bellamy interviews Wanda Meloni, executive director of the Open Gaming Alliance 1:25 pm VR for music lovers.
Bellamy interviews Adam Arrigo, CEO of TheWaveVR Above: Sibel Sunar, principal of 47 Communications 1:45 pm Fast facts for games PR today Bellamy interviews Sibel Sunar, principal of 47 Communications 2:05 pm Above: Jon Kimmich Staying alive through real challenges Bellamy interviews Jay Koottarappallil, CEO of WhiteMoon Studios 2:25 pm The indiepocalypse is here and VR isn’t going to save you Bellamy interviews Jon Kimmich, CEO of Software Illuminati Above: Dan Winters, head of business development at Amazon Games 2:45 pm From baseball to games and other things I learned in my misspent youth Bellamy interviews Dan Winters, head of business development, Amazon 3:05 pm Finding High value players with Google Alex Valle, product manager for app ads 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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"GamesBeat 2016 explores how to take games between Asia and the West | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/games/gamesbeat-2016-explores-how-to-take-games-between-asia-and-the-west"
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"Game Development View All Programming OS and Hosting Platforms Metaverse View All Virtual Environments and Technologies VR Headsets and Gadgets Virtual Reality Games Gaming Hardware View All Chipsets & Processing Units Headsets & Controllers Gaming PCs and Displays Consoles Gaming Business View All Game Publishing Game Monetization Mergers and Acquisitions Games Releases and Special Events Gaming Workplace Latest Games & Reviews View All PC/Console Games Mobile Games Gaming Events Game Culture GamesBeat 2016 explores how to take games between Asia and the West Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn In the hot Shanghai sun, fans take a break during ChinaJoy 2015.
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China has become the biggest gaming market, surpassing the U.S. quite easily in the past couple of years. But only a handful of companies have moved from Western markets into Asia, or moved from Asia into the West, and succeeded at it. But companies that master such cross-regional challenges will find a gold mine.
Above: Daniel Cho, chairman of Innospark.
Managing this change is truly difficult. So we’ve assembled an expert panel to talk about Going East and Going West our GamesBeat 2016 event in Los Angeles next week.
You can register for the event here.
Check out the new agenda here.
Our panelists include Daniel Cho, chairman Innospark, based in Seoul, South Korea. He recently announced the company’s latest mobile game, Trendy Town , targeted at young audiences around the world. The title is a big one for InnoSpark, which was founded in 2012 and raised a $6.5 million round of funding last fall.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Above: Linekong US general manager Roy Liu.
Cho is a senior adviser and strategic adviser at a number of companies, and he has held executive positions at companies such as Intel, Posco, and ArrayCom.
Above: James Zhang, CEO of Spellgun and Concept Art House Also speaking is Roy Liu, general manager at Linekong USA. Liu announced earlier this year that Linekong planned to invest $20 million in companies in the West as the Beijing parent company expands from China. Liu has been in mobile games since 2006, and he has previously held roles at Forgame US, Chartboost, and PopCap Games.
Above: Jason Wilson, managing editor of GamesBeat.
James Zhang is CEO of Concept Art House , an outsourcing firm that makes art for mobile games. He is also CEO of Spellgun, a collaboration between Concept Art House and Talkweb , a publicly traded Chinese company that runs a huge distance-learning business. The companies started out taking Western games to China , but now they’re also trying to take Chinese content into the West.
The panel will be moderated by my boss, Jason Wilson, managing editor at GamesBeat. He has been at VentureBeat for four years. Before joining VentureBeat, he was group managing editor for GamePro Media. He’s also a former copy chief for Ziff-Davis Media’s Game Group, a former sports copy editor, and a sportswriter. He’s a critic for strategy and role-playing games, and he’s a big PC gaming and board game fan. Wilson is a staunch advocate for high journalistic standards.
Our theme is “The platform awakens: A new hope for the game industry.” Our previously announced speakers include: Above: Mark Stanley, vice president at GameStop Mark Stanley, vice president of internal development and diversification at GameStop.
He oversees the continued growth the company’s used games business, as well as new diversification opportunities, such as indie game development and publishing with the company’s new game publishing label GameTrust.
Walter Driver, CEO of Scopley , which just raised $55 million to expand and execute on its publishing strategy. Scopely has investments in development studios and works regularly with seven studios that employ more than 300 people. Driver cofounded Scopely in 2011 with former Applied Semantics cofounder, Eytan Elbaz; former lead software developer on MySpace’s Developer Platform, Ankur Bulsara; and startup veteran, Eric Futoran.
Above: David Jaffe of Bartlet Jones Detective Agency.
David Jaffe, game director and game designer at Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency , a game studio. He has helped teams make games for the last 20 years. He has worked on a number of titles including Mickey Mania, Twisted Metal 2, Twisted Metal: Black, God of War, and Calling All Cars. In 2013, Jaffe cofounded The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency, where he is directing and lead designing the Sony published PS4 exclusive Drawn To Death.
Ophir Lupu, head of games at United Talent Agency.
He represents many of the world’s most respected and successful game creators and development studios, including Ken Levine, Boss Key Productions, Big Huge Games, Casey Hudson, Giant Sparrow, Patrice Dèsilets, and others. He has been in that position for five years. Before that, he headed the video game division at CAA, where he worked since 2000.
Above: Tom Kalinske, chairman of Gazillion.
Tom Kalinske, the chairman of online game firm Gazillion and the former president of Sega of America.
Kalinske is best known for introducing Sonic the Hedgehog to the U.S. during his stint running the Japanese company’s U.S. operations.
Kalinske is one of the memorable characters of the game industry whose exploits as the president and CEO of Sega of America have been retold in books and movies. After a long break, he rejoined the game industry as chairman of Gazillion, maker of Marvel Heroes 2016.
He is also executive chairman of Global Education Learning and one of the founders of the company. GEL is involved in acquiring companies in China focused on improving education for young children 2-7. Tom is on the board of Cambium Learning Group, an education company supplying curriculum for kids with special needs. He also served leadership roles at Leapfrog, Mattel, and Knowledge Universe.
Above: Neville Spiteri, CEO of Wevr.
Neville Spiteri, CEO of Wever , maker of the virtual reality experience TheBlu. As one of the top software engineers and creative executives in the industry, Spiteri has been at the forefront of interactive storytelling throughout his career, directly influencing the future of virtual reality.
Prior to founding Wevr, Spiteri served as the producer and senior development director at Electronic Arts, where he began to explore the world of interactive storytelling while leading the technology and production teams for five years. Earlier in his career, Spiteri was the director of product management on the ground floor team at EMC|Greenplum (now Pivotal), where he first met his Wevr co-founders, Anthony Batt and Scott Yara.
Spiteri’s initial interest in VR was sparked when he read Howard Rheingold’s book, Virtual Reality , in 1991. He still owns the original copy today. Spiteri replaces Rikard Steiber of HTC, who had to drop out of GamesBeat 2016.
Michael Metzger, a senior vice president at Houlihan Lokey.
He provides M&A and financing advisory services to media, internet, and technology companies. He previously worked at Covert & Co.
Above: Sean Haran of Riot Games.
Sean Haran is the publishing and business development lead for Riot Games North America.
He leads a team dedicated to supporting the massive League of Legends community through marketing, social media and live event efforts that highlight the diversity and passion of its players. Haran oversees partnerships and identifies emerging opportunities to support the League community, including its University League of Legends (uLoL) program. He has more than 15 years of experience in both the video game and entertainment industry, including a stint at Marvel Entertainment, where he was a leader in their successful console, mobile and PC game licensing business.
Taylor Cocke, an esports analyst, writer, and video personality.
He specializes primarily in League of Legends, but also covers Hearthstone, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He currently creates content for Yahoo Esports as a part of Yahoo Sports. He has also done work for IGN, Red Bull Esports, and Riot Games.
Nathan Stewart, global franchise director for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast.
He joined Wizards of the Coast in 2012 to help lead the franchise into the future by expanding the brand blueprint into videogames, movies and new entertainment. Previously, he has worked on other big game brands such as Xbox, Grand Theft Auto, Madden Football, Pac-Man and more.
Brian Fargo, CEO of InXile Entertainment.
Fargo founded Interplay Productions in 1983 and quickly became renowned as one of the most successful video game developers of the ’80s and ’90s, and the driving force behind some of gaming’s most iconic properties including The Bard’s Tale, Battle Chess, Wasteland, Fallout, Baldur’s Gate, Torment and more. After leaving Interplay and founding inXile Entertainment in 2002, Brian became an innovator in video game crowdfunding and development, securing over $8 million on Kickstarter across three titles.
David Reid, CEO of MetaArcade.
He is bringing back another game from D&D ‘s shadow — Tunnels & Trolls, a more accessible RPG that saw a paper-and-pen rebirth in the 2000s. But Reid’s MetaArcade will give it a digital platform, though more as a choose your own adventure-style experience than a full game.
Reid is a long-time veteran of the video games business, with over 15 years of executive leadership in online games publishing and marketing at Xbox, NCsoft, Trion Worlds, CCP Games, and Motiga.
Mike Minotti is the community manager at GamesBeat , but he also handles plenty of writing duties. Unlike all of those fancy guys covering video games from San Francisco, Mike reports on the industry from the magical land of Ohio. He’s also up to speed on a wide variety of games.
Gio Hunt, executive vice president of corporate operations at Blizzard Entertainment , provides leadership for the integrated marketing, human resources, legal, and business development teams. He joined Blizzard in 2013 as chief of staff, and he has been instrumental in helping the company’s senior leadership team improve the operations of its global business. He played a key role in developing the company’s franchise planning process and has also led several key partnership initiatives. He has had a 25-year career, starting in law.
Above: Meghan Camarena is an influencer who goes by Strawburry17. She’s an actress, YouTuber, blogger, and more.
Perrin Kaplan, principal at Zebra Partners and former head of marketing at Nintendo of America. She helped launch everything from the original Pokemon to the Wii game console.
Meghan “ Strawburry17 ” Camarena , who has more than a million subscribers on her YouTube channel. Her videos have more than 100 million views. As an actress, gamer, blogger, comedian, and YouTube, she hosts and produces a variety of video shows about her daily adventures. She has gaming videos on her Strawburry17Plays channel, day-in-the-life videos on Lifeburry, and starred in the hit CBS show, The Amazing Race. She also played Rapwnzel in the web comedy series, Video Game High School.
Dave Moss, host at Smosh Games.
Known as “Lasercorn,” Moss has been playing video games on YouTube since 2010. He is a host on Smosh Games, a personality-driven channel with more than 2 million subscribers. Some of his favorite games include the Portal franchise, Overwatch, and Resident Evil 2.
Above: Noah Whinston, CEO of the Immortals.
Noah Whinston , the 21-year-old CEO of The Immortals , a professional esports team that includes some of the best players in the world for Counter-Strike:Global Offensive and League of Legends. He dropped out of college and developed expertise in data-driven sports betting. Now he’s the cofounder and CEO of a team with an all-star roster of investors, including CrossCut Ventures managing director Clinton Foy.
Tammy Levy, the director of product at Kongregate ; Greg Canessa, the senior vice president of GSN Games; Chris Heatherly, the senior vice president of Disney Mobile Games; and David Pokress, the senior vice president of monetization and publisher relations at AdColony. These aforementioned speakers will talk about monetization and retention.
Above: Sunny Dhillon of Signia Venture Partners.
Sunny Dhillon, partner at Signia Venture Partners.
Dhillon is focused on a variety of new technologies, including games and virtual reality.
Phil Sanderson, general partner at IDG Ventures in San Francisco.
He focuses on investments in gaming, music technology, ecommerce, search and adtech. He also recently ran a 100-mile race. Among his game investments are Telltale Games, Next Games, Mastermind Studios, and Free Range Games.
Above: Alice Lloyd George, associate at RRE.
Alice Lloyd George, associate at RRE Ventures.
She works on emerging technologies such as the blockchain, machine intelligence and computer vision, robotics, virtual and augmented reality, and NewSpace. She appears regularly on Fox Business, was Forbes 30 under 30 (2016) and Marc Andreessen calls her “one of the unknown rockstars in tech.” Before joining RRE Alice worked in investments at Bridgewater Associates, and in a prior life she lived in Beijing conducting research as a Brookings Institute fellow. Alice began her career at The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, where she reported on business and politics across Asia.
Above: Marco DeMiroz, cofounder and general partner at The VR Fund.
Marco DeMiroz , cofounder and general manager at the Venture Reality Fund.
The San Francisco fund recently raised $50 million to invest in virtual reality and augmented reality startups. He was previously CEO of PlayFirst, the maker of the Diner Dash series of games, played by more than 550 million people. It was recently acquired by Glu Mobile.
Margaret Wallace, the chief executive of Playmatics.
She was named one of Forbes “12 Women in Gaming to Watch,” and in 2014, she was highlighted by Fortune as one of “10 Powerful Women in Video Games.“ An entrepreneur with a strong focus on innovation, brands, and original intellectual property, she has built and expanded Playmatics across multiple sectors to combine games with film, digital media, and television.
Rick Johnson, a cofounder at CastAR , which is making AR glasses for tabletop games and other entertaining applications. He started the company as Technical Illusions along with Jeri Ellsworth. Both Johnson and Ellsworth worked at Valve Software. Johnson also worked in software at Gearbox Software, Activision, and Raven Software.
Above: Nick Beliaeff, vice president of production at Spin Master.
Nick Beliaeff, the vice president of production at Spin Master.
His company is making a game, Air Hogs Connect, that integrates a smartphone with an AR drone that flies over a digital battlefield. He aims to bridge the gap from physical play to digital play. He was previously principal at Game Concordium, the senior vice president of development at Trion Worlds, and studio manager at Sony Online Entertainment.
Pramod Sharma, the CEO of Osmo , a maker of the toy-game hybrids that take advantage of the iPad and its camera. Osmo has grown to 40 people on the strength of multiple titles that reinvent the way children learn by using the iPad camera to recognize physical objects placed before it. The company’s most recent game is Osmo Coding , which teaches young kids the principles of computer programming. Sharma previously worked at Google, where he held a variety of roles from engineer to senior product manager.
Chris Fralic, partner at First Round Capital.
Based in New York, Fralic joined the firm in 2006 and he has a number of investments in gaming, including Roblox and Mobcrush. He has over 25 years of industry experience.
Above: Clinton Foy, managing director at CrossCut Ventures.
Clinton Foy, managing director and general partner at CrossCut Ventures.
He has been a partner at Crosscut since 2013, and he focuses on early stage venture capital investments in mobile, social, cloud, consumer, new platforms, games, augmented reality, and virtual reality. He was previously chief operating officer of Square Enix, and he has led investments into Super Evil Megacorp, Vulcun, and Mobcrush. He also cofounded and is chairman of the esports team The Immortals.
Above: Martin Rae of AIAS Dan Fiden, chief strategy officer at Funplus.
He helps run a $50 million fund to invest in games and VR startups, such as Sirvo Studios. He was previously a founder and partner at Signia Venture Partners, and he was CEO of Wild Needle.
Martin Rae, president of The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
Rae runs the professional academy of game industry peers that stages the annual DICE Summit and the DICE Awards in Las Vegas each year. He has been the head of the nonprofit since 2010 and is a champion of the game industry. Rae has traditionally hosted our panel on venture capital investments in games.
Niccolo Maisto cofounded FaceIt in 2011 , and the company is now overseeing the Esports Championship Series league for the military shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He drives the company’s vision, strategy, and growth.
Under his leadership, the team at FaceIt comes together to server over 4 million users. The company now works in 6 different games and has provided the underlying tech for more than 12 million competitive-gaming sessions.
Above: Todd Krieger is the guy responsible for keeping an eye on what’s new at Deep Focus.
Todd Krieger, Deep Focus emerging technology director , spends his days identifying opportunities for consumers and brands in the growing fields of esports and virtual reality. He caught the esports bug covering the Intel Extreme Masters in Katowice, Poland and is excited to help grow pro gaming domestically. Todd has led multi-disciplinary teams spanning product, sales, business development and marketing. Some of his career highlights include creating the world’s leading celebrity destination OMG for Yahoo, developing award-winning interactive TV programming for Microsoft, and serving as the Futurist in Residence at the New York Times.
Above: Twitch esports boss Andy Swanson.
Andy Swanson, vice president for esports at Twitch , is a 17-year veteran of the video game industry. His career began in 1998 in advertising sales at Future US where he eventually became the publisher of PC Gamer, OXM, and PSM in Future’s Games Group. In 2007, he joined Ubisoft before moving on to GameFly. In 2013, Andy joined Twitch, with his current focus on planning, evangelizing, and executing the strategy around brand sponsorships and integrations within Twitch’s esports ecosystem.
John Hanke , CEO of Niantic Labs , the creator of the mobile gaming sensation Pokémon Go. That augmented reality game is so hot that it has broken records , shooting to No. 1 in the top downloads and top-grossing mobile games charts in just seven days.
Above: John Hanke Hanke started Niantic with Google in 2010 to pioneer a new kind of location-based game. He wanted to promote exercise and an appreciation of public art. The company launched Ingress in 2012 as an invite-only Android app. It grew to millions of players, and it attracted the attention of Nintendo and The Pokémon Company Group.
Now Pokémon Go is a huge hit.
Above: Julie Uhrman, head of platform business development at Jaunt.
Michael Metzger, a veteran speaker at GamesBeat events and a senior vice president at Houlihan Lokey.
He provides M&A and financing advisory services to media, Internet, and technology companies.
Wanda Meloni, executive director of the Open Gaming Alliance.
She will moderate a panel on monetizing VR. She is also CEO and senior analyst at M2 Advisory Group and editor-in-chief of the Gaming Business Review.
Julie Uhrman, head of platform business development for Jaunt , a leader in cinematic virtual reality. Prior to Jaunt, she made a big splash as the CEO and Founder of Ouya, an innovative Android game console that enabled any developer to publish a game to the TV.
Above: Christina Heller, cofounder and CEO of VR Playhouse.
Christina Heller, CEO of VR Playhouse, a Los Angeles production services company for the VR entertainment industry. She will speak on a panel on AR/VR beyond games.
Stewart Rogers, the director of marketing technology at VentureBeat’s VB Insight.
Rogers is crafting a new report based on his latest VR marketplace research, and he’ll be talking about that in his session.
James Iliff, the creative director at Survios, the maker of the upcoming Raw Data game for the HTC Vive.
I named that VR shooter game one of my top favorites at the recent E3 show in Los Angeles.
Tom Sanocki, the CEO of Limitless , a new VR startup that enables content developers to create interactive VR characters that respond to voice, gestures, gaze, and more. Limitless is targeting the technology to film and game developers initially, as well as other vertical markets including education, advertising, and travel. Previously, Sanocki spent 11 years as a character lead at Pixar, where he built characters and technology on films from Finding Nemo through The Good Dinosaur , filed five patents, and won a VES award for Mater in Cars.
Above: Adam Orth, founder of Three One Zero, maker of VR games.
Adam Orth, the creative director at Three One Zero, the maker of Adr1ft , a pioneering VR game about a survivor of a wreck in space. Orth is a creative director, writer, and entrepreneur passionate about crafting immersive, interactive digital experiences.
A veteran of the video game industry, he has held high-level creative positions at Microsoft, LucasArts, Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment, and PopCap Games. He has directly collaborated with George Lucas and Frank Miller and has created digital entertainment for Lucasfilm, NASA, Nike, and National Geographic.
Jules Urbach, the CEO of Otoy.
He’s a pioneer in computer graphics, streaming, and 3D rendering with over 25 years of industry experience. He made his first game, Hell Cab (Time Warner Interactive), at age 18, which was one of the first CD-ROM games ever created.
Six years after Hell Cab, Urbach founded Groove Alliance. Groove created the first 3D game ever available on Shockwave.com (Real Pool). Currently, Urbach is busy working on his two latest ventures, Otoy and LightStage, which aim to revolutionize 3D content capture, creation, and delivery.
Above: Sylvio Drouin, vice president of Unity Labs Sylvio Drouin, the vice president of Unity Labs at game engine maker Unity Technologies.
Drouin is leading Unity Technologies’ advanced research efforts, looking three to 10 years down the road. Unity Labs is a multinational team whose work has already resulted in cutting-edge graphics and VR technologies that are demonstrating what developers and consumers will be doing in the near future.
Above: Clifton Dawson, CEO of Greenlight VR.
A self-taught college dropout, he wrote his first applications at age 10 and worked as an OS engineer at 16. His early ventures include work on large-scale projects at companies that include Philips Advanced Research Labs, Eicon Technology, France Telecom, Toyota, Fujitsu, Matsushita, and Epson, as well as a variety of startups. He’s been specifically responsible for driving innovations, product vision, and core technologies.
Clifton Dawson, the chief executive of Greenlight VR , which just published a report on virtual reality.
Greenlight VR is a market research firm for the global virtual reality industry. Greenlight benchmarks thousands of companies and provides insights about consumer attitudes and behaviors. Greenlight also publishes the annual Virtual Reality Industry Report. Prior to founding Greenlight VR, Dawson was a growth and revenue analyst at Snapchat, the popular image messaging and multimedia app.
Above: Michael Condrey, cofounder of Sledgehammer Games.
Michael Condrey, the cofounder and studio head of Sledgehammer Games , the developers of 2014’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and 2011’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. He was previously the chief operating officer and head of development at Visceral Games on 2008’s Dead Space. Other noteworthy credits from his nearly 20-year development tenure include EA’s James Bond, Need for Speed, and FIFA series, among many other titles. His studio has several hundred people.
Megan Gaiser, the principal of Contagious Creativity, a creative consultancy and co-CEO of Spiral Media Ltd.
She specializes in creative leadership, strategy, and diversity. She is the former chief creative strategy officer and former CEO and president of Her Interactive, the maker of the Nancy Drew series of games that has inspired millions of girls and women. Gaiser is a veteran of our GamesBeat talks on creativity and diversity from previous events.
Ru Weerasuriya, the chief creative officer and CEO of Ready at Dawn Studios.
His company recently announced the zany De-formers arena-combat game. It previously created high-profile games such as The Order: 1886, Daxter, and God of War: Chains of Olympus. He cofounded Ready At Dawn Studios in 2003, and he has more than 100 employees.
Above: Peter Moore of EA Peter Moore , the chief competition officer of Electronic Arts.
Moore will speak about where esports is heading. Moore is a former pro soccer player, and so he understands the emotion and passion around sports. He believes that esports can be every bit as exciting as televised physical sports. He was previously chief operating officer of EA, and he also served in executive roles at Microsoft’s Xbox division and Sega of America.
David Baszucki, the founder, co-creator, and CEO of Roblox Roblox is like a virtual world made from Lego-like blocks where players can build anything and even create their own games. A pioneer in pushing the boundaries of the imagination, Baszucki has helped champion millions of young and up-and-coming developers in the video game industry via the Roblox platform. He’ll be part of a panel on our AR/VR day on August 1, focusing on the topic of user-generated VR.
Clinton Foy, managing director and general partner at CrossCut Ventures Above: Mike Sepso of Activision Blizzard Foy is managing director of an early-stage venture capital firm in Los Angeles. Foy is also the chairman and co-owner of the pro esports team The Immortals, which just bought a Brazilian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team.
Foy has deep experience in running game and tech companies, including gaming giant Square Enix (where he was chief operating officer and general counsel) and Super Evil Megacorp. Foy has led investments in Mobcrush, Vulcun, Little Labs, and Instant Esports. In seven years at Square Enix, Foy oversaw more than 100 product launches across a dozen platforms.
Mike Sepso, senior vice president for Activision Blizzard Sepso was the cofounder of MLG, which Activision Blizzard acquired last year. Now he focuses on esports and runs Media Networks, a division devoted to creating the best esports experiences for fans across games, platforms, and geographies at one of the world’s largest video game companies.
Above: Richard Marks, senior research engineer at Sony Interactive Entertainment Sepso played a key role at MLG, focusing on strategy, key partnerships, corporate development, and product and technology development.
Richard Marks, a senior research engineer at Sony Interactive Entertainment He’ll be one of the speakers at our AR/VR day, which will focus on strategy for the augmented reality and virtual reality markets. Marks’ topic for his fireside chat is “What works in VR and what doesn’t.” He should know, as he is one of VR’s pioneers, recently running the Sony PlayStation Magic Lab that came up with the PlayStation VR technology. Sony is making a major investment in PlayStation VR and plans to launch it in October.
Above: David Haddad is president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
David Haddad, president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Haddad spoke last year at our inaugural GamesBeat Summit event, and we’re happy to have him back. Haddad was appointed to his current post in October 2015. In this role, he is responsible for all aspects of WBIE’s overall operations, including publishing, operations, sales, marketing, digital/mobile games, business development, and game production.
Under Haddad’s oversight, WBIE creates games across all platforms utilizing its wholly owned, award-winning development studios: TT Games, Rocksteady Studios, NetherRealm Studios, Monolith Productions, Turbine, WB Games Montreal, and WB Games San Francisco. Last year, Warner Bros. had its most successful year ever with a number of hit games, including Mortal Kombat X on console and mobile and Batman: Arkham Knight, Lego Jurassic World, and Lego Dimensions.
Above: Kevin Chou, CEO of Kabam Lego Marvel’s Avengers launched in January 2016, and the highly anticipated Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens launched on June 28, 2016. As the head of WBIE, Haddad also serves on the board of the Entertainment Software Association. Haddad joined Warner Bros. in 2013 as head of digital publishing.
Kevin Chou, CEO of Kabam Chou runs Kabam, a maker of free-to-play mobile games such as Marvel: Contest of Champions. He cofounded a company in 2006 that morphed into Kabam in 2009. And since that time, he has navigated the difficult currents of the ultra-competitive game industry. By 2014, Kabam had grown to hundreds of employees and more than $400 million in revenue, with a valuation in excess of $1 billion. More recently, Chou has tried to take the lead in disruption, and he has focused Kabam around fewer, bigger games. He has secured licenses with Hollywood studios such as Disney, Lionsgate, MGM, NBCUniversal, Paramount, and Warner Brothers for games based on some of the world’s most beloved movie franchises.
