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"WhatsApp launches native desktop app for Windows and Mac | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2016/05/10/whatsapp-launches-native-desktop-app-for-windows-and-mac"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages WhatsApp launches native desktop app for Windows and Mac Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Logging into WhatsApp's desktop app 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. WhatsApp announced today that it has launched a native desktop app that’s available for both Windows and Mac. The Facebook-owned company said that the app supports desktop notifications, better keyboard shortcuts, and more. All messages are synced with WhatsApp’s mobile devices, as well. Earlier this week, leaked screenshots indicated that a desktop app was going to be released soon, one that would allow you to send messages to friends and share files, all from your PC. With this desktop app, WhatsApp joins Facebook Messenger, which has already debuted a standalone version of its service for the Web and PCs. This new tool makes the service more accessible and is likely aimed at helping to accelerate growth. WhatsApp already counts more than 1 billion monthly active users , but that number could soon be surpassed by its messaging cousin at Facebook. WhatsApp’s desktop app works on computers with MacOS X 10.9 and Windows 8, or higher. After installing the app, you’ll have to scan a QR code using the WhatsApp app on your mobile device — the feature will be located under “Settings” > “WhatsApp Web.” If the QR code is recognized, you’ll be authenticated on the desktop. WhatsApp for desktop connects to your phone to sync messages, so potentially quite a bit of data will be transmitted, depending on usage, of course. The company advises that you connect your phone to Wi-Fi. The desktop app is essentially the same as the mobile version, particularly the one that launched in August : You can find your contacts and attach emojis and files to your messages. Voice dictation is supported, as well. This new app is being released as the company faces continued legal issues within Brazil over access to user data. A judge in the country has already suspended the service twice , and even ordered the imprisonment of a Facebook executive, over the company’s refusal to cooperate with government demands to access WhatsApp’s encrypted messaging service as part of a drug trafficking investigation. A desktop app will certainly make communicating with loved ones, friends, and business associates easier, especially as your messages will now be synced. It also puts WhatsApp more on par with competitors like Facebook Messenger, Skype, and Telegram. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Facebook's user engagement dips on News Feed tweaks, WhatsApp passes 1.5 billion monthly users | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/01/31/facebooks-user-engagement-dips-on-news-feed-tweaks-whatsapp-passes-1-5-billion-monthly-users"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 user engagement dips on News Feed tweaks, WhatsApp passes 1.5 billion monthly users 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. ( Reuters ) — Facebook said on Wednesday that time spent on the social network fell at the end of last year by about 50 million hours a day, even before the company made changes to its flagship News Feed that may further reduce user engagement. On the Q4 2017 earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg announced that WhatsApp passed 1.5 billion monthly active users and sees 60 billion messages sent per day. Shares of the company were down 4.1 percent at $179.25 after the bell. Facebook’s 1.40 billion daily active users was up 14 percent from a year earlier, but below analysts’ estimate of 1.41 billion for the fourth quarter, according to financial data and analytics firm FactSet. The number of daily users in the United States and Canada actually fell to 184 million from 185 million a quarter earlier. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement that the reduction in time spent during the quarter reflected changes to show fewer viral videos “to make sure people’s time is well spent.” The 50 million fewer hours per day was compared with the prior quarter and excludes engagement on Facebook’s Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp products, the company said. “I think that the reduction of 50 million hours per day is spooking investors. That comes out to 2 minutes per day in lower engagement,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said. Facebook, founded in a college dormitory in 2004, has become one of the world’s most valuable corporations by selling internet ads that it puts in front of people on Facebook and on its Instagram unit. Facebook shares were up 43 percent during the past year as of Tuesday’s close. The S&P 500 Index .SPX rose 24 percent during the same period. Zuckerberg, though, this month described Facebook as being at a crossroads, as the world’s largest social media network seeks to stem the spread of disinformation in elections and in daily life. Facebook sent a tremor through U.S. politics last year when it said that Russian agents used Facebook to try to sway American voters from 2015 to 2017, an allegation that Moscow denies. Facebook said 126 million Americans may have seen Russian-backed political ads and posts. Plans to shake up the News Feed, Facebook’s centerpiece product, to prioritize posts from friends and tamp down sensational media threaten to cut customer engagement, Zuckerberg has warned. The News Feed changes came too recently to affect results for the quarter ended Dec. 31. Going forward, though, they could be a positive for the company if Facebook becomes more enjoyable and a better place to advertise, analysts from Deutsche Bank said in a research note on Sunday. “Users could see brands and advertisements even more closely aligned with their needs and desires at a given time… potentially making for greater ad performance and thus justification for higher prices for Facebook ads,” Deutsche Bank said. Facebook does not give revenue guidance, though it does project expenses and said in November that expenses would likely grow 45 percent to 60 percent during 2018. The spending spree includes new warehouses full of servers and thousands of new workers to review content posted by users. Net income attributable to Facebook shareholders rose to $4.27 billion, or $1.44 per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 from $3.56 billion, or $1.21 per share, a year earlier. Excluding a tax provision, the company earned $2.21 per share, topping analysts’ estimates of $1.95, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Facebook said it increased its provision for 2017 income taxes by $2.27 billion, citing U.S. tax changes. Total revenue rose 47 percent to $12.97 billion, while full-year revenue was also up 47 percent at $40.65 billion. Total advertising revenue was $12.78 billion, compared with analysts’ estimate of $12.30 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Mobile ad revenue accounted for 89 percent of the total ad sales, up from 84 percent a year earlier. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Facebook: WhatsApp Business has over 3 million users | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/04/25/facebook-whatsapp-business-has-over-3-million-users"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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: WhatsApp Business has over 3 million users 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. During Facebook’s Q1 2018 earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that “over 3 million people are actively using WhatsApp Business.” Despite a series of scandals in recent weeks that culminated with testimony by Zuckerberg before Congressional committees , Facebook reported $11.97 billion in revenue and $4.98 billion in profit today, with 91 percent of ad revenue coming from mobile devices. VentureBeat has contacted Facebook to clarify whether WhatsApp Business is used by more than 3 million active users on a daily or monthly basis. WhatsApp Business, a standalone app separate from the other version of WhatsApp used by 1.5 billion people , was launched in January for Android users in five countries. WhatsApp began to verify business accounts last August , following plans originally announced to bring more businesses to its platform in August 2016. In each of the past few calls to discuss quarterly earnings with analysts, Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg have emphasized that investment in the company’s chat apps are critical to the years ahead. This quarter was no different. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “Over the next five years we’re focused on building out the business ecosystems around our apps like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger,” Zuckerberg said today. WhatsApp Business is still being rolled out, but conversational commerce through things like payments on Messenger will also be important to the social media giant. “I think what you’re going to start to see are people interacting with Pages that you follow, Pages on Facebook or Instagram,” Zuckerberg said. “You see content from that Page, and you can click through to a message thread, and then you can either get customer support or complete a transaction or do a follow-on transaction, and that will be very valuable for businesses so we view the payment in that context, not as the goal but as something that’s helping the business and the person succeed at having a transaction or doing what they’re trying to do.” WhatsApp Business competes with services like Apple’s Business Chat and RCS messaging for Android and Facebook’s own Messenger Platform, chat apps all built around connecting businesses with customers. Facebook will likely share more next week at F8, its annual developer conference. Much of the agenda for the annual developer conference focuses on chat, messaging, and the Messenger Platform for the deployment of automated bots. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"WhatsApp rolls out group calls for up to 4 people | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/07/31/whatsapp-rolls-out-group-calls-for-up-to-4-people"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages WhatsApp rolls out group calls for up to 4 people Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn WhatsApp: Android 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. WhatsApp is finally rolling out group video and voice calls to its 1.5 billion users around the world. The news was first teased by parent company Facebook at its annual F8 developers conference in May, but now the feature is ready for prime time. Above: WhatsApp: Group Video Call Facebook first introduced group audio calls to its own Messenger app back in April 2016, followed by group video calls later that year. Group video calling has surged in recent years across WhatsApp’s rival messaging apps, while WhatsApp itself only rolled out one-to-one video calling less than two years ago. But while some of its rivals support up to 200 people in a single group call, WhatsApp is keeping things sensible by letting up to four people at any one time chat on a single call. And you can add new participants to a call while it’s already in progress, something that Facebook Messenger started enabling earlier this year. Group calls will certainly be a welcomed by WhatsApp’s global users, and if nothing else the company will be glad to focus on its core product features rather than having to fight fake news. Meanwhile, Apple is also preparing to launch group video calls with the upcoming public release of iOS 12. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"App Annie: WhatsApp is now Facebook's most popular app | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/16/app-annie-whatsapp-is-now-facebooks-most-popular-app"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages App Annie: WhatsApp is now Facebook’s most popular app Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn KRAKOW, POLAND - 2018/09/07: WhatsApp logo is seen through a magnifying glass on an android mobile phone. (Photo by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) 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. Facebook’s $19 billion bet on WhatsApp in 2014 , when the messaging app had 450 million active users, is really beginning to pay off. In recent months, WhatsApp has surpassed Facebook’s own marquee app in popularity, according to industry estimates. In September of last year, WhatsApp for the first time had more monthly active users worldwide on Android and iPhone platforms than Facebook’s eponymous app, research firm App Annie said today in its annual “ State of Mobile ” report. App Annie did not share specific figures but told VentureBeat that WhatsApp has maintained its lead over the Facebook app since September. To be sure, the Facebook app was the top app in 2018, with the most active users globally (if we take an average of each month of the year), according to App Annie. But in several markets — including India, Indonesia, the U.K., Turkey, Switzerland, Spain, Singapore, Russia, Netherlands, Mexico, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Germany, Finland, and Brazil — it conceded defeat to WhatsApp even on that front. Interestingly, in the U.S., the Facebook and Messenger apps took the top spots, while WhatsApp did not make the top 10. A WhatsApp spokesperson declined to comment on App Annie’s findings and said the messaging app won’t be sharing any new figures at the moment. How many users does WhatsApp have? A reluctance to share the number of WhatsApp users stands in contrast to the app’s early days, when it used to boast about its user base growth every few months. As the messaging app faces mounting pressure for its role in spreading false information and other questionable content , Facebook seems to have become increasingly reluctant to share WhatsApp’s growth story. In an earnings call while delivering Q3 2018 results, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg did not break out WhatsApp’s active user base, only sharing the overall reach of all Facebook apps. “There are now more than 2.6 billion people using Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, or Messenger each month, up from around 2.5 billion last quarter. But now, on average, more than 2 billion people use at least one of our services every day,” he said. In fact, the last time Facebook shared any figures for WhatsApp was during the Q4 2017 earnings call in January of 2018. At the time, Zuckerberg said WhatsApp had 1.5 billion monthly active users. Notably, for the first time in several years , WhatsApp did not share this month how many messages were exchanged through its app on New Year’s Eve. (On a side note, WhatsApp has not shared an update on how many people use its app in India, its largest market, in more than a year and a half.) App Annie’s figures are somewhat in line with estimates shared by Apptopia. According to the research firm, which published its global app downloads report last month, WhatsApp was downloaded more times than the Facebook app in 2018. VentureBeat reached out to SensorTower, another research firm that tracks app downloads. According to SensorTower, WhatsApp was indeed the most-downloaded app among other Facebook-owned apps last year. Above: Data: SensorTower The exponential growth of WhatsApp in recent years has presented unique challenges for Facebook, which makes the vast majority of its revenue by selling ads. WhatsApp remains free of ads for now. Last year, the company launched a version of WhatsApp for business users, but that app is seeing slow adoption , so it remains unclear how much money — if any — Facebook is making from it. However, it’s only a matter of time before WhatsApp, which has lost both its founders and an executive who played an instrumental role in persuading them to sell the app to Facebook, begins to explore monetization opportunities in the app. At Facebook’s quarterly earnings call later this month, many will be hoping for an update. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"You can now unlock WhatsApp for Android with your fingerprint | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/31/you-can-now-unlock-whatsapp-for-android-with-your-fingerprint"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages You can now unlock WhatsApp for Android with your fingerprint Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn WhatsApp has finally brought fingerprint unlocking to Android phones 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. WhatsApp is finally rolling out fingerprint unlocking to Android phones, some 10 months after the feature was first teased in an early Android beta build. It’s worth noting that WhatsApp has already introduced biometric security to its iPhone app, having added support for Face ID and Touch ID back in February. Touch ID, which involves using your fingerprint to authenticate an app, is available on the iPhone 5S to the iPhone 8 / 8 Plus, after which Apple replaced Touch ID with its facial recognition system. So while we already knew WhatsApp was adding biometric unlocking, today’s announcement finally brings it to the masses. This is a notable development for WhatsApp, given that one of its core selling points is the security it offers through end-to-end encryption. Fingerprint unlocking makes things even more secure as it encourages users to lock the app down even if the device itself is unlocked. How it works To activate the feature, head to the app’s settings, then to “account” and “privacy.” Toggle the “fingerprint lock” switch and then choose when WhatsApp should automatically lock itself: immediately, after 1 minute, or after 30 minutes. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Users can also choose to view the messages in push notifications, which means anyone else would be able to view it, too, though they wouldn’t be able to open the WhatsApp app itself. Above: Activate fingerprint unlocking on WhatsApp (Android) All that’s really missing now on Android is the ability to unlock WhatsApp using facial recognition technology. While Android phones have in the past offered “face unlock” features to unlock devices, Google’s new Pixel 4 takes things to the next level by allowing users to authenticate themselves in a handful of third-party apps, including password managers and banking services. As more Android device makers add face unlocking smarts, we can likely expect WhatsApp to embrace this functionality in the future. However, a spokesperson told VentureBeat that they couldn’t comment on future plans. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"GitHub: Over 80% of repository contributions come from outside the U.S. | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/06/github-over-80-of-repository-contributions-come-from-outside-united-states"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages GitHub: Over 80% of repository contributions come from outside the U.S. Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn GitHub mug. 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. GitHub’s annual Octoverse report is out today. It found that Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code or VSCode (19.1K), Azure Docs (14K), and Flutter (13K) were the top open source projects in total contributors on GitHub in the last year, followed by projects like Google’s TensorFlow (9.9K), Kubernetes (6.9K), and the React Native framework created by Facebook. The annual report that looks at trends and milestones for the code repository acquired by Microsoft last year also found that repositories with topics like “deep learning,” “natural language processing,” and “machine learning” grew in popularity over the course of the past year. GitHub is now used by more than 40 million developers worldwide, a statistic it first shared this summer. The majority of repository contributions have come from outside the United States since 2014, but the latest Octoverse report says more than 80% of repository contributions now come from outside the U.S. A total of 44 million repositories were made in the last year. GitHub passed the 100 million repository milestone in November 2018. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Above: Most popular programming languages JavaScript remains the most popular language used by developers on GitHub, but for the first time in GitHub history Python beat out Java to be recognized as the second most-used programming language. Dart, the programming language for Google’s user interface toolkit Flutter, is the fastest-growing language, followed by Rust, HCL, Kotlin, and TypeScript. African nations lead the way in percentage growth in open source repositories, with growth highest in Nigeria, Kenya, Tunisia, and Morocco. Across Africa, contributions are up 40%, more than on any other continent. However, the largest overall repository contributions came from Asia, Europe, and North America. The report also found that 760,000 developers are learning to code on GitHub Student Developer Pack. The 2019 Octoverse report is released ahead of GitHub Universe, the company’s annual community gathering, where new developer tools are expected to be announced. It also follows news of GitHub employee protest over Microsoft contracts with the Department of Homeland Security, whose Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency handles deportation and detention of people without permission to be in the United States. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Zendesk acquires conversational platform Smooch, launches new WhatsApp and Slack integrations | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/22/zendesk-acquires-conversational-platform-smooch-launches-new-whatsapp-and-slack-integrations"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Zendesk acquires conversational platform Smooch, launches new WhatsApp and Slack integrations Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Zendesk cofounders Alexander Aghassipour, Morten Primdahl, and Mikkel Svane Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. At its annual Showcase conference in New York City, customer service software provider Zendesk today revealed that it has acquired Montreal-based Smooch, the company behind an eponymous business-to-customer messaging platform, for an undisclosed sum. Zendesk also took the wraps off WhatsApp and Slack integrations and announced new apps available through its Zendesk Marketplace. In a blog post announcing the purchase — Zendesk’s fifth, following Outbound.io , Zopim, Bime Analytics, and Base — company founder and CEO Mikkel Svane said that Smooch’s technology will help drive “the next wave” of connected conversations on a range of messaging channels. To that end, a new Zendesk solutions team will support customers who plan to use Smooch’s products to build bespoke conversational apps and web pages. “We live in a messaging-centric world, and customers expect the convenience and interactivity of messaging to be part of their experiences,” said Svane. “As long-time partners with Smooch, we know first-hand how much they have advanced the conversational experience to bring together all forms of messaging and create a continuous conversation between customers and businesses.” For the uninitiated, Smooch’s AWS-hosted suite collates messages across web, mobile, and social messaging and combines user activity and existing profile data, enabling admins to create more tailored experiences. With Smooch’s embeddable software development kit and APIs for Android, iOS, and the web, a hotel, for instance, could give guests the ability to ping staff on-property, and an online retailer could manage issues like incorrect shipments and returns across channels. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Smooch supports speech on popular voice assistants, like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Assistant, along with text on WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Line, WeChat, Telegram, Twitter DM, Viber, Kakao Talk, SMS, and Rich Communication Services (RCS). Zendesk notes that Smooch has the distinction of being one of the largest providers of WhatsApp Business integration, which allows organizations to manage and send non-promotional automated messages to customers — like appointment reminders, shipping info, or event tickets — for a fixed rate. Thanks to Smooch, Zendesk says that customers in its early access program can now reach users directly through Chat, its live chat solution for mobile and the web. Above: Smooch’s website. Smooch brings real-time push notifications, as well as standard messaging features, like typing indicators, timestamps, cloud message storage, media support (for emojis, GIFs, images, videos, and file attachments), and read and delivery receipts. It offers robust chatbot tools that enable businesses to add bots, orchestrate bot-to-human handoffs, incorporate natural language processing and AI engines, and juggle multiple bots and agents at once. Moreover, Smooch’s UI is fully customizable, and it works with third-party authentication systems and boasts end-to-end encryption. “With their launch of Sunshine last year, Zendesk took the bold and disruptive step required to compete for and win the future of CRM,” said Smooch cofounder and CEO Warren Levitan. “The decision to combine forces with Zendesk and help further their CRM strategy will allow us to supercharge our existing mission for building the best customer experiences. We are thrilled to be joining the entire Zendesk team, so many of whom we have had the pleasure to work with over the past three and a half years.” Smooch-powered services weren’t the only thing Zendesk detailed today. It also announced the general availability of Side Conversations for Slack, which enables Zendesk users to work with other departments or partners outside their companies. Specifically, Side Conversations integrates with Zendesk Sell, the company’s sales automation product that streamlines processes and pipelines, and Zendesk Support, its ticket-based customer service software. Lastly, Zendesk said Suite — its all‑in‑one omnichannel package, comprising Support, Guide, Chat, and Talk — is expanding via Zendesk Marketplace. Partners — including Atlassian, Lessonly, Maestro, Stella, Tymeshift, Geckoboard, Statuspage, and Ada — have introduced integrations that augment workforce training and management, track KPIs and goals, monitor tickets for quality assurance, and more. Zendesk Suite is available in two tiers: Suite Professional and Suite Enterprise. Suite Professional, the less expensive of the two, starts at $1,068 per agent per year (or $89 per month) and includes Zendesk’s knowledge base product for self-service, in addition to reporting, analytics, and AI-powered customer satisfaction prediction tools. Suite Enterprise is priced at $1,788 per agent per year (or $149 per month) and adds features such as roles and permissions management and skills-based customer service request routing, multibrand customization and multiple ticket forms, an unbranded chat widget, a web SDK, and priority support from the Zendesk team. Zendesk, a 10-year-old company founded in Copenhagen and based in San Francisco, launched an initial public offering in 2014. It crossed a $500 million run rate in the first quarter of 2018 and recently launched Sunshine, a development platform for creating customer-focused apps on top of its products. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Alphabet misses profit estimates as Google investigations loom | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/28/alphabet-earnings-q3-2019"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Alphabet misses profit estimates as Google investigations loom 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. ( Reuters ) — Google parent Alphabet missed analysts’ estimates for quarterly profit on Monday as it reported its highest-ever quarterly expenses, sending shares down about 1.2% even though revenue growth topped expectations. The world’s dominant provider of internet search, advertising, and video services has increased spending in recent years on areas such as cloud computing and consumer electronics that it views as essential to maintaining its industry leadership in the face of stiff competition from Amazon and Microsoft. Google, however, provides limited product-level financial disclosures compared with some peers, leaving investors increasingly uncertain about how pressures, including regulatory scrutiny, advertiser boycotts, and global trade tensions, are affecting operations. As a result, analysts say Alphabet shares have underperformed relative to rivals, rising 17% in the last 12 months entering Monday, compared with a 33% gain for Microsoft and 29% for Facebook, the internet’s No. 2 seller of advertising. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Alphabet shares on Monday fell 1.2% in after-hours trade to $1,274.00. Google has tried to demonstrate that its cloud-computing business is roaring, disclosing last quarter about $2 billion in revenue and saying that plans continued to hire thousands for that unit to stoke growth. Haris Anwar, analyst at financial markets platform Investing.com, said the quarterly results cast a cloud. “An earnings miss at a time when the big tech companies are being probed for their business practices adds to the uncertainty and creates a hint of pessimism around the company,” he said in an email to Reuters. In hardware, Google’s debut in May of the Pixel 3a , its most affordable smartphone yet, went well, according to technology analysts. It boosted Google’s overall smartphone sales this summer in a typically slow quarter. Google has also tried to reassure investors that there is no weakness in its YouTube video unit, while expressing confidence in its business overall through share buybacks. But cash continues to be spent and higher costs loom as Google deals with clashes with regulators. Total expenses in the third quarter reached $31.3 billion, about 25% higher than a year ago and topping the previous high of $31.1 billion in the 2018 fourth quarter. Google in the third quarter acknowledged investigations by the U.S. Congress, Department of Justice , and 48 states into the company’s competitive practices. It settled a privacy investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. It also got an additional 90-day reprieve from an export ban that would restrict its relationship with Chinese smartphone maker Huawei, one of its top partners in distributing mobile apps. Google has said it is cooperating with the increased scrutiny, while saying that it has survived calls for increased regulation many times. Alphabet, which generates about 85% of its revenue from sales of ad space and ad technology, reported total third-quarter revenue of $40.5 billion. That was up 20% over last year and compared with 19% growth in the second quarter. Analysts on average estimated 19.52% growth and $40.325 billion in revenue, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Net income for the third quarter rose to $7.1 billion, or $10.12 per share, compared with analysts’ estimates of $8.811 billion, or $12.44 per share. The operating margin was 23%, down from 24% in the second quarter. Shares of Google closed 1.95% higher in regular trade on Monday. The shares had earlier risen about 2% after Reuters, citing sources, reported Google had made an offer to acquire U.S. wearable device maker Fitbit. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon's voice-based Alexa skill personalization is now generally available | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/31/amazons-voice-based-alexa-skill-personalization-now-generally-available"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 voice-based Alexa skill personalization is now generally available Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Skills built for Alexa can now respond uniquely to your voice. That’s thanks to Alexa skill personalization, a feature of the Alexa Skills Kit that enables developers to provide personalized experiences, greetings, and prompts for recognized users. Amazon launched skill personalization in preview in September, and today, it announced that it’s generally available. “Until now, changing a skill’s behavior required a customer to configure Alexa household profiles and then manually switch between Amazon accounts,” wrote Alexa Skills senior product manager Mohit Mittal. “Personalization makes it simpler for [skill users] because now skill[s] simply [link]the person speaking to the correct account without switching profiles.” Skill personalization leverages voice profiles, which are created through the Alexa companion app and which carry across first- or third-party Alexa-enabled devices. (Amazon notes that customers can opt out of skill personalization if they so choose even if they’ve configured a voice profile.) Alexa sends an anonymized string of characters and numbers uniquely generated from a given voice profile to skills, which skills use to reference who’s talking and respond appropriately. With skill personalization, a developer could personalize a game based on who’s playing or offer a customized exercise routine tailored to individual fitness goals. Moreover, voice-personalized Alexa skills could be combined with app-to-app account linking to help users discover skills and link accounts, and to deliver flows unique to their voice. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Amazon says that Uber is already using skill personalization to automatically figure out which account to use, while OneBusAway is tapping the capability to offer tailored bus commuting information. Other launch partners include Vodafone, 7-Minute Workout, Twenty Questions, SprachBox Abfrage, Vanity Planet, Intervallfasten, Party Craps, Jyanken, and Excite Horoscope. Amazon first expanded Alexa’s use of voice-based personalization in May, when it launched a feature that automatically recognizes a user’s voice when they say “Alexa, play music.” Voice profiles also allow users to complete shopping transactions without the need to enter a four-digit pin code, and for personalized shopping results, news flash briefings, and calls and messages. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon's AI rewrites 'millions' of Alexa user commands to reduce defects by 30% | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/07/amazons-ai-rewrites-millions-of-alexa-user-commands-to-reduce-defects-by-30"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 AI rewrites ‘millions’ of Alexa user commands to reduce defects by 30% 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 AI underlying assistants like Alexa gets better in part through manual data transcription and annotation, which takes outsized time and effort. In pursuit of a more scalable approach, scientists at Amazon — noting that people tend to reformulate misinterpreted commands — leveraged feedback from interactions to glean insights. In a paper detailing their work, they say that the automated self-learning system they deployed reduced errors across “millions” of Alexa customers. It’s yet another step for Amazon along the way to a largely unsupervised and more human-like Alexa, as scientists and product managers from the company told VentureBeat in September. Such techniques have imbued Alexa with better contextual understanding of its surroundings with respect to smart home devices, as well as the ability to detect emotions like frustration in users’ voices. As the researchers note, assistants like Alexa are far from perfect. Errors arise from automatic speech recognition (ASR), where an utterance like “Play Imagine Dragons” could be misinterpreted as “Play maj and dragons.” Natural language understanding errors include examples like “Don’t play this song again, skip,” which Alexa would understand only if it was phrased “Thumbs down this song.” And then there are comprehension issues, like “Play Bazzi Angel” rather than “Play Beautiful by Bazzi.” Tackling theses challenges required developing a “query rewriting” technique that reformulates voice commands to convey the same meaning. At a high level, Alexa comprises three components: an ASR system, an NLU system with a built-in dialog manager, and a text-to-speech TTS system. Alexa recognizes a user’s voice by ASR and decodes it into plain text (an utterance), which the NLU module interprets (accounting for the state of the user’s active dialog session) and passes on with the corresponding action to execute to the TTS. The TTS generates the appropriate response as speech back to the user via Alexa, closing the interaction loop. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! The researchers’ self-learning system intercepts utterances being passed on to the NLU component and rewrites them with a reformulation engine. (This engine draws on a high-performance, low-latency database that’s queried with the original utterance to yield its corresponding rewrite candidate.) The rewrite is then passed back to the NLU component for interpretation, restoring the original data flow. According to the research team, the engine ingests anonymized Alexa log data from “millions” of customers on a daily basis to learn from users’ reformulations and updates the database, enabling it to maintain the viability of existing rewrites. (Automated jobs mine the “thousands” of new utterances per day to identify the most recent and serve them to users.) An offline blacklisting mechanism evaluates rewrites by independently comparing their friction rate against that of the original utterance, where friction is detected using a pretrained AI model. Both explicit and implicit feedback informs the system. Explicit feedback here refers to corrective or reinforcing feedback from direct user engagement, the researchers say, principally events where users opt to interrupt Alexa with an interjection. Implicit feedback includes when users abandon a session following Alexa’s failure to handle a request due to an exception or some other error. Amazon says that in the nine months since the system was deployed in production, it has led to a 30% reduction in defect rate. “We have been running this application for over nine months in production, and it has been serving millions of users since, improving their experience on a daily basis without getting in their way,” wrote the paper’s authors. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Spotify-backed Soundtrack Your Brand raises $22 million to help sell music streaming to businesses | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2017/02/17/spotify-backed-soundtrack-your-brand-raises-22-million-to-help-sell-music-streaming-to-businesses"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Spotify-backed Soundtrack Your Brand raises $22 million to help sell music streaming to businesses Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Soundtrack Your Brand: Business 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. Soundtrack Your Brand , a Spotify-backed Swedish startup that’s setting out to “kill bad background music,” has raised $22 million in a fresh funding round led by Nordic VC fund Industrifonden and the U.K.’s Balderton Capital, with participation from Telia Company, Northzone, Creandum, HMP, and Jörg Mohaupt. Founded out of Stockholm in 2013 by Ola Sars and Andreas Liffgarden, former global head of business development at Spotify, Soundtrack Your Business offers two core products — Spotify Business , which is available in Sweden, Norway, and Finland, and Soundtrack Business , which is available elsewhere. They’re basically B2B versions of the popular music-streaming service that offer additional features, such as the ability to manage playlists in multiple locations from a central hub. So if you manage a giant chain of stores such as Starbucks, for example, you can control music in individual stores remotely. The company had raised around $14 million before now, including an $11 million round back in 2015 that Spotify took part in, and it says it plans to use its latest cash bounty to “cement product leadership” and grow its global footprint. As a result of this deal, Balderton Capital partner Lars Fjeldsoe-Nielsen, who previously served at Uber and Dropbox, will join Soundtrack Your Brand’s board of directors, along with Industrifonden investment manager Johan Englund. “I’ve witnessed disruption first-hand,” said Fjeldsoe-Nielsen. “Dropbox made storage cool, and achieved a shift from a consumer to a business proposition. Uber changed the way we think of transportation. Soundtrack Your Brand will do the same thing to background music.” Soundtrack Your Brand launched in the U.S. last May , having previously been limited to Scandinavia, with a “global framework agreement” in place to reach McDonald’s franchisees. It later expanded into more than 100 countries worldwide. “Background music today is sold as a utility, and there’s rarely much thought going into what music brands are playing and why,” said Liffgarden. “Today’s background music sucks for brands and consumers alike, and it’s hurting the music industry at large. As lovers of music and technology, we’re completely overhauling this industry, to once and for all kill bad background music.” Many brick-and-mortar retailers use the medium of background music to influence consumer behavior , so this is potentially lucrative territory for anyone looking to get businesses on board with streaming. Indeed, many businesses still use good old-fashioned CDs, according to Soundtrack Your Brand, so there is room for real disruption here. “While our competitors are focused on shipping CDs by mail to large chains in the U.S. and Europe, we are growing the size of this market by digital means,” added Sars, who serves as Soundtrack Your Brand’s CEO. “We distribute our platform more efficiently and are continually improving the product experience. By selling online we reach the entire market, all the way down to mom and pops that nobody sold to before. And we do it on a global scale.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Mojio raises $40 million to monetize connected car data | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/20/mojio-raises-40-million-to-monetize-connected-car-data"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Mojio raises $40 million to monetize connected car data Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Mojio 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. There will be an estimated 200 million connected cars on the world’s roads by 2020, a number that could rise to nearly 500 million in the U.S., Europe, and China alone by 2025. One of the big by-products of all these connected automobiles is data — location data, diagnostic data, drivers’ behavioral data, and more — which presents a lucrative opportunity for myriad applications and services. Indeed, monetizing connected car data could be a $750 billion industry within a decade, according to some reports, and it’s something a number of companies are already setting out to capitalize on. Mojio is one such company, and today it announced it has closed a $40 million series B round of funding led by Kensington Capital, with participation from Amazon Alexa Fund, T-Mobile, Bosch, Relay Ventures, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, Assurant, Innogy Ventures, Iris Capital, Telus Ventures, Trend Forward, and BDC IT Venture Fund. Founded out of Vancouver, Canada in 2012, Mojio works with mobile carriers and automakers to “unlock hidden data” from any connected car through a combination of software and hardware. Indeed, Mojio’s platform can make any standard automobile “connected” through a white-label plug-and-play device that connects to the vehicle’s OBD-II port, and which is deployed via a slew of mobile network partnerships that include Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile U.S., Telus, and six other carriers across six countries. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! It’s worth noting here that Mojio doesn’t actually manufacture its own hardware, instead it leans on third-party providers such as ZTE to make the dongles. Carriers then buy them, pass the hardware cost on to the consumer, and charge a monthly fee of around $10 — of which Mojio takes a cut for its cloud-based software platform. Insights What these dongles do is bring Wi-Fi connectivity to any car, while also packing a GPS tracker for location-focused services such as car-theft tracking or to help drivers remember where they parked their car. Additionally, the dongle offers an accelerometer to track a car’s motion, which can be used to automatically detect collisions and even establish the severity of the crash — it can transmit the location of the accident via GPS to an emergency call center, which can then organize an ambulance if needed. Additionally, Mojio helps track engine issues, data that can be used by third parties — such as car dealers — to develop customer loyalty apps, for example, or by automakers to carry out remote diagnostic assessments. Insurance companies could also use some of the behavioral data to establish driver risk — whether they accelerate too quickly or brake too abruptly, for example. Other companies that are setting out to help monetize connected car data include Minnesota-based Zubie , which has raised at least $26 million in venture funding, though earlier this month it raised an additional undisclosed amount from some big names, including BP. Elsewhere, Tel Aviv-based Otonomo has raised north of $40 million for what is effectively a centralized marketplace that pulls together data from connected cars and other sources to extract additional value and insights. These examples constitute part of a broader trend of mobility-focused companies pushing to generate actionable insights from a veritable wealth of data. Last week, mapping and location platform Here Technologies revealed that it’s investing $28 million in a new machine learning research institute that will crunch geolocation data on an industrial scale. And Microsoft, TomTom, and Moovit also revealed last week that they are to begin pooling their various banks of transport data and processing smarts so developers can integrate multi-modal transport features into their apps. Elsewhere, StreetLight data works with an aggregator called Cuebiq, which offers an SDK that enables app makers to request anonymized access to their users’ location data. Mojio had previously raised around $17 million, and with another $40 million in the bank the company will double down on its hiring and technology development to meet the “evolving needs of Mojio’s enterprise customers,” according to a spokesperson. The round was originally announced way back in 2017 at $23 million (CAD$30 million), but it appears the company elected to keep things open a while longer. It’s also worth looking at some of the investors, many of whom are Mojio’s customers, which positions this series B very much at the strategic end of the spectrum. Assurant, which led the round, already offers a range of vehicle protection and warranty extension services, in addition to roadside assistance, so it is likely to appreciate the value in gleaning accurate real-time data from customers’ cars. “These strategic investments underscore the close partnership we have with our investors and the confidence they have in our people, products, and vision for an increasingly connected life,” said Mojio CEO Kenny Hawk in a press release. “With this additional funding, we’re able to accelerate on our efforts to support the entire automotive ecosystem in delivering smarter, safer, and more convenient car ownership experiences to the global driving community.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"BMW and Olo pilot in-car food ordering for U.S. drivers | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/22/bmw-and-olo-pilot-in-car-food-ordering-for-u-s-drivers"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages BMW and Olo pilot in-car food ordering for U.S. drivers 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. German automotive giant BMW has partnered with on-demand food platform Olo to trial a new in-car food ordering service for drivers in the U.S. The new service constitutes part of BMW Labs , a program BMW uses to test-drive new digital connected services, and is available now across the U.S. for all compatible BMW vehicles from 2015 onwards. Convenience While you can already place food orders from your car with a smartphone, BMW’s offering is designed to make the process easier for those on the road, with only preconfigured orders available. This means you can only place repeat orders of your favorite foods and beverages, rather than perusing lengthy menus. After clicking on the BMW Labs Online Ordering option in the main iDrive menu, users can click on Favorites or Recent Orders. Above: BMW dashboard: Favorites The driver or passenger can then order and pay by clicking a button. Above: BMW dashboard: Ordering The navigation system will then offer to take them directly to collect the order at a drive-through. Above: BMW dashboard: Navigating to pickup order While the service is only an early-stage trial, voice control is an obvious omission. BMW is already embracing intelligence voice assistants , so it would make sense for drivers to order food with a voice command, rather than having to click through several menu options manually. The Olo factor Founded out of New York in 2005, Olo has an online food ordering platform. While it might not garner the same attention as the likes of Uber Eats or GrubHub, that’s because it’s a slightly different proposition — Olo’s white-label service powers restaurant brands’ online ordering systems. As Olo puts it, it’s the “interface between restaurants and the on-demand world.” The company has raised around $80 million since its inception, with big-name backers including PayPal and Tiger Global Management. There are only two brands on board for the initial pilot — Nekter Juice Bar, which offers a couple of dozen locations across California, and Portillo’s Hot Dogs, which has outlets spanning the U.S. But given that Olo claims some 70,000 restaurant brands as customers, including Applebee’s, Dairy Queen, Denny’s, Five Guys Burgers & Fries, and Shake Shack, it doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to realize this pilot could be expanded fairly quickly. “Ordering lunch from the car with a push of a button — we’re living in the future,” proclaimed Olo marketing VP Jackie Berg in a press release. “The convergence of commerce and convenience is opening up exciting potential for restaurants, and we are thrilled to work with BMW and our pilot brands to experiment with how in-car ordering will evolve and shape how consumers order.” It’s worth noting that BMW isn’t the first automaker to launch in-car ordering in the U.S. GM launched its in-dashboard marketplace back in 2017, offering an easy way for drivers to order food or drink on the go. BMW’s decision to join the mix serves as further evidence that cars offer lucrative inroads into targeted marketing, something GM refers to as “ branded journeys. ” Indeed, in-car food ordering services are more than a simple utility for drivers. They effectively usher automakers into the marketing services realm — car dashboards offer the perfect channel for brands to deliver location-specific offers and promotions, with GM, BMW, and their ilk taking a cut of the transaction. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Twitter acquires Mixer Labs to become more location savvy | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2009/12/23/twitter-acquires-mixer-labs"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Twitter acquires Mixer Labs to become more location savvy Anthony Ha 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 looks like Twitter and the applications built around it are going to get smarter about where you’re tweeting from. The company just announced that it has purchased Mixer Labs , a startup that created the TownMe activity guide as well as GeoAPI , a set of developer tools for accessing TownMe’s location data. The San Mateo, Calif. team was trying to build a Yelp competitor of sorts. It went beyond business listings and user reviews by pulling in other information available on the web, such as US Census Data. Mixer Labs then offered developers access to that data through an API. So an application could get useful information, such as nearby tweets or locations of interest, about a set of latitude and longitude coordinates. Developers could also create their own layer of data over Mixer Labs’, allowing you to store check-ins (like in Foursquare ) or virtual prizes at different locations. (The screenshot above is from a demo application built for the API.) The API was initially called the TownMe API , but was eventually spun off as a separate service, dubbed GeoAPI. Twitter says this acquisition builds on its announcement last month of a geotagging API , allowing third-party applications to tag tweets with your location. Presumably it will use the GeoAPI data and tools to improve the information around a geotagged tweet, either within Twitter itself or in services using Twitter. The company writes: As of today, [Mixer Labs is] part of Twitter and will be working to combine the contextual relevance of location to tweets. We want to know What’s happening? , and more precisely, Where is it happening? As a dramatic example, twittering “Earthquake!” alone is not as informative as “Earthquake!” coupled with your current location. We will be looking at how to integrate the work Mixer Labs has done with the Twitter API in useful ways that give developers behind geo-enabled apps like Birdfeed,Seesmic Web, Foursquare, Gowalla, Twidroid, Twittelator Pro and other powerful new possibilities. I asked the Mixer Labs founders for more information on the deal, and they told me to ask Twitter, which I did. If I hear back, which doesn’t happen too often these days, I’ll update the post. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Robotic process automation company UiPath raises $568 million at $7 billion valuation | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/30/robotic-process-automation-company-uipath-raises-568-million-at-7-billion-valuation"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Robotic process automation company UiPath raises $568 million at $7 billion valuation Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn UiPath interface 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. UiPath , a “robotic process automation” ( RPA ) platform that helps companies automate repetitive software-based tasks, has raised $568 million in a series D round of funding led by hedge fund Coatue Management, with participation from Alphabet’s CapitalG, Sequoia, Accel, Madrona Venture Group, IVP, Dragoneer, Wellington, Sands Capital, and funds advised by T. Rowe Price & Associates. This takes UiPath’s total funding to more than $1 billion, following last year’s $153 million and $225 million series B and C rounds, which came just 6 months apart. The company also now claims a valuation of $7 billion — up from $3 billion at its series C valuation just seven months ago. Founded out of Bucharest, Romania in 2005, UiPath began as a software outsourcing startup called Deskover that built automation libraries and SDKs for major companies, including Microsoft and Google. In 2015, Deskover changed its name to UiPath and doubled down on its efforts in the RPA realm. It moved its headquarters to New York City in 2017, though its main development hub remains in the Romanian capital. As with similar platforms, UiPath’s core selling point is that it brings automation to enterprise processes through “intelligent software robots” that help businesses carry out laborious, repetitive tasks using computer vision and rule-based processes. The technology is installed on top of business applications, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) software or customer relationship management (CRM) tools, to learn from human actions and emulate these tasks. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Through UiPath Studio, companies can design automation processes visually through diagrams, with the UiPath robot executing these processes. The UiPath Orchestrator is where companies can deploy and manage all the robots and processes. Above: The UiPath process designer tool Enterprise automation RPA technology is hot — some estimates peg the industry at $2.3 billion today, and it is expected to grow to more than $4 billion by 2022. “We are at the tipping point — business leaders everywhere are augmenting their workforces with software robots, rapidly accelerating the digital transformation of their entire business and freeing employees to spend time on more impactful work,” said UiPath cofounder and CEO Daniel Dines. “UiPath is leading this workforce revolution, driven by our core determination to democratize RPA and deliver on our vision of a robot helping every person.” There has been a spike in investments across the RPA sphere over the past year or so, with the likes of Automation Anywhere securing $300 million from SoftBank , Kryon raising $40 million , Softomotive nabbing $25 million , and Automation Hero reeling in $14.4 million. “RPA presents an enormous opportunity for companies around the world who are embracing artificial intelligence, driving a new era of productivity, efficiency, and workplace satisfaction,” added Coatue Management founder Philippe Laffont. With another $568 million in the bank, UiPath is well positioned to continue its recent growth spurt, which has included taking its annual recurring revenue (ARR) from $8 million to more than $200 million over the past 24 months; securing big-name customers such as Google, McDonald’s, and American Fidelity; and expanding its employee count by a factor of 16 to reach 2,500 people across its 30 offices globally. The company will use the new funds to expedite investments in its various “workforce education” programs and R&D, with a particular focus on “applying AI to RPA,” UiPath’s chief marketing officer (CMO) Bobby Patrick told VentureBeat. He also said the company may invest in strategic merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. Given the size of its latest raise and valuation, UiPath certainly appears to be fast-tracking toward an IPO. It wouldn’t be the first RPA company to hit the public markets either, with the U.K.’s Blue Prism landing on the London Stock Exchange back in 2016. While UiPath didn’t offer any specifics, it did strongly hint that it is at least laying the foundations for an IPO in the foreseeable future. “Our focus is on raising capital as needed to sustain our commitment to our customers’ success and workforce education while we continue exponential growth,” Patrick said. “We are practicing what it takes to be a public company today, including implementing public company-caliber financial accounting, processes, and controls and building the industry’s strongest management team, [which] includes executives from HP, Microsoft, NetApp, Nutanix, and SAP.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"IBM: AI will change every job and increase demand for creative skills | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/30/ibm-ai-will-change-every-job-and-increase-demand-for-creative-skills"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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: AI will change every job and increase demand for creative skills 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. Artificial intelligence is likely to change how every job is performed, eliminating work related to repetitive tasks but increasing the need for creative thinkers, according to a new study. These findings are contained in a report released this week by the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab called “The Future of Work: How New Technologies Are Transforming Tasks.” The study found signs that AI is beginning to slowly redefine the nature of tasks performed in certain jobs as automation gains ground. “As new technologies continue to scale within businesses and across industries, it is our responsibility as innovators to understand not only the business process implications, but also the societal impact,” said Martin Fleming, vice president and chief economist of IBM, in a statement. “To that end, this empirical research from the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab sheds new light on how tasks are reorganizing between people and machines as a result of AI and new technologies.” With the rise of AI and automation, there has been growing debate and anxiety about how these trends will disrupt current job markets. While some have argued AI and automation will be job killers , others have said the emerging technology will be a net creator of new jobs. 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 IBM-MIT study offers a bit of nuance to that discussion. The researchers used machine learning to analyze 170 million U.S. job postings between 2010 and 2017. They found that out of 18,500 possible tasks employees might be asked to do on average, the number had fallen by 3.7 over seven years. A drop, though hardly radical. These disappearing tasks are being taken up by AI or machine learning systems that have demonstrated the efficiencies of automation, the report says. The tasks most commonly being handed over to automated systems include mundane, repetitive chores like scheduling and validating credentials. But within this shift there is also a clear divide, the report says. The ongoing introduction of AI will drive up the need for “soft skills” — jobs that require intellectual skills and analysis. In some cases, jobs that require physical flexibility, common sense judgment, or spoke language skills will become more valuable and higher paid, the study says. In this analysis, wages for jobs requiring such attributes as high-end financial knowledge and graphic design skills have increased, but so have wages for service jobs such as hairstylist and fitness trainer. While AI is reducing the number of tasks being performed in other sectors, these types of soft skill jobs are seeing an increase in number of tasks, the study says. The danger zone in the short term seems to be workers in middle tier jobs. Employees in mid-wage jobs are losing the most tasks, as those above and below them are asked to do more. While the two latter groups are seeing faster wage increases, that middle group is seeing a much slower increase in pay. Finally, the study notes that the pace of this change has been relatively slow — early warning signs of how AI will impact work. But such transformation is expected to gain speed in the coming years. For the moment, this gives both employers and employees time to prepare for the shift, the study says. The researchers called on companies to overhaul their human resource programs and rethink the way they train employees and refine job categories. Likewise, employees should seek out training that will deepen their creative thinking skills. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon lets you share Alexa Skill Blueprints with other users | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/06/13/amazon-lets-you-share-alexa-skill-blueprints-with-other-users"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 lets you share Alexa Skill Blueprints with other users Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Amazon Echo 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 April, Amazon introduced Alexa Skill Blueprints , a toolset for the company’s artificially intelligent voice assistant that allows users without knowledge of coding to create their own Alexa skills. Starting today, it’s letting users share those custom skills through email, text, WhatsApp, and social media platforms — including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and other mediums. “Alexa Skill Blueprints are designed to make Alexa more personalized for customers, and we think the ability to share these experiences directly with family and friends will allow Alexa to be even more useful and delightful for customers,” an Amazon spokesperson wrote in an email. “Customers can create personal skills for occasions such as birthdays and share [them] with loved ones, and students can create flashcard skills and share with their study group.” Sharing a Blueprint is relatively straightforward. Once you’ve created it, simply head to the “Skills You’ve Made” page in the Skill Blueprint dashboard and select the Blueprint you’d like to share. Under the Skill Actions section of the Access menu, choose the “Share With Others” line and specify how you’d like the skill to be shared. When you send a skill to a friend or relative, they’ll receive a link to enable the skill, along with a custom note from you. Any changes you make to the skill will be immediately shared with anyone you’ve shared the Blueprint with, and you can revoke access at any time by changing access to Just Me in the Access menu. (Amazon notes that once you’ve share a skill, you can’t update the name without revoking access to it first.) VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! To enable a Blueprint skill that’s been shared with you, you’ll have to use the Alexa app for Android or iOS. Launch it and go to Skills > Your Skills > Personal Skill, where you’ll see the option to view details about the skill or disable it. Blueprints aren’t as fully featured as custom-coded Alexa skills, but they can do things like anticipate questions from a houseguest, host quizzes, and tell jokes. To demonstrate their potential, Amazon has added new Blueprint templates for Father’s Day, including World’s Best Dad (storyteller template), All About Dad (compliments template), and Dad Jokes (family jokes template). Blueprints join a series of voice apps available for Amazon’s Alexa, including flash briefings for news, smart home skills, and visual skills for Echo Show and Echo Dot. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon's Alexa Gadgets Toolkit beta brings voice control to singing fish toys | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/09/18/amazons-alexa-gadgets-toolkit-beta-brings-voice-control-to-singing-fish-toys"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 Gadgets Toolkit beta brings voice control to singing fish toys Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Amazon Echo 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. Ever heard of Alexa Gadgets ? They’re Bluetooth devices that “enhance” voice interactions with compatible Amazon Echo devices (think connected lightbulbs synced to a killer soundtrack). Amazon made available a software development kit (SDK) in September 2017, alongside the launch of new smart speakers, the Echo Connect, Buttons, and more. But today, it formally launched the Alexa Gadgets Toolkit in beta. The Gadgets Toolkit, which is available starting today in the U.S., U.K., and Germany, comprises self-service APIs and “gadget interfaces” that enable developers to tap into wake word detection, speech, notifications, timers, alarms, reminders, over-the-air updates, and other Echo services and software features. (Support for Amazon Music and kids skills are on the way, Amazon said.) Also in tow is helpful sample code and technical documentation. “Alexa Gadgets extend Alexa’s capabilities to new modalities with motors, lights, sound chips, and more,” Amazon wrote in a blog post. “With the Alexa Gadgets Toolkit, you can build on what customers already love about Alexa, whether it’s responding with requested information from across the room, setting reminders, or playing music.” Gadgets Toolkit launch partners include Hasbro, WowWee Group Limited, Gemmy Industries, Baby Plus, Tomy International, Novalia, and eKids, who’ve used it to make toys like dancing plush animatronics, smart toothbrushes, a touch-sensitive table mat, and an updated Big Mouth Billy Bass. 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 first devices built with the Gadgets Toolkit will go on sale later this year. Also announced today: general availability of the Alexa Skills Kit for Python , an SDK that lets developers make Alexa API calls and quickly access support libraries in Python (as opposed to Java or Node.js). Key features include automatic request handling, attribute management, and Alexa API calls. Both products follow hot on the heels of a CNBC report suggesting Amazon will debut up to eight new Alexa-powered devices this week, including a microwave and an “in-car gadget.” Update at 12:32 p.m. Pacific: Added reference to Amazon’s announcement that the Alexa Skills Kit for Python is now broadly available. 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. "

"Amazon debuts AmazonBasics Microwave and Echo Wall Clock | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/09/20/amazon-debuts-the-amazonbasics-microwave-and-echo-wall-clock"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 debuts AmazonBasics Microwave and Echo Wall Clock Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn An Amazon Prime van in Seattle, Washington, U.S., June 27, 2018. 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. Amazon’s getting into home appliances. Seriously. At its largely Echo- and Alexa-focused event in Seattle today, the company announced the AmazonBasics Microwave, a voice-enabled microwave oven that taps Amazon’s Dash Replenishment Service to restock your pantry (should you run out of TV dinners, for instance). Also on tap? The Echo Wall Clock, an analog clock with Alexa-powered voice recognition. Also announced today: the Fire TV Recast DVR and Echo Auto in-car system; the 2018 Echo Dot, Echo Plus, Echo Show; and the Echo Sub, Echo Link Amp, Echo Link, and Amazon Smart Plug. Above: The AmazonBasics Microwave. Details were hard to come by at publication time, but here’s what we gleaned from the press preview: The Wi-Fi-enabled AmazonBasics Microwave will start at $60 when it goes on sale November 14, and in addition to Dash Replenishment (which can only order popcorn, unfortunately), it boasts the standard array of Alexa features including integration with connected ovens, door locks, and other smart fixtures, reminders, and access to more than 50,000 third-party skills. Alexa isn’t actually built into it, though — you’ll need an Echo to pair it with. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Its voice controls also extend to cooking timers. You can say things like “Alexa, add 30 seconds to the microwave” to update a countdown, or even just “Alexa, one potato” (Alexa is activated with the press of a button on the microwave’s side). Above: The Amazon Echo Wall Clock. The $30 Echo Wall Clock — a 10-inch, battery-powered which looks like the sort of inconspicuous clock you might see hanging in an elementary school classroom — features a clever ring of 60 LEDs around the rim that show ongoing Alexa timers. (If you add a second timer to it, it’ll light up a second LED.) Another nifty feature: automatic time syncing and Daylight Savings Time adjustment. Also announced today : the Echo Sub, Amazon’s answer to voice-enabled premium audio products like Apple’s HomePod, Sonos One, and Google Home Max; the Echo Input, a wireless accessory that connects to legacy speakers; the Echo Link Amp and Echo Link, amplifiers with multiple audio inputs and outputs; and Amazon Smart Plug, a connected outlet plug. That’s in addition to the 2018 Echo Dot, Echo Plus, and Echo Show, and the Fire TV Recast DVR and Echo Auto in-car system. Amazon’s move into the appliance space builds on earlier momentum. At IFA 2018 in Berlin this year, Daniel Rausch, Amazon’s vice president of smart home, announced that Alexa is integrated with over 20,000 devices (up from 4,000 eight months earlier) such as Huawei’s AI Cube smart speaker, Yale’s Sync home alarm system, and Asus’ ZenBook laptops. He said that in that time, the number of brands using Alexa had nearly tripled from 1,200 to 3,500, and that the number of third-party apps — skills, in Amazon’s parlance — available on Alexa surpassed 50,000. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Finally, Amazon Echo developers can build robotic bears that twerk to music | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/17/finally-amazon-lets-developers-build-bears-that-twerk-to-music-from-echo-speakers"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Finally, Amazon Echo developers can build robotic bears that twerk to music Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Amazon Echo Dot and Google Home Mini Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. If you’ve ever dreamed of making a stuffed bear twerk, a hula girl doll sway its hips, or a disco ball light a room to the beat of an Amazon Echo speaker, you’re in for a treat. Amazon today announced that the MusicData Interface, which enables developers to build Bluetooth-connected devices that respond to tracks from Amazon Music playing on an Echo speaker, is available now in beta in the U.S., UK, and Germany, as part of the Alexa Gadgets Toolkit. “Tens of millions of Alexa customers enjoy playing music on their Echo devices, and we’re excited to give [developers] the ability to make that experience even more enjoyable with accompanying gadgets,” Karen Yue, senior marketing manager at Amazon’s Alexa division, wrote in a blog post. “There are endless possibilities for you to build gadget experiences for Alexa customers to enjoy with music.” Above: Gemmy’s twerking bear plush. So how’s it work? When you queue up a tune in Amazon Music (for example, by saying “Alexa, play popular songs on Amazon Music”), Alexa sends a “Tempo directive” — a single value representing the average tempo of the song in beats per minute — to the target gizmo. These directives can be programmed to trigger actions like whirring up motors, color cycling LEDs, and more. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! One of the first customers to take advantage is Gemmy Industries, which used the MusicData interface to build its Twerking Bear plush. It moves its body motors to songs played, pauses its motors when the music stops, and adjusts the motors’ speed when a new song begins. The MusicData Interface joins the other available components in the Alexa Gadgets Toolkit, like the SpeechData Interface, which beams Speechmarks Directives containing visemes (mouth positions that correspond to spoken sounds) to motors via Bluetooth, and the StateListener Interface, which sends StateUpdate Directives that cause target gadgets to react when they “hear” a wake word. The Alexa Gadgets Toolkit launched in beta in September 2018, and comprises self-service APIs and “gadget interfaces” that enable developers to tap into wake word detection, speech, notifications, timers, alarms, reminders, over-the-air updates, and other Echo services and software features. Also in tow is helpful sample code and technical documentation. Gadgets Toolkit launch partners include Hasbro, WowWee Group Limited, Baby Plus, Tomy International, Novalia, and eKids, who’ve used it to make toys like smart toothbrushes, a touch-sensitive table mat, and more. Perhaps the most infamous creation so far is the Alexa-enabled Big Mouth Billy Bass , which hit store shelves two months ago. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon's Alexa brings email updates and skills to routines | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/06/amazons-alexa-brings-email-updates-and-skills-to-routines"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 brings email updates and skills to routines Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. Amazon’s Alexa is getting the ability to automate more tasks today and in the coming weeks as its Routines feature grows new capabilities. Routines allow you to schedule actions, carry out multiple tasks with a single utterance, or create custom voice commands. Starting today, you can create Routines in the Alexa app timed to start after an alarm goes off, so you could for example schedule an Echo speaker to play the latest news, get a weather forecast, and read events on your calendar 10 minutes after your morning alarm. In the weeks ahead, Routines can be tied to sunrise or sunset, and can trigger email updates to share notifications from Gmail or Outlook. That means you can soon say “Alexa, good evening,” and turn on the lights, start your favorite playlist, hear the latest news, and launch an Alexa voice app. Amazon now has about 90,000 Alexa skills. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Cloud Cam or Logitech smart home camera users will also be able to trigger routines based on when a person crosses its field of vision. This resembles the ability to connect a routine with contact and motion sensors introduced in August 2018. Alexa Routines were first introduced in fall 2017. Google Assistant , Samsung’s Bixby and Apple’s Siri have since introduced similar features, likely because voice apps and interaction with AI assistants are most often adopted when part of a person’s daily habits. Other recent upgrades for the AI assistant include hands-free Alexa on Windows 10 PCs , HIPAA-eligible health care skills , and an improved ability to recognize how to translate vague human words into action. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon announces Echo Glow, Echo Flex, and an oven | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/25/amazons-echo-glow-is-a-multicolor-lamp-that-starts-at-29"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 announces Echo Glow, Echo Flex, and an oven 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. Not to be outdone by the AmazonBasics Microwave and Echo Wall Clock it announced last year, Amazon at a press conference this morning unveiled the Alexa Glow, an Alexa companion device with a multicolor LED. Tapping it cycles through colors, predictably. And customers can ask Alexa to kick off scenes like a flickering campfire light, a sleep timer that gradually dims as bedtime nears, a cascade of colors or a favorite color, or (in the near future) a dance party with music and lights. Echo Glow available for preorder today, starting at $29, and it’ll ship before the holidays. 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 Echo Flex — a diminutive Echo speaker designed to plug into wall outlets — also made its debut today. (Amazon says it’s optimized for Alexa’s voice as opposed to music, say.) The included USB charging port can be used to power accessories, including motion sensors and smart nightlights. Above: Amazon’s Echo Flex. An early interface API has been available to select developers in advance of today’s announcement, and the Echo Flex is available for pre-order starting today for $24.99. Accessories will be $14.99 each. Alongside the Flex and Glow, Amazon announced the Certified for Humans, a new program that identifies “struggle-free, tinker-free, and stress-free” lights, plugs, and small appliances. It builds on Amazon’s Frustration Free Setup program launched last year, which stores user’s Wi-Fi details to share them with compatible smart home devices. To earn a Certified for Humans designation, devices must pass muster with a committee of non-experts. They have to meet roughly a dozen other requirements besides, including support for over-the-air background updates and setup through the Alexa app. Above: Amazon’s Smart Oven. Last but not least, Amazon announced the Smart Oven, a combination air fryer and convection oven imbued with AI smarts. It’ll let you know when to stir food and alert you when said food’s cooked, and its Scan to Cook feature works in tandem with the Alexa App and Echo Show to let you scan prepackaged foods from stores like Whole Foods and kick off prep. The Smart Oven starts at $249 and it ships with an Echo Dot smart speaker Alexa gadgets: A history Amazon made available an Alexa Gadgets Toolkit in September 2017, alongside the launch of new smart speakers, the Echo Connect, Buttons, and more. It ships with self-service APIs and “gadget interfaces” that enable developers to tap into wake word detection, speech, notifications, timers, alarms, reminders, and over-the-air updates, in addition to other Echo services and software features. August saw the launch of Custom Interfaces — a part of the Gadgets Toolkit — which offers developers and device manufacturers a way to more tightly connect gadgets with Alexa and Echo smart speakers. While the Gadgets Toolkit can manipulate devices to do things based on an Alexa timer or music — like this twerking teddy bear — Custom Interfaces can go even deeper, with exchanges tied to custom Alexa skills. For example, they can trigger a sound effect every time you score a basket with a toy hoop on the wall, or give music lessons with Alexa when they’re connected to a piano keyboard. More recently, Amazon rolled out the MusicData Interface , which enables developers to build Bluetooth-equipped devices that respond to tracks from Amazon Music playing on an Echo speaker. It’s also a part of the Alexa Gadgets Toolkit, and it joined the other available components in the Alexa Gadgets Toolkit, like the SpeechData Interface (which wirelessly beams Speechmarks Directives containing mouth positions corresponding to spoken sounds to motors) and the StateListener Interface (which sends StateUpdate Directives that cause target gadgets to react when they “hear” a wake word). Gadgets Toolkit launch partners include Hasbro, WowWee Group Limited, Gemmy Industries, Baby Plus, Tomy International, Novalia, and eKids, who’ve used it to make toys like dancing plush animatronics, smart toothbrushes, a touch-sensitive table mat, and an updated Big Mouth Billy Bass. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon explains how Alexa learns new languages | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/11/amazon-explains-how-alexa-learns-new-languages"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 explains how Alexa learns new languages Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. Amazon’s Alexa assistant recently learned to speak new languages globally: Hindi, U.S. Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. Synthetic data aided substantially in this, explained Amazon senior manager for research science Janet Slifka in a post on the Alexa blog this morning, but it wasn’t the end-all-be-all solution. The languages required new bootstrapping tools. One of the tools in question was developed by Amazon’s Alexa AI Applied Modeling and Data Science group and uses a technique called “grammar induction” to analyze “golden utterances” (i.e., canonical examples of customer requests proposed by Alexa feature teams) and produce a series of expressions that can generate similar sentences. The other — “guided resampling” — creates novel sentences by recombining words and phrases from examples in the available data, with an emphasis on optimizing the volume and distribution of the sentence types. Slifka notes that when a new-language version of Alexa is under active development, teams compile training data for the systems that suss out customers’ intents. A portion comes from existing languages translated by AI models, while the rest is typically drawn from crowd workers and Cleo, an Alexa voice app that tasks customers with supplying answers to prompts. A grammars system taps a technique known as Bayesian model merging to generate a representative grammar, or a set of rewrite rules for varying basic template sentences through word insertions, deletions, and substitutions. Normally, the process might take a computational linguist a day, given 50 golden utterances, but the tool shortens the process to seconds by identifying patterns in lists of utterances and using them to produce upwards of 100 candidate rules for thousands of templates. For instance, if two words (say, “pop” and “rock”) consistently occur in similar syntactic positions but the phrasing around them varies, it might suggest a candidate rule that “pop” and “rock” are interchangeable in some contexts. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Helpfully, the grammar system can automatically determine which rules account for the most variance in the sample data (without overgeneralizing), which become eligible variables in further iterations of the process. As an added bonus, it’s able to take advantage of existing Alexa catalogs of frequently occurring terms or phrases. For example, if the golden utterances were sports-related and it determined that the words “Celtics” and “Lakers” were interchangeable, it would conclude that they were also interchangeable with “Warriors,” “Spurs,” “Knicks,” and all the other names of NBA teams known to Alexa. As for the guided-resampling tool, it similarly uses catalogs and existing examples to augment natural language understanding training data. Specifically, it generates additional training samples by swapping out elements in an utterance — for instance, “play Justin Bieber” and “can you play a song by Camila Cabello?” — using what’s known as the Jaccard index to evaluate pairwise similarity between the contents. (The Jaccard index measures the overlap between two sets — in this case, contents in different types of requests.) The result is a system that produces proportionally larger training sets for more complex utterance data patterns, which Slifka notes helps AI models achieve higher performance. “Alexa is always getting smarter, and these and other innovations from AMDS researchers help ensure the best experience possible when Alexa launches in a new locale,” she wrote. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"AI Weekly: With AI-empowered devices, consider what you're buying | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/29/ai-weekly-with-ai-empowered-devices-consider-what-youre-buying"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages AI Weekly: With AI-empowered devices, consider what you’re buying 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’s Black Friday, and throngs of people are shopping for deals on virtual assistant-powered smart home devices from the likes of Amazon and Google. The initial appeal of smart speakers, smart displays, voice-controlled lights is obvious, and according to Strategy Analytics , growth in the smart speaker segment alone is expected to grow 57% by the end of 2019. But as we consider whether these devices will make our lives easier or better, are we giving enough thought to the trade-off between convenience and privacy? It’s essentially the same paradigm, writ small, that the world is facing with AI in general: AI has delivered unprecedented capabilities, but it has also engendered an uneasy sense that we’re losing control over these new tools and technologies. But when you consider buying a device for your home that has an AI assistant on board, you can focus on the questions you should always ask of technology: Does this technology make my life better or easier? What are the trade-offs, and are they worth it for the convenience? Although those are heavy questions generally, when it comes to Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend and you’re looking at a killer discount on some smart home device and wondering if you should click the Buy button, it’s less of an existential conundrum and more of a practical one. What will you use a Google Home Mini for, exactly? Do you really want to turn on music in your kitchen every day by shouting at an Amazon Echo Studio that gets your request right only most of the time? What is the purpose of a “smart” night light? Yes, a smart night light. That’s a real thing that exists in the extended universe of Alexa-compatible smart home products. And its utter banality serves as an excellent illustration of why we need to ask ourselves those aforementioned questions. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! This particular smart night light is made by Third Reality and is certified as “Made for Amazon.” It’s actually an accessory that attaches to the Amazon Echo Flex. The Flex is a palm-sized device that plugs into your wall outlet and can control things like your lights and thermostat. It has its own little mic and speaker that let you not only control Alexa, but talk to people through other Alexa devices in other rooms like an intercom. In a way, the Flex is almost an accessory itself, because it’s designed to be a part of a larger network of Alexa devices rather than a standalone device. It has a USB port on the bottom where you can charge a phone or plug in an attachment, such as a smart night light. The smart night light becomes part of your Alexa device list, and you can manage and control it remotely with the Alexa app on your phone. Features include the ability to adjust the brightness from 1% to 100%, choose from a variety of colors, and determine when the light goes on or off. In other words, it does everything a night light does, but with brightness and color options, and you have to manually set when it turns on and off. In addition to the time you have to spend setting it up and configuring the settings, the smart night light costs $15, and the Flex costs $20. You can buy them together for $32. By contrast, you can get a four-pack of non-smart night lights for $9 on Amazon. They turn on when they sense that the light in the room is too low. They shut off when the light becomes brighter. Installation comprises plugging them into a wall outlet. Arguably, the non-smart night light is already a perfect product — cheap, easy to install, reliable, purpose-built — so why does the smart night light exist? Sure, it’s neat to be able to do things like adjust brightness, pick fun colors, and control it with your phone, but you’d have to stretch to make the case that it’s making your life better. It’s certainly not making anything easier than non-smart night lights, and it’s not more convenient. And it costs more money. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a silly, fun device, and there’s nothing wrong with paying a little more for it than you need to. But there is a larger cost to consider: Amazon has grand plans for your home. The company is clear that it wants to put Alexa everywhere it possibly can , and just this week it rolled out increased abilities to build its intelligence to even more IoT edge devices with AWS IoT Core and enabled Alexa controls for new classes of objects in the home. Like other major virtual assistant platforms, Alexa devices record audio of your commands, necessitating oversight by you, the user. There are problems with Alexa’s user-submitted answers, too. Amazon also owns video doorbell maker Ring, with its troubling privacy and surveillance concerns , and it makes the controversial Rekognition facial recognition technology. This is not to mention its extensive AWS services. When you buy that little smart night light and the Flex to go with it, you’re buying further into an ecosystem of devices, services, and technologies that’s entirely controlled by Amazon. This is not an argument that you should or should not buy into that ecosystem; it’s a reminder that when you buy a smart device, you’re not just buying a product with some extra features. That’s not how AI-powered products work. Buy your smart device or give some as gifts, or don’t, and be happy with your choices. But like all emerging and transformative technologies, don’t forget to ask yourself what it will give you, and what it will cost. And then when it comes to larger decisions about building, buying, or creating AI technologies for your company or organization, ask the same questions. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Google's Night Sight arrives for Pixel phones -- here's how it works | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/11/14/google-pixel-night-sight"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 Night Sight arrives for Pixel phones — here’s how it works Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Night Sight enabled on the left; disabled on the right. 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. During a hardware event in early October, Google announced that the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL , its newest pair of flagship smartphones, would be the first to get a new photography mode that dramatically improves the quality of photos captured in low light: Night Sight. With the aid of machine learning and a bit of clever computational photography, Night Sight promised not only brighten pics and selfies captured in near-darkness, but restore their color and sharpness — all without the aid of a camera flash. Night Sight made a premature debut in October courtesy of a leaked app, but today marks the start of its official rollout. Beginning this week, Night Sight will come not only to the Pixel 3 and 3 XL, but to the Pixel 2 and original Pixel. And judging by our preliminary testing, it was well worth the wait. Night Sight results Check out this scene of a starless San Francisco evening. When Night Sight’s disabled, barely any of the homes on the horizon are visible — they’re a blurry, homogeneous inky-black smudge. Night Sight illuminates them brightly, restoring lost detail in the framing trees to the left and right. Above: Night Sight disabled. Above: Night Sight enabled. It’s pretty much the same story in this photo set — albeit more dramatic. The entire valley becomes brighter with Night Sight switched on, from the grass and trees to the lake and neighborhood across the way. Shrubbery that couldn’t previously be seen becomes plain as day. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Above: Night sight disabled. Above: Night Sight enabled. These shots are a bit more subtle, but notice the sky and the shadows cast by the rooftops of the skyscrapers. They’re noticeably more detailed than in the photo captured with the Pixel’s default shooting mode. Above: Night Sight disabled. Above: Night Sight enabled. How to use Night Sight Night Sight isn’t all that’s new. Two modes are joining the Pixel 3’s focus controls: Near and Far. The former focuses at 4 feet, and the latter focuses at 12 — a hyperfocal distance (everything from half of 6 feet to infinity is in focus). When Night Sight hits your Pixel, it’ll kick in automatically in most cases — the camera app will surface a shortcut to Night Sight if lighting conditions are dim enough. Alternatively, you can prime it manually by swiping over to the app’s More tab and selecting Night. Night Sight isn’t a cure-all, of course. Google recommends soft, uniform lighting to avoid creating dark shadows, and warns that “very bright light sources” in the field of view could produce lens flare artifacts. If you’re having trouble focusing, try tapping on a high-contrast edge or the edge of a light source. And if your pics come out blurry, find something stable you can brace your phone against. One last item to note: The easiest way to increase exposure is by tapping on and moving the camera app’s exposure slider. Decreasing exposure, on the other hand, is best done after the fact in the Google Photos editor (it’ll be less noisy). How Night Sight works So how does it work, exactly? Night Sight first tackles the problem of image noise — i.e., random variations in brightness from pixel to pixel. As Google Research project lead Marc Levoy and staff software engineer Yael Pritch Knaan note in a detailed blog post , it’s largely result of “moment-to-moment variations in the number of photos entering the lens,” and it’s something that every camera — but particularly smartphone cameras, which have small lenses and sensors — suffer from. To maker matters worse, it’s not the only source of noise — read noise, the result of random errors introduced when the electronic charge out of each pixel is read and converted to a number, introduces additional distortion. Together, read noise and image noise contribute to a photo’s overall signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio, a measure of how much the image stands out from variations in brightness. Taking a longer exposure — a greater amount of light — produces a less noisy image, but as Levoy and Knaan point out, holding still long enough to take a good picture in dim light is easier said than done. Above: Night Sight at dusk. Google’s high dynamic range plus (HDR+) mode partially mitigates this by capturing underexposed burst frames and aligning and merging them together in software. By using short exposures and automatically rejecting frames for which it can’t find a perfect alignment, it not only enhances dynamic range — i.e., color and contrast — but improves SNR, as well. However, brightening photos captured in the dark isn’t that simple. Levoy and Knaan lay out the problem: Phone cameras start to struggle in extremely dim light of about 30 lux (the amount of light arriving at a surface per unit area, as measured in lumens per meter squared). That’s roughly the difference between a candlelit dinner and an average restaurant, and perfectly well and fine in most scenarios — but the goal with Night Sight was to reduce noise in pictures taken with 0.3-3 lux, with 3 lux being equivalent to a sidewalk lit by street lamps. The exposure conundrum The solution seems simple enough: lengthen the exposure time of each frame. But there’s two problems with that approach. First of all, the Pixel uses zero-shutter-lag (ZSL), which minimizes the delay between triggering the shutter and when the photograph is actually recorded. That limits exposure time. The camera app constantly captures image frames and stores them in a buffer that constantly erases old frames to make room for new ones; the most recent 9 or 15 are reserved for HDR+ or Super Res Zoom. Because the same images are displayed on the screen, though, simply increasing the exposure time of each frame would make the viewfinder feel unresponsive. Above: Night Sight and a bright moon. Levoy and Knaan’s solution was to limit the exposure to 66 milliseconds most of the time, allowing the viewfinder to keep up with a display rate of 15 frames per second, but to enable positive-shutter lag (PSL) the moment the shutter button is pressed when Night Sight is enabled, allowing for longer exposures and improving signal-to-noise ratio. Merging and aligning blurry photos The second problem is motion blur — the result of shaky hands or moving objects. The Pixel’s default picture-taking mode performs motion metering, which uses an optical flow to measure scene motion and choose and per-frame exposure time (up to 333 milliseconds) that minimizes blur. It even goes so far as to detect whether the phone might be on a tripod or held against a well (as measured by the gyroscope) to increase exposure to as high as 1 second. Additionally, it varies the number of frames captured depending on whether the phone’s on a tripod (up to 6 frames) or handheld (up to 15), and limits the total capture time to 6 seconds. That all said, alignment and merging — known as exposure stacking in astrophotography — are arguably Night Sight’s secret sauce. It’s how it manages to reduce imaging noise. On the Pixel 1 and 2, a modified and retuned version of HDR+’s merging algorithm detects and rejects misaligned pieces of frames, and on the Pixel 3, the Super Res Zoom feature handles the heavy lifting. It was designed for super-resolution — it averages multiple images together to improve detail in zoomed-in shots — but also works to reduce noise. Other challenges Those weren’t the only challenges Levoy and Knaan had to overcome. The auto white balance (AWB) algorithm used in non-Night Sight modes has trouble deciding what color illumination is in dim or strongly colored light, so they developed a bespoke, learning-based algorithm for Night Sight that’s trained to discriminate between a well-balanced image and a poorly balanced one. If it detects the latter, it automatically suggests how to shift the colors to make the illumination appear more natural. Above: Foliage captured with Night Sight enabled. Tone mapping — mapping from raw pixel values to final brightness, in this case to brighten shadows while preserving overall perceived brightness — proved to be equally as problematic. On a high-end digital camera, taking a long exposure at night produces sharp, colorful photographs with detailed shadows. It doesn’t always achieve the desired effect, however, so Night Sight throws an S-curve into tone mapping. “If you share the photograph with a friend, they’ll be confused about when you captured it,” Levoy and Knaan wrote. “It’s tricky to strike an effective balance between giving you magical super-powers while still reminding you when the photo was captured,” Lovoy and Knaan admitted. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"The best smartphones for the AI enthusiast | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/11/21/the-best-smartphones-for-the-ai-enthusiast"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 best smartphones for the AI enthusiast 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. Black Friday — the U.S.’s single-biggest shopping day — is nearly upon us, and that’s great news if you’re in the market for a smartphone. Retailers like Target and Best Buy are offering hundreds of dollars off the purchase of flagship Samsung Galaxy handsets. There’s a buy-one-get-one-free deal on LG G7 ThinQ at T-Mobile. And even Apple’s 2018 iPhone lineup, which was unveiled just two months ago, is seeing price reductions. It’s almost too much of a good thing — particularly if you haven’t committed to a brand or model yet. Conventional wisdom would have you compare the screen resolutions, processors, accessories, and other hardware components to find the phone that most appeals to you. But this being VentureBeat’s AI Channel, we’re proposing a different metric: AI features. In our smartphone buying guide, we’ve pitting the year’s top phones against each other in a battle of AI wits, and have crowned champions in three categories: the smartphone with the best AI chip, the best AI camera features, and the best alternative AI assistant. Smartphone with the best AI chip iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR ($749, $999, $1,099) Apple’s bleeding-edge smartphone trio — the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR — have something in common: the A12 Bionic , the 7-nanometer custom-architected system-on-chip that Apple characterized as its “most powerful ever” designed for smartphones. It boasts six cores — two performance cores and four high-power cores — plus a four-core GPU. But arguably the real highlight is the neural engine: an eight-core, dedicated machine learning processor. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! It’s Apple’s second-generation neural engine — the first shipped with the iPhone X’s A11 Bionic chip — and it’s a step up from its predecessor in every way. The neural engine can perform 5 trillion operations per second compared to the last-gen silicon’s 600 billion, and apps created with Core ML 2 — the newest release of Apple’s machine learning framework — tap it to run up to nine times faster and launch up to 30 percent faster using one-tenth of the power. Moreover, the Apple’s AI chip takes advantage of a “smart compute” system that can automatically determine whether to run algorithms on the A12’s primary processor cores, the GPU cores, the neural engine, or a combination of all three. That’s all well and good, but what really sets the neural engine apart from the competition is the wealth of features optimized for it. Face ID, Animoiji and Memoji, Portrait Lighting, and Apple’s ARKit 2.0 augmented reality framework are among them, in addition to the iPhone’s improved Portrait mode. When you hit the shutter button, neural engine-accelerated algorithms attempt to figure out what kind of scene is being photographed and distinguish a person from the background. That AI-informed understanding of depth enables postproduction editing of the blur and sharpness. On the third-party side of the equation, developers can run code on the neural engine. San Jose software company Nex Team’s basketball app, HomeCourt, taps it to track and log shots, misses, and a player’s location on court in real time. App development on the neural engine benefits from Core ML 2. Core ML 2, for the uninitiated, allows developers to load on-device machine learning models onto an iPhone or iPad, or to convert models from frameworks like XGBoost, Keras, LibSVM, scikit-learn, and Facebook’s Caffe and Caffe2. Core ML 2 is 30 percent faster than Core ML, Apple says, thanks to a technique called batch prediction, and enables developers to shrink the size of trained machine learning models by up to 75 percent through quantization. Runner-up: Huawei Mate 20 Pro (~$1,150) Above: Huawei Mate 20 Pro: Leica lenses Apple’s latest-gen neural engine is an impressive chip, to be sure. And so is the Neural Processing Unit (NPU) in Huawei’s Kirin 980 , the 7-nanometer system-on-chip inside the Mate 20 Pro. It’s the second NPU iteration — the first made its debut in September 2017, in the Kirin 970 — and it’s specially optimized for the sort of vector math that makes up the heart of machine learning models. The chip’s two NPUs (up from one in the Kirin 970) can recognize up to 4,500 images per minute, compared to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 ‘s 2,371 images and the A11 Bionic’s 1,458. And it boasts superior object recognition, real-time image processing, and real-time object segmentation, achieving up to 135 percent better performance in benchmarks like ResNet and Inception v3 while consuming 88 percent less power than the Snapdragon 845. On the Mate 20 Pro , system-level AI running on the NPU intelligently ramps up the GPU’s clock speed during intense gaming sessions, minimizes system lag, and delivers “smoother outdoor gaming experiences” in areas with weak signals. Additionally, Huawei says its heterogeneous computing structure — HiAI — can automatically distribute voice recognition, natural language processing, and computer vision workloads across the chip. The NPU also powers camera features like AI Color, a Sin City- inspired effect that keeps a subject in color while everything else in the scene is black and white, and a 3D object-scanning tool — Live Object — that recreates real-world objects in digital environments. The Mate 20 Pro’s Animoji-like Live Emoji and 3D Face Unlock tap into the NPU for facial tracking, while its Master AI 2.0 camera mode leverages it to recognize scenes and objects automatically and adjust settings like macro and lens angle. Additionally, AI Zoom uses NPU-accelerated object tracking to automatically zoom in and out of subjects; video bokeh highlights the foreground subject while blurring the background; and Highlights generates edited video spotlights around recognized faces. Third-party developers can tap the NPU through Huawei’s HiAI library and API, and some already have. Microsoft’s Translator app, for example, uses it for tasks like scanning and translating words in pictures, and image editing app Prisma leverages it to perform on-device style transfer in seconds. Smartphone with the best AI camera features Google Pixel 3 and 3 XL ($799, $899) As we wrote in our review of Google’s Pixel 3 , many of the phone’s best features — whether it’s predictive battery-saving or the ability to screen calls — are made better with AI. And that’s particularly evident on the photography front. The Pixel 3 has two selfie cams — both 8MP sensors — and on the rear of the phone, there’s a single camera 12.2-megapixel sensor. The rear camera is the biggest beneficiary of Google’s truly impressive AI. Pixel 3’s Top Shot feature captures a burst frame before and after you tap the shutter button, and uses on-device AI to pick the best picture. Photobooth taps machine learning to take the “best” photos — i.e., minimally blurry and well-lit — automatically. That’s why, despite having one camera compared to the LG V40 and Huawei P20, which each have three, the Pixel 3 takes some of the best photos we’ve seen from a smartphone. For another example of AI’s photo-manipulating prowess, look no further than Google’s own portrait mode, which filters out facial features, clothing, and skin in portrait pics with a machine learning model that detects pixel-level differences in color and edges. (It works on both the front and rear cameras.) Another example is HDR+, Google’s in-house approach to high dynamic range. It captures between 9 and 15 images in rapid succession and merges them together to minimize noise, and cleverly leaves them all underexposed to help keep colors saturated in low light. And yet another is Super Res Zoom, which merges frames to form a higher-resolution image that’s “roughly competitive with the 2x optical zoom lenses on many other