Above: Roy Taylor, corporate vice president of alliances at AMD Last year, Chou launched a multipartner effort to take Marvel: Contest of Champions into the Chinese market. And most recently, Marvel: Contest of Champions hit the No. 1 game in downloads in China.
Roy Taylor, corporate vice president of alliances at AMD Above: Jason Rubin, head of studios at Oculus Taylor is a seasoned veteran of the video game and semiconductor industries. He is currently an expert in AMD’s relations with major retailers and specialty retailers, and he’s an advocate for gaming content and VR that runs on AMD platforms. He previously held senior positions at Rightware, MasterIMage 3D, and Nvidia.
Jason Rubin, head of Oculus Studios Rubin runs the team at Facebook’s Oculus division that creates, funds, and works with developers to build first-party games and experiences for the Oculus Rift VR headset and the Samsung Gear VR. Rubin’s job is to create exciting entertainment that will draw consumers to the new platforms.
A 30-year veteran of game development, Rubin was the cofounder of Naughty Dog, where he created the hit games Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. He also cofounded the media mashup tool Fleeter, which he sold to Fox Interactive, and he was president of THQ.
He spoke at GamesBeat 2015 about how VR is the toughest learning curve in games.
Above: Peter Levin of Lionsgate Peter Levin, president of Lionsgate Interactive Ventures & Games Levin joined Lionsgate as president of interactive ventures and games in 2014. He is responsible for expanding Lionsgate’s content creation into video games and other interactive ventures, including incubation of new properties, investment in existing games and digital media vehicles, and leveraging Lionsgate’s franchises and other branded properties into the gaming space.
It’s no accident that Lionsgate has announced a bunch of game-related deals, such as planting the seeds for an esports TV show and backing Hong Kong game studio Fifth Journey.
He has been a frequent speaker at our GamesBeat events.
Our confirmed moderators include Geoff Keighley, game broadcaster and host of the Game Awards Keighley is a seasoned game broadcaster and host of The Game Awards.
The event last December drew 2.3 million viewers for a two-hour awards show. Keighley came to our event a year ago and interviewed Jason Rubin of Oculus Studios. He has been writing about games since he was 13.
Who should attend? This event is specifically designed for gaming executives, investors, developers, and entrepreneurs. Here’s our link to stories from last year’s event.
2015 was all about the Game of Thrones, or the battle among game companies for supremacy. At our recent GamesBeat Summit, we focused on the underdogs of gaming.
This summer, we have a bit of a fixation on Star Wars. Our theme is a nod to that and to the fact that gaming has a lot of new platforms arising.
Mobile has become ascendant as the largest game platform, with more than a billion users. But there are new platforms coming in the console market (hi, Nintendo) as well as virtual reality and augmented reality. The mobile, console, and PC platforms will see new innovations in game technology this year, and we’ll be talking about all of them. Register today.
Our advisory board for this event includes: Michael Chang, senior vice president of corporate development at NCSoft West Greg Essig, head of business development at Mobcrush Jay Eum, managing director at Translink Capital Megan Gaiser, senior creative leader and strategist; principal at Contagious Creativity Perrin Kaplan, principal at Zebra Partners Ophir Lupu, head of games at United Talent Agency Wanda Meloni, executive director at the Open Gaming Alliance Ali Moiz, CEO at Vulcun Maarten Noyons, CEO of the International Mobile Gaming Awards Ian Sharpe, CEO of Azubu Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors Sunny Dhillon, partner at Signia Venture Partners Alejandro Manchado, strategic partner development lead at Google Daniel Cho, chairman of Innospark Mike Capps, former president of Epic Games For general event information, please contact [email protected] and reference “GamesBeat” For sponsorship information please click here , complete the form, and a member of our sales team will contact you.
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"GamesBeat 2016 explores how to do a game publishing deal | VentureBeat"
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"Game Development View All Programming OS and Hosting Platforms Metaverse View All Virtual Environments and Technologies VR Headsets and Gadgets Virtual Reality Games Gaming Hardware View All Chipsets & Processing Units Headsets & Controllers Gaming PCs and Displays Consoles Gaming Business View All Game Publishing Game Monetization Mergers and Acquisitions Games Releases and Special Events Gaming Workplace Latest Games & Reviews View All PC/Console Games Mobile Games Gaming Events Game Culture VB Event GamesBeat 2016 explores how to do a game publishing deal Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Walter Driver, CEO of Scopely.
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How do you do a game publishing deal? It’s different for console, mobile, and PC games. And the new rules of digital gaming have changed the relationship between developers and publishers. So we’ve assembled an expert panel to talk about how to do a game publishing deal at our GamesBeat 2016 event in Los Angeles next week.
You can register for the event here.
Check out the new agenda here.
Above: Mark Stanley, vice president at GameStop The session includes seasoned experts across the publishing, development, and agent businesses. Speakers include Mark Stanley, vice president of internal development and diversification at GameStop. He oversees the continued growth the company’s used games business, as well as new diversification opportunities, such as indie game development and publishing with the company’s new game publishing label GameTrust.
Above: David Jaffe of Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency.
Also speaking is Walter Driver, CEO of Scopley, which just raised $55 million to expand and execute on its publishing strategy. Scopely has investments in development studios and works regularly with seven studios that employ more than 300 people. Driver cofounded Scopely in 2011 with former Applied Semantics cofounder, Eytan Elbaz; former lead software developer on MySpace’s Developer Platform, Ankur Bulsara; and startup veteran, Eric Futoran.
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! David Jaffe is a game director and game designer at Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency, a game studio. He has helped teams make games for the last 20 years. He has worked on a number of titles including Mickey Mania, Twisted Metal 2, Twisted Metal: Above: Ophir Lupu, head of games at United Talent Agency.
Black, God of War, and Calling All Cars. In 2013, Jaffe cofounded The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency, where he is directing and lead designing the Sony published PS4 exclusive Drawn To Death. He also blogs, tweets, and talks a lot. Thus, he’s probably said something you’ve found offensive at some point in the past. He’s sorry for this. Actually, that’s not true. He’s not.
But he still loves you.
The moderator is Ophir Lupu, head of games at United Talent Agency. He represents many of the world’s most respected and successful game creators and development studios, including Ken Levine, Boss Key Productions, Big Huge Games, Casey Hudson, Giant Sparrow, Patrice Dèsilets, and others. He has been in that position for five years. Before that, he headed the video game division at CAA, where he worked since 2000.
Our theme is “The platform awakens: A new hope for the game industry.” Above: Tom Kalinske, chairman of Gazillion.
Our previously announced speakers include: Tom Kalinske, the chairman of online game firm Gazillion and the former president of Sega of America.
Kalinske is best known for introducing Sonic the Hedgehog to the U.S. during his stint running the Japanese company’s U.S. operations.
Kalinske is one of the memorable characters of the game industry whose exploits as the president and CEO of Sega of America have been retold in books and movies. After a long break, he rejoined the game industry as chairman of Gazillion, maker of Marvel Heroes 2016.
He is also executive chairman of Global Education Learning and one of the founders of the company. GEL is involved in acquiring companies in China focused on improving education for young children 2-7. Tom is on the board of Cambium Learning Group, an education company supplying curriculum for kids with special needs. He also served leadership roles at Leapfrog, Mattel, and Knowledge Universe.
Above: Neville Spiteri, CEO of Wevr.
Neville Spiteri, CEO of Wever , maker of the virtual reality experience TheBlu. As one of the top software engineers and creative executives in the industry, Spiteri has been at the forefront of interactive storytelling throughout his career, directly influencing the future of virtual reality.
Prior to founding Wevr, Spiteri served as the producer and senior development director at Electronic Arts, where he began to explore the world of interactive storytelling while leading the technology and production teams for five years. Earlier in his career, Spiteri was the director of product management on the ground floor team at EMC|Greenplum (now Pivotal), where he first met his Wevr co-founders, Anthony Batt and Scott Yara.
Spiteri’s initial interest in VR was sparked when he read Howard Rheingold’s book, Virtual Reality , in 1991. He still owns the original copy today. Spiteri replaces Rikard Steiber of HTC, who had to drop out of GamesBeat 2016.
Michael Metzger, a senior vice president at Houlihan Lokey.
He provides M&A and financing advisory services to media, internet, and technology companies. He previously worked at Covert & Co.
Above: Sean Haran of Riot Games.
Sean Haran is the publishing and business development lead for Riot Games North America.
He leads a team dedicated to supporting the massive League of Legends community through marketing, social media and live event efforts that highlight the diversity and passion of its players. Haran oversees partnerships and identifies emerging opportunities to support the League community, including its University League of Legends (uLoL) program. He has more than 15 years of experience in both the video game and entertainment industry, including a stint at Marvel Entertainment, where he was a leader in their successful console, mobile and PC game licensing business.
Taylor Cocke, an esports analyst, writer, and video personality.
He specializes primarily in League of Legends, but also covers Hearthstone, Dota 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He currently creates content for Yahoo Esports as a part of Yahoo Sports. He has also done work for IGN, Red Bull Esports, and Riot Games.
Nathan Stewart, global franchise director for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast.
He joined Wizards of the Coast in 2012 to help lead the franchise into the future by expanding the brand blueprint into videogames, movies and new entertainment. Previously, he has worked on other big game brands such as Xbox, Grand Theft Auto, Madden Football, Pac-Man and more.
Brian Fargo, CEO of InXile Entertainment.
Fargo founded Interplay Productions in 1983 and quickly became renowned as one of the most successful video game developers of the ’80s and ’90s, and the driving force behind some of gaming’s most iconic properties including The Bard’s Tale, Battle Chess, Wasteland, Fallout, Baldur’s Gate, Torment and more. After leaving Interplay and founding inXile Entertainment in 2002, Brian became an innovator in video game crowdfunding and development, securing over $8 million on Kickstarter across three titles.
David Reid, CEO of MetaArcade.
He is bringing back another game from D&D ‘s shadow — Tunnels & Trolls, a more accessible RPG that saw a paper-and-pen rebirth in the 2000s. But Reid’s MetaArcade will give it a digital platform, though more as a choose your own adventure-style experience than a full game.
Reid is a long-time veteran of the video games business, with over 15 years of executive leadership in online games publishing and marketing at Xbox, NCsoft, Trion Worlds, CCP Games, and Motiga.
Mike Minotti is the community manager at GamesBeat , but he also handles plenty of writing duties. Unlike all of those fancy guys covering video games from San Francisco, Mike reports on the industry from the magical land of Ohio. He’s also up to speed on a wide variety of games.
Gio Hunt, executive vice president of corporate operations at Blizzard Entertainment , provides leadership for the integrated marketing, human resources, legal, and business development teams. He joined Blizzard in 2013 as chief of staff, and he has been instrumental in helping the company’s senior leadership team improve the operations of its global business. He played a key role in developing the company’s franchise planning process and has also led several key partnership initiatives. He has had a 25-year career, starting in law.
Above: Meghan Camarena is an influencer who goes by Strawburry17. She’s an actress, YouTuber, blogger, and more.
Perrin Kaplan, principal at Zebra Partners and former head of marketing at Nintendo of America. She helped launch everything from the original Pokemon to the Wii game console.
Meghan “ Strawburry17 ” Camarena , who has more than a million subscribers on her YouTube channel. Her videos have more than 100 million views. As an actress, gamer, blogger, comedian, and YouTube, she hosts and produces a variety of video shows about her daily adventures. She has gaming videos on her Strawburry17Plays channel, day-in-the-life videos on Lifeburry, and starred in the hit CBS show, The Amazing Race. She also played Rapwnzel in the web comedy series, Video Game High School.
Dave Moss, host at Smosh Games.
Known as “Lasercorn,” Moss has been playing video games on YouTube since 2010. He is a host on Smosh Games, a personality-driven channel with more than 2 million subscribers. Some of his favorite games include the Portal franchise, Overwatch, and Resident Evil 2.
Above: Noah Whinston, CEO of the Immortals.
Noah Whinston , the 21-year-old CEO of The Immortals , a professional esports team that includes some of the best players in the world for Counter-Strike:Global Offensive and League of Legends. He dropped out of college and developed expertise in data-driven sports betting. Now he’s the cofounder and CEO of a team with an all-star roster of investors, including CrossCut Ventures managing director Clinton Foy.
Tammy Levy, the director of product at Kongregate ; Greg Canessa, the senior vice president of GSN Games; Chris Heatherly, the senior vice president of Disney Mobile Games; and David Pokress, the senior vice president of monetization and publisher relations at AdColony. These aforementioned speakers will talk about monetization and retention.
Above: Sunny Dhillon of Signia Venture Partners.
Sunny Dhillon, partner at Signia Venture Partners.
Dhillon is focused on a variety of new technologies, including games and virtual reality.
Phil Sanderson, general partner at IDG Ventures in San Francisco.
He focuses on investments in gaming, music technology, ecommerce, search and adtech. He also recently ran a 100-mile race. Among his game investments are Telltale Games, Next Games, Mastermind Studios, and Free Range Games.
Above: Alice Lloyd George, associate at RRE.
Alice Lloyd George, associate at RRE Ventures.
She works on emerging technologies such as the blockchain, machine intelligence and computer vision, robotics, virtual and augmented reality, and NewSpace. She appears regularly on Fox Business, was Forbes 30 under 30 (2016) and Marc Andreessen calls her “one of the unknown rockstars in tech.” Before joining RRE Alice worked in investments at Bridgewater Associates, and in a prior life she lived in Beijing conducting research as a Brookings Institute fellow. Alice began her career at The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, where she reported on business and politics across Asia.
Above: Marco DeMiroz, cofounder and general partner at The VR Fund.
Marco DeMiroz , cofounder and general manager at the Venture Reality Fund.
The San Francisco fund recently raised $50 million to invest in virtual reality and augmented reality startups. He was previously CEO of PlayFirst, the maker of the Diner Dash series of games, played by more than 550 million people. It was recently acquired by Glu Mobile.
Margaret Wallace, the chief executive of Playmatics.
She was named one of Forbes “12 Women in Gaming to Watch,” and in 2014, she was highlighted by Fortune as one of “10 Powerful Women in Video Games.“ An entrepreneur with a strong focus on innovation, brands, and original intellectual property, she has built and expanded Playmatics across multiple sectors to combine games with film, digital media, and television.
Rick Johnson, a cofounder at CastAR , which is making AR glasses for tabletop games and other entertaining applications. He started the company as Technical Illusions along with Jeri Ellsworth. Both Johnson and Ellsworth worked at Valve Software. Johnson also worked in software at Gearbox Software, Activision, and Raven Software.
Above: Nick Beliaeff, vice president of production at Spin Master.
Nick Beliaeff, the vice president of production at Spin Master.
His company is making a game, Air Hogs Connect, that integrates a smartphone with an AR drone that flies over a digital battlefield. He aims to bridge the gap from physical play to digital play. He was previously principal at Game Concordium, the senior vice president of development at Trion Worlds, and studio manager at Sony Online Entertainment.
Pramod Sharma, the CEO of Osmo , a maker of the toy-game hybrids that take advantage of the iPad and its camera. Osmo has grown to 40 people on the strength of multiple titles that reinvent the way children learn by using the iPad camera to recognize physical objects placed before it. The company’s most recent game is Osmo Coding , which teaches young kids the principles of computer programming. Sharma previously worked at Google, where he held a variety of roles from engineer to senior product manager.
Chris Fralic, partner at First Round Capital.
Based in New York, Fralic joined the firm in 2006 and he has a number of investments in gaming, including Roblox and Mobcrush. He has over 25 years of industry experience.
Above: Clinton Foy, managing director at CrossCut Ventures.
Clinton Foy, managing director and general partner at CrossCut Ventures.
He has been a partner at Crosscut since 2013, and he focuses on early stage venture capital investments in mobile, social, cloud, consumer, new platforms, games, augmented reality, and virtual reality. He was previously chief operating officer of Square Enix, and he has led investments into Super Evil Megacorp, Vulcun, and Mobcrush. He also cofounded and is chairman of the esports team The Immortals.
Above: Martin Rae of AIAS Dan Fiden, chief strategy officer at Funplus.
He helps run a $50 million fund to invest in games and VR startups, such as Sirvo Studios. He was previously a founder and partner at Signia Venture Partners, and he was CEO of Wild Needle.
Martin Rae, president of The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
Rae runs the professional academy of game industry peers that stages the annual DICE Summit and the DICE Awards in Las Vegas each year. He has been the head of the nonprofit since 2010 and is a champion of the game industry. Rae has traditionally hosted our panel on venture capital investments in games.
Niccolo Maisto cofounded FaceIt in 2011 , and the company is now overseeing the Esports Championship Series league for the military shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. He drives the company’s vision, strategy, and growth.
Under his leadership, the team at FaceIt comes together to server over 4 million users. The company now works in 6 different games and has provided the underlying tech for more than 12 million competitive-gaming sessions.
Above: Todd Krieger is the guy responsible for keeping an eye on what’s new at Deep Focus.
Todd Krieger, Deep Focus emerging technology director , spends his days identifying opportunities for consumers and brands in the growing fields of esports and virtual reality. He caught the esports bug covering the Intel Extreme Masters in Katowice, Poland and is excited to help grow pro gaming domestically. Todd has led multi-disciplinary teams spanning product, sales, business development and marketing. Some of his career highlights include creating the world’s leading celebrity destination OMG for Yahoo, developing award-winning interactive TV programming for Microsoft, and serving as the Futurist in Residence at the New York Times.
Above: Twitch esports boss Andy Swanson.
Andy Swanson, vice president for esports at Twitch , is a 17-year veteran of the video game industry. His career began in 1998 in advertising sales at Future US where he eventually became the publisher of PC Gamer, OXM, and PSM in Future’s Games Group. In 2007, he joined Ubisoft before moving on to GameFly. In 2013, Andy joined Twitch, with his current focus on planning, evangelizing, and executing the strategy around brand sponsorships and integrations within Twitch’s esports ecosystem.
John Hanke , CEO of Niantic Labs , the creator of the mobile gaming sensation Pokémon Go. That augmented reality game is so hot that it has broken records , shooting to No. 1 in the top downloads and top-grossing mobile games charts in just seven days.
Above: John Hanke Hanke started Niantic with Google in 2010 to pioneer a new kind of location-based game. He wanted to promote exercise and an appreciation of public art. The company launched Ingress in 2012 as an invite-only Android app. It grew to millions of players, and it attracted the attention of Nintendo and The Pokémon Company Group.
Now Pokémon Go is a huge hit.
Above: Julie Uhrman, head of platform business development at Jaunt.
Michael Metzger, a veteran speaker at GamesBeat events and a senior vice president at Houlihan Lokey.
He provides M&A and financing advisory services to media, Internet, and technology companies.
Wanda Meloni, executive director of the Open Gaming Alliance.
She will moderate a panel on monetizing VR. She is also CEO and senior analyst at M2 Advisory Group and editor-in-chief of the Gaming Business Review.
Julie Uhrman, head of platform business development for Jaunt , a leader in cinematic virtual reality. Prior to Jaunt, she made a big splash as the CEO and Founder of Ouya, an innovative Android game console that enabled any developer to publish a game to the TV.
Above: Christina Heller, cofounder and CEO of VR Playhouse.
Christina Heller, CEO of VR Playhouse, a Los Angeles production services company for the VR entertainment industry. She will speak on a panel on AR/VR beyond games.
Stewart Rogers, the director of marketing technology at VentureBeat’s VB Insight.
Rogers is crafting a new report based on his latest VR marketplace research, and he’ll be talking about that in his session.
James Iliff, the creative director at Survios, the maker of the upcoming Raw Data game for the HTC Vive.
I named that VR shooter game one of my top favorites at the recent E3 show in Los Angeles.
Tom Sanocki, the CEO of Limitless , a new VR startup that enables content developers to create interactive VR characters that respond to voice, gestures, gaze, and more. Limitless is targeting the technology to film and game developers initially, as well as other vertical markets including education, advertising, and travel. Previously, Sanocki spent 11 years as a character lead at Pixar, where he built characters and technology on films from Finding Nemo through The Good Dinosaur , filed five patents, and won a VES award for Mater in Cars.
Above: Adam Orth, founder of Three One Zero, maker of VR games.
Adam Orth, the creative director at Three One Zero, the maker of Adr1ft , a pioneering VR game about a survivor of a wreck in space. Orth is a creative director, writer, and entrepreneur passionate about crafting immersive, interactive digital experiences.
A veteran of the video game industry, he has held high-level creative positions at Microsoft, LucasArts, Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment, and PopCap Games. He has directly collaborated with George Lucas and Frank Miller and has created digital entertainment for Lucasfilm, NASA, Nike, and National Geographic.
Jules Urbach, the CEO of Otoy.
He’s a pioneer in computer graphics, streaming, and 3D rendering with over 25 years of industry experience. He made his first game, Hell Cab (Time Warner Interactive), at age 18, which was one of the first CD-ROM games ever created.
Six years after Hell Cab, Urbach founded Groove Alliance. Groove created the first 3D game ever available on Shockwave.com (Real Pool). Currently, Urbach is busy working on his two latest ventures, Otoy and LightStage, which aim to revolutionize 3D content capture, creation, and delivery.
Above: Sylvio Drouin, vice president of Unity Labs Sylvio Drouin, the vice president of Unity Labs at game engine maker Unity Technologies.
Drouin is leading Unity Technologies’ advanced research efforts, looking three to 10 years down the road. Unity Labs is a multinational team whose work has already resulted in cutting-edge graphics and VR technologies that are demonstrating what developers and consumers will be doing in the near future.
Above: Clifton Dawson, CEO of Greenlight VR.
A self-taught college dropout, he wrote his first applications at age 10 and worked as an OS engineer at 16. His early ventures include work on large-scale projects at companies that include Philips Advanced Research Labs, Eicon Technology, France Telecom, Toyota, Fujitsu, Matsushita, and Epson, as well as a variety of startups. He’s been specifically responsible for driving innovations, product vision, and core technologies.
Clifton Dawson, the chief executive of Greenlight VR , which just published a report on virtual reality.
Greenlight VR is a market research firm for the global virtual reality industry. Greenlight benchmarks thousands of companies and provides insights about consumer attitudes and behaviors. Greenlight also publishes the annual Virtual Reality Industry Report. Prior to founding Greenlight VR, Dawson was a growth and revenue analyst at Snapchat, the popular image messaging and multimedia app.
Above: Michael Condrey, cofounder of Sledgehammer Games.
Michael Condrey, the cofounder and studio head of Sledgehammer Games , the developers of 2014’s Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and 2011’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. He was previously the chief operating officer and head of development at Visceral Games on 2008’s Dead Space. Other noteworthy credits from his nearly 20-year development tenure include EA’s James Bond, Need for Speed, and FIFA series, among many other titles. His studio has several hundred people.
Megan Gaiser, the principal of Contagious Creativity, a creative consultancy and co-CEO of Spiral Media Ltd.
She specializes in creative leadership, strategy, and diversity. She is the former chief creative strategy officer and former CEO and president of Her Interactive, the maker of the Nancy Drew series of games that has inspired millions of girls and women. Gaiser is a veteran of our GamesBeat talks on creativity and diversity from previous events.
Ru Weerasuriya, the chief creative officer and CEO of Ready at Dawn Studios.
His company recently announced the zany De-formers arena-combat game. It previously created high-profile games such as The Order: 1886, Daxter, and God of War: Chains of Olympus. He cofounded Ready At Dawn Studios in 2003, and he has more than 100 employees.
Above: Peter Moore of EA Peter Moore , the chief competition officer of Electronic Arts.
Moore will speak about where esports is heading. Moore is a former pro soccer player, and so he understands the emotion and passion around sports. He believes that esports can be every bit as exciting as televised physical sports. He was previously chief operating officer of EA, and he also served in executive roles at Microsoft’s Xbox division and Sega of America.
David Baszucki, the founder, co-creator, and CEO of Roblox Roblox is like a virtual world made from Lego-like blocks where players can build anything and even create their own games. A pioneer in pushing the boundaries of the imagination, Baszucki has helped champion millions of young and up-and-coming developers in the video game industry via the Roblox platform. He’ll be part of a panel on our AR/VR day on August 1, focusing on the topic of user-generated VR.
Clinton Foy, managing director and general partner at CrossCut Ventures Above: Mike Sepso of Activision Blizzard Foy is managing director of an early-stage venture capital firm in Los Angeles. Foy is also the chairman and co-owner of the pro esports team The Immortals, which just bought a Brazilian Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team.
Foy has deep experience in running game and tech companies, including gaming giant Square Enix (where he was chief operating officer and general counsel) and Super Evil Megacorp. Foy has led investments in Mobcrush, Vulcun, Little Labs, and Instant Esports. In seven years at Square Enix, Foy oversaw more than 100 product launches across a dozen platforms.
Mike Sepso, senior vice president for Activision Blizzard Sepso was the cofounder of MLG, which Activision Blizzard acquired last year. Now he focuses on esports and runs Media Networks, a division devoted to creating the best esports experiences for fans across games, platforms, and geographies at one of the world’s largest video game companies.
Above: Richard Marks, senior research engineer at Sony Interactive Entertainment Sepso played a key role at MLG, focusing on strategy, key partnerships, corporate development, and product and technology development.
Richard Marks, a senior research engineer at Sony Interactive Entertainment He’ll be one of the speakers at our AR/VR day, which will focus on strategy for the augmented reality and virtual reality markets. Marks’ topic for his fireside chat is “What works in VR and what doesn’t.” He should know, as he is one of VR’s pioneers, recently running the Sony PlayStation Magic Lab that came up with the PlayStation VR technology. Sony is making a major investment in PlayStation VR and plans to launch it in October.
Above: David Haddad is president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
David Haddad, president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Haddad spoke last year at our inaugural GamesBeat Summit event, and we’re happy to have him back. Haddad was appointed to his current post in October 2015. In this role, he is responsible for all aspects of WBIE’s overall operations, including publishing, operations, sales, marketing, digital/mobile games, business development, and game production.
Under Haddad’s oversight, WBIE creates games across all platforms utilizing its wholly owned, award-winning development studios: TT Games, Rocksteady Studios, NetherRealm Studios, Monolith Productions, Turbine, WB Games Montreal, and WB Games San Francisco. Last year, Warner Bros. had its most successful year ever with a number of hit games, including Mortal Kombat X on console and mobile and Batman: Arkham Knight, Lego Jurassic World, and Lego Dimensions.
Above: Kevin Chou, CEO of Kabam Lego Marvel’s Avengers launched in January 2016, and the highly anticipated Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens launched on June 28, 2016. As the head of WBIE, Haddad also serves on the board of the Entertainment Software Association. Haddad joined Warner Bros. in 2013 as head of digital publishing.
Kevin Chou, CEO of Kabam Chou runs Kabam, a maker of free-to-play mobile games such as Marvel: Contest of Champions. He cofounded a company in 2006 that morphed into Kabam in 2009. And since that time, he has navigated the difficult currents of the ultra-competitive game industry. By 2014, Kabam had grown to hundreds of employees and more than $400 million in revenue, with a valuation in excess of $1 billion. More recently, Chou has tried to take the lead in disruption, and he has focused Kabam around fewer, bigger games. He has secured licenses with Hollywood studios such as Disney, Lionsgate, MGM, NBCUniversal, Paramount, and Warner Brothers for games based on some of the world’s most beloved movie franchises.
Above: Roy Taylor, corporate vice president of alliances at AMD Last year, Chou launched a multipartner effort to take Marvel: Contest of Champions into the Chinese market. And most recently, Marvel: Contest of Champions hit the No. 1 game in downloads in China.
Roy Taylor, corporate vice president of alliances at AMD Above: Jason Rubin, head of studios at Oculus Taylor is a seasoned veteran of the video game and semiconductor industries. He is currently an expert in AMD’s relations with major retailers and specialty retailers, and he’s an advocate for gaming content and VR that runs on AMD platforms. He previously held senior positions at Rightware, MasterIMage 3D, and Nvidia.
Jason Rubin, head of Oculus Studios Rubin runs the team at Facebook’s Oculus division that creates, funds, and works with developers to build first-party games and experiences for the Oculus Rift VR headset and the Samsung Gear VR. Rubin’s job is to create exciting entertainment that will draw consumers to the new platforms.
A 30-year veteran of game development, Rubin was the cofounder of Naughty Dog, where he created the hit games Crash Bandicoot and Jak & Daxter. He also cofounded the media mashup tool Fleeter, which he sold to Fox Interactive, and he was president of THQ.
He spoke at GamesBeat 2015 about how VR is the toughest learning curve in games.
Above: Peter Levin of Lionsgate Peter Levin, president of Lionsgate Interactive Ventures & Games Levin joined Lionsgate as president of interactive ventures and games in 2014. He is responsible for expanding Lionsgate’s content creation into video games and other interactive ventures, including incubation of new properties, investment in existing games and digital media vehicles, and leveraging Lionsgate’s franchises and other branded properties into the gaming space.
It’s no accident that Lionsgate has announced a bunch of game-related deals, such as planting the seeds for an esports TV show and backing Hong Kong game studio Fifth Journey.
He has been a frequent speaker at our GamesBeat events.
Our confirmed moderators include Geoff Keighley, game broadcaster and host of the Game Awards Keighley is a seasoned game broadcaster and host of The Game Awards.
The event last December drew 2.3 million viewers for a two-hour awards show. Keighley came to our event a year ago and interviewed Jason Rubin of Oculus Studios. He has been writing about games since he was 13.
Who should attend? This event is specifically designed for gaming executives, investors, developers, and entrepreneurs. Here’s our link to stories from last year’s event.
2015 was all about the Game of Thrones, or the battle among game companies for supremacy. At our recent GamesBeat Summit, we focused on the underdogs of gaming.
This summer, we have a bit of a fixation on Star Wars. Our theme is a nod to that and to the fact that gaming has a lot of new platforms arising.
Mobile has become ascendant as the largest game platform, with more than a billion users. But there are new platforms coming in the console market (hi, Nintendo) as well as virtual reality and augmented reality. The mobile, console, and PC platforms will see new innovations in game technology this year, and we’ll be talking about all of them. Register today.
Our advisory board for this event includes: Michael Chang, senior vice president of corporate development at NCSoft West Greg Essig, head of business development at Mobcrush Jay Eum, managing director at Translink Capital Megan Gaiser, senior creative leader and strategist; principal at Contagious Creativity Perrin Kaplan, principal at Zebra Partners Ophir Lupu, head of games at United Talent Agency Wanda Meloni, executive director at the Open Gaming Alliance Ali Moiz, CEO at Vulcun Maarten Noyons, CEO of the International Mobile Gaming Awards Ian Sharpe, CEO of Azubu Mike Vorhaus, president of Magid Advisors Sunny Dhillon, partner at Signia Venture Partners Alejandro Manchado, strategic partner development lead at Google Daniel Cho, chairman of Innospark Mike Capps, former president of Epic Games For general event information, please contact [email protected] and reference “GamesBeat” For sponsorship information please click here , complete the form, and a member of our sales team will contact you.
If you are interested in volunteering at GamesBeat, please apply here To apply to speak at GamesBeat, please fill out the form here.
To apply for a press pass, please fill out the form here 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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"These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/these-were-the-10-biggest-european-tech-stories-this-week-10"
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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 These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Flags of the United Kingdom and European Union 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 an overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for this week: 1) Hailo and Daimler-owned MyTaxi agreed to merge in an all-share deal to fend off Uber and other competitors in the crowded on-demand transportation space. Both companies will continue operating under the MyTaxi brand. Hailo had raised more than €90 million in funding from the likes of Accel, Union Square Ventures, Atomico, Wellington Partners, and Sir Richard Branson.
2) Another major exit could be in the works: According to Bloomberg, SoundCloud’s owners are considering a sale that could value the German music streaming company at $1 billion.
3) Belgian food delivery startup Take Eat Easy has stopped operations, and also filed for juridical restructuring , after being unable to secure more funding. The company had previously raised more than €16 million from investors such as DN Capital, Eight Roads Ventures, Piton Capital, and Rocket Internet.
4) Rocket Internet and FinTech Group have an agreement in place to develop digital banking services and companies together. Rocket Internet’s two previous forays into FinTech (Payleven and Paymill) did not end very well.
5) Another German FinTech startup, N26 (formerly Number 26), launched a third-party investment product on its platform. N26 announced in mid-July a new $40 million capital injection.
6) France-based 360 Capital Partners reached an agreement with Orkos Capital to manage Robolution Capital, a €80 million fund dedicated to robotics, artificial intelligence, and Internet of Things.
7) Ireland to slash capital gains tax for startups to 10 percent, with €10 million cap, bringing Ireland in line with the tax environment for startups in the UK.
8) Broadband internet access will become a legal right under new EU telecoms rules. The move would make affordable broadband internet a right for consumers across Europe.
9) Amazon has partnered with the British government to significantly expand drone testing in the UK, with the objective of delivering goods to people’s homes.
10) The numbers are in: In Q2 2016, there were 75 European and Israeli venture-backed exits, combining for €2.4 billion.
Bonus link: State of the German startup and Venture Capital landscape in 2016 The post These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week appeared first on Tech.eu.
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This story originally appeared on Tech.eu.
Copyright 2016 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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"Startups: How to survive the Gartner Hype Cycle | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/startups-how-to-survive-the-gartner-hype-cycle"
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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 Startups: How to survive the Gartner Hype Cycle 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.
If you work for or with startups, you’ve likely been a part of the Gartner Hype Cycle and the sky-high expectations that can come with it. It goes like this: the potential of a new concept gets over-hyped, and then companies in that area get panned when they don’t meet expectations quickly.
Current examples include the Internet of Things (IoT), which is currently on the mean side of the hype cycle for not evolving fast enough.
Bots, the new “it-thing,” seemed to have its golden future locked down when Facebook officially got on the bot bandwagon , only to reach what Gartner calls the “Trough of Disillusionment” in record time. Immediately after Facebook’s announcement, images of broken bots cluttered Twitter. And Microsoft recently had a high profile bot-backfire, when it released a Twitter bot that started tweeting racist content within 24 hours of launch.
But there is hope in hype. Augmented reality has started to exit the Trough of Disillusionment” thanks to the wild success of Pokemon Go and Snapchat filters. According to Gartner (and evidenced by our own bottom line), mobile advertising is now at the “Slope of Enlightenment,” so you could say that we’ve made it through a hype cycle. There have, however, been challenging moments along the way, and many lessons learned. Here are a few tips I can offer to anyone in a hype cycle on how to make it to the other side.
1. Work in stealth until your product — not the concept — is hype-worthy.
If you’re working on a startup in an industry that is getting a lot of hype, the Gartner Hype Cycle adds a lot of pressure to get your product out there. You’ll see glowing report after glowing report in the media about the potential of your space, and you’ll see your competitors get high-profile coverage in trend pieces. It’s very tempting to race to be the first — to be the trailblazing pioneer. Hype is incredibly seductive in that way.
But you have to remember that hype backfires by shortening people’s patience. One minor fail by one company, and the whole industry takes a hit. If you are far away from meeting expectations, the tides can turn in short order. A product that doesn’t fully meet the standards set by that hype can, in a matter of days, tumble from ranking as tech’s golden child to tech’s biggest loser. Like your valuation, hype is only something on paper that can be rewritten overnight. The best defense is to have a concrete, unassailable product by the time you launch.
My company worked in stealth until we knew our product was ready, despite the temptation of making a splash during the “Peak of Inflated Expectations.” We didn’t do any press until we had a base of 300 customers, and while holding off may have meant that we missed the hype that started before we launched , we debuted with a solid business that could survive with or without that hype.
2. Focus on building a profitable product rather than gaining funding that fuels the hype.
Large rounds of venture funding often go hand-in-hand with hype cycles and sky-high valuations. For years, tech was all about focusing on growth — fueled by VC — and figuring out profitability later. And while it’s true that figuring out profitability after getting funding can often work (think Google, Facebook, Amazon), raising exorbitant amounts at too high a valuation just feeds the hype cycle.
You don’t always need a large sum of money to grow your business. If you build a good product and are smart and strategic about your marketing, you can grow and even scale it quickly and profitably.
Bill Gurley’s latest 5,700-word piece speaks to the importance of focusing on profitability in the midst of hype, and I think we’ll continue to see VCs putting the brakes on over-investing in mere concepts because doing so is, we now know, risky for everyone involved.
And here I want to be transparent: I’m not saying that new ventures should never take funding. Rather, I’m advocating for truly focusing on your product and thinking about a business model that doesn’t rely long-term on big funding rounds rooted in hype.
3. Don’t let tangential hype cycles influence your strategy.
Just as it can be tempting to rush to get your product out in the midst of hype, it can be tempting to pivot to jump on a hype bandwagon. Think for a moment of Uber and how it set the bar for the so-called On Demand Economy. For a while, it seemed like if your consumer startup wasn’t aiming to be an “Uber for X” solution, you simply weren’t trying hard enough.
But somewhere along the line, investors started to focus less on the “On-Demand” and more on the “Economy” aspect of the vertical. Then the bloodbath came, with startups that offered on-demand services for laundry, housecleaning, parking, prepared meals, car washes, and more folding in quick succession. It’s all a bit reminiscent of the dot-com era, when the rush to serve consumers resulted in any number of ventures with ultimately unsustainable economic models.
This is not to say that you should stick with a strategy that’s not working. But when deciding on your go-to-market strategy — or even which problem you wish to solve — don’t be influenced by hype. Even if it’s easier to raise money in a frothy segment, stay focused and true to your initial vision and the problem you’re solving. Hype is both cheap and fleeting. Your vision is the only thing that will keep you motivated in the tough times.
There’s no doubt that immersing yourself and your business in a hype cycle is fun and even thrilling — it’s always exciting to be an entrepreneur in a new and emerging space. But be careful, and don’t let hype distract you. In the beginning, pay no attention to it and build a product that will do with or without it, and don’t ever change your strategy because of hype. Follow this advice, and your chances of making it to the Slope of Enlightenment multiply.
Mark Rosner is CRO of AppLovin.
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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"'Regulation crowdfunding' isn't the mess opponents predicted | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/regulation-crowdfunding-isnt-the-mess-opponents-predicted"
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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 ‘Regulation crowdfunding’ isn’t the mess opponents predicted 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.
It has been 74 days since “regulation crowdfunding” (aka Title III of the JOBS Act) kicked off , and the data is starting to pour in. Regulation crowdfunding allows any American startup or small business to raise up to $1 million from friends, family, and followers on debt and equity crowdfunding platforms that are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The initial data is revealing just what advocates of the move expected: A slow logical progression of offerings and a rational approach by investors.
Unlike the gross exaggerations by the investor protection advocates, there is no sign of a Wild West here. Entrepreneurs are realizing that the regulated side of crowdfunding comes with forms, disclosures, business plans, legal fees, etc. Outside of that, entrepreneurs are coming to the realization that you need to bring your crowd to your campaign. Those that have a strong social network prior to launching are having greater success. This “slow out of the gate” start mimics what happened when Title II of the JOBS Act (aka lifting the ban on general solicitation to accredited investors) went live. Investors aren’t rushing to these deals and treating it like going to Vegas. They realize this is “patient capital” (meaning their money will most likely be tied up for 5+ years).
Three campaigns have already hit their funding targets and closed $617,000.
This shows the speed and efficiency of capital formation that can be experienced by solid campaigns. A smart thing these campaigns did is they were realistic about how much they could raise. They didn’t shoot for an amount they couldn’t achieve from their social network. And being one of the first to get funded is a marketing story for themselves.
One campaign, Beta Bionics (they make a wearable medical device that autonomously manages blood sugar levels in people with diabetes), already hit the maximum $1 million funding cap from 780 investors.
This provides evidence that there is appetite for increasing the maximum raise from $1 million to $5 million as per the recently passed Fix Crowdfunding Act.
(The Fix Crowdfunding Act has a couple of positive additions to regulation crowdfunding, including the ability to use Special Purpose Vehicles so that all investors are represented on a cap table under one name; follow-on VCs tend to like this).
Seventy-one companies have registered their offerings with the SEC on 14 portals.
Again, this shows that a regulated process brings serious issuers to the table as well as investors. That being said, the companies that have poor quality videos/offerings are raising the least amount of money. Portals have to go through a rigorous registration process with the SEC and FINRA (the agency that oversees the crowdfunding online intermediaries). Don’t expect to see hundreds of these portals.
The companies currently raising have a total of 242 employees signaling our hypothesis that crowdfunding may be a job creator. Half of the companies are less than one year old, showing that this is a viable path for startups. Interestingly, 17% of the companies are over five years old. It is generally accepted that once a company is past five years in age, it is nearly impossible to go out of business. Why are they seeking crowdfunds if they could go to a bank? Probably because they realize the marketing benefits that come from a campaign and the vested interest of backers.
California is leading the pack in both number of issuances and total capital committed.
But capital is being spread around the country, and certain regions are pulling ahead of others.
My firm, Crowdfund Capital Advisors, has put together some charts on the data available so far: Above: The total amount of committed capital to all campaigns raising funds under regulation crowdfunding since May 16, 2016.
Over 30 campaigns went live initially, hence there was a big bump in initial capital commitments. Now we are starting to see the slow progression of commitments over time. Right now we’re seeing an average of around $50,000/day being committed.
Most campaigns are far from their funding targets, but the seven in the above chart are showing significant traction. $1 million is the maximum a company can raise under regulation crowdfunding. It is interesting to see that Beta Bionics was able to do that in such a short period of time. Consider raising that kind of money from Angels or VCs in less than six months! Above: The total demand for capital by all campaigns raising funds under regulation crowdfunding since May 16, 2016 71 companies have completed their registration process with the platforms and the SEC as of today. Not all 71 are actively raising money. There is a 21-day waiting period once documents are filed with the SEC before a campaign can start raising money. As of today, 52 companies are active in their raise, with the others either in the waiting period or closed.
The 71 registered companies are collectively seeking $36 million, which averages out to about $500,000 per campaign goal. As mentioned above, it is better to set a lower goal and exceed it than to put a high one out there and miss it. If you exceed it (provided it isn’t over $1 million), you can keep that money (and those investors). If you miss it, all the capital commitments go back to the investors and your campaign fails.
Let’s take a look at how active various parts of the country are in the new fundraising. Hover over the following two maps to view amounts raised and number of campaigns per state.
California is leading the pack when it comes to the most campaigns and the most capital commitments. And while Texas is second, New York has more offerings but less capital committed. You can already start to see a distribution of capital/campaigns around the country, with pockets existing. Will crowdfunding help the underserved regions? You might have thought that technology would be where investors are going, but interestingly enough they are going to Wine, Spirits, Food & Beverage. This underlines another one of our hypotheses: Where there is an engaged community of investors for a retail business that they can visit (and bring their friends to since they are investors in that business), capital will flow into these campaigns. The tech companies will most likely use a successful crowdfunding campaign to seek follow-on investment from angels or VC.
Above: Proportion of offerings per fundraising platform Want to try your hand at regulation crowdfunding? Then start by checking out these funding platforms above. Wefunder is leading the pack, with the most offerings and most capital raised. But new entrants like Republic (an offshoot of Angelist) aim to make a claim. Compare the types of campaigns they are offering. Look at which ones are successful and, more importantly, which ones aren’t. Study the differences before you launch you campaign in order to improve your chances of success.
The above charts are updated daily here.
Sherwood Neiss is a partner at Crowdfund Capital Advisors. Neiss helped lead the U.S. fight to legalize debt and equity based crowdfunding, coauthored Crowdfund Investing for Dummies , and cofounded Crowdfund Capital Advisors , where he provides strategy and technology services to those seeking to benefit from crowdfund investing. Neiss and Jason Best are credited as the fathers of Title III of the JOBS Act. After attending the bill-signing ceremony at the White House, they formed Crowdfund Capital Advisors to study what is happening in crowdfunding, analyze results, report trends, and follow opportunities. They are active investors in the crowd finance space.
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"How the Indie.vc model is disrupting VC firms | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/how-the-indie-vc-model-is-disrupting-vc-firms"
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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 How the Indie.vc model is disrupting VC firms 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 way technology companies grow may be broken, destructive, and wasteful. At least that’s the gospel some renegade venture capitalists at Indie.vc have been spreading. If you’re working in venture capital or tech, you might not have heard of Indie.vc yet (some partners I’ve spoken to haven’t), but at Cornerstone Venture Partners, where I’m working this summer, it comes up almost every day. To understand what’s going on, you’ll need some background on fund economics. Don’t worry, I promise it’s more exciting than it sounds.
There’s a lot of talk around the idea that really, only the upper echelon of VC funds actually return anything worthwhile to their investors. The data here is iffy and private, but it seems fair to assume that 4x on a fund over the fund’s life would be considered acceptable. As Mark Suster points out and Fred Wilson alludes to , most investments in a portfolio won’t return significantly – so firms rely on a small percentage (20-30%) of their investments to return the majority of their money (80%+). Long story short, that means that on average, VC funds make their money on the really, really big exits. It’s pretty simple but profoundly impacts their investing strategy.
What this means is that if you’ve got a business you’re pitching, VC funds are often going to be thinking, “Can this company be the billion dollar exit I need to return to my LPs?” If your business model, product, or market doesn’t support that, you’re going to have trouble with traditional venture. It’s just simple fund economics. Most of the time, you can’t fight it.
But not all businesses need to achieve billion dollar exits, or even need to exit at all. There are countless companies out there that genuinely improve people’s lives, but aren’t “huge.” They’re not fit for venture, and they’ll often try to twist and turn, in destructive ways, to get VCs to invest. And even in the businesses that VCs invest in, the laser focus on scale, scale, exit can often tear apart otherwise sustainable businesses. VCs want returns and growth, which often doesn’t align with what’s best for the business. That’s where Indie.vc comes in.
It’s structured as a VC firm with its own fund, and its term sheet is pretty straightforward – instead of taking equity up front, it gets paid back once your company has some excess cash flows. These flows are called distributions and include dividends and large increases to the founders’ salaries. Once the company makes a distribution, it begins paying Indie.vc back until Indie.vc makes 5x on its investment. If the company raises another round, then Indie.vc’s investment converts to equity – but that percentage is decided by the company (!). As far as entrepreneur-friendly term sheets go, this is definitely up there.
Indie.vc is for the businesses that don’t want VC or weren’t wanted by VC. It’s for companies focused on profitability instead of pure growth that want to run their businesses without VCs interfering. It seems focused on disrupting the current VC model, and it isn’t shy about it – its website runs a video of a burning unicorn head in the background. I think we get the message – in some ways, the disruptors (or those who fund them) are being disrupted.
But this idea isn’t as revolutionary as you might think. First of all, the similarities to a high-interest loan are hard to ignore, even if the Indie.vc model doesn’t make you liable for the principal.
Lighter Capital is another firm that operates along the same guidelines. Its founder argues that this format, also called revenue-based financing, has been prevalent in industries like mining and film for a while. Indie.vc is different in that its paybacks aren’t based on revenue, but the general idea is similar. Most importantly, there are many large, successful businesses that grew without VC money. Some examples of note are: every business ever before VC existed, Atlassian , Zoho , and Airpush (nod to Michael Carney ). No matter the history, this is a structured, legitimate option for your business. Unsurprisingly, Indie.vc, like other venture firms, advertises its network as an aid to startups.
So who and what is right? Despite the disruptive picture I painted, Indie.vc isn’t trying to tear down traditional VC – it’s looking to give resources to businesses that need it and that could be damaged by traditional VC investments. I prefer to see this development as parallel – another exciting, valuable funding mechanism for businesses that don’t fit the current model. I’m confident that, in general, incentives for big exits by VCs align with the vision of the founders; but not always. If you’re a business looking for some new capital, you better look long and hard at this dichotomy. If your vision isn’t to be a massive company, this type of funding might be a better fit for you.
At Cornerstone we talk to founders all the time that are interesting, driven, and impressive. They have a seed-stage business that has nice traction and solves a real need – but we can’t see any possible exit in the near future (marketplaces are a good and frequent example). We’re often quite confident that they’ll be successful over the next few years, but we don’t see how we can earn a return. It stinks to turn these companies away, but that’s fund economics. Drafting a term sheet along the Indie.vc lines could address this problem.
The way technology companies grow may just be broken, destructive, and wasteful, and it may not be. But one thing is clear – there are more options for startup funding than ever, so get to work.
Justin Gage is a student at NYU’s Stern School of Business, where he’s majoring in Data Science. He’s the National Director of Consulting for TAMID Group, a student organization on 30+ college campuses that develops student business skills through hands-on interaction with the Israeli economy. This summer, he’s working at Cornerstone Venture Partners, an early stage VC firm that invests in software companies, with sights on VC for the long run. He loves fashion, well designed stuff, and all things tech.
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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5,762 | 2,016 |
"Brexit's damage to startups has already begun | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/brexits-damage-to-startups-has-already-begun"
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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 Brexit’s damage to startups has already begun 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.
“Slightly devastated” was my typical British understatement of how I felt immediately following the Brexit vote last month. As a British man living in Berlin who has run an international e-commerce company since 2009, I understand the value of open borders to conduct business and embrace an agile workforce. During my tenure, my company became active in 18 markets, available in 12 languages, operated five global production sites, and last year shipped 3.6 million products to 180 different countries. We are successful precisely because we embrace a global market of sellers and buyers.
As a global CEO, I can see the profound business and cultural implications that my home country will be facing with this journey down this isolationist route, if Brexit goes ahead. There will be immediate consequences in the UK online business sector as investors choose to put their money into mainland European businesses rather than a UK business that may become isolated. A tighter border will make it much tougher for UK businesses, and they will lose access to the EU markets; even the current uncertainty is slowing investment.
The UK has long enjoyed a role as the global hub and stepping stone to globalization in the online market and many others, attracting American and Asian businesses that want a base in the EU, in an English speaking land with easy access to the EU market. It has also been the first stop for many EU businesses on their way to the USA. This has made it a vibrant, highly competitive market and rich with consumer choice. The UK will be turning its back on this opportunity, and already I see companies heading to Berlin, Dublin, Amsterdam, and other European hubs instead.
Alongside this global hub role, London developed a reputation for attracting the top talent, with people from all over the world being attracted to this market and opportunities. Spending a few years in the London market has often been seen as a “right of passage” by European recruiters. London and the UK will now see this role diminish and talent disperse to other countries. The various rumors of Scottish and Northern Ireland breakaways will not stop this now, as this was a very London-centered market. The negotiations around Brexit are already diminishing the part London plays, and even if there is a way to stop Brexit, much damage has been done.
Our corporate headquarters in Leipzig in the former East Germany is a microcosm of the benefits of a dynamic inclusive workplace powered by open borders — we have more than 20 nationalities that work together. I am sad that many of the UK voters did not appreciate what this environment adds to the knowledge, skills, and enjoyment of working in a mixed culture.
I am one of six Brits in the German office. I believe all of us should be able to stay through different mechanisms. Even as a CEO, I will face the headaches that come with this change. I will need a work/labor permit to work in Germany and will have to deal with many issues around tax, pensions, property ownership, and 100 other things. This is really a minor inconvenience compared to the heartache I feel about the future deterioration of the UK online business. I started working in online advertising in 1996 and was responsible over 13 years for many different businesses in both media and e-commerce, many of which were American businesses starting in the UK. I watched the online market grow and then become international, until I eventually became part of that international side. It is an industry I love and now, in the UK, it faces huge challenges as borders may come up.
As the US is our largest single market, I spend a lot of time there, and last week I was trying to explain why this is such a problem. The US has operated as a federation of states for so long, it has forgotten the formerly disjointed approach. I think it would be like California (whose economy is about the size of the UK) deciding to leave the US. So many tech businesses grew up in California that it became the tech hub of America — but only because it could easily trade with the rest of the US. Now imagine it breaking away and putting an import/export border across that — or even worse, that remaining Americans would need visas to work in California or vice-versa. Companies would rapidly move to Boston, Seattle, New York, and other tech cities.