smartphones,” according to Google. And then, there’s the Pixel 3’s truly impressive Night Sight mode. Using algorithmically driven alignment and merging techniques, including a modified version of the HDR+ stack that detects and rejects misaligned frames and a custom auto white balance (ABW) model trained to discriminate between a well-balanced image and a poorly balanced one, it’s able to reduce noise in photos taken in environments with just 0.3-3 lux (the amount of light arriving at a surface per unit area, as measured in lumens per meter squared). For point of reference, 3 lux is equivalent to a sidewalk lit by street lamps. Smartphone with the best alternative AI assistant Galaxy Note 9 ($999) Bixby, Samsung’s homegrown voice assistant, gets a lot of well-deserved flak for performing a little bit worse in some scenarios than the Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa. But for all of its shortcomings, it’s come a long way since its debut alongside the Samsung Galaxy S8 in 2017. The improved Bixby in the Galaxy Note 9 — Bixby 2.0 — has better natural language processing, faster response times, and built-in noise reduction tech, and it retains the ability to recognize chained instructions like “Open the gallery app in split-screen view and rotate misaligned photos” and “Play videos on a nearby TV.” It’s also more conversational — when you ask it about upcoming concerts over Thanksgiving weekend, for example, it will remember that date range when looking for tickets in the future. Finally, thanks to forthcoming support for new languages, availability in more than 200 markets, and the recently launched Bixby Developer Center , it promises wider app support than ever before. There’s more to Bixby than voice recognition, of course. Bixby Home, a “social stream for your device,” is a dashboard of reminders and social media updates collated in cards that can be dismissed, pinned, or permanently hidden. Also on tap is Bixby Vision, a Google Lens-like object recognition app that leverages integrations with Vivino, Amazon, Adobe, Nordstrom, Sephora, Cover Girl, and others (and Samsung’s data-sharing partnerships with FourSquare and Pinterest). It can scan barcodes, turn receipts into readable files, and show relevant product listings, recommend wine, display the calorie counts of food, and let you virtually “try on” makeup products. Conclusion So there you have it: four flagship smartphones that make innovative use of AI across three distinct categories. Apple’s 2018 iPhone lineup is far and away the winner on the chipset front — its upgraded neural engine, combined with powerful software tools and a thriving developer ecosystem cement its lead in hardware. That said, Huawei is beginning to nip at its heels, particularly when taking into account the Mate 20 Pro’s first-party camera features that tap the Kirin 980’s improved AI chip, like AI Color and Master AI 2.0. As impressive as the Mate 20 Pro’s camera is, though, it falls just short of Google’s Pixel 3 in the computational photography category. The Pixel 3 has one of the best smartphone cameras we’ve ever tested, thanks in large part to AI. Last but not least, there’s the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, a showcase for the latest version of Samsung’s Bixby assistant. Bixby might not be the most reliable platform on the block, but it’s grown considerably more robust in recent months. And to our knowledge, Bixby Voice is one of the only (if not the only) voice assistants that can recognize chained commands and interact with app menus and submenus, making it great for hands-free usage. The iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, Galaxy Note 9, and Google Pixel 3 are available for purchase at carrier stores, Amazon, Best Buy, and other major brick-and-mortar electronics retailers. The Mate 20 Pro, it’s worth noting, hasn’t been made officially available in the U.S. — you’ll have to transact with a third-party retailer to get your hands on it. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Samsung introduces Bixby Routines, AI that learns your habits and anticipate your needs | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/20/samsung-introduces-bixby-routines-ai-that-learns-your-habits-and-anticipate-your-needs"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 introduces Bixby Routines, AI that learns your habits and anticipate your needs 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. Samsung unveiled a collection of new devices today in San Francisco, from S10 flagship phones to the Galaxy Fold , a smartphone that can fold out into a tablet. Underlying each of these powerful pieces of hardware is artificial intelligence and access to voice assistant Bixby. To improve Bixby’s smarts, Samsung today also introduced Bixby Routines, a service that functions alongside Bixby Vision and Bixby Home. As shown in a tweet from Samsung Mobile, in the evening Routines may mute your phone, turn on Night Mode, and shut off mobile data, and in the car Routines can switch on hands-free voice commands and your favorite music provider. Support for Italian, Spanish, and British English was also made available with Bixby today. 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 phone that learns your habits to blend seamlessly into your day. #GalaxyS10 #SamsungEvent Learn more: https://t.co/1q8ihACGjB pic.twitter.com/zNIlrP46kd — Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) February 20, 2019 The Routines announcement was rumored following a trademark filed by Samsung in South Korea last week. Predictive elements powered by AI are increasingly part of the mobile experience. Quick app access points for Android and iOS mobile operating systems also surface recommendations based on past usage. Android Pie offers Adaptive Battery and Adaptive Brightness personalized for the individual, and Siri Suggestions in iOS 12 serve up recommendations on iPhone lock screens and the Apple Watch based on how you use the devices. Due to the fact that Bixby needs time to learn the phone to get to know you, VentureBeat was unable to test the new feature in hands-on demonstrations today. Routines for Bixby appear to be different than how Routines are defined for other assistants. In the case of Alexa and Google Assistant, Routines allow users to customize voice commands or carry out multiple tasks with a single phrase or utterance. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Adam Cheyer: Samsung's plan for winning with Bixby is empowering third-party developers | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/22/adam-cheyer-samsungs-plan-for-winning-with-bixby-is-empowering-third-party-developers"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 Adam Cheyer: Samsung’s plan for winning with Bixby is empowering third-party developers Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Viv Labs cocreator Adam Cheyer onstage at Samsung Developer Conference held Nov. 7 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California 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. Adam Cheyer, a Brandeis University and UCLA alum with degrees in computer science and AI, knows a thing or two about digital assistants. He previously led the Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes (CALO) project at SRI International’s Artificial Intelligence Center, which sought to integrate cutting-edge machine learning techniques into a platform-agnostic cognitive assistant. Cheyer was on the founding team of Siri , the startup behind the eponymous AI assistant technology that Apple acquired in 2010 for $200 million, and he cofounded Viv Labs , which emerged from stealth in 2016 after spending four years developing an assistant platform designed to handle complex queries. Samsung acquired Viv in October 2016 for roughly $215 million and soon after tasked Cheyer and colleagues with building their startup’s technology into the company’s Bixby assistant, which rolled out in March 2017 alongside the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+. The fruit of their labor — Bixby 2.0 — made its debut in October 2017 at Samsung’s Bixby Developer Conference, and it formally launched on the Galaxy Note9 in August 2018. Today, Bixby is available in over 200 countries and on over 500 million devices, including Samsung’s Family Hub 2.0 refrigerators, its latest-gen Smart TV lineup, and smartphone and tablet series that include the Galaxy S, Galaxy Note, and mid-range Galaxy C, J, and A. (Sometime this year, the first-ever smart speaker with Bixby built in — the Galaxy Home — will join the club.) On the features front, Bixby has learned to recognize thousands of commands and speak German, French, Italian, U.K. English, and Spanish. And thanks to a newly released developer toolkit — Bixby Developer Studio — it supports more third-party apps and services. But the Bixby team faces formidable challenges, perhaps chief among them boosting adoption. Market researcher Ovum estimates that 6% of Americans used Bixby as of November 2018, compared with 24% who used Alexa and 20% who favored Google Assistant. For insight into Bixby’s development and a glimpse of what the future might hold, VentureBeat spoke with Cheyer ahead of a Bixby Developer Session in Brooklyn today. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Here’s a lightly edited transcript of our discussion. VentureBeat: I’d love to learn more about Bixby Marketplace , Bixby’s upcoming app store. What can customers expect? Will they have to search for Bixby apps and add them manually or will they be able to launch apps with trigger words and phrases? Adam Cheyer: Bixby Marketplace will eventually be available as part of the Galaxy Store , the app store [on Galaxy phones, Samsung Gear wearables, and feature phones]. Samsung is committed to having a single place where you can buy apps, watch faces, and other items. You’ll be able to find Capsules there, in addition, and Capsules contributed by developers in Samsung’s Premier Development Program will have key placement. But I think the coolest way to interact with the Marketplace will be through Bixby itself. There’s a number of approaches you can take already. One is Bixby Home, [the left-most dashboard] on Galaxy phones’ home screens. On [smartphones], you just tap on the Bixby button and swipe to see featured Capsules and other Capsules in all sorts of categories. You can also discover Capsules automatically through natural language. For instance, if you say something like “Get me a ride to San Francisco,” Bixby will respond ”Well, you don’t have any rideshare providers enabled right now, but here are several providers in the Marketplace.” You’ll then be prompted to try [the different options] and decide whether you like one brand, another brand, or both. If you enable more than one, Bixby will ask which you’d like to use by default. Also, as you suggested, you can invoke Capsules with a name or phrase. For instance, you can say “Uber, get me a ride to San Francisco.” VentureBeat: Right. So eventually, will developers be able to charge for voice experiences — either for Capsules themselves or Capsule functionality? I’m envisioning something akin to Amazon’s In-Skill Purchases, which supports one-time purchases and subscriptions. Cheyer : Absolutely. The first version of the Bixby Marketplace will not feature what I call “premium Capsules,” which means paid apps or subscription apps. But we’re working hard on that, and we’ll have some announcements around that soon. We know that the content providers of the world need to make a living, and we will absolutely support that. Transactional Capsules can charge money — we have providers like Ticketmaster and 1-800-Flowers who are accepting purchases today, and we’ve worked really hard to lower purchase friction for our commerce partners. If you’ve saved your card on file anywhere within the Samsung ecosystem, Bixby will know about it — you just say “Send some flowers to my mom,” and the 1-800-Flowers Capsule will say “Great — do you want to pay with your usual card?” Additionally, we support OAuth for partners like Uber, which have cards on file within user accounts. You’re able to attach Bixby and give it account access privileges so that you can make purchases in these partners’ payment flows. VentureBeat: You added new languages to Bixby recently — they joined English, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese. What are a few of the localization barriers the team’s facing as they bring Bixby to new territories? Cheyer : We’re working hard to launch at least five new languages a year, and we may up that in the future. We believe that offering the right tools and building an ecosystem that scales will enable the world’s developers to create fantastic content for end-users. This is especially important when it comes to globalization because it means that we don’t have to localize every single service. Instead, we provide a platform that has the same capabilities in each language. VentureBeat: So on the subject of developer tools, has the Bixby team investigated neural voices like those adopted by Amazon and Google ? I’m referring to voices generated by deep neural networks that sound much more human-like than the previous generation of synthetic voices. Cheyer: I’m not going to announce anything that’s not yet in production, but I will say that Samsung has significant capabilities not only on the text-to-speech side of things but on the speech recognition side, as well. There’s significant advances being made in AI, and neural network voices is certainly one of them. There’s also a lot of work ongoing in automatic speech recognition (ASR) — we’re transitioning from hidden Markov model approaches to pure end-to-end neural networks — and we’re seeing ASR models move from the cloud to edge devices like phones. We’re definitely aware of all of this, and you can rest assured that we’re working hard on these areas. VentureBeat: You briefly mentioned privacy. As you’re probably aware, there’s some concern about how recorded commands from voice assistants are being stored and used. Bixby already offers a way to delete recordings, but would the team consider introducing new commands or in-app settings that’d make it even easier to delete this data? Cheyer: Sure — we’re open to all of those things. Privacy is an important and multifaceted issue. For me personally, it’s not just the fact that my voice was used to tune a particular speech recognition model somewhere. I’m much more concerned about what an assistant’s doing on a semantic level — what it knows about me and why it’s showing me certain information. But different users are going to worry about different things. You have to offer a variety of ways to let users control the data that companies have, and how they use that data. One thing that’s important to note is that we’ve made control over what Bixby learns a fundamental platform capability. I’ll give you an example: With Bixby, developers can opt to use machine learning to process requests from users. If I ask Bixby about the weather in Boston, it might not be obvious, but which “Boston” I’m referring to is actually a preference. Most people are going to choose Boston, Massachusetts, but people who live in Texas might choose Boston, Texas. It’s kind of annoying to have to repeatedly specify which Boston you want, which is why Bixby is built to learn preferences about things like restaurants, products, and ridesharing globally and locally. We surface these learnings to users in the Understandings page. They’ll see that Bixby guessed that they meant Boston, Massachusetts last time they asked about the weather. If they didn’t, they’re able to update it or make it clear that they don’t want Bixby to know this information about them. They always have total visibility of what is known about them and how it’s being used at a very granular level. VentureBeat: Would you say that this degree of customization and personalization is one of Bixby’s strong suits? Cheyer: Yes. At a high level, most of what competitors provide developers is speech recognition and language understanding, but that’s pretty much it. From there, the developer has to hardwire each use case and hand-code everything that happens next, whether that’s querying a mapping server to figure out which “Boston” a user is referring to. Bixby is a radically different platform, where every question that gets asked of the user goes through a machine learning process. No other platform on the market from any competitor has anything like that. We have an AI tool, and for every use case that a developer comes up with, it will write the code and take care of assembly, calling out to different APIs, translating the information from one API to another, interacting with the user, and learning from interactions. All that comes for free with the platform. This type of learning — we call it dynamic program generation — has a lot of benefits around privacy and security. It makes for a much richer experience and saves a lot of development time. Another thing I think is super exciting about the Capsule approach is that developers can use the same Capsule across multiple devices. They don’t need a Capsule for a TV, a different Capsule for a refrigerator, and a third Capsule for a phone. When they build a Capsule, that Capsule is the same Capsule that supports all languages and all devices. We have this new Bixby Views system that’s publicly available so that developers can build multimodal graphical experiences with the richest palette of components available. And there are automatic conversions so that unmodified capsules will run brilliantly on things as small as watches, as big as the Wall TV , and everything in-between. The primary usage of most other assistants goes to the built-in services that come out of the box with those assistants. Despite tens of thousands of skills or actions that third parties create, very little usage goes to third-party developers for a variety of reasons. One of the things that we’re committed to with Bixby is giving as much power and focus to third-party developers as possible. That’s really our long-term plan for winning — having a vibrant ecosystem where most of