British companies will find it a lot harder to trade with the EU (their largest trading partner); currently 51% of all British goods are exported to EU partners. Many of the Brexit politicians say that the UK will be very similar to countries like Norway and Switzerland. But I can tell you now as a German company working in 18 countries that Norway and Switzerland are a lot harder for us to do business in due to additional paperwork, taxes, and delays. It is hard for us to maintain the right level of customer service there because of the borders, and we put them much lower down our list of priorities. As a result, we put more investment in emerging ecommerce countries like Italy and Spain. The EU and its regulations were not perfect, but they make life for Europeans and their businesses so much easier.
Can you imagine an American world where California finds itself a secondary market, investors no longer see it as a good place to invest, and companies no longer think it is a good place to develop tech? This is the risk the UK and my home country is now taking, so “slightly devastated” is much more than an understatement, and I wake up every day hoping the UK finds a way out of this stupid and suicidal move.
Philip Rooke is CEO of Spreadshirt , an e-commerce platform for print-on-demand apparel and accessories.
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5,763 | 2,016 |
"When engineers become managers: How to be a great technical leader | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/dev/when-engineers-become-managers-how-to-be-a-great-technical-leader"
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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 When engineers become managers: How to be a great technical leader Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Technical managers are often promoted to their positions of leadership by rising through the ranks – more so than most other disciplines. This is a practical move considering that business decisions today increasingly hinge on the nuanced details of underlying technology. Technology leaders need to assess technical options, align recommendations with business requirements, and communicate these decisions to non-technical stakeholders. If technology managers don’t understand the technology at a detailed level, it’s difficult for them to make the right call.
The challenge is that being a great engineer doesn’t automatically translate into being a great leader. Leadership – technical or otherwise – is not something one is born with; it is a skill that is developed over a lifetime.
To help new technical managers through the transition from individual contributor to leader, I often work with them to adopt a new set of non-technical skills. Although everyone is different, I’ve found that the principles outlined below provide a strong foundation for becoming an effective technology leader – that is, one who is able lead a team, implement change, and consistently achieve results.
1. Adopt a business mindset and develop empathy As an individual contributor, it is acceptable to view technology through a purely engineering lens. You have the luxury of focusing on the “how” and not the “why.” This means that as a contributor, you can indulge in technology religion, propose solutions without regard to business impact, and leave it to management to sort out the practical considerations of the real world. When you become a leader, however, you no longer have this luxury. You are now “management.” This means you need to make decisions based on the messy realities of the business, which requires considering financial constraints, organizational culture, office politics, human foibles, and business results.
New managers often make the mistake of making the case for their initiatives in technical terms rather than business terms, and they become frustrated when they fail to receive the proper support. They expect the business to instinctively adopt a technical perspective, instead of realizing that it’s their job to reframe their proposals from the standpoint of the business.
The best way to overcome this mistake is to take the time to understand the business metrics that the company cares about the most, and the pain points felt by other departments. This requires empathy – a critical skill for effective leadership.
Technology managers should talk to their colleagues and listen to their challenges. They should unpack the key metrics of the business and understand the forces that drive them. They must summon the quantitative and analytical skills they have developed as engineers and apply them toward a new set managerial problems. Once they have done this, then they can make their case as a business leader rather than a technologist, and they can start engaging in a constructive dialog with the business.
2. Adopt a solutions mindset Another aspect of leadership that new managers often struggle with is understanding how to approach problems outside their direct control. Changes within a manager’s direct sphere of influence are relatively straightforward to implement. For example, if a QA manager wants to add Cucumber to the test automation stack to promote Behavior Driven Development, he won’t need to schedule many cross-departmental meetings to make this happen. But if an engineering manager wants to move from a Waterfall methodology to Agile for project management, then she will need to spend a lot of time working with people outside her org, as this is a much larger organizational change.
When confronted with problems outside their direct control, new managers often give up too early and escalate too soon: “I sent an email to Tom in the Program Management group about adopting Scrum for the next project, but he never got back to me.
Clearly the organization isn’t ready to adopt Agile.” In these situations, when new managers escalate prematurely, they are really just handing the problem to their manager to solve rather than doing the work themselves to try to address the issue. This is acceptable when you’re an individual contributor, but not when you’re a leader.
As a leader, you need to be able to overcome obstacles outside your direct control. This might mean persuading a manager in another department to adopt a new process as part of your initiative. Or, if you’re an executive, it might mean solving problems far outside your control, like devising a plan to increase revenue during an economic downturn. The key to success is adopting a solutions mindset.
A solutions mindset is a perspective that focuses on the objective rather than the problem. When you adopt a solutions mindset, you concentrate your efforts on achieving the desired outcome and you don’t waste precious time complaining about the hurdles you encounter along the way – you just figure out how to overcome them. Your manager, then, becomes a way to help you achieve your objective, not a person who solves your problems for you. A solutions-oriented leader brings potential solutions to the table when she escalates to her manager, and she leverages her manager’s expertise and influence within the organization to pursue her goal.
3. Build your network and earn trust By necessity, companies need to segment employees into departments and hierarchical structures as a way to manage organizational complexity. In reality, however, these divisions are arbitrary. They exist simply to help us manage the business. The challenge is that the most interesting business problems rarely fit neatly into the arbitrary organizational boundaries that we’ve defined for ourselves – they span across the org chart. Thus, effective technology leaders need to become adept at working throughout the organization to implement change, and this requires building a strong network.
The term “networking” strikes fear in the heart of most people — especially technology geeks. But building a network of likeminded colleagues doesn’t mean you have to have awkward conversations at cocktail hour or constantly be exchanging business cards. On the contrary, the best way to build a network is to just be yourself. Establishing trust is essential when building relationships, and being authentic and straightforward is one of the best ways to do this.
Another effective way to forge relationships is by going out of your way to help other people within your organization. Volunteer to help somebody else with their initiative, or go the extra mile when someone asks you for help. This gives you an opportunity to interact with people outside your department, and it helps build trust.
Also, make a point to attend company social events and use this as an opportunity to meet people outside your department. You don’t have to be a salesman-level networker at these events, just challenge yourself to meet one new person each time. (And, don’t be afraid to introduce yourself to more senior people — they’re just people too.) Even if you don’t have a substantive discussion at a company gathering, just breaking the ice with a coworker at a social event makes it much easier to reach out to them in the future.
As you begin to build connections within your company, you will find that this network of contacts gives you super powers. When you know who to call to get things done, and they know and respect you, you can move mountains. Cross-departmental initiatives become a fun opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and tackle big problems. Changes happen faster because you’ve already established trust and can quickly get down to business. And the need to escalate to your manager decreases because you don’t need to go to her every time you need to reach out to people outside the department.
4. Understand that perception is reality As we first develop in our career as technologists, we focus on growing our technical skills. We get promoted based on tangible and measurable accomplishments, like learning a new language or mastering a new technology. Once we move into management, however, things change. As managers, our success is based largely on squishy, abstract attributes like teamwork, leadership, and communication ability. The subjective nature of these skills means that we lose our measurable benchmarks of progress and must rely instead on other people’s perception of our efforts. This is a bitter pill to swallow for most new technical managers.
It may seem unfair, but that’s how the world works. When it comes to leadership, your effectiveness is based largely on how your managers, team members, and coworkers perceive you. It doesn’t matter what your intention is when you draft an email, give a presentation, or make a comment in a meeting. The people around you are interpreting every nuance of your communication and they are arriving at their own conclusions about what you’re saying. They are also receiving information about you third hand, which is based on other people’s own interpretations of your actions.
Successful leaders understand that perception is reality, and they don’t waste time complaining about it. Instead, they are deliberate and clear in their communication and they redouble their efforts when people misperceive their actions. This is why I work on communication skills with every manager who reports to me. We often dissect emails and replay verbal exchanges at a microscopic level, because the nuance of communication is so profoundly important. Simple things like body language, dress, and tone are critical factors in how people perceive you, and it is difficult for people to assess themselves in these areas.
5. Adopt an operations mindset The ability to implement change that is built-to-last is a crucial component of effective leadership. Unfortunately, most new managers focus exclusively on the initial rollout of their initiative and fail to consider how to support their program over the long run. Adopting an operations mindset helps overcome this mistake. An operations mindset is a perspective that considers the ongoing tasks required to support a program throughout its entire life.
Naturally, new managers are excited about the first phase of a new initiative. This is a period of great enthusiasm when they focus on bringing their initiative to life by documenting the idea, raising support, and deploying the associated technology tools. This is rewarding work that requires an intense Herculean effort, but it is only the beginning. The phase that comes next is known as the “valley of despair,” and it’s when things start to go haywire. The workflows that looked perfect on paper don’t work so well in practice. New procedures get ignored and people start to badmouth the new technology tools. And worst of all, people begin to lose faith in the initiative itself.
This is a tough time for new managers. They often react by throwing up their hands and blaming the setback on the organization itself: “ Clearly, the company isn’t ready for change.” Experienced managers, on the other hand, see this phase for what it is — a natural part of the transformation process along the classic change curve.
They know that if they remain persistent and keep pursuing their objective, they can punch through the valley of despair to see their initiatives come to fruition on the other side. An operations mindset helps managers sustain the initiative after the thrill of launch has faded by keeping them focused on long-term support, including: Adoption – Cultivating empathy for end users and developing strategies to make it easy for them to adopt the new processes and tools.
Scalability – Identifying bottlenecks in procedures that could cause the program to break down when it’s rolled out to a larger group.
Redundancy – Training multiple people to play key roles so that if someone is out on vacation or leaves the organization, the initiative itself still functions normally.
Training – Setting up training to teach people about the new initiative.
Ongoing support – Establishing a procedure for people to use when they have questions or encounter problems. Setting up support workflows is especially critical during the second phase of the change curve.
6. Read management books As technologists, we devote a lot of time to reading technical material. It feels like we spend most of our life reading books, blogs, whitepapers, online tutorials, Stack Overflow posts, and snarky Hacker News discussions. It’s a requirement for the job and something we should continue to do as managers. However, to become a strong technology leader, reading technical material is not enough. You also need to tap into the wealth of information out there about management and leadership.
Below is my list of recommended reads. It’s not intended to be a comprehensive list, but rather a starting point that represents the books that have influenced me the most as a manger.
Good to Great by Jim Collins. A fun, inspirational read about the leadership styles that lead to long-lasting financial performance.
First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham. Argues that the most successful managers focus on capitalizing on employees’ strengths, rather than obsessing about their immutable weaknesses.
Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. A groundbreaking book by Facebook’s famous COO on leadership and gender. Embarrassingly, it is one of the few popular management books written by a woman.
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries. Offers a radically different approach to product management using real-time empirical learning to drive feature prioritization. Also check out Eric Ries’s blog.
Ries is a true-blue technical dude and a truly innovative business person, which makes his writing insightful and fun to read.
You’re in Charge, Now What? by Thomas Neff and James Citrin. A classic text that offers a strategy for earning respect and confidence in a new leadership position. Perfect for new managers.
Leading Change by John Kotter. A classic read on how to successfully implement change within an organization.
The Truth About Leadership by James Kouzes and Barry Posner. This is an excellent, research-based book on general leadership principles. We use this at my company as the basis for the management training program conducted by our People Practice.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. A classic text on team dynamics. A short, fun read.
The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford. A must-read for the DevOps crowd, this book is written as a business novel about how to apply lean manufacturing principles to IT Operations.
Harvard Business Review.
HBR is a must-read magazine for managers. It always contains insightful, research-driven articles about a broad range of topics. It’s expensive, but it’s worth it.
7. Adopt a positive attitude As a leader, people look to you as a bellwether for how they should feel about the organization, both consciously and subconsciously. If you are upbeat and enthusiastic, the people around you are more likely to be optimistic and happy. If you are negative and pessimistic, your team is probably grumpy and depressed. Whether you like it or not, as a leader, your attitude rubs off on your team and your coworkers in a significant way. Therefore, it’s essential to be mindful of your demeanor and to project an optimistic attitude.
Now, it is important to draw a distinction between optimism and Pollyannaism. You can be frank and honest – even during difficult times – and still have a positive attitude about the future. Being positive doesn’t mean wearing a fake smile. Rather, it means that no matter how bad the current situation is, you have faith in yourself and believe deeply in the efficacy of your own leadership ability. If you believe in yourself, you believe that you can make the future a better place. It is this confidence that people respect and are drawn to.
My advice to technology leaders is to harness their passion for technology as a source of positive motivation. We live in an insanely exciting time for technology. The tools, patterns, and practices available today enable us to do incredible things that we couldn’t have done just a few years ago. As engineers, our passion for technology is probably the force that has propelled us forward in our careers. If we can tap into that energy and adopt the leadership principles discussed here, who knows what amazing things we are capable of in the future? Jake Bennett is CTO at POP , a Seattle-based digital agency.
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"Why A.I. will never be truly useful | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/why-chatbots-will-never-be-truly-useful"
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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 Why A.I. will never be truly useful Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn How a Siri reminder works with Convo.
By now, we’ve all heard of Silicon Valley’s shiny new technology: Artificial intelligence and chatbots.
They bring the promise of an industry-wide transformation that many believe will reach the scale of the personal computing industry or the commercial internet.
Funding in artificial intelligence startups has increased more than fourfold — to $681 million in 2015, from $145 million in 2011 — according to the market research firm CB Insights.
The firm estimates that new investments will reach $1.2 billion this year, up 76 percent from last year.
It’s clear that hopes are high, but, as with any technology, there are limitations. In this case, the technology is the limitation. It took six decades for the first A.I. platform to pass the Turing Test , and we are most likely at least another six decades away from machines being able to ever act without the help of humans — if, indeed, that day ever comes. But, for now, let’s take a look at some of the areas where the hiccups are occuring.
1. We still need the human touch Facebook’s M is the first A.I. platform to prove that humans may have been the missing ingredient in previous efforts to perfect A.I. With its mix of machine-based and human customer service, M is succeeding where many voice assistants, like Siri, have stumbled. A team of customer service agents — called “trainers” — actually monitor every M communication. No wonder the platform seems so intelligent. However, this begs the question, if humans are what’s so great about M and are essential to the platform, why even use A.I. to begin with? And is M an example of true A.I.? Then there’s the matter of human perception. Machines like Siri are not intuitive, and they can’t use their “judgment” when it comes to something like booking a flight. If you simply ask for the cheapest flight, an artificial assistant won’t take the initiative to tell you that one flight is slightly cheaper than another but also 10 hours longer. You’ll get the cheapest flight, but you’ll also get a headache.
Machines cannot deviate from what they are programmed to do, and they are definitely not as good at altering their responses to changing situations as humans are.
Beyond that, machines simply cannot understand concepts such as caring, creativity, understanding, and togetherness. No matter their level of intelligence, machines will always lack the human touch.
2. Jobs are safe Innovative companies that take on A.I. successfully will be those that combine human knowledge with A.I. in order to optimize their employees, not replace them.
Smart companies are buttressing a core group of employees with more power and resources in the form of A.I. This helps with some tasks but still not with all. Again, humans are needed. Who’s giving the direction? Not a machine. Who’s coming up with ideas? Not a machine.
3. Bots will never take the helm The ability to create machine intelligence that mimics human behavior and thinking would be a huge scientific accomplishment, but even A.I. experts are not promising it will ever happen. So, while smart machines and A.I. continue to grow, there are some instances where they will never be the preferred method.
The days of using A.I. to book meetings has given way to A.I. booking flights and food orders. The goal of A.I. has always been to minimize the pain of mundane tasks, but most A.I. platforms, like Siri, actually end up causing the user more work, due to numerous mistakes and miscommunication on the part of the machine.
Siri’s communication has definitely improved with Apple’s iOS 9 update, but A.I. has actually been a huge letdown, so far. And no matter how far it comes, humans will always be at the helm.
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’s missing from Tesla’s new public transport plan | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/whats-missing-from-teslas-new-public-transport-plan"
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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’s missing from Tesla’s new public transport plan 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.
Elon Musk recently released part two of his master plan for Tesla. And predictably, especially for those who have seen Musk’s ability to tackle society’s largest problems, it’s causing some excitement.
There’s a lot to love about the new plan. But one of Musk’s new key objectives could actually worsen the very problems he’s trying to solve: his declaration that autonomous buses of the future take riders “all the way to their destination.” On the surface, it sounds like a great idea. Today, except in the most densely populated environments, getting to and from the bus or subway requires multimodal transit – i.e., walking, riding a bike, or using other transit aside from the mass transportation modes.
In many cases, people have to deal with missed transfers, different payment systems, often long distances from home or work to a transit stop, and a general confusion about where transit goes. That’s clearly a suboptimal experience for the rider.
Musk’s vision, while attractive, is likely not compatible with the realities of our cities (e.g., infrastructure and space limitations). As transit consultant Jarrett Walker discusses in a recent blog post , in dense urban environments, delivering riders to their precise destination “implies a vision in which buses are shrunk into something like taxis, because a vehicle going directly from your exact origin to your exact destination at your chosen time won’t be useful to many people other than you.” Essentially, the more pick-up and drop-off points included on any given trip, the more likely it is that larger transit buses would have to be replaced by smaller and more numerous autonomous vehicles to satisfy this demand, which is a problem in most cities due to limited space. To be fair to Musk, he didn’t explicitly say that his automated buses would pick you up from your origin like Walker assumes, but the same problem remains even taking that premise out of the mix.
The key problem, as Walker outlines, is that more and smaller autonomous vehicles would increase the overall amount of vehicular travel. And by increasing vehicular travel, we would actually increase (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions and congestion — the opposite of what Musk wants. Conversely, if he’s envisioning that autonomous buses would drop riders off at popular destinations, thereby limiting the number of stops they would make, we already have a name for that: fixed-route bus service.
What Musk may be missing here is that the rise of shared mobility — where transportation modes like cars (such as Tesla EVs) and bikes are temporarily borrowed instead of owned — actually reinforces the concept of multimodality as the future. Why? Because now commuters have more choice than ever when it comes to how they get around.
The data bears this notion out: According to a recent survey of 4,500 “shared mobility users” in seven U.S. cities by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), “rail and bus transit were the most commonly used shared modes, followed by bikesharing, carsharing, and ridesourcing.” And 10 percent of those surveyed “had used some combination of the non-transit shared modes (bikesharing, carsharing, or ridesourcing) across all three trip types (commutes, errands, and recreation) within the last three months.” In fact, the organization concluded that “the more people use shared modes, the more likely they are to use public transit, own fewer cars, and spend less on transportation overall.” It’s not that Musk’s vision isn’t great — because it is — but it’s one piece of a larger transportation puzzle. It might not make sense for autonomous Tesla buses or shared Tesla passenger vehicles to drop me off at my doorstep, but I expect that they will be integral pieces of a more interconnected and seamless multimodal system that remedies many of the today’s limitations and frustrations. This seamless system will enable a better user experience, common payment, and communication between vehicles to reduce missed transfers.
Ultimately, a true solution to the fragmented transit modes is the full integration of all the mobility options with a robust ecosystem that allows consumers to book the best possible way from point A to point B, whether that is public transit, an autonomous vehicle, or other mobility option.
Musk and the work Tesla is doing will be critical to creating the seamless mobility of the future, but it is only one piece of that future.
Doug Kaufman is CEO of TransLoc , a transportation technology company that has worked with over 150 transit providers across North America.
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 pros and cons of using Amazon Alexa as a model for chatbots | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/the-pros-and-cons-of-using-amazon-alexa-as-a-model-for-chatbots"
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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 pros and cons of using Amazon Alexa as a model for chatbots Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Amazon Alexa Amazon Alexa is slowly becoming self-aware.
Well, not really. Amazon has added some new features, including the ability to read an entire book, start your Ford Fusion (still in beta), and unlock the doors of your house with a simple command. You can engage in a conversation, or even play a role-playing game. A soothing voice and lame jokes make Alexa highly accessible, like a robot friend who can handle some routine chores. I’ve ordered pizza by voice, and I love asking about the weather forecast right before heading out on business trips.
Yet, Alexa is far from perfect. And Alexa is not a sentient being. For now, there are enough faults that this intelligent voice agent is not an ideal example of how chatbots — which use text in messaging apps like Facebook Messenger — should work. Of course, Alexa has some good aspects and some serious issues, as with anything truly innovative in tech. Here are a few of both to keep in mind.
Pros Alexa has many positive features. I have used the voice assistant on my phone, with the Amazon Echo speaker, and even with a radio, called the Triby , in my kitchen. One of the main benefits of Alexa is that the assistant understands almost everything I say. For chatbots, that’s critical. Any bot worth using should understand natural language processing. If it doesn’t, it will suffer a quick death on the market.
Alexa is also highly extensible. I use the assistant with a Vivint home security system and have a feature that lets me control the locks in my home. (As a security precaution, the feature only lets you lock, not unlock your home.) That’s a great integration, and chatbots need to follow this example. If a chatbot only works with a few basic services, like your calendar, it won’t survive for long.
More than anything, Alexa actually saves time and improves your day. I use the Domino’s feature at least once per month, as I can order a pizza by voice much faster than using any app. Everything on Alexa seems to work smoothly, from getting the weather to getting a quick lowdown on the news. Chatbots need to follow suit.
Cons Alexa has a ways to go, however. One of the issues I’ve noticed lately is that the bot works with quite a few services but is far from even making a dent in the connected home market. I can raise and lower the temperature in my home by voice, but not with the Honeywell smart thermostats. (Update: Amazon recently added this feature as a skill in the Alexa app.) Alexa works with the Sensi brand — but only after some configuration of both the hardware and the software. Chatbots that are truly useful will need to extend themselves far beyond a simple set of connections.
Another big gripe I have with Alexa is that it only works when I’m in my office. I have an Echo speaker there, and my phone with the Alexa app is usually tucked away somewhere (I use Skype at my desk with a headset). I should be able to talk to Alexa in any room, but it doesn’t quite work that way yet. Compatibility is a big issue for any bot. Maybe they need to work on iOS and Android but also on BlackBerry devices and on Windows phones. Bonus if a chatbot works on phones that are not even available anymore.
And, last but not least, Alexa can be temperamental. As we reported recently , the service was down for a while. I’ve personally experienced outages at times. When reading a book, I’ve had the speaker fail a few times, which ruins the experience. A chatbot that crashes is a useless chatbot, especially as we’re trying to adjust to the idea of using them. To make a good first impression, chatbots better work almost perfectly.
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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"Pat Inc. chat technology is a step in the right direction | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/the-pat-ai-chat-technology-is-a-step-in-the-right-direction"
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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 Pat Inc. chat technology is a step in the right direction Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Chatbots don’t quite understand us yet.
We speak, and they process our commands. With a chatbot like Yahoo Weather , you ask about the forecast in Seattle, and the bot returns an answer. Natural Language Processing (NLP) can read what you say and interpret some meaning. You don’t want to know the current temp in Seattle, you want to know what the weather will be like in the future. That capability is helpful, because the dialogue can branch out. You can ask about a different city or the next morning, without knowing anything about how to find those features within the app (without even needing to install the app).
Yet, most of us communicate without following a specific set of commands. For example, we tend to be pretty random. We ask more complicated questions, like this: “What’s the weather in Miami, and then Orlando the next day.” For now, chatbots don’t know what you mean. In the Yahoo Weather chatbot, you’ll only get a report for Miami — the bot ignores the second part of your request.
That’s not the case with Pat , a new technology that uses Natural Language Understanding. In a demo recently, the developers showed me how it works. In one chat, the bot can understand when you ask about “the president” and then ask about his age in the same request. Interestingly, this command is possible in the Google search app on your phone only if you specify that you mean President Obama. NLU looks at the words you are using and flags them with meaning. It looks at a sentence asking about the “president” and interprets the meaning as related to the most common request. Humans can be vague — when we say “president,” we usually mean the leader of the U.S.
Pat also understands grammar. In another test, the bot was able to understand context. There might be two different subjects mentioned in a request or statement, but the bot looks for meaning, not only through the words you use but also in how the words are constructed. The demo mentions “the chancellor” and “protesters” and the bot understood that it was the protesters who were angry.
What makes this interesting to me is the potential for understanding text chats in the future. An intelligent assistant would not need to ask multiple follow-up questions or request more details. It could look at the construction of a sentence and determine our intent. We might ask about a train route, the weather, and flight delays all in one request, and the bot would know that we are traveling and need to take a train and then board a plane and that we’re concerned about the weather when we travel (this requires understanding, not just processing).
NLU is not an optional add-on on for chatbots. The technology, even in a fairly limited demo, shows how the interactions between a bot and a human need to be able to handle random requests. In another demo, the bot understood a request that involved an interruption. You might say “what’s the weather in Miami, no Orlando” and the bot would know you mean Orlando. Today, this kind of input is confusing to bots and leads to a lot of miscues.
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"Tesla is reportedly considering 2 theories to explain 'Autopilot' crash | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/tesla-is-reportedly-considering-2-theories-to-explain-autopilot-crash"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Tesla is reportedly considering 2 theories to explain ‘Autopilot’ crash Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The radar technology of a Tesla Model S containing Autopilot features is pointed out during a Tesla event in Palo Alto, California, U.S., October 14, 2015. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach/File Photo 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) – Tesla told U.S. Senate Commerce Committee staff it is considering two theories that may explain what led to the May 7 fatal crash that killed a Florida man who was using the car’s “Autopilot” system, a person familiar with the meeting told Reuters on Friday.
Tesla staff members told congressional aides at a briefing on Thursday that they are still trying to understand the “system failure” that led to the crash, the source said.
Tesla is considering whether the radar and camera input for the vehicle’s automatic emergency braking system failed to detect the truck trailer or the automatic braking system’s radar may have detected the trailer but discounted this input as part of a design to “tune out” structures such as bridges to avoid triggering false braking, the source said.
Joshua Brown was killed when his vehicle drove under the tractor-trailer. It was the first known fatality involving a Model S operating on the Autopilot system that takes control of steering and braking in certain conditions. The accident has increased scrutiny of automated driving technology.
Tesla’s chief executive, Elon Musk, was asked on Twitter about why the radar did not detect the truck. Musk wrote in a June 30 tweet that “radar tunes out what looks like an overhead road sign to avoid false braking events.” A Tesla spokeswoman declined to comment on the meeting, referring questions to the company’s recent statements.
Tesla also told committee staffers it views braking failure as separate and distinct from its “Autopilot” function, which manages steering, changing lanes, and adjusting travel speed, the source said.
On Tuesday, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said its preliminary findings showed the Model S was traveling at 74 miles (119 km) per hour in a 65-mph (104 km per hour) zone at the time it struck the semi-truck near Williston, Florida.
The report said the NTSB confirmed the Model S driver was using the advanced driver assistance features Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and Autosteer lane-keeping assistance at the time. The NTSB has not yet determined the probable cause of the crash.
Tesla faces a separate investigation by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) into whether the system poses an unreasonable risk to driver safety. It faces a Friday deadline to answer the safety agency’s initial questions about the crash.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by G Crosse and Jonathan Oatis) 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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"Personal finance bot Trim says it's saved users $6 million -- and counting | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/personal-finance-bot-trim-says-its-saved-users-6-million-and-counting"
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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 Personal finance bot Trim says it’s saved users $6 million — and counting Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Trim on Facebook Mesenger screenshot. Credit: Khari Johnson Since Thomas Smyth and Daniel Petkevich created the chatbot Trim to rid their personal bank accounts of forgotten but costly subscription fees seven months ago , it has helped more than 50,000 people save $6.3 million.
That may be only the beginning.
Now Trim wants to find more ways to take proactive steps for users. It’s the ability to act on people’s behalf that has helped Trim grow, and new investments will help the company scale impact, CEO Thomas Smyth told VentureBeat.
On July 20, the company announced that its bot will no longer focus on subscription cancellation alone but will become a personal finance chatbot with the ambition to “replace mobile banking,” Smyth said.
The company also announced the closure of a $2.2 million seed round led by Eniac Ventures. Version One Ventures, Core Innovation Capital, and Sound Ventures, a VC firm cofounded by Ashton Kutcher, also invested in Trim.
Add to this that earlier this month Trim announced that its bot, formerly only available via text, is now on Facebook Messenger.
Facebook liked this news, featuring the bot in a July 1 blog post.
Smyth plans to distinguish Trim from competition like Abe.ai and MyKAI, from Kasisto , by finding more ways to take proactive steps to handle people’s personal finances.
“Every single personal financial question or decision or transaction, I think it’s pretty clear that it would be nicer if someone else did that for you,” he said. “My ideal personal finance product involves my sitting on the couch and playing Pokémon, while someone else handles everything for me.” Trim will tell users how much they spent on Uber last month but also when a bill is due or when a person is going to be penalized with an overdraft or late fee.
Smyth envisions Trim taking on a fiduciary role and handling tasks that banks aren’t necessarily incentivized to perform, — think of credit card companies that fail to remind you your bill is due so they can collect a late fee.
“I think looking for opportunities where the incentive of existing financial providers and their customers are not fully aligned, I think those opportunities are great for Trim and other personal finance startups,” he said.
Trim connects to more than 20,000 banks, including Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.
Trim has a team of four employees based in San Francisco.
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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"Marina travel bot uses A.I. to trump human-assisted bots | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/marina-travel-bot-uses-a-i-to-trump-human-assisted-bots"
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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 Marina travel bot uses A.I. to trump human-assisted bots Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Human-assisted travel bots like Mezi and Lola have some new competition.
The Marina bot , developed by Alterra, works within Facebook Messenger to make reservations using natural language understanding techniques. For example, you can type in multiple routes between your home city and your final destination, ask about a “romantic getaway,” or look for the best hotel deals.
Alterra developed the bot by transcribing conversations between humans and travel agents. The company claims the bot can understand natural language without requiring complex coding. In my test, I asked about “sunny destinations,” and the bot found a few good options within seconds.
You can read the full post describing the tech right here.
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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"Kanye West tells Apple to 'give Jay Z his check for Tidal now' | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/kanye-west-tells-apple-to-give-jay-z-his-check-for-tidal-now"
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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 Kanye West tells Apple to ‘give Jay Z his check for Tidal now’ Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Kanye West and Jay Z perform in the "Otis" video on their 2011 album Watch the Throne.
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Rapper Kanye West this morning took to Twitter to weigh in on the report that Apple was considering an acquisition of Jay Z’s Tidal music streaming service. He demanded a meeting with himself, Jay Z, and Apple executives, and insisted that Apple “give Jay his check for Tidal now.” Apple, whose premium Apple Music service competes with Tidal, is typically silent about deals it is making or, in some cases, has made. So it’s fascinating to see someone prominent make noise about a deal that was reported to be in the works, and Kanye West, at that.
Kanye and Jay Z are longtime collaborators; Kanye has produced music on Roc-A-Fella Records, which Jay Z cofounded, and the two collaborated on the 2011 album “Watch the Throne.” Jay Z’s wife, Beyoncé Knowles, has released music exclusively on Tidal. Meanwhile, West has brought music to Tidal exclusively before, and West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, has generated lots of money through Apple by way of the Kim Kardashian: Hollywood app.
Apple has sought to bring exclusive content to Apple Music, and content from Rihanna, Beyoncé, and Jay Z himself may help Apple Music surpass other music streaming services, including Spotify.
Here’s what West wrote about the reported deal: This Tidal Apple beef is fucking up the music game.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 30, 2016 I need Tim Cook Jay Z Dez Jimmy Larry me and Drake Scooter on the phone or in a room this week!!! — KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 30, 2016 Fuck all this dick swinging contest. We all gon be dead in 100 Years. Let the kids have the music.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 30, 2016 Apple give Jay his check for Tidal now and stop trying to act like you Steve.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 30, 2016 Update at 10:10 p.m. Pacific: West apparently also wants Spotify’s CEO, Daniel Ek, to participate in the meeting that he called for.
I forgot to add Daniel Ek — KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) July 31, 2016 VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
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"How a conversational chatbot will change how we work | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/how-a-conversational-chatbot-will-change-how-we-work"
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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 How a conversational chatbot will change how we work Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Lola saves time.
“Let everyone in the office know I’m running late.” This simple statement could change everything about the modern workplace.
It’s not possible for an artificial assistant to execute this command today, for several reasons — issues with calendar programs, subpar artificial intelligence, or even the fact that there are so many different definitions of everyone.
A chatbot today — like Siri or Google Now, or even Amazon Alexa — could almost handle this request, but they are not quite advanced enough. For starters, how does Siri know who is in the office? You’d have to have a check-in system in place and the check-in system would have to communicate with Alexa.
There are also some problems with contextual understanding. Running late for what? The weekly status meeting or a coffee date? Is it the next meeting on my schedule or is it the next meeting with everyone at the office? An A.I. can’t quite understand the language I’m using because we like to talk to bots in the same way we talk to each other. We’re nonspecific. We say one thing and mean another. If I’m running late to the office, it’s obvious to most of us that I’m talking about that meeting, but the words don’t really translate to a chatbot with a limited understanding of what it means to be human.
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about chatbots, because I’ve been testing them like crazy. I booked a flight with Lola , I found a restaurant that serves cheese curds using Ozlo , I ordered a Bill Bryson book using the Mezi app.
Unfortunately, of those three apps, only Ozlo uses 100 percent artificial intelligence, and it’s by far the most limited in what it understands. For the dozens and dozens of chatbots I’ve tested here at VentureBeat in my role as an editor for our bots coverage, I’ve come to realize that many of the bots are helpful and useful, but they have a long way to go before I’m ready to hand over my schedule, have them parse my email (or reply to my boss when he sends me an urgent message), or even order me a burger for lunch.
Why is that? From what I can tell, chatbots are in the same stage as voice recognition software when it first became popular quite a few years ago. As more people talked to their phones and computers, the recognition software recorded more dialects, understood more hidden meanings, and built up a vast dictionary of natural language understanding. We can now talk to Alexa using everyday speech, thanks to the pioneering work of software engineers from the past, who built up an engine slowly over time and eventually improved the technology to the point that we are hardly aware of how complex it is.
This is what makes chatbot innovation such an exciting field. It has so much promise and so much potential. Someday, a chatbot will handle most of the requests we receive from strangers (this is already partially true with the MessinaBot). That means we won’t have to field so many random questions by email, which is worth its weight in gold if you share my views on email overload. A chatbot will slowly learn our preferences — that we like to meet later in the day or that we don’t like Microsoft so we’ll never respond to an email from someone trying to convince us to upgrade to Windows 10.
A chatbot will know our likes and dislikes, where we like to work when we’re not in the office, which car we like to drive, and even which restaurants we frequent on Sunday afternoons. For this to happen, chatbots will need to connect to more than a Gmail calendar. We’ll need to live in a highly connected society. Think about how a chatbot would even figure out which car we like — it would have to know we physically visited an Audi dealership three times in the last month and that we own an Audi right now.
Yet, we’ll get there. Just like speech technology, chatbots will only learn more and more about us and connect to more and more systems, other apps, and even other chatbots.
I can’t wait for this chatbot revolution.
For now, hang on — I need to text everyone in the office manually to let them know I’m running late.
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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"Google Search now helps you set up email notifications for when you're mentioned on the web | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/google-search-alerts"
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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 Search now helps you set up email notifications for when you’re mentioned on the web Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Google's Stay in the Loop feature in Google Search.
Google is making it a little easier for you to get an alert whenever your name gets mentioned on the internet.
Now, when you Google yourself, so long as you’re logged into Google and you’ve allowed it to save your web and app activity , Google will show you a new widget at the bottom of the first page of search results that will help you easily set up a Google Alert to track new references to your name.
This is a reasonable move for Google to make. Google Alerts have been around since 2003. These days, if you want to find out what’s online about you, you Google yourself; you don’t set up a Google Alert. But the thing is that even though they’re not the hot new thing, Google Alerts work well. You can adjust settings — like email frequency, source types, languages, regions, whether to only send the best results, and the email address to send alerts to. So Google Alerts provide the back end for this new tool.
When you click on the widget — which uses the heading “Stay in the loop” — Google takes you to a Google Alert form that already has your name in quotation marks. Once you’ve tweaked the settings, just hit “Create Alert,” and you’re done.
In a blog post last month, Google showed the feature in a screenshot, although it had not yet been released, as a Google spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email. Now the feature is live.
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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"Elon Musk says you'll be able to decide who can use your self-driving Tesla | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/elon-musk-says-youll-be-able-to-decide-who-can-use-your-self-driving-tesla"
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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 Elon Musk says you’ll be able to decide who can use your self-driving Tesla Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Tesla Model 3 Elon Musk, cofounder and CEO of Tesla Motors, today elaborated on his vision for the shared fleet of autonomous Tesla vehicles during a speech marking the grand opening of Tesla’s Gigafactory battery manufacturing plant in Nevada.
The remarks came a week after Musk unveiled his plan to turn existing Teslas into a “shared fleet,” with the help of distributed learning of autonomous driving.
The way Musk sees it, Tesla owners will be able to set rules about who will be able to use your Tesla when you’re not using it.
Here’s what he said: Whenever you’re not using your car, you’ll be able to just tap the Tesla app on your phone and then add it to or subtract it from the the shared fleet. And you’ll be able to define, like, well, you know, who can use it, like only five-star users, or anyone, or only family, or whatever. And then whenever you want it back, you can just tap it, and it will return to you. So most of the time when you look at cars, they’re sitting in a parking lot somewhere, and they’re not being used, and this has the potential to massively amplify the utility of vehicles and offset the cost of ownership. And it’s going to be totally up to you when you want to do it, or not do it. It’s all yours.
“Will it find Pokémon for us?” someone in the crowd asked.
“It will find Pokémon for you, Musk said. “Absolutely. Of course.” Last month, Tesla said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was investigating the accident in which one person died while driving in a 2015 Tesla Model S that was in autopilot mode.
You can watch a recording of today’s Gigafactory event below.
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 tips for building the next great chatbot | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/5-tips-for-building-the-next-great-chatbot"
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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 5 tips for building the next great chatbot Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn WeChat on the Apple Watch.
Most chatbots today are a simple one-and-done. Out of curiosity and excitement, they draw a crowd. People play with them temporarily, only to disregard them minutes later.
Instead of being wowed or walking away in a state of awe, people are finding bots disappointing. The good news is that this represents a huge opportunity for those of us who can create a remarkable experience.
We are in the Wild West stage for chatbots. There is opportunity everywhere, and this can be overwhelming. There are a number of ways to narrow down the options and get ahead of the market. To have and gain clarity before everyone else does, and to have a meaningful competitive advantage, here are a couple of insights.
1. Follow the WeChat model Bots have been on WeChat for a number of years. Their bot market is in a much more mature stage of development. There are many insights we can gain from researching what is working on WeChat and why. I have begun some research in this area and have a few takeaways: Two types of bot accounts: WeChat offers Subscription Accounts and Service Accounts. Subscription accounts are the vast majority of accounts, and their main function is aggregating news and blogs. Service Accounts on the other hand are fully functional bots, with some superior functionality (like speech recognition). These accounts do things.
News: News bots dominated the Top 500 Bots in China. In fact they make up about 34 percent of all bots in top 500. WeChat serves as the main way most Chinese people get their news.
The top five most popular categories: Current Affairs, Culture, Entertainment & Sports, Humor, and Emotions — these five categories made about half of the top 500 bots on WeChat in July 2016. Entertainment & Sports and Humor show to be good use cases for bots.
It is important to remember that there are strong cultural components at play. China has a poor app culture, mostly due to low-quality smartphones and cost of data. As a result, bots have been the main way to go. Moreover, information in China must be government approved. There is no Google and no free press, and as a result most Chinese people are getting their news via WeChat.
(The above information about WeChat was translated and summarized from this link by Tianyu Guo.) 2. Focus on chatbot-only use cases Every new technology inherently brings new ways of doing things that were not possible before. As a result, there are new use cases, new ways to solve old problems that are made possible as a result of this new technology.
So here we have to consider the question: What problems can you solve with chatbots that could not be solved otherwise? Part of the reason Uber has been so successful is because of this strategy. They leveraged new technology (smartphones with GPS and payment capabilities) to do something that could not have been done before, namely ride-hailing.
Currently, bot makers have the same challenge.
Examples of chatbot-only use cases: Legal Help : DoNotPay has overturned 160,000 tickets in London and NYC, saving customers over $3 million. The bot, which takes 25 percent of the savings, has made nearly a million dollars.
Customer Service : Right now, customer service is a poor, poor experience. No one wants to call an 800 number, and most companies dread having to improve their customer service. Bots will change all of that.
Personal Advice : Get real advice from real humans. For example, the Sensay bot connects you with “people” who can help right now via chat.
3. Make it unique Chatbots are a natural expression and an externalization of what we do almost every moment of every day. That is: We talk.
An average person has between 50,000 and 70,000 thoughts per day. We are constantly thinking; in other words, we are in deep conversations with ourselves.
Words and conversations are the human operating system. For the first time, there will be a direct overlap between the Human OS and Machine OS, between how we think and our technology. Soon we will be able to talk with A.I. as though we are talking to our assistant. Or when we have a bad day, we can brood about it or talk to an A.I. bot instead.
A.I. is not there yet. It is not even very close. However, between here and there, there is opportunity in niche spaces where conversations are needed in order to solve problems. Bots that can solve problems in this way will have the ideal form and function and be able to help us get things done in the way we know best — via conversations.
4. Tap into the real need Most of our thoughts are completely centered on our fears, our desires, our problems, and our needs. One of the major problems in our modern world is that many of us are feeling lonely, disconnected, and even forgotten. We are constantly looking to connect with the outside world.
A recent survey of over 12,000 users of Assistant.ai revealed that nearly 40 percent could imagine themselves falling in love with A.I. and another 25 percent agree that “it could happen” to them.
Humans have a strong tendency to anthropomorphize and assume relationships. This is why we see faces in the clouds, why Brian (the dog in Family Guy) walks and talks like a human, and why we transpose human characteristics on the family goldfish and begin to have a relationship with it. We are wired to connect and are constantly looking to relate.
Many humans are yearning for connections so much so that even poorly made chatbots offer us the opportunity to anthropomorphize and assume a relationship.
This tendency is so strong that people in China and Japan have spent so much money on virtual girlfriends/boyfriends and some have even married their virtual sweetheart.
5. Hit a nerve In order to get people to care about anything, to really care, you have to hit a nerve. You have to touch them emotionally, you have to make things meaningful for them.
The best way to touch someone emotionally and to inspire them to actions is via personality. Personality allows us to more easily connect and create a relationship, and bots are an ideal vehicle to a personalized marketing relationship.
They allow us the unique possibility of having a deeply personalized, intimate, unique experience with A.I. that meets our needs, both physical (by doing things for us) and emotional.
Putting it all together All of this is available to us today! Our goal when creating the next great chatbot should be to leverage the uniqueness of the platform and solve problems that could not be solved otherwise. In the process of solving these problems for people, our bots should be fun, engaging, positive, have a lot of personality, and also give people love.
VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact.
Discover our Briefings.
VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"3 ways Pokémon Go can make players happy with push notifications | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/3-ways-pokemon-go-can-make-players-happy-with-push-notifications"
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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 3 ways Pokémon Go can make players happy with push notifications 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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Pokémon Go launched in the U.S. on July 17, and it has already become a cultural phenomenon. Developed by Niantic, it’s now the most-downloaded game in U.S. history. Three days after its release, it was on over 5 percent of all Android phones in the U.S.
It seems like everyone is playing the game.
But while Pokémon Go has done a great job with user acquisition (it helps when you’re working with a 20-year-old franchise with dozens of games, TV episodes, films, and other mech), it’s not actively working on retaining those users. And as any app developer can tell you, retention rates are abysmal by day 90 — on average, under 5 percent will come back to your app.
Virality will only keep the game successful for so long. Niantic needs a solid retention strategy. A proven way to retain users is with push notifications. For continued success, here are three push campaigns Pokémon Go should send to keep its players chasing, battling, and leveling up even after the hype wears off.
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! 1. Promote nearby lures with timely alerts Lure’s are an exciting component of Pokémon Go. The rules: Lures only last 30 minutes.
Lures have to be activated at PokéStops (in-game landmarks based on real-life landmarks, like museums, monuments, and more).
Lures can be easily obtained via in-app purchases.
Since every player wants a lure, it makes sense to send push notifications alerting people of their presence. In this scenario, the game would send push notifications announcing nearby lures, and informing players they have 30 minutes left until the lure expires. The message could say something like, “There are three active lures in your area that expire in 30 minutes. Come back to the app to catch them all!” Above: A “Poké-push” notification.
Due to its timely nature, this reactivation campaign would immediately encourage players to jump back in the game. It would also improve the user experience. As it is now, players have to stumble upon lures by chance or continuously play the game. As Pokémon GO’s average gaming session is 33 minutes , a push notification would likely be successful at re-engagement.
2. Save battery power with relevant notifications We mentioned above that Pokémon Go’s averaging gaming session is 33 minutes. For every 30 minutes of play, the game eats up 15 percent of a person’s battery usage.
Comparatively , Facebook only uses 5 percent for that time frame, and Spotify uses zero. Pokémon Go comes with a built-in battery saver option, but it’s not enough.
Why is this? Pokémon Go uses GPS to pull world data into your smartphone. Instead of draining players’ batteries, Pokémon Go could send notifications telling players to download sections of the map for offline use. The app would then understand where users are and send them a push notification that Pokémon are nearby. Since players wouldn’t have to leave the app on in the background, this would save battery life, but still keep them in the loop.
No one wants to go on a Pokémon binge, but realize they are left with only have 25 percent battery life. By preventing battery drainage and sending more relevant messages, you’ll be able to extend the lifetime of in-game sessions.
If you’re worried about users missing this push notification, you can automatically send the alert by services using machine learning algorithms that analyze individual app usage patterns and automatically sends push notifications when users are most likely to open. Gaming company Pixowl used this type of solution to alert users to promotions on in-game currency. Using such a solution, Pixowl increased revenue by 17 percent.
3. Re-engage after a crash & encourage loyalty The biggest complaint by Pokémon Go players is that the app freezes or crashes when players try to catch Pokémon. Unfortunately, if players have regular poor experiences, they’ll abandon the app.
According to one Compuware study , only 16 percent of people will reopen an app if it failed to work twice. The biggest problem encountered? The app froze or crashed.
Segment the players who had a negative experience and send them messages designed to reactivate through a drip campaign.
After a crash, send a push notification to users, apologizing and inviting them back to play. If players don’t respond within three days, send a follow-up push notification and email (to reach even those who opt-out of push), offering incentive for re-engagement. Since Pokémon Go offers in-app purchases of PokéCoins, you could give players who experienced a crash 50 free coins if they come back to play.
Not only does this make up for the negative experience, but it fosters good user experience and encourages loyalty — so maybe those players will give a five-star rating in the App Store.
Pokémon Go is a major phenomenon right now, and a lot will evolve with the game in the next 30-60-90 days. Who knows — it could become the next Angry Birds. Its success will hinge on the strategy for long-term player retention, so the sooner Pokémon Go firms up its strategy, the better.
Momchil Kyurkchiev is the CEO and co-founder of Leanplum, the most complete mobile marketing automation platform, delivering meaningful engagement across messaging and the in-app experience.
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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"Amazon's Alexa voice assistant went down for some people today | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/alexa-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 Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant went down for some people today Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Amazon Tap: A smaller Echo device that's portable and Alexa-enabled.
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 voice assistant, which powers the Amazon Echo smart speaker and other devices, has been acting up today. Many people have reported problems.
The thing is, Amazon doesn’t have a place where people can check the status of the Alexa Voice Service. So what we have are many reports of issues, starting a little after 6 p.m. Pacific. Here are a few of the reports: @amazonecho help! My dear Alexa played prime music a few minutes ago and now this?!? Weather works fine @AmazonHelp pic.twitter.com/IQWVm3SRVe — Patty Huang (@pattyphuang) July 30, 2016 All hell just broke loose.
#Alexaisdown @amazonecho — Steel Fajitas (@Steel_Fajitas) July 30, 2016 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 else loves it when @amazonecho randomly decided to not play music? — Matthew Stone (@IndyMattStone) July 30, 2016 @amazon What's going on? Echo, dot, and fire not working. I can'teven call.
#failure.
Need Answers! — J Mazak (@Jmajkrzak) July 30, 2016 @amazonecho Is it something wrong with the Alexa app?!? — Livia Delgado (@LiviaD11) July 30, 2016 @AmazonHelp Is there something going on with the Alexa App and your site? Trying to set up Echo for first time and can't even open app. Sad.
— heidigarfield (@heidigarfield) July 30, 2016 @AmazonHelp My Echo app and unit aren't working. I can't even sign into the app. What's up? — Brian Rivera (@bamrivera481) July 30, 2016 Are the Echo servers down? @AmazonHelp — Scott Beidler (@RenegadeReformR) July 30, 2016 The Alexa mobile app is malfunctioning tonight. I can't play music on my Amazon Echo.
— Andrew Arnott (@aarnott) July 30, 2016 @AmazonHelp is your website down? I am unable to log in on any device including phone, computer, and echo. Please help. Thank you.
— Daniel Bernath (@DBernath) July 30, 2016 @amazonecho Pandora just quit playing and Alexa only says something went wrong. What's up? #tooexpensivetobejustaclock — Oppo Trump (@Oppo_Trump) July 30, 2016 @amazonecho is the alexa app down now? I reset my tap but cannot finish configuration. Some message saying cannot retrieve older cards — SharkieQ 検索と破棄 ! (@sharkieQ) July 30, 2016 Is everyone's @amazonecho broken and unable to play music or is it just me.
— MICHAEL TRANSON (@michaeltranson) July 30, 2016 our other people's @amazonecho not working or is it just mine? — Lauren (@laurenradice) July 30, 2016 Looks like @amazon is having an outage right now with some services… @amazonecho #IT — Joel Pacheco (@joelpacheco_) July 30, 2016 At least one person reported that Alexa was working again just after 7 p.m. Pacific.
Me when @amazonecho started wprking again! #amazondown pic.twitter.com/HJMMe64HQ4 — Josh Schoemann (@joshomen) July 30, 2016 Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. We’ll update this post as we learn more.
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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"Pirates using YouTube's 360 videos to hide movies from copyright detection | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/social/pirates-using-youtubes-360-videos-to-hide-movies-from-copyright-detection"
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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 Pirates using YouTube’s 360 videos to hide movies from copyright detection 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.
While 360 videos have become increasingly popular with the public, thanks to Samsung, Ricoh, and countless other devices, they’re also becoming a bastion for movie pirates looking to avoid detection by copyright protection programs. It seems that some enterprising pirates are combining two videos to make a 360 panoramic video.
Whoa, pirates have started hiding movies in YouTube 360 videos to avoid ContentID. Try click-dragging: https://t.co/cDeGd632kg @waxpancake — Adam Conover (@adamconover) June 30, 2016 Earlier today, Adam Conover, star of the TruTV show “Adam Ruins Everything,” drew attention to something he had found on YouTube. It seems the entire “Clueless” movie was posted as a 360 video. The default view is on the movie itself, but you can pan around to see some random backdrops that give the impression it’s something else.
Above: Someone embedded the entire film “Clueless” into a 360 video and has placed it on YouTube. While you can watch the entire clip normally, you’re also able to cycle around. This was likely done to skirt copyright protection programs the video network has in place.
YouTube uses its Content ID bot to scour its social network — across all uploaded videos — in search of copyrighted material. However, it has drawn criticism from those who say that Content ID is flagging content on behalf of organizations that don’t own the material they claim is theirs. In 2013, independent developer Jonathan Blow tweeted that he had received a violation notice saying that his game The Witness was owned by Sony. Eventually that notice was dismissed.
Over time, YouTube’s system has become increasingly sophisticated, so pirates need to find new loopholes, and they seem to have discovered one in 360 videos. How long these will remain posted on the popular social network remains to be seen, as it’s likely YouTube will have a fix for this soon.
We’ve reached out to YouTube for comment and will update if we hear back.
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"Wake adds enterprise team features to its design collaboration app | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/wake-adds-enterprise-team-features-to-its-design-collaboration-app"
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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 Wake adds enterprise team features to its design collaboration app 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.
As we increasingly communicate with each other over tools like Slack, GitHub, and HipChat, there’s a growing need for specialization, especially for those who work with lots of moving parts, like designers. Chris Kalani discovered this while working as an early product designer at Facebook, and he went on to create Wake , which is geared toward the visual medium and enables feedback about new products during the design phase.
The company, which launched last year , is now launching Wake Spaces, a tool that offers greater collaboration controls for enterprise teams — those with more than 200 people. It features bucketed areas for multiple teams within a single account and offers status tracking for projects, visibility controls, and improved organization.
“What we’ve found as we’ve grown is that people are sharing a ton on Wake every day,” Kalani said. “It was time to add some lightweight organization to help designers streamline their workflow.” Available today, Wake Spaces offers some structures that enterprise design teams may be accustomed to. Kalani shared that some companies having been creating multiple accounts for different buckets and teams, something done to avoid mixing workflows. With bucketed area support, all teams can be organized under a single account — by department, project, or any other designation — while still being able to see what others are doing.
The addition of project status tracking offers some striking similarities to what you’d find on a project management solution. It provides the means to track progress visually by simply tagging work as “ideas,” “in progress,” “specs,” and “final work.” Specific bucketed areas can also be labeled as private, restricting access to limited members of the team.
Wake is already integrated with Sketch, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator. With a keyboard shortcut, files can be imported into the cloud and stored in a repository where others can view them and provide feedback. For some, the workflow might entail having to save a file from Photoshop or Illustrator, upload it to Dropbox, Box, or Google Drive, and then share it on GitHub, Slack, or HipChat. The number of steps makes collaboration complicated, and with such high barriers to sharing, Kalani said people simply avoid doing so.
The new tools are about adding transparency to the design process, we’re told. “In the movement with design right now, a lot of what [designers] are fighting for is trying to show what design actually has on the company. Wake is bringing a lot of the nitty gritty up so everyone can see what’s going on and get feedback earlier,” Kalani explained.
Design is an area that’s getting a lot of attention within companies, as highlighted in this year’s Design in Tech report from Kleiner Perkins’ partner John Maeda. But instead of asking designers to operate in a vacuum, there needs to be a service that streamlines the communication and eliminates many of the logistical issues.
The idea behind Wake isn’t new — others in the space include Dribble, and even file management provider Hightail’s Spaces , which launched in October. But it doesn’t look like Wake is short of customers, as companies like Evernote, Facebook, Netflix, Zendesk, and Capital One use its service.
To date, Wake has raised $3.8 million in funding from investors like Designer Fund, First Round, Slow Ventures, and a few angel investors.
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 launches unlocked Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge in the U.S. for $670 and $770 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/samsung-launches-unlocked-galaxy-s7-and-s7-edge-in-the-u-s-for-670-and-770"
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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 launches unlocked Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge in the U.S. for $670 and $770 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 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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Samsung has announced that unlocked versions of its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge devices are now available in the U.S.
The duo of flagship phones have been available through all major carriers in the U.S. since March this year, but for those who prefer their phones off-contract, rather than tethered to a single network, this will no doubt be welcome news.
The Galaxy S7, which sports a 5.1-inch screen, will set you back $670, while the Galaxy S7 Edge, which comes with a 5.5-inch curved screen, clocks in at $770.
The new unlocked phones are available to buy today through Samsung.com and third-party retailers, such as Amazon, Best Buy, Sam’s Club, and Target.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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"NBC and Samsung to bring 85 hours of virtual reality coverage to the Rio Olympic Games | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/nbc-and-samsung-to-bring-virtual-reality-coverage-to-the-rio-olympic-games"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages NBC and Samsung to bring 85 hours of virtual reality coverage to the Rio Olympic Games Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Rio 2016 Olympic Games 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.
Virtual reality is one of the big breakout trends of 2016. And now sports fans will be able to sample some of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in VR thanks to a tie-up between NBC and Samsung.
Kicking off in August, the two-week long event will see millions of people around the world tune in on TV, computers, mobile devices, and now VR headsets. NBC has revealed that the NBC Sports app will work in conjunction with Samsung Galaxy devices and the Samsung Gear VR to broadcast 85 hours of virtual reality programming. This will include both the opening and closing ceremonies, men’s basketball, gymnastics, beach volleyball, boxing, diving, fencing, and a host of track-and-field events.
This isn’t the first time VR has come to Olympic events — back in February Samsung supported VR live-streaming during the Lillehammer 2016 Winter Youth Olympic Games. But in terms of an extensive start-to-finish slate of programming for a major sporting event, this latest move represents a major advance for the VR medium.
Those already with a Samsung Gear VR will of course know that the headset is only compatible with the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+, and Galaxy Note5 devices.
Event GamesBeat at the Game Awards We invite you to join us in LA for GamesBeat at the Game Awards event this December 7. Reserve your spot now as space is limited! Above: VR streaming at Lillehammer For the Rio Games, the VR programming won’t be broadcast live — it will be presented on delay starting on August 6 through to the closing ceremony.
The Rio Olympic Games is the latest of many examples that show the VR hype-train is entering overdrive. Countless companies are looking to get in on the act, from HTC and Facebook through to Google , Intel , and Huawei.
This is starting to affect many other facets of the entertainment realm, with the likes of movie theaters receiving the VR treatment. And back in March Samsung teamed up with one of the world’s biggest amusement park operators to launch VR roller coasters.
“VR technology carries incredible potential for the sport broadcast industry, offering a truly immersive user experience,” said Olympic Broadcasting Services CEO Yiannis Exarchos. “Our first test in Lillehammer, together with Samsung, for the Winter Youth Olympic Games was highly successful and we look forward to further exploring this exciting technology with NBC in Rio. VR has the power to enable hundreds of millions of people around the world to have a real sense of presence and participation in the most universal celebration of humanity, which is the Olympic Games.” 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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"Google Maps now lets you plot multiple stops ahead of your trip | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/google-maps-now-lets-you-plot-multiple-stops-ahead-of-your-trip"
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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 Maps now lets you plot multiple stops ahead of your trip Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Google Maps: Multi-stop Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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Google is introducing a couple of useful features to Google Maps on Android today, one of which will undoubtedly be greeted with cheers around the world.
Above: Google Maps: Stops While Google Maps already let users add a pit stop to trips while in navigation mode, now they will be able to input their start and end points and add multiple “stop offs” in advance, without beginning navigation. To use this new feature, hit the little three-dot menu and press “Add a stop.” For many, this has been a long time coming, as it effectively means you can plot an entire route ahead of time — one that takes in numerous stops and diversions — without having to repeatedly plug in a new “point B.” Though this feature will only be available on Android initially, it will be coming to iOS users “soon.” While Google’s official announcement didn’t reveal whether there was a limit to the number of stops you could input in advance, a spokesperson has now confirmed that you can add up to 10 locations as part of a single journey.
In addition to this, Google is also introducing a new update to users’ timelines that transforms their GPS-powered travel history into a diary of sorts — they can now add notes to remember what they did at a certain time in a specific place.
Google first introduced its Timeline feature last summer as a means of showing users everywhere they’ve ever been. It’s a neat tool, for sure, but those who wish to opt out can disable their location history from their settings if they’d rather not have their every movement recorded for posterity. The new notes feature is a nice addition to the images that are already pulled in automatically from your Google Photos profile — what you will effectively have is a personal log of every place you visit, replete with pictures and personal anecdotes.
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 kicked Zynga to the curb, publishers are next | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/facebook-kicked-zynga-to-the-curb-publishers-are-next"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Opinion Facebook kicked Zynga to the curb, publishers are next Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Publishers are the new Zynga Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship.
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In hindsight, Zynga’s business never really made sense. When the gaming empire went public in 2011, the company hinged on fads (online farming?) and owed its existence to Facebook.
Like that relationship was ever going to work.
Zynga rode Facebook to the top and the two grew dependent on one another. Then when the timing was right — when Facebook didn’t need Zynga or any other gaming company to prove it could make money — Facebook cut the cord.
The gaming publisher’s market cap peaked above $10 billion in March 2011. Today it’s worth a fraction of that.
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! Now let’s talk about another kind of publisher.
This kind.
Or even this kind.
Just like the cracks in Zynga’s business model began to show in 2011, the media industry’s Facebook addiction, and the mirage of endless scale , is now becoming painfully clear in the year 2016. Although this increasingly tumultuous relationship has been covered ad nauseam, the comparison feels more apt today than ever.
In the years since Mark Pincus’ heyday, history has repeated itself to some degree. Publishers, from century-old newspapers struggling with print’s decline to trendy new media startups running out of VC money, have turned to Facebook for help. And Mark Zuckerberg, with his pet project to become the world’s newspaper , watched as publishers and aggregators grew dangerously dependent on the social network and just about enveloped it.
Making sense of this overwhelming flood of content is the job of the brains fine-tuning Facebook’s News Feed. The company has labored over this a lot lately, and every time it’s nudged, pushed, and knocked back publishers’ advances, some publishers, often the biggest ones, have taken a hit.
And now, another nudge: Facebook has again rattled publishers, announcing yesterday that it will begin showing users more posts from their friends and families.
With this change, Facebook says , “we anticipate that this update may cause reach and referral traffic to decline for some Pages.” That’s not to say Facebook doesn’t need publishers anymore; it just needs them a little less. The trouble is, every time Facebook needs the media a little less, they need Facebook that much more.
The moment the social network throws publishers a bone, they leap towards it. Instant Articles lured media companies in with the promise of eyeballs: Don’t worry about your website, your engineers, or your sales team — Facebook can provide all of that, as long as it sees fit. Until the algorithm changes again. Deeper we dig in.
Facebook now wields more influence over the news than the news industry itself. Publishers, by playing ball , helped make this happen, and looked away (or didn’t notice) as Facebook swallowed up a lot of the print ad revenue that once belonged to them.
Media giants could cut ties now, but they won’t. Like the Zyngas before us, most publishers are far too dependent to quit cold turkey. There are plenty of interesting ways to run a media company, and there are other platforms to turn to. Journalism and writers aren’t flat-out doomed, but some publishers are.
Facebook saw that its social network was becoming less social , and now it’s taking action. This is a good thing (if you’re Facebook). Facebook has a track record of good decisions.
And this decision reinforces just how screwed publishers are as long as their business models hinge on Facebook.
As the social network increasingly distances itself from the media business, expect another messy divorce in which Facebook again comes out on top. The fling was never meant to last. For Facebook, keeping publishers afloat doesn’t really make sense.
Like that relationship was ever going to work.
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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"eBay adopts Google's AMP to speed up its mobile site | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/ebay-adopts-googles-amp-to-speed-up-its-mobile-site"
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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 eBay adopts Google’s AMP to speed up its mobile site Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Google AMP pages are now being used on eBay's mobile site.
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.
Ecommerce company eBay today announced that it has started using the Google-led open source Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology for more quickly displaying webpages on end users’ mobile devices. Altogether, around 8 million AMP pages are now live.
The new AMP-powered product category pages look cleaner than the non-AMP pages. But perhaps more importantly, they show up faster. And eBay will be bringing the new style to desktop and its native apps, eBay principal web engineer Senthil Padmanabhan wrote in a blog post.
But that’s not all.
“We have been thinking about leveraging the AMP ecosystem for our own search, similar to how Google handles AMP results,” Padmanabhan wrote. “This plan is in very early stages of discussion, but the possibility of our search using AMP technology is very interesting.” Pinterest, which is increasingly focused on ecommerce , has experimented with AMP pages in its app. But the technology has more commonly been implemented to serve up news articles. (You can say the same thing about Facebook’s proprietary Instant Articles technology.) Google News , Google search , the Google app , and the Google Play Newsstand app all rely on AMP now.
Google is now working with eBay on things like A/B testing and smart buttons.
“With items like these in place, AMP for eCommerce will soon start surfacing,” Padmanabhan 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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"BlackBerry is working on 3 new Android phones, codenamed Neon, Argon, and Mercury | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/blackberry-is-working-on-3-new-android-phones-codenamed-neon-argon-and-mercury"
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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 BlackBerry is working on 3 new Android phones, codenamed Neon, Argon, and Mercury 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.
Despite reports of lackluster sales for its first Android smartphone , BlackBerry is tripling down on the platform in the coming year. According to a person briefed on the company’s plans, the Canadian manufacturer will be releasing one phone per quarter for the next three quarters.
Codenamed Neon, Argon, and Mercury, the trio will target a range of form factors and price points, according to the briefed individual.
Neon Chronologically, the first of these to market is said to be Neon, a low- to mid-range 5.2-inch full touchscreen (i.e. no physical keyboard) handset with 1080p resolution. Composed of an aluminum frame with soft-coated plastic back, Neon is powered by a Snapdragon 617 system-on-a-chip from Qualcomm, the source said.
The phone is said to contain 3GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a 2610mAh battery, supporting QuickCharge 2.0. Its cameras should include a 13-megapixel rear shooter and 8-megapixel, front-facing selfie cam.
Aimed at both enterprise and consumer markets, according to our source, Neon should be competitively priced — and free on contract — when it goes on sale in the July to August timeframe.
Argon The most generously-spec’ed of the devices, Argon, is the next scheduled release, according to the briefed individual, landing sometime in October. Also a full touchscreen, the 5.5-inch Argon allegedly offers a QHD resolution — the same as Priv, BlackBerry’s first Android phone.
It’ll be marketed to the enterprise, along with enthusiast consumers.
Under the hood, the source says, are Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 SoC, 4GB of RAM, and 32GB of internal storage, along with a 3000mAh battery, supported by QuickCharge 3.0. Other notable features should include a fingerprint reader and USB type C connector.
With even more primary camera pixels than Priv’s 18-megapixel sensor, Argon has a 21-megapixel shooter at the rear, along with an 8-megapixel selfie cam on its face.
Mercury Stretching the roadmap into Q1 2017, Mercury is the only one of these handsets to sport a physical QWERTY keyboard, as Priv does. But unlike Priv, which is a vertical slider, Mercury’s board is not concealable — think BlackBerry Passport.
Above: A render of Mercury, via Mondo Blackberry It’s got a 4.5-inch screen with full HD resolution in a squarish 3:2 aspect ratio, with the entire enclosure made of aluminum. Internally, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 sits at the heart of the device, alongside 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage capacity.
Its battery apparently weighs in at 3400mAh, while its rear- and front-facing cameras offer 18-megapixel and 8-megapixel resolutions, respectively.
As with Priv, there’s a lot riding on these phones, namely BlackBerry’s continued existence as a hardware manufacturer. Some industry observers have attributed Priv’s lack of success to the premium price point at which it entered the market. With this trio of upcoming, more modestly priced Androids, BlackBerry should discover once and for all whether there is sufficient interest to continue developing its security-enhanced mobile devices.
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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"4 free Evernote alternatives you should try | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/mobile/4-free-evernote-alternatives-you-should-try"
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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 free Evernote alternatives you should try Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Microsoft's OneNote 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.
When Evernote announced changes to everyone’s pricing plans yesterday, there was a small but visible eruption on the Internet from users who had become accustomed to the popular note-taking service. In a nutshell, the free basic plan, which allowed for syncing notes across any number of devices, went away. Now the free basic plan only lets you synchronize your notes across two devices. So if you have two computers and a phone, or a computer, a tablet, and a phone, you are out of luck.
Know what people *really* like, @evernote ? Taking something they’ve used for years then crippling it unless they pay pic.twitter.com/aDpsSKXeRJ — Troy Hunt (@troyhunt) June 28, 2016 Note taking: A perennial application category Thankfully, note-taking is a perennial category that invites apps from both large and small companies alike. However, as with this Evernote incident and others, it is likely not a good idea to get completely hooked on free products. You never know when the terms might change.
I just wrote myself an Evernote reminder not to get dependent on free proprietary anything https://t.co/31uHAoDjrX — Sanjay Srivastava (@hardsci) June 29, 2016 What makes a good Evernote alternative Given that the main change in the Evernote free plan was a limited device count restriction, I looked at free plans for other applications without that cap. The other aspect of Evernote I appreciated was the downloadable applications across devices, including both mobile and desktop devices. In short order, I was able to come up with four solid choices. As an Android and Mac user, I placed my main investigation there, but all of the following options have a decent level of coverage across iOS and Windows too.
Here they are: 1. Microsoft OneNote In the new world of Microsoft, every platform is an opportunity, and the company has made OneNote a universally accessible note-taking application. Based on the following platform and device list, OneNote is close to winning the comprehensive coverage award.
Understandably, if you enjoy the Microsoft ecosystem of tools, you are likely to enjoy OneNote. It is a full-featured application with plenty of bells and whistles. And as Microsoft will tell you, there is no device limit.
Did you know you can use OneNote on multiple devices? No limits, still free. Learn more: https://t.co/DXsfBq4Foc — Microsoft OneNote (@msonenote) June 29, 2016 2. Google Keep In the Google and Android camp is Google Keep.
Google Keep does not quite have the device breadth of Evernote — or OneNote for that matter. It supports a limited set of iOS, Android, Chrome, and Web versions.
Google Keep offers plenty of additional more-than-a-note features like photos and audio. If you are a fan of Google services and do not mind the lack of a native desktop application, then Google Keep may be for you.
3. Simplenote Simplenote is a less well known, streamlined note-taking application brought to you by the folks at Automattic, the creator of WordPress.
Simplenote, as the name implies, does one thing well, which is the synchronization of plain text notes across devices. If you need rich media functionality, look to OneNote or Keep.
Simplenote offers sharing and one button to publish your note to the web at a persistent URL.
Simplenote excels in platform compatibility, particularly on the desktop side, with options for Kindle Fire and Linux too.
4. Quip The dark horse in this race is Quip, maker of a new collaboration suite that can be thought of as a pared down Microsoft Office or Google Docs. Quip goes far beyond note taking, with collaborative features across documents and spreadsheets.
Quip was quick to jump onto the bandwagon to help disgruntled Evernote users.
Import your Evernote Notes into Quip with our import tool: https://t.co/hp7KLNc4p2 — Quip (@quip) June 29, 2016 This import feature is only available in the web version. But once your notes are imported, you can access and use them across all devices and platforms. On that front, Quip does a very good job at device and platform support.
Choosing the note-taking app for you Surely this is not the last of the note-taking application wars. But even in the wake of Evernote changing its pricing plans, we have plenty of good choices ahead.
Personally, I am trying to be more of a minimalist when it comes to note taking, so Simplenote works for me. But I am also a huge fan of Quip and enjoy Google services, so I expect to play more with Keep. I know Microsoft fans who swear by OneNote, so I am sure that has plenty to offer as well.
Did I miss your favorite note taking application? Let us know in the comments. And happy note taking! [This story originally appeared on Gary Orenstein’s personal blog, GO’s Tech Notes.
] Gary Orenstein is Chief Marketing Officer at MemSQL, provider of a database platform for real-time analytics. Beyond databases, he is an avid collaboration software enthusiast. Follow him on Twitter @garyorenstein.
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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"Apple is reportedly in talks to buy music streaming service Tidal | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/media/apple-is-reportedly-in-talks-to-buy-music-streaming-service-tidal"
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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 is reportedly in talks to buy music streaming service Tidal Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn At Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California.
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Apple is looking into acquiring Tidal , the premium music streaming service that competes with Apple Music, according to a new report.
The talks are exploratory, so Apple may not ultimately go through with the deal, according to the Wall Street Journal , which cited anonymous sources.
Tidal popped up in 2014 — Jay Z acquired it from Aspiro for $56 million — and has sought to distinguish itself from Spotify and other competitors by offering higher-quality audio. In addition to offering users high-definition sound, Tidal has obtained exclusives from Beyoncé , Kanye West , and other hugely popular artists. The exclusive angle may be especially appealing to Apple, given the hardware and software maker’s recent interest in producing original content.
This move would follow Apple’s $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics in 2014. Beats Music has bolstered Apple Music ‘s core product, and Apple also sells Beats headphones.
If Tidal were to become an Apple property, the Journal said, it would “bolster” Apple Music, which currently has 15 million subscribers.
Privately held Spotify, meanwhile, had 30 million subscribers as of March and had more than 100 million monthly active users as of this month.
Apple and Tidal representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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"So you thought you knew email? How's your ROI looking? (VB Live) | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/marketing/so-you-thought-you-knew-email-hows-your-roi-looking-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 So you thought you knew email? How’s your ROI looking? (VB Live) Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Email remains one of the most effective tactics in the toolbox — but maximizing its potential is another thing. Our panel of experts unlock surprising secrets of email success that are sometimes totally counter-intuitive.
Missed it? Access this VB Live event on demand right here.
No question, the pace of new technology continues to help companies do things better and faster. But sometimes, it’s hard to beat the tried and true. That’s certainly the case for email.
The fact is, email marketers are still getting great results. As Stewart Rogers, VentureBeat’s Director of Marketing Technology, says in this VB Live webinar, email is still the best channel to use for maximum return on investment: In a survey of companies regarding email use, enterprise companies saw 117 percent return on investment, SMB firms indicated their return was 183 percent, and midsized companies reported a whopping 246 percent ROI.
While email hasn’t changed that much as a delivery mechanism, there’s a lot of software packages and platforms you can use to improve your email marketing and make it more effective. You can better analyze the success of your campaigns — with analysis of open rates, click-throughs, emails diverting to users’ spam folders, as well as A/B testing and other tweaks to improve your results — not to mention, ways to personalize the emails, either through dividing your audience into segments or tailoring each email dynamically with individualized information, such as putting the user’s name on the subject line.
To that last point, Rogers cited an Experian Marketing Services study that found companies in the consumer products and services segment had 41.8 percent better open rate by putting the recipient’s name in the subject line, while across all industries, the open rate improved by 29.3 percent.
“The idea of personalizing a message when you’re marketing to somebody — that’s been around in advertising and marketing forever,” says Andrew Rothman, West Coast Head of Creative/Delivery for Blue State Digital.
“The thing is now, this digital technology — and email in particular — has given us so much more power to tailor these messages, not just to broad audience cohorts or abstract demographic groups, but to each individual.” “The flip side is that the digital age also has exposed people to so many more messages and offers,” Rothman continues, “and so there are many more brands and organizations competing for their attention. So this creates a little bit of an arms race, and it’s really important to stay ahead of the other guys and stay ahead of the other messages that are out there. Breaking through the noise means being as relevant as possible to people.” When you think about an arms race, though, the image that easily comes to mind is a potential barrage of bullets and missiles. You don’t want to be part of incidentally creating churn from inbox battle fatigue, so how much is too much? At stock-media company VideoBlocks , CEO TJ Leonard says the company uses email extensively to talk with its members and prospective customers for many purposes. He indicates that they have a good rule of thumb: “Our standard here is that one more email than you need to send to achieve your goal is one email too many,” Leonard says. “We’re a membership-driven organization, so for us, email is a representation of a member, and members are people and people are finite. There’s a real opportunity cost associated with sending any email, because you’re using up a little of that finite resource that you can deploy toward another objective.” Ethan Smith, Chief Growth Officer at food website Yummly , relays that careful testing with your unique audience is far better than making assumptions about how many emails will push them to the saturation point.
“Typically, people will decide frequency based on intuition, and their intuition is oftentimes wrong,” Smith says, “and that’s not just email, but for how aggressive you are with push notifications or generally how aggressive you are with your growth strategy.
“We used to send one email per week and we talked about doing two. The discussion was, if I were a user, I would be annoyed at two, I would be annoyed at three. That’s how we thought of email frequency. But then we tested two and that performed well…and then we tested three, and that performed even better.” Want a simple strategy for email marketing? “If people are not opening your emails, send them less,” Smith advises. “If they are opening emails, send them more.” The webinar’s panel has many more stats and great advice to give, so don’t miss out on the valuable information it can provide you.
Don’t miss out! Access this VB Live event on demand here.
In this webinar, you’ll learn how to: Narrow down customer interests and respond with content that is actionable and useful Target the right data to appeal to customers’ needs and desires Manage email frequency the right way Identify warning signs that you may have gotten a little too personal Speakers: TJ Leonard , CEO, VideoBlocks Andrew Rothman , Blue State Digital’s West Coast Head of Creative/Delivery Ethan Smith , Chief Growth Officer, Yummly Stewart Rogers , Director of Marketing Technology, VentureBeat Moderator: Wendy Schuchart, Analyst, VentureBeat This webinar is sponsored by Boomtrain.
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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"NewAer Kiosk launches to make proximity-aware displays available to all | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/marketing/newaer-kiosk-launches-to-make-proximity-aware-displays-available-to-all"
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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 NewAer Kiosk launches to make proximity-aware displays available to all 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.
Location-aware displays haven’t exactly set the world on fire. In fact, they’re downright ridiculed in Terry Gilliam’s “The Zero Theorem,” where the ads always drive a dramatically incorrect message to passers-by, never pushing the right product to the fleeting target.
Today, NewAer is launching Kiosk — a proximity-based, beacon-free solution that turns an iPad, 4th generation Apple TV, or Raspberry Pi 3 into a fully customizable marketing portal. This launch is part of an effort to make personalized display solutions available to marketers everywhere.
I saw Kiosk in action at the Lufthansa Innovation Hub in Berlin and spoke with Dave Mathews, CEO and founder of NewAer.
While other location-aware solutions tend to rely on smart beacons and native apps, NewAer’s Kiosk uses neither. The big idea is to make proximity marketing as easy as web development, using the technology already built into most smartphones.
As Mathews puts it, “This is a cookie for the real world and is as powerful as a web cookie is online.” So how does it work, and what can it do? When a consumer approaches a Kiosk-powered device, the system asks for permission to personalize the content, which builds trust between the user and the brand. For example, an airline could offer personalized assistance throughout the traveler’s journey, helping them plan and enjoy their visit. When users who have bought tickets and accepted personalized recommendations arrive at their destination, they can walk to a screen and automatically see personalized messages, hotels, recommended stops, and suggested actions, such as calling an Uber directly from the display.
I saw that last example in action, and it works seamlessly. Once you select your desired destination at the airport, the Uber request is synced to your phone immediately — no need to search for the address, type it in, and request a car.
Kiosk is powered by NewAer’s patented Proximity Platform, which allows for location-based marketing that uses Bluetooth Smart — also called Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) — using software running on standard mobile devices. And NewAer also offers an SDK that allows retailers, or service providers with native applications, to take advantage of the platform.
So what do mobile web and native app developers need to do to implement this technology? “Since Kiosk is an application, it is easy to apply existing web content to the engine, although a database or CRM system really helps it uniquely message a nearby customer,” Mathews said. And how long does it take to implement? “We’ve seen people develop web applications in half a day, versus the day or longer it takes to build a native proximity app within mobile environments.” Importantly, by leveraging cost-effective display systems, NewAer is putting proximity-aware display advertising and customer support in the hands of almost any business.
“The latest Apple TV, currently selling for $149 USD, offers the least expensive deployment for interactive displays without needing iBeacons or pushing unsolicited alerts to user’s devices,” Mathews said. “Whether you use a large screen with Apple TV or an iPad Mini at a point of purchase, we have created proximity marketing as a service through a universal application.” Apple TV and iPad aren’t the only options.
“We’re concentrating on Apple TV and iPads now, as they are ubiquitous and have a very complex Bluetooth Low Energy stack (chipset and software support), but our technology also runs on the new Raspberry Pi 3, which includes a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chipset,” Mathews said.
Of course, research suggests that personalized in-store display advertising hasn’t really caught on yet.
“We think that the first generation of personalized messaging was invasive, with cameras, or spammy with iBeacons,” Mathews said. “Our technology acts more like a cookie does online — you can disable it or let it work for you.” Permission and control are both important when it comes to personalization, as I discovered when I studied consumer attitudes toward customized marketing. Kiosk ticks that box, but Mathews believes that the technology will increase in adoption through utility, not pushy marketing.
“Our partners are building value-added experiences, versus direct marketing ones,” Mathews said. “For example, Unilever brought friends together using our technology and marketed to them next. Lufthansa is building experiences around connecting families when they travel today and easing the stress of travel in the future.” Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Los Angeles, NewAer has a number of investors, including Intel Capital and Deutsche Telekom Ventures. To date, NewAer has licensed or partnered its solution with Lufthansa, Unilever, Intel, Deutsche Telekom, and Alcatel-Lucent.
Kiosk is available from today.
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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"Masters of mobile data: Acquiring high-value users, the right way (VB Live) | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/marketing/masters-of-mobile-data-acquiring-high-value-users-the-right-way-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 Masters of mobile data: Acquiring high-value users, the right way (VB Live) Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Stop wasting effort and money on users that don’t add value. Join this VB Live event to understand what you’re doing wrong — and what to do right — to land users vital to your success.
Register here for free.
For mobile app publishers, it’s not about winning over any user. It’s about acquiring the right kind of user that will keep you app’s revenue rocketing for years — the high-value user that sticks by your app from day one and continues to use it daily. Not only do these high-value users have higher engagements than the average user, but they drive the majority of app revenue as well. These are the users you want for your app.
It goes without saying that you won’t be the only one looking out for these high-value users. The mobile market is feisty, sometimes leaving publishers new and old with only one shot to impress consumers. If you fail to take notice of users’ wants and needs, you’re guaranteed to lose out on establishing a committed user base that would have kept your app healthy and strong.
It’s why a competitive user acquisition strategy must be in place. However, developers are nose-down on creating the best app they can, not on marketing, which often leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Should paid user acquisition be considered over organic growth? Or which acquisition platform should I invest in that will deliver the results I want? These questions and more are what’s stopping publishers from reaching their revenue potential. It’s why we’re offering this not-to-be-missed VB Live event about acquiring high-value users featuring Trulia’s VP of engineering Jeff McConathy. You’ll learn what’s the right price for acquiring a variety of quality users, how to maximize installations of your app organically, and what’s the perfect time and day to pursue consumers.
If you’re lost on where to begin with user acquisition, or are simply looking for a more cost-effective approach, this webinar is perfect for absorbing all the juicy details that are out there. Get the hard-won secrets and winning formulas from the front lines.
Don’t miss out.
Register here for free.
In this VB Live event, you’ll: Learn the price app publishers are currently paying to acquire quality users across several categories Review the top user acquisition platforms and why Understand the role of timing in UA Maximize organic installs of your mobile application Speakers: Ashley Blackmon, VP Marketing, Zillow Group Alexandra Press Maguire, Digital Marketing Director, Gilt Group Dave Myers , COO and Co-Founder, mParticle Moderator: Rachael Brownell, VentureBeat This VB Live event is sponsored by mParticle.
The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"How the shaving clubs stack up: Best of the blades | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/marketing/how-the-shaving-clubs-stack-up-best-of-the-blades"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Sponsored How the shaving clubs stack up: Best of the blades Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn This sponsored post is produced in association with Gillette.
Let’s face it. Maintaining a silky smooth shave can be a pricey undertaking for any man. Replacing the blades of your shaver periodically can cost a fortune, ranging from $9 to nearly $30 per cartridge pack. It’s even worse when you realize you’ve made a lousy investment after testing the babies out and discovering their lackluster quality. Needless to say, it’s no fun for your face or wallet having to replace a razor that gets the job only half-done.
That’s why the recent study by Consumer Reports on which shave club has the best razor and blades is sweet music to those looking to take advantage of shave club savings and convenience. Certainly, subscription models have become increasingly popular, combining the best of the on-demand economy with in-demand products.
Every shave club claims to have the best razor at the lowest price, but eight male staffers from Consumer Reports put four of the top clubs’ razors — Dollar Shave Club’s Humble Twin and Executive models, Gillette Shave Club’s Fusion ProShield, and Harry’s Truman — to the test. That added up to a lot of shaved sideburns, tricky adam’s apples and sensitive under-nose spots.
“Our staffers used each of the brands at home for eight days and then answered questions on comfort and quality of shave,” explained Consumer Reports Chief Health Editor Ellen Kunes.
The testers and sensory experts judged the closeness of the shaves at the end of each day throughout the test.
Out of all the razors tested, Gillette Shave Club’s Fusion ProShield ranked number one. It delivered the closest shave out of the bunch and was generally reviewed as excellent or very good on all other measures. And almost all the testers were interested in taking the test to the personal level, saying they would buy it.
Clearly, as tech advances, there really isn’t any excuse to sacrifice quality for convenience. Plus, subscribing to the Gillette Shave Club offers a host of perks, whether you’re a subscriber or not – like deals and coupons, exclusive access to some of Gillette’s most exciting campaigns, including sports and entertainment partnerships and celebrities. And, oh yeah – some pretty helpful grooming and style content.
Check out the video below to see one of the perks you can take advantage of right now – a very cool complimentary t-shirt designed by Johnny Cupcakes.
Learn more about Gillette’s Shave Club and sign-up today.
Use the coupon code “JOHNNY” on checkout to pick up your special edition t-shirt, while supplies last (available to the first 500 sign ups).
Sponsored posts are content that has been produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. The content of news stories produced by our editorial team is never influenced by advertisers or sponsors in any way. For more information, contact [email protected].
The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat.
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"Fallout 4 1.6 update beta out now: Here's what's new and different | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/games/fallout-4-1-6-update-beta-out-now-heres-whats-new-and-different"
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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 Fallout 4 1.6 update beta out now: Here’s what’s new and different Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Fallout 4 is getting ready for some of its new content.
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.
Fallout 4 is getting suite of big improvements, and you can test them out on PC right now.
Bethesda has released the 1.6 update for Fallout 4 in an early beta version on Steam. You can download it by opting into the beta version from the properties menu. As always, the publisher is bringing a number of bug fixes and gameplay improvements, but it also has new features like the new “ExitSave” that creates an autosave for you whenever you quit the game. Fallout 4 is one of the most played games on PC and console , and Bethesda uses its updates as a way of keeping players coming back for years. Maintaining that engagement is crucial to increasing lifetime value in the $99.6 billion gaming industry by having more players to sell add-ons to.
While the 1.6 update is only in beta on PC for now, it should roll out to everyone playing on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC soon.
While you wait for that release (or for the beta to install), here’s a breakdown of what’s new and different in Fallout 4 directly from Bethesda: 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! New Features ExitSave: Exiting to the Main Menu will create an ExitSave. During next play session, the ExitSave will delete itself after you load it. The ExitSave works in all difficulty levels including Survival.
New Add On specific icons in Workshop mode.
Support for upcoming add-ons.
Fixes General stability and performance improvements.
Fixed a crash related to targeting an enemy weapon while in VATS.
Fixed an issue where a Companion would become stuck walking and unable to run.
Fixed issue in “Mankind Redefined” to prevent the player from getting stuck in elevators while in Mass Fusion Building.
In “Boston After Dark” quest now completes properly when waiting for Old Man Stockton.
Fixed occasional issue where player would become permanently invisible.
Dead settlers can no longer be commanded or assigned to supply lines.
Fixed issue where deleting saved games would cause other saves to disappear.
Fixed occasional issues with activating mods that did not come from Bethesda.net.
Minor bug fixes and optimizations to Mods load order and browsing.
Finally, if you’re wondering exactly how to get into the beta, just follow these instructions: Boot up Steam.
Right click on Fallout 4 from the Library tab.
Click Settings.
Select Betas.
Chose “Beta” from the drop down menu.
Hit OK.
Let the new version download and install before booting into the game.
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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"BioShock: The Collection bundles the series' 3 games on September 13 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/games/bioshock-the-collection-bundles-the-series-3-games-on-september-13"
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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 BioShock: The Collection bundles the series’ 3 games on September 13 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn BioShock: The Collection.
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A man chooses. A slave obeys. A gamer buys remastered versions of games they already own.
2K today announced that the rumored BioShock collection is real. It will come out on September 13 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The bundle includes the original BioShock, BioShock 2, BioShock: Infinite, and all of the single-player downloadable content released for the games. They will all run in 1080p and at 60 frames per second.
Collections like these have become common in the industry, with the likes of Halo and Uncharted also seeing old games grouped together with graphical upgrades for the newer systems. Some, like Dishonored and Tomb Raider, release in standalone “definitive editions.” Remastering old games has become a big business in the industry. At first, many thought the trend would die off once the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One became more established and developed larger libraries of new games. Those systems came out in 2013, and we’re still seeing announcements for more collections and remasters.
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! 2K noted that the bundle will not come with BioShock 2’s multiplayer mode, which few will consider a big loss. Also, for the PC version, BioShock: Infinite won’t be remastered for that platform, since it already runs well on high settings. The collection will come with new video commentary from BioShock director Ken Levine and animation director Shawn Robertson.
The original BioShock, which came out back in 2007, is already a classic. It set a new standard for atmosphere in gaming with its creepy underwater city, Rapture. 2010’s BioShock 2, which had the same setting, wasn’t as groundbreaking as the original, but still offered a fun campaign. BioShock: Infinite, released in 2013, went from the sea to the sky with the floating city of Columbia.
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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"SmartRecruiters raises $30 million from Insight Venture Partners and Mayfield Fund | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/entrepreneur/smartrecruiters-raises-30-million-from-insight-venture-partners-and-mayfield-fund"
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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 SmartRecruiters raises $30 million from Insight Venture Partners and Mayfield Fund 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.
Insight Venture Partners led a $30 million investment for SmartRecruiters , the hiring startup announced today.
SmartRecruiters said the capital will be used to further develop its product and global reach.
“Unlike other newer recruiting vendors or legacy applicant tracking system providers, only SmartRecruiters’ enterprise talent acquisition platform delivers both the user experience that today’s candidates and hiring managers demand and the level of customization, flexibility and scale that enterprises demand,” the startup explained.
The Mayfield Fund , an early Lyft funder, also participated in the series C round for SmartRecruiters.
SmartRecruiters has raised at least $55 million to date.
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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"Workday acquires online learning company Zaption, will shut it down on September 30 | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/workday-acquires-online-learning-company-zaption-will-shut-it-down-on-september-30"
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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 Workday acquires online learning company Zaption, will shut it down on September 30 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Zaption.
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Zaption , a startup with a website where teachers and companies can host videos or use existing videos for teaching purposes, today announced that it has been acquired by publicly traded human capital management software company Workday. The Zaption service will shut down on September 30. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Zaption’s website, iOS app, and Chrome app let teachers overlay questions on top of videos — from YouTube, Vimeo, and other sources — and then capture responses and run analytics on engagement data. There are many pre-built lessons and even entire courses of lessons on subjects like advanced placement (AP) U.S. history and middle school science. Competitors include EDpuzzle and PlayPosit.
“Workday serves some of the world’s largest organizations and educational institutions that are eager to have better, more engaging learning experiences. We are excited to expand our reach by rebuilding our technology as part of the fabric of Workday’s applications, including the highly anticipated Workday Learning ,” the Zaption team wrote in a blog post.
Workday is not the most acquisitive software company. Previous deals include Upshot and Identified.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Zaption started in 2012 and is based in San Francisco. Investors include NewSchools Venture Fund, Redcrest Enterprises, Scion Capital, and Telegraph Hill Capital.
In a statement last year, Zaption said that its service had more than 200,000 users and that it was building new tools while working with partners — including San Francisco Unified School District and free online course provider Canvas Network.
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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"Why I booked a trip with an A.I.-powered travel app | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/why-i-booked-a-trip-with-an-a-i-powered-travel-app"
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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 Why I booked a trip with an A.I.-powered travel app Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Lola saves time.
When you need an answer to a problem, what do you do? If it’s urgent enough, we always pick up a phone to call or text. Not many of us will use Google to find out what to do about a bunch of bees invading the house. Before you can finish typing, you’ll get stung. And if you get stuck in an airport, there’s often no time to start an Expedia search and weigh all of the options. We need someone (or something) to do the thinking for us…or else.
To test this theory, I decided to use a new app called Lola that lets me use chat to make my travel plans.
It’s A.I.-assisted, and there’s a chatbot involved, but you also communicate with a human agent. When you first use the app, you might find yourself chatting with a bot about the basics. Are you looking for a hotel or a flight? From when to when? I needed to book a flight and a hotel for a trip in two weeks and, frankly, I was getting a little worried. I knew the rates were starting to go up, and I have a budget set, so I jumped into the app. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, because I usually don’t trust chatbots to make actual travel plans using my credit card. Maybe the bot will send me to the Bahamas? It’s reassuring to know that with Lola, and apps like Mezi, there is a real person involved, for now. I was able to explain that I don’t like flying late at night. I said I needed a hotel that’s newer, located near Silicon Valley, and doesn’t have bed bugs. (That last part was a joke, and it proved to me that a human agent was involved when she typed LOL.) We had a quick conversation about my plans.
Pushing the “book” button feels strange, but that’s only because I chatted with someone for two minutes about a flight and then decided the flight looked perfect. Where was the complicated listing of flight options? What about the time I usually spend on apps like Hopper and Expedia trying to find the best deal on different dates? The A.I. behind Lola was obviously doing most of that behind the scenes, and that’s as it should be. Bots that remove the consternation and stress involved with travel, that fill in the missing pieces for us, that let us act like humans and ask random questions or joke about bed bugs will always save us a ton of time.
One thing I didn’t like is that there is a pause when Lola goes away for a while and does some of the heavy lifting. I asked the agent about when the chatbot takes over completely, and she said there are three scenarios. One is when a human agent isn’t available, so I presume that means a bot would tell me no one is available. (That never happened…I was always under the impression that the operator was looking into my travel plans.) Another is when you use the app to ask about flight status during a trip, something I plan to do on the day I travel. And, last, the bot helps out initially to parse your request and do the hand-off to a human.
It was also cool that I received a confirmation and receipt by email so quickly. I did have to type in my credit card info to book the trip, but not to use the app. As far as I can tell, there were no extra charges to use Lola, but a rep told me the company plans to offer an annual membership. I also never found a hotel. I’m planning to find one using a different app or, more likely, Airbnb.
It’s interesting that Lola is designed to help me on the trip itself, though I’m not sure in what capacity yet. It is likely that it will be to check on my flight status or maybe change a reservation, rather than to arrange laundry service. I’ll plan to cover how the app performed after my trip.
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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"Walmart Pay launches in all 100 stores across New York | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/walmart-pay-launches-in-new-york"
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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 Walmart Pay launches in all 100 stores across New York Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Walmart Pay 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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Walmart has launched its mobile payment service, Walmart Pay, in New York. The launch comes less than two months after the big nationwide rollout began, kicking off in Texas and Arkansas, and the service has been gradually introduced to other markets in the intervening weeks.
The service sees Walmart take on the likes of Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Pay, and the payment feature embedded within the main Walmart app on Android and iOS integrates with most of the major bank cards and Walmart gift cards.
Walmart Pay works at any checkout — open the app, hit Walmart Pay, then scan the QR code on the register’s screen using the phone’s camera to connect.
Above: Walmart Pay With 140 million foot customers each week, Walmart is one of the biggest retailers in the U.S., so Walmart Pay is a notable launch — particularly as it doesn’t yet accept Apple, Google, or Samsung’s respective payment methods.
But the company has maintained that the launch is less about competing with these other tech giants in the payments space than it is about making it easier to buy things in physical retail stores — so this could be seen as more of an attack on the likes of Amazon than anything else.
“It was really a design around improving checkout, not just payment,” explained Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services at Walmart, in an interview with Fortune earlier this year. “When we looked at checkout, there was still friction in the process.” Walmart Pay is now available in all 100 Walmart stores across New York State.
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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"U.S. regulators are investigating Tesla following Model S crash in Autopilot mode | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/u-s-regulators-are-investigating-tesla-following-model-s-crash-in-autopilot-mode"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages U.S. regulators are investigating Tesla following Model S crash in Autopilot mode Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn A Tesla Motors sign outside the company's showcase store in Seattle, Wash.
(Reuters) — The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Thursday it is opening a preliminary investigation into 25,000 Tesla Motors Model S cars after a driver of one of the vehicles was killed using the Autopilot mode.
The agency said the crash came in a 2015 Model S operating with automated driving systems engaged, and “calls for an examination of the design and performance of any driving aids in use at the time of the crash.” The investigation is the first step before the agency could seek to order a recall if it finds the vehicles were unsafe.
NHTSA said in a statement the driver of the 2015 Model S was killed while operating in Autopilot mode in a crash on May 7 in Williston, Florida. NHTSA said preliminary reports indicate the vehicle crash occurred when a tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of the Tesla at an intersection.
Tesla said in a blog post that this is the first known fatality in just over 130 million miles where Autopilot was activated.
Tesla said “neither Autopilot nor the driver noticed the white side of the tractor trailer against a brightly lit sky, so the brake was not applied.” The company said “the high ride height of the trailer combined with its positioning across the road and the extremely rare circumstances of the impact caused the Model S to pass under the trailer, with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S.” Tesla said that “Autopilot is getting better all the time, but it is not perfect and still requires the driver to remain alert. Nonetheless, when used in conjunction with driver oversight, the data is unequivocal that Autopilot reduces driver workload and results in a statistically significant improvement in safety when compared to purely manual driving.” (Reporting by David Shepardson Additional reporting by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Chris Reese and Diane Craft) 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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"TransUnion Powers New Prama Self-Service Analytics Platform with MapR | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/transunion-powers-new-prama-self-service-analytics-platform-with-mapr"
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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 TransUnion Powers New Prama Self-Service Analytics Platform with MapR Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 30, 2016– MapR Technologies, Inc., provider of the industry’s only Converged Data Platform, today revealed that TransUnion (NYSE:TRU), a global risk and information solutions provider, is using the MapR Converged Data Platform to power the initial product offerings in its new Prama analytics platform.
TransUnion recently launched Prama, a new self-service environment with advanced analytics leveraging the MapR Platform and Apache Drill. Prama provides TransUnion’s customers with market insights and historical perspectives to make better decisions and operationalize those decisions more effectively. Drill’s interactive SQL engine combines with Tableau’s visualization layer to constitute the primary components enabling analytics in Prama Insights.
The MapR-powered Prama Insights bases its analysis on TransUnion’s anonymized consumer credit database and a seven-year historical view of data. Data sources include records compiled from over 85,000 data feeds, covering about 300 million consumers. This self-service solution allows TransUnion customers to explore data and act on insights. With this new platform, TransUnion is allowing customers direct access to their content, but with the power of an advanced analytical platform and team of experts behind it.
Several years ago, TransUnion recognized their legacy platforms would not be able to scale and perform at the pace their vision for nimble pivoting and trend analysis demanded. In order to transform its technology to include cutting edge capabilities, TransUnion turned to MapR and began an IT-led project focused on providing their analysts and data scientists with greater flexibility, self-service access to full volumes of data and big data insight discovery capabilities. With the success of the internal project, TransUnion realized some of this content could be offered directly to customers to give them the ability to see for themselves how their decisions compare to the marketplace.
“With the launch of Prama, TransUnion is pushing the technology envelope,” said Kevin McClowry, director of analytic solution development for TransUnion. “From the beginning, the MapR core engineering team understood our vision and were able to scale at the level we needed. MapR gives us the ability to meet customer needs, shift when demands change and grow in more nimble ways.” TransUnion is experiencing the following benefits with MapR: Self-guided Research: Customers are engaged in a new way by having direct access to relevant benchmark trends and performance data. Using Hadoop ecosystem tools along with innovations in the MapR Platform, TransUnion’s customers can deploy solutions with familiar SQL tools to provide fast, scalable and cost-effective features.
Performance and Reliability: Extensive control over performance and reliability enables TransUnion to monitor performance and demand by segmenting data into content area.
Seamless Integration with the Enterprise: The use of open standard APIs make it easy to bring in all parts of the organization. Multiple sources of data are linked and this opens doors to more analytics-based solutions.
“Prama goes well beyond analytics allowing customers to deploy their insights through highly efficient interfaces,” said Jack Norris, senior vice president, data and applications, MapR Technologies. “Using the MapR Converged Data Platform as the foundation, Prama is able to combine comprehensive data and advanced analytics in one platform to transform lenders’ businesses.” Tweet this: .@MapR and TransUnion at forefront of innovation.
http://bit.ly/29cmjhg About MapR Technologies MapR provides the industry’s only converged data platform that integrates the power of Hadoop and Spark with global event streaming, real-time database capabilities, and enterprise storage, enabling customers to harness the enormous power of their data. Organizations with the most demanding production needs, including sub-second response for fraud prevention, secure and highly available data-driven insights for better healthcare, petabyte analysis for threat detection, and integrated operational and analytic processing for improved customer experiences, run on MapR. A majority of customers achieves payback in fewer than 12 months and realizes greater than 5X ROI. MapR ensures customer success through world-class professional services and with free on-demand training that over 50,000 developers, data analysts and administrators have used to close the big data skills gap. Amazon, Cisco, Google, HPE, Microsoft, SAP, and Teradata are part of the worldwide MapR partner ecosystem. Investors include Google Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mayfield Fund, NEA, Qualcomm Ventures and Redpoint Ventures. Connect with MapR on LinkedIn , and Twitter.
About TransUnion (NYSE:TRU) Information is a powerful thing. At TransUnion, we realize that. We are dedicated to finding innovative ways information can be used to help individuals make better and smarter decisions. We help uncover unique stories, trends and insights behind each data point, using historical information as well as alternative data sources. This allows a variety of markets and businesses to better manage risk and consumers to better manage their credit, personal information and identity. Today, TransUnion has a global presence in more than 30 countries and a leading presence in several international markets across North America, Africa, Latin America and Asia. Through the power of information, TransUnion is working to build stronger economies and families and safer communities worldwide.
We call this Information for Good.
http://www.transunion.com/business 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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"Spanish authorities raid Google offices in tax probe | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/spanish-authorities-raid-google-offices-in-tax-probe"
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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 Spanish authorities raid Google offices in tax probe Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Officials who were conducting a tax probe at one of Google's Madrid offices leave the premises in Madrid, Spain, June 30, 2016.
(Reuters) — Spanish officials raided Google’s Madrid offices on Thursday in a tax probe, authorities said, barely a month after the internet company had its headquarters in France searched on suspicion of tax evasion.
A spokeswoman for Google said in a statement the company complied with fiscal legislation in Spain just as it did in all countries where it operated. The company was working with authorities to answer all questions, the spokeswoman added.
Google is under pressure across Europe from politicians and the public upset at how multinationals exploit their presence around the world to minimize their tax bills.
Thursday’s raid was approved by a court in the capital and followed a request by the Spanish tax authorities, according to a brief statement by the Madrid High Court.
Google, part of Alphabet Inc, pays little tax in most of Europe because it reports almost all sales in Ireland. This is possible thanks to a loophole in international tax law and hinges on staff in Dublin concluding all sales contracts.
The Paris raid aimed to establish whether Google Ireland has a permanent base there, and whether the firm was meeting its tax obligations. It was part of a probe into aggravated tax fraud and organized laundering of the proceeds.
(By Robert Hetz and Jesus Aguado) 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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"Netflix responds to criticism on poor local content in Asia | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/netflix-says-it-will-continue-to-look-into-entering-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 Netflix responds to criticism on poor local content in Asia Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Netflix SEOUL (Reuters) — Netflix Inc will continue to look into the possibility of entering China, a senior company executive said on Thursday, as the video streaming service seeks to grow its subscriber base outside its home of the United States.
“Since China is a great opportunity, we continue to look into China,” Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s chief content officer, said at a media event in Seoul without elaborating.
Netflix is trying to counter slowing growth in the U.S. with its move in January to launch in more than 130 new markets worldwide. But the streaming service remains absent in the world’s most populous country, where content providers face stringent regulations and censorship challenges.
The company has also struggled to make headway in other large Asian markets such as South Korea and Indonesia due to a dearth of local content and regulatory hurdles.
Netflix in April forecast U.S. and international subscription growth for the second quarter that was weaker than analyst estimates, underscoring its need to expand.
“The weakest point for Netflix, people say, is the local content, but that’s because we need time to learn not just the market and box office but about what and how Korean people watch,” Sarandos told reporters in response to a question about the firm’s strategy in South Korea.
Netflix is looking at various investment opportunities in Asia to improve its offerings, he said without elaborating.
(Corrects headline and attribution in 1st and 2nd paragraphs to Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos, not CEO Reed Hastings) (Reporting by Nataly Pak; Writing by Se Young Lee; Editing by Christopher Cushing) 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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"Microsoft releases new Windows 10 preview for PCs with Action Center, Start menu bug fixes | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/microsoft-releases-new-windows-10-preview-for-pcs-with-action-center-start-menu-bug-fixes"
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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 for PCs with Action Center, Start menu bug fixes Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Windows 10 Microsoft today announced the release of a new Windows 10 build for PCs and mobile for people participating in the fast ring of the Windows Insider Program.
Build 14379 comes just two days after build 14376.
The velocity of new preview versions of Windows 10 is just slightly lower than it was last week, when Microsoft released two builds in two days.
Microsoft has been working on the big Anniversary Update that’s due out on August 2 , so it’s no surprise that this build doesn’t come with a lot of new things — it’s mainly about bug fixes.
For example, now the Action Center won’t crash after you dismiss a bunch of notifications, Dona Sarkar, a software engineer in Microsoft’s Windows and Devices Group, wrote in a blog post.
Also, launches of Project Centennial applications from the Start menu and Cortana will now be taken into consideration for the calculation of which apps should be shown in the “Most used” section of the start menu, Sarkar wrote. (See the blog post for descriptions of the other two bug fixes.) There’s just one known issue in this build: “Using Continuum from your phone on your PC via the Connect app will not work,” Sarkar wrote. That should be ironed out in the next build, she added.
If you want to try the new previews but you’re not a Windows Insider, you can sign up here.
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"Google reveals Android N is named Nougat | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/google-reveals-android-n-is-named-nougat"
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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 reveals Android N is named Nougat 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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N stands for Nougat. The next version of Google’s mobile operating system and the successor to Android Marshmallow will be Android Nougat, slated for release later this summer.
To pick the name for Android N, Google for the first time asked the public to weigh in. At the company’s I/O 2016 developer conference, Dave Burke, vice president of engineering for Android, said Google would take name suggestions at android.com/n.
But he added that Google reserves the right to choose the final name.
Since Android 1.5, Google has named each version of its mobile operating system after a sweet food — moving sequentially through the letters of the alphabet. The tradition started more than six years ago. But Android N is the first version to take users’ name submissions into consideration.
Introducing #AndroidNougat.
Thank you, world, for all your sweet name ideas! #AndroidNReveal pic.twitter.com/7lIfDBwyBE — Android (@Android) June 30, 2016 Android Nougat includes a split-screen multi-window mode, a redesigned notification shade, seamless updates, a new Data Saver mode, and other improvements. The new version also supports Daydream, Google’s new VR platform.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xn9iq3lG_w Here are all the releases up to Nougat: Android 1.5 Cupcake (April 2009) Android 1.6 Donut (September 2009) Android 2.0/2.1 Éclair (October 2009, January 2010) Android 2.2 Froyo (May 2010) Android 2.3 Gingerbread (December 2010) Android 3.0/3.1/3.2 Honeycomb (February 2011, May 2011, July 2011) Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (October 2011) Android 4.1/4.2/4.3 Jelly Bean (July 2012, November 2012, July 2013) Android 4.4 KitKat (October 2013) Android 5.0/5.1 Lollipop (November 2014, March 2015) Android 6.0 Marshmallow (October 2015) Google has released four developer previews of Android N so far (the first preview arrived in March , followed by subsequent releases in April , May , and June ). With the fourth developer preview, Google also pushed out the final SDK and let developers start submitting updated apps to Google Play.
Android N’s codename was New York Cheesecake , so that wasn’t a viable option as Google never uses the codename as the final name. A Google Opinion Rewards survey from March included these options: Napoleon, Nut brittle, Nachos, Nori, Noodles, Nougat, and Neapolitan ice cream.
I personally wanted Android Nutella, despite the trademarking work it would require. But Nougat is one character shorter, so the journalist in me is not complaining.
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"Google makes little progress with diversity initiative | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/google-makes-little-progress-with-diversity-initiative"
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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 makes little progress with diversity initiative Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn A woman holds her smart phone which displays the Google home page, in this picture illustration taken February 24, 2016.
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(Reuters) – Alphabet’s Google on Thursday released data on its two-year-old initiative to create a more diverse U.S. workforce, saying it had more black, Latino and female employees but still lagged its goal of mirroring the population.
The company released its diversity figures for the first time in 2014 and sparked a conversation among Silicon Valley tech companies that led many of its closest competitors to follow suit.
Google’s overall percentage of non-white, non-Asian employees in the United States did not move at all in 2015 from the year before, remaining at 2 percent for African Americans, 3 percent for Hispanics, 3 percent for multiracial individuals and less than 1 percent for Native American and Pacific Islanders, according to the company.
Women made up 31 percent of Google’s overall workforce in 2015, up 1 percent from 2014, and 21 percent of technical hires for the year, up from 19 percent in 2014.
White employees made up 59 percent of its U.S. workforce and Asians accounted for 32 percent.Google had about 38,670 workers in the United States in 2015, according to its report to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission based on August 2015 data.
While its percentages of minority employees did not change, the report said in 2015 Google had 880 black employees, up from 628 in 2014 and 1,782 Hispanic employees, up from 1,428 the previous year. There were 712 multiracial individuals, up from 636, and 56 American Indian or Alaska natives, up from 44 the previous year.
Google sees signs of change Google vice president of people operations Nancy Lee said the figures do not reflect where the company wants to be and said many small changes that do not show up in the statistics are having an impact.
She pointed to conversations on diversity leading to a discussion on pay equity, which in turn resulted in a policy of paying employees according to position rather than by negotiated rates, which were often lower for women and minorities.
“It’s a journey. We’re a 60,000 person company and culture change takes time,” said Googlediversity coordinator Yolanda Mangolini.
Other initiatives include a program where Google employees use work time to serve as instructors at historically black colleges and universities.
The figures underscore challenges tech companies face in transforming cultures that critics say are too homogenous, white and male-dominated. The most recent diversity reports from Facebook and Twitter show similar trends to Google in employment of blacks and Latinos, while Apple did slightly better partially due to more diverse hiring at its retail stores.
Those companies declined comment beyond their recent diversity reports to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
William Guillory, founder of organizational development firm Innovations International Inc., said progress is hampered by large tech companies using the same approaches to tap into a limited pool of talent.
“What I’m talking about is casting a wider net,” he said. “If [candidates] don’t have the skill set you need why can’t you create some kind of Google University component that adds the layer of skills you’re looking for?” Michael Solomon of tech talent agency 10X Management said he believes Silicon Valley companies have made sincere attempts to address the issue but need to try harder.
“I don’t think these companies are going far out of their way to discriminate but I think they need to go far out of their way to hire diversely,” he said.
(Reporting by Deborah M. Todd; Editing by Jonathan Weber and Cynthia Osterman) 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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"Google Calendar is down: Server Error (Update: Fixed) | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/google-calendar-is-down-server-error"
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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 Calendar is down: Server Error (Update: Fixed) Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Google Calendar on Android.
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Google Calendar is down, serving up a generic server error in 18 languages.
VentureBeat staff members first noticed the problem at about 6:30 a.m. Pacific today.
The last outage for the service was back in November 2015.
But for that one, Google Calendar would sometimes manage to load without a hitch. This time, we’re always redirected to the “ unavailable ” landing page. Users have taken to Twitter and Facebook to complain about the outage.
The English error message reads: “Google Calendar is temporarily unavailable. Please try back later. In the meanwhile, you might find useful information on our Help Group and Help Center. We apologize for any inconvenience.” The other 17 languages say more or less the same thing.
We have contacted Google about the outage and will update you if we learn more.
At 6:47 a.m. Pacific, the Google Apps dashboard confirmed the problem as a “Service disruption.” It states Google is “investigating reports of an issue with Google Calendar. We will provide more information shortly.” Update at 7:35 a.m. Pacific : Google has updated the dashboard to say it is “continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by 6/30/16, 11:30 AM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem.” Update at 8:33 a.m. Pacific : Google Calendar is now working again for some users. Google expects a “resolution for all users in the near future.” Update at 11:36 a.m. Pacific : Google Calendar is now back for all users.
“The problem with Google Calendar should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better.” 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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"Facebook Messenger now has 11,000 chatbots for you to try | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/facebook-messenger-now-has-11000-chatbots-for-you-to-try"
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"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Facebook Messenger now has 11,000 chatbots for you to try Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on stage at the F8 2015 developer conference talking about the Messenger Platform.
Facebook today released new statistics on the growth of chatbots on its Messenger app and announced new features related to chatbots.
Since the chatbot platform launched in April, more than 11,000 bots have been added to Messenger, Facebook vice president of messaging products David Marcus wrote in a Facebook post.
For some context, in May, Marcus said that “tens of thousands” of developers were working on Messenger bots.
Also, more than 23,000 people have created accounts for the Bot Engine tool from wit.ai , Facebook’s natural language processing service for developers, Marcus wrote.
And Facebook now lets users rate Messenger chatbots, from one to five stars, and write reviews. But, at least for now, members of the public won’t be able to see this feedback.
“Ratings and reviews are currently shared with only the bot developer through a dashboard in developers.facebook.com and via email,” Marcus wrote.
Chat app makers have rapidly added new features in the past six months, both to compete for audience and to accommodate bots. Facebook Messenger, Skype, Kik, and Slack have added button features. And since the start of the year, Facebook Messenger, Skype, and Kik have all created bot platforms, along with Slack in late 2015.
With 900 million users, Facebook Messenger is one of the most-used chat apps on the planet.
As far as new features go, one big change is that chatbots can now send videos, audio clips, GIFs, and other files, Marcus wrote.
Each bot can now have a permanent menu of five options to allow more user navigation.
Up to 10 buttons can now be used to respond to a message. (Buttons are often used to give people a structured experience instead of plain text.) Buttons now pop up at the bottom of the screen in line with previously chosen options, instead of showing all options.
For those who opt in, a secure protocol is now available that allows businesses to connect customer and Messenger accounts. Facebook Messenger emojis also got an update June 1.
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"Doodle acquires chatbot Meekan to integrate its A.I. scheduling assistant | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/doodle-acquires-chatbot-meekan-and-will-integrate-its-a-i-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 Doodle acquires chatbot Meekan to integrate its A.I. scheduling assistant Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The Switzerland-based company behind the Doodle online scheduling service announced today that it has acquired Meekan, a scheduling chatbot developed in Israel.
“The integration of Meekan enables Doodle’s next step forward,” said Christoph Brand, head of the digital division at Tamedia, which owns Doodle, in a press release. “The chatbot as an intelligent virtual assistant allows fast scheduling without having to consult one’s own calendar. It has definitely enormous potential.” Above: Screenshot of @meekan bot The two sides did not disclose a price. But they did say that Tel Aviv-based Meekan founders Lior Yavor, Eyal Yavor, and Matty Marianksy will join the company and continue to oversee the development of their product.
The company said Meekan’s technology would be integrated directly in its Doodle polls. Currently, Meekan uses a chatbot interface and artificial intelligence to help members of a group schedule meetings. Over time, Meekan learns the preferences and habits of its users.
Doodle, for its part, already has a user base of 26 million users per month.
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"A completely open Siri bot platform? Not so fast | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/business/a-completely-open-siri-bot-platform-not-so-fast"
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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 A completely open Siri bot platform? Not so fast Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Siri.
Every top tech company has announced its interest in conversation as a way to interact with computers this year. Microsoft announced its Bot Framework , Facebook opened Messenger to developers , Google announced Allo , and Amazon keeps expanding Alexa.
Until recently, one tech giant was missing: Apple.
At their WWDC conference, Apple finally announced its entry into the conversational interface space.
But the company did it a perplexing way. Both its Siri and Messages announcements offered a hint of open integration, but in unexpected ways that were not comprehensive. The primary reason for the limitations was not user experience considerations, the usual justification for its similar restrictions. Instead, Apple faces serious strategic threats that prevent them from fully embracing conversational interfaces.
Siri, extended. Sort of.
Apple’s Siri announcements were simultaneously exciting, disappointing, and stunningly predictable.
Developers get a way to integrate with Siri. This is something third-party developers have requested for years. The potential for innovative services via Siri is exciting, but details matter.
The nature of the Siri integration is underwhelming. Apple’s SiriKit — what they call their tools for integrating with Siri — is limited to specific use cases, and it restricts how a developer can integrate Siri into their own products.
Siri was opened in a way that reinforces the practice of installing an app on your Apple device. As a consumer, to add functionality or features to Siri, you must install an iOS app. As a developer, to integrate with Siri, you must create a special addition to your iOS application that enables Siri to tell the iOS app when the user wants to do something. Siri extensions cannot be built or added outside the context of an iOS app.
SiriKit does not allow a developer to leverage Siri’s language processing or voice recognition capabilities for arbitrary purposes. Developers may create an iOS app that fulfills the wishes that Siri determines the user has. But they are not allowed to do so outside a few use cases, and even within those use cases they are restricted in how innovative they can be, since Apple has predetermined what the conversations can look like.
Some common domains are clearly ripe for third-party Siri integration, like mapping and music. Yet these have been excluded from third-party innovation. The most likely explanation seems to be that integrations with services like Google Maps and Spotify might compete with Apple’s existing solutions like Apple Maps and iMusic.
What an open Siri would look like A completely open Siri would look quite different from what was announced. While downloaded apps might still play a role, the capabilities offered to developers would go far beyond a limited set of domains — they would give developers the power and freedom to be truly innovative in every domain.
Indeed, an open Siri might look very similar to Amazon’s Alexa. Alexa’s third-party skills are not limited in the type of service they can implement. Developers are free to be innovative in any domain. Despite that freedom, users access the extensions to Alexa’s core in a relatively seamless way. The end user only needs to reference the name of the third-party service in his or her interaction.
Overall, Alexa is a very different service from Siri, however. Alexa is extended through connections between Amazon’s servers and those of the third-party developers, not installed apps. That is because Alexa is a hosted cloud service and is not tied to a specific device.
It is unlikely that Apple would simply offer the language processing technology behind Siri to developers. That would remove too much control over the end user experience from Apple.
Apple Messages The Apple Messages announcement was similarly predictable in its implementation strategy. Like Siri, third-party enhancements to Messages require users to install conventional iOS apps. These apps will enhance the functionality of the Messages app running on their phone. For example, as you are typing to another person in Messages, you might get access to a relevant app embedded within the Messages app. This is convenient, but definitely not the same type of conversational interaction that Microsoft, Facebook, and Google are headed towards.
If Apple were to embrace conversational interaction the way other large companies have, it would open iMessage itself to developers. There was speculation that Apple might do that, and even extend it beyond just Apple devices. Neither happened.
The Messages integration Apple announced, and its restrictions on iMessage, reinforce the need to own an Apple device. Again, strategic and competitive positioning forced this outcome.
Apple does have reason to open iMessage to developers. Facebook opened up Messenger because allowing companies to offer services within Messenger meant that users would spend more time in Facebook’s products. If users are able to shop, get information, and be entertained within Messenger, they will cleave to Messenger more and alternatives that do not allow these activities, like iMessage, less. Apple could have taken the same approach with iMessage to stay competitive here. But it did not.
Why iMessage isn’t open Apple needs to maintain its hardware sales, and that means maintaining differentiation between the hardware it sells and that of its rivals. The reason people buy an Apple phone instead of the hundreds of other products is the unique benefits that Apple’s iOS and its ecosystem offer: user interface, consistency, and simplicity.
Enabling users to do more activities via messaging platforms, even Apple’s own iMessage, could erode the competitive advantage of iOS and Apple’s devices. Conversational services — whether delivered via Facebook, Google, Telegram, Kik, or iMessage — make downloading mobile applications less necessary.
Conversational apps are poised to replace many native mobile apps. They will transform common activities, from shopping to money management, even if they might never be suitable for such activities as games and photos. And no app download is required. For those activities, users will not even have to leave messaging apps, meaning that the operating system surrounding the messaging interface becomes less and less important.
A reduction in the use of installed mobile apps due to the evolution of messaging would seriously threaten Apple’s primary business by eroding the differentiation that iOS offers, threatening their hardware sales. Apple therefore cannot promote the displacement of mobile apps by conversational services yet.
Apple’s difficult position If conversational interfaces reach the potential that Apple’s competitors envision, Apple will face difficult choices. Given the current landscape, Apple could need to either broaden its revenue streams beyond hardware or figure out a way to compete here with Google, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Today, Apple is not well positioned for the conversational interaction battlefield. Conversational services tend to be delivered via hosted cloud services. And as they mature, conversational services will become more and more reliant on advanced machine learning technology as user experience expectations move beyond simple bots towards full natural language. Apple’s competitors are stronger here.
Apple’s ventures into cloud applications have generally been “me too” — defensive offerings like iCloud and Apple Music. They are not Apple’s strength, which is understandable because cloud services have not been a core revenue stream for the company.
In the field of machine learning, Google, Microsoft, and Facebook all have substantial natural language processing research and technology endeavors. That is not to say Apple cannot make advances in machine learning if it becomes a priority: Amazon started at a relative disadvantage as well and was able to acquire high-caliber researchers and achieve excellent results on speech recognition with their Alexa services.
Pure research capability is not necessarily a requirement for delivering great conversational products. Apple certainly has the ability to take existing research and apply it at scale to deliver excellent products. In fact, it is startups with limited resources but tight product focus, like Api.ai , Init.ai (of which I am a founder), and the once-independent Wit.ai , that are advancing the frontier of conversational user experience today, not the larger companies with more substantial research budgets. But Apple does not have a competitive advantage in conversational product design right now.
The broader issue is not that Apple is behind in the fields of cloud services and machine learning: It is that Apple does not have an inherent advantage in either. In the most optimistic light, the company is only on par with its competitors. Entering a market without a clear way to outcompete would be uncharted and precarious territory for Apple. So, for now, Apple needs to prevent conversational interaction from developing into a battleground on which it is ill-equipped to compete. That is why Siri, Messages, and iMessage are so limited.
The unresolved question is where Apple goes from here. Its competitors are unencumbered by Apple’s business model considerations and have a head start in the relevant expertise. Apple seems to be publicly marketing that its differentiator is its respect for privacy and protection. But in a world where privacy seems to matter less and less to consumers, only time will tell whether this strategy will be sufficient.
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"IBM and Cisco partner to bring Watson to the workplace. Could chatbots be on the way? | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/ai/ibm-and-cisco-will-partner-to-bring-watson-to-the-workplace-could-new-watson-chatbots-be-on-the-way"
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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 IBM and Cisco partner to bring Watson to the workplace. Could chatbots be on the way? Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Screenshot 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.
Cisco and IBM announced a partnership today to bring IBM’s AI-powered Watson into offices and their enterprise software.
The collaboration will mean that Cisco and IBM will mix and match services and may result in new chatbots for workplace tasks. Such chatbots might be used to integrate voice-activated software, automate routine tasks and eliminate the need to search through multiple apps and databases for information.
The Cisco and IBM partnership reflects growing interest in enterprise-level chatbots and will help the two companies compete against Slack, Yammer and Skype owner Microsoft, as well as Facebook’s business chat client, Facebook at Work.
“For example, a financial advisor could meet with a high value investor over Cisco video with a Watson service offering real-time advice and handling tasks, while files would be securely stored and available in IBM Connections, shared through WebEx for a seamless transaction,” the statement said.
VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! The plan to work together will begin with bringing together Cisco’s chat app and video conference tools Spark and WebEx with IBM’s Verse, an email client, and Connections, an IBM chat app, the companies said in a statement.
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's FbStart program names Amazon, DocSend, and Pitchbook as new partners | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/social/facebooks-fbstart-program-names-amazon-docsend-and-pitchbook-as-new-partners"
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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’s FbStart program names Amazon, DocSend, and Pitchbook as new partners Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Facebook 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.
Facebook has kicked off the third season of its global developer program — called FbStart — with enhanced benefits for participating startups. The social networking company has added Amazon, DocSend, and PitchBook as three new partners, along with creating monthly online office hours. It has also announced this year’s global event series, which is starting in Southeast Asia.
This all comes as Facebook names its second app of the year: Taiwan-based English tutorial service VoiceTube. The startup joins fellow Asia-based company MomentCam , which won the FbStart award last year.
FbStart is a way for Facebook to reach out to developers. It provides connections to its leaders and offers mentorship to those looking to build on the platform. Facebook also offers additional benefits and resources. In October, vice president of platform Deborah Liu revealed that $250 million in benefits have been doled out to participating startups. The program now counts more than 9,000 members from 137 countries around the world. More than 70 percent of them come from outside the U.S.
This year’s program gives participants access to a number of new partners. In addition to the aforementioned Amazon, DocSend, and PitchBook integrations, Facebook has also brought ChangeCorp, M4 Global Partners, and Phone2Action into its Social Goods group. These new partnerships build on top of the more than 30 companies already working with Facebook, including Animoto, Coursera, Dropbox, and Twilio, which were all added in October.
The monthly office hours will give developers access to various Facebook teams to which they can ask questions about using the social networking company’s developer tools. All appointments will be handled online through a web portal.
Facebook is also kicking off its next series of worldwide events, with stops already planned in the following cities: June: Bangalore, Gurgaon, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Jakarta July: Boston, Chicago, New York City, Toronto August: Bogotá, Mexico City September: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle October: Miami, Sao Paulo November: Amsterdam, Berlin, Cape Town, Dubai, Lisbon, London, Istanbul, Paris, Tel Aviv Some of these are repeats from last year.
In conjunction with today’s announcement, Facebook also revealed the winner of its annual FbStart Apps of the Year competition. The grand prize went to VoiceTube, which features over 30,000 educational videos for learning English. Facebook has given the startup $50,000 in cash and $50,000 in ad credits. Other winners include: Europe, Middle East, and Africa app of the year: Musixmatch, a crowdsourced lyrics catalog that syncs directly with apps and features lyrics in a variety of languages.
Latin America app of the year: Emprego Ligado, a mobile-based recruitment platform.
North America app of the year: RadPad, an app that improves apartment hunting.
Social good app of the year: MedShr, a platform enabling doctors to connect with each other to discuss clinical cases in a secure space.
Startups interested in participating in FbStart can apply at FbStart.com.
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"Airbnb's new site lets neighbors complain about noisy guests | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/social/airbnbs-new-site-lets-neighbors-complain-about-noisy-guests"
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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 Airbnb’s new site lets neighbors complain about noisy guests Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Screenshot of Airbnb's new portal site that allows neighbors to submit complaints about Airbnb listings near them that are noisy or have other issues.
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Airbnb is making moves to show it can be a good corporate citizen. Instead of just showing how it can build up market share in cities around the world, today it launched a site dedicated to hearing complaints from neighbors.
Those who suspect badly behaved tenants near them are renting an Airbnb property will now have a dedicated place to inform the company. The submissions can be done anonymously, or you can have your information passed along to the host. Issues that you can complain about include noise, personal safety, common spaces, or other general concerns.
What Airbnb is providing is an easier way for neighbors to file complaints about listings in their neighborhood and gain some transparency into whatever investigation transpires. Now there’s a central place to get your voice heard instead of having to tweet madly at the company or even emailing with the hopes that your beef will be seen and catalogued.
While Airbnb has no fantasies its hosts and guests will always behave perfectly, it says it wants to “help our community members be good neighbors in the places our hosts call home.” The company claimed that “complaints and issues are incredibly rare.” The launch of this portal comes as the company moves forward with its new marketing campaign that encourages you to “live there”: Guests shouldn’t just stop in a city for a split second and leave, but should actually take it all in like a local. And that means being a good community member. To defuse local governments and its citizens putting forth potential regulations, such as what Airbnb faced in San Francisco with Proposition F , it has to show that it’s taking the needs of non-guests and non-hosts very seriously.
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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"Russia considers $12 billion Hyperloop project to link Moscow and St. Petersburg | VentureBeat"
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"https://venturebeat.com/offbeat/russia-considers-12-billion-hyperloop-project-to-link-moscow-and-st-petersburg"
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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 Russia considers $12 billion Hyperloop project to link Moscow and St. Petersburg Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn A rendering of Hyperloop Alpha.
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“Russia is technologically ready to launch such large-scale projects as Elon Musk’s Hyperloop,” Russian minister of transport Maxim Sokolov said in mid-May at a press briefing in the southern Russian city of Sochi.
As reported by Russian business daily RBC , this Hyperloop-like transport system would link the western and eastern ends as well as the northern and southern ends of the country — the largest in the world.
The first section of the transport system could link Moscow to St. Petersburg — a distance of nearly 650 kilometers, — according to Anatolyi Zaitsev , an official from the St. Petersburg State Transport University cited by RBC.
“According to western price standards, implementing such a project would cost $21 billion, while in Russia the cost would not exceed $12-13 billion,” RBC quoted Zaitsev as saying.
Zaitsev also said that the project has been backed by Gordon Atlantic , an international economic development service operator.
“At the opening phase, which has been funded by [Gordon Atlantic], we have managed to create magnetic levitation to lift any weight. The platform and the container in question are located in St.Petersburg and are available to the public. Supported by the investor, we are now taking final steps in equipping the laboratory where materials to be used in the project will be selected. In the future, however, more significant funding will be required,” adds Zaitsev.
On its side Russian Railways , the national railway company, is considering cooperation with Hyperloop One, one of the two US companies developing such projects.
Russian Railways and Hyperloop One have created a working group to study the concept, Russian business daily Vedomosti has learned from Caspian VC, a Russian venture fund which owns a stake in Hyperloop One.
Formed a few months ago, the working group is waiting for the results of the recent testing of high-speed Hyperloop trains.
This post first appeared on East-West Digital News.
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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Subsets and Splits
Wired Articles Filtered
Retrieves up to 100 entries from the train dataset where the URL contains 'wired' but the text does not contain 'Menu', providing basic filtering of the data.