the business and most of the user traffic goes to third parties. VentureBeat: Samsung recently announced Bixby Routines , which learn habits to preemptively launch apps and settings. Do you have any updates to share on Routines or any other predictive features that might soon come to Bixby? Cheyer: Samsung acquired not only Viv Labs’ technology but acquired SmartThings [in August 2014], and one of the things SmartThings does is that it manages complex routines [through SmartThings Cloud]. So there’s that already, and I think there will be continued enhancements in existing integrations between Bixby and SmartThings — that’s something to look for. A single use case in the Bixby framework — like booking a flight — gets broken down into around 60 different automatically generated steps executed interactively. If you think about Routines, it’s just changing together different steps — the base technology is already being used in Capsule development. Requests are still mostly Capsule-specific, and so there’s limited cross-capsule capability. As soon as we open that up on the natural language side, the execution and dynamic programs generation capabilities are all there already. VentureBeat: It’s fair to say that a key appeal of assistants is how seamlessly they command home devices. I’d love to hear about how the Bixby team is thinking about third-party device integration, and perhaps areas where they’re investing time and resources into making these interactions more powerful. Cheyer: For me, one of the big announcements this year for Bixby will be device footprint. Last year, Bixby 2.0 was out on a single phone, but Samsung is aggressively working to backport the new Bixby to every smartphone with at least a Bixby button and some even without Bixby buttons. As a result, the number of devices that have Bixby will go up significantly just in the handset dimension. Samsung’s also beginning to ship Bixby today on Family Hub refrigerators, Smart TVs, and in the future Galaxy Home speakers, and there are many, many more devices that I can’t talk about that will be getting Bixby this year. I think when you look back at the end of the year, you’ll see Bixby nearly everywhere. And, as you know, Samsung has a device footprint of about a billion devices, and the company is on record as saying that by 2020, all of the devices they sell will be connected. They’re investing heavily to make Bixby a ubiquitous control interface. VentureBeat: Speaking of ubiquity, can we expect to see Bixby on third-party devices in the near future? Will developers and manufacturers eventually be able to add Bixby to their devices? Cheyer: That was something extremely important to me when Samsung acquired Viv. We always intended to make the assistant as important an ecosystem as the web and mobile — once you have a thriving ecosystem and businesses are supporting it, the assistant becomes more than just a device feature. You want to get it on every single device in the world to drive more requests and allow users to benefit from its scale. Samsung committed to me and has publicly committed to shipping Bixby on non-Samsung devices. This year, our work will focus on getting it out to millions of Samsung devices and opening a market for third-party developers. And next year or sometime soon, our intention absolutely is to open up Bixby to non-Samsung 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. All rights reserved. "

"Samsung launches Bixby Marketplace in the U.S. and South Korea | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/07/01/samsung-launches-bixby-marketplace-in-the-u-s-and-south-korea"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 Bixby Marketplace in the U.S. and South Korea Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Samsung's Bixby Marketplace Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Samsung has launched its Bixby Marketplace, a dedicated app store where third-party developers can offer their own Bixby-compatible services, similar to Amazon’s Alexa skills. The marketplace, which apparently started rolling out a few days ago, is officially now open for Samsung customers in the U.S. and South Korea. Bixby, for the uninitiated, is akin to Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri — it’s an intelligent voice-enabled virtual assistant that allows users to ask questions about almost anything. There are various components to Bixby, including a text element that allows people to type a message to the assistant asking it to do something — like remind the user to take the dog out for a walk when they get home. Then there is Bixby Vision , which integrates with the phone’s camera to serve up information on things in the real world, and Bixby Home, a personalized page of information, such as reminders, news, and weather. A few months back, Samsung also announced Bixby Routines , which is basically AI that learns your habits to anticipate what you might want at a specific time. Samsung launched Bixby back in 2017 alongside its flagship Galaxy S8 handsets , and today the assistant is available globally on more than 500 million devices — including Samsung’s smart fridges , smart TVs, phones, tablets, and — soon — Samsung’s very own smart speaker. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! While Samsung continues to claim the top spot in terms of global smartphone shipments — despite a broader downward trajectory in phone sales around the world — it lags behind other big competitors in the virtual assistant realm. Market research firm Ovum last year estimated that Bixby was used by just 6% of people in the U.S., compared with Amazon’s 24%, Apple’s 22%, Google’s 20%, and Microsoft’s 10%. This is partly what the Bixby Marketplace is designed to combat — Samsung is counting on developers to make Bixby more useful. Back in November, Samsung announced it was opening Bixby to third-party developers and launched a toolkit to help them create voice apps that are compatible with the digital assistant. This included the Bixby Developer Center, a centralized hub for developers creating Bixby-enabled apps. At the same time, Samsung announced the Bixby Marketplace to let developers promote and sell their handiwork. Bixby Marketplace The marketplace is available through the main Bixby page on Samsung phones, though the company eventually intends to include it as part of the main Galaxy app store. Through the marketplace, users can search for services — which Samsung calls “capsules” — that enhance Bixby. These capsules are categorized by type, such as “travel and transportation,” “food and drink,” “sports,” “shopping,” and “productivity,” and many well-known apps are featured at launch, including from Spotify, Uber, Google Maps, Yelp, and YouTube. Above: Samsung’s Bixby Marketplace Though users can browse the marketplace for capsules manually, they can also search verbally using natural language instructions. In an interview with VentureBeat last month , Bixby chief Adam Cheyer offered a glimpse into some of the new marketplace’s funtionality. If a user asks Bixby to “get me a ride to San Francisco” when they don’t have any ride-sharing services enabled, for example, Bixby may respond by suggesting several providers (such as Uber). “You’ll then be prompted to try [the different options] and decide whether you like one brand, another brand, or both,” Cheyer said. “If you enable more than one, Bixby will ask which you’d like to use by default.” Users can add capsules with a tap, and — as with traditional app stores — the Bixby Marketplace supports ratings and reviews to help surface the best, or most popular, capsules. At launch, the marketplace won’t feature “premium capsules,” which is how Samsung refers to paid or subscription apps — but that will be coming further down the line. However, it will support transactional capsules, such as a service like 1-800-Flowers sending flowers to someone on request and charging the order to the user’s card. Today’s launch is just phase one of the Bixby Marketplace — the company said it has “more exciting updates” planned for its Samsung Developer Conference later this year. Hopefully, it will be ready to share more about when capsules will be available to consumers in other markets. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Huawei unveils Mate 30 series with no mention of Google | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/19/huawei-unveils-mate-30-series-with-no-mention-of-google-or-android"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Huawei unveils Mate 30 series with no mention of Google 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. It’s a curious time for Huawei, which only weeks ago announced new earbuds as the U.S. contemplated lifting trade restrictions on the company and its subsidiaries. Escalating tensions with China threaten to put the kibosh on easement plans in the near term, and Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei estimates the resulting lost revenue at $30 billion. But that’s not stopping the Beijing company from forging ahead. At a press event this morning in Munich, Huawei announced the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro. They’re the successors to last year’s Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, and they’ve improved in nearly every respect. Among the highlights are a quad rear camera with a 40-megapixel primary sensor and an edge-to-edge display that extends nearly to the phone’s rear cover. Plus, not for nothing, they’re the first to sport Huawei’s new Kirin 990 5G, an all-in-one, full-frequency 5G system-on-chip. Design The Mate 30 Pro is distinguished from the Mate 30 mostly by size, as was the case with the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. It’s slightly larger and heavier (198 grams versus 196 grams), and it has a narrow screen notch accommodating the front-facing camera and sensors, as opposed to the Mate 30 Pro’s wider cutout. Shatter-resistant glass shields the IP68 aluminum that frames the Mate 30 Pro’s 14.4:9 aspect ratio 2400 x 1176 OLED display, which follows 88 degrees around the tapered rims’ contours and extends nearly to the USB-C port, mic, and down-firing speaker. (The Mate 30 has a flat screen by contrast.) It’s DCI-P3 HDR compliant, and it minimizes sleep-interrupting blue light by 25% compared with traditional OLED screens. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Above: Huawei’s Mate 30 Pro. There’s nary a physical button in sight on the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro, save a power toggle on the right side — volume adjustment is relegated to a double tap of the right or left capacitive sensors. That’s a departure from the Mate 30 series’ predecessors, which had conventional rockers and dedicated shutter buttons. The upper quartile of the displays vibrate to produce sound, effectively doubling as earpieces. And the button halves conceal embedded optical fingerprint sensors, in contrast to the ultrasonic pair in Samsung’s Galaxy S10, S10+, and Note10. Speaking of displays, the Mate 30 Pro’s measures 6.53 inches diagonally and the Mate 30’s 6.62 inches, compared with the Mate 20 Pro’s 6.53 inches. Like the Mate 20 series before it, the Mate 30 family dispenses with the 3.5mm headphone jack — a move Huawei asserts is justified by the phones’ larger batteries and 21 MIMO antennas (14 5G antennas alone). As something of a consolation, they get a front-facing camera, a gesture sensor, and a 3D depth sensor, which together enable gesture control. Flip the Mate 30 Pro around, and you’ll come to what is arguably the star of the show: a quad-sensor circular camera module accented by a patterned ring around its outer border, boasting lenses supplied by longtime Huawei collaborator Leica. It juts out slightly from the phone’s rear and sits adjacent to a dual LED flash module, a laser phase-detection autofocus system, and a depth sensor. Cameras The Mate 30 has a 16-megapixel (f/2.2 aperture, 17mm) primary camera that ranges up to 204800 ISO and an upgraded ultra-wide sensor that comes in at 40 megapixels (f/1.8 aperture, 27mm). They complement an 8-megapixel telephoto sensor (with f/2.4 aperture, 80mm) capable of up to 3 times optical zoom and 30 times digital zoom. As for the Mate 30 Pro, it makes do with a 40-megapixel (f/1.8 aperture, 18mm) primary camera that ranges up to 409600 ISO, and a 40-megapixel ultra-wide sensor (f/1.6 aperture, 27mm) and 8-megapixel telephoto sensor (with f/2.4 aperture, 80mm). Huawei’s SuperSpectrum tech, which made its debut with the P30 and P30 Pro, is present and accounted for. Basically, it replaces the green filter in the standard red, green, and blue color Bayer filter mosaic atop most photosensor grids with yellow, ostensibly enabling the Mate 30 series’ cameras to take in as much as 40% more light than conventional photosensors. That’s owing to yellow’s wider wavelength, which is about 600 nanometers compared with green’s 550. Above: Mate 30 One of the Mate 30 Pro’s headlining photography features is a super slow-motion video recording mode that captures clips at 7,680 frames per second, a ludicrous 8 times slower than rival devices from Samsung, Sony, and others. It’s a software-enhanced version of the Mate 30 Pro’s 960 frames per second recording mode, and Huawei says it employs a wealth of computational techniques to ensure recordings appear just as smooth as they would if they were shot at a sensor-native speed. At conventional speeds (30 frames per second), Mate 30 series handsets can shoot up to 4K HDR at 30 frames per second with real-time bokeh, benefiting from an AI stabilization algorithm that works in tandem with the main lens’ and zoom lens’ optical image stabilization. The low-light advantages of the yellow filter extend to video capture, as do the enhanced optical and hybrid zoom — videos on the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro should appear both brighter and sharper compared with their Mate 20 predecessors. The sensors on the Mate 30 phones have a leg up in other areas, thanks to Huawei’s sophisticated image post-processing tech. The primary 40-megapixel camera supports point-and-shoot long exposure shots, while the portrait mode squeezes more frames into the composition, bringing out details that would normally be lost — not to mention nuanced bokeh that’s “blurrier” further away from subjects than in the near distance. And an enhanced Night mode composites the best photos of a burst shot taken at multiple exposures, along with AI-assisted stabilization (AIS) and “4D” focus that predicts where subjects are moving to keep them in focus and intelligently crops frames to smooth out jerky footage. Rounding things out is Master AI, an “intelligent” scene recognizer akin to Samsung’s Scene Optimizer and LG’s AI Cam that adjusts the camera’s settings automatically — depending on ambient lighting, contrast, and other factors. Lastly, a dual-view video mode shows two of the phone’s four camera feeds at the same time in a split-screen view, letting budding cinematographers frame close-up and wide-angle shots simultaneously. Performance Huawei historically previews the chipset inside its Mate phones well ahead of their launch, and this year was no exception. The Kirin 990 5G — the chip the company previewed at IFA 2019 in early September — is the beating silicon heart of the Mate 30 series. The Kirin 990 5G, which — like the Kirin 980 — is manufactured on a 7nm process but with extreme ultraviolet lithography, boasts 10.3 billion transistors in all. (That’s up from 6.9 billion in the Kirin 980 and 5.5 billion in the Kirin 970.) Contributing to the uptick is a refreshed 8-core architecture with two 2.86GHz Cortex-A76 high-performance cores for demanding computation, two 2.36GHz Cortex-A76 “middle cores” that juggle everyday workloads, and four 1.8GHz Cortex-A55 efficiency cores that field light tasks, like music playback and file transfers. Above: A mock-up of the Kirin 990 5G system-on-chip. It’s paired with 8GB of RAM in the Mate 30 Pro. Storage capacity maxes out at 256GB, expandable with Huawei’s proprietary NanoMemory storage cards. There’s a powerful 12-core graphics chip inside the Kirin 990 5G that’s paired with the 8-core processor: the Mali-G76. It packs six more cores than the Mali-G76 in the Kirin 980 and a cache that serves to reduce bandwidth usage and power draw. These and other improvements enable the new Mali-G76 to leapfrog the Snapdragon 855’s Adreno 640 chip, according to Huawei, by 6% in terms of overall performance and 20% in efficiency. Huawei’s Neural Processing Unit (NPU) made its first appearance at IFA 2017, where it debuted in the Kirin 970. Boiled down to basics, it’s a coprocessor optimized for the sort of vector math that’s the lifeblood of machine learning algorithms. Qualcomm’s AI Engine and Samsung’s own Neural Processing Unit achieve the same ends through different means, but Huawei claims its homegrown Da Vinci architecture is far and away the most capable. To this end, it delivers tensor computation under half-precision FP16 and INT8 data types courtesy of two “big” cores for high-intensity workloads and one “tiny” core for less-intensive computation. A single tiny core is up to 24 times more efficient than a big core for tasks like facial recognition, according to Huawei. It’s all cooled by a graphene film that Huawei says keeps the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro 3.9 degrees Celsius cooler than competitors. 5G The Kirin 990 5G will be one of the first all-in-one, full-frequency 5G chipsets to market later this year, on a die area that’s roughly 36% smaller than rival products demonstrated to date. It supports four sub-6Hz antennas in total and both non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA) architectures, as well as TDD/FDD full frequency bands, but not millimeter-wave. The chip’s performance won’t disappoint if benchmark results are to be believed. Huawei claims the Kirin 990 5G’s machine learning-based adaptive receiver and split uplink design boosts download and upload speeds in “high-movement” weak-signal environments like cars, train stations, and busses, delivering up to 5.8 times the max upload speed of leading chipsets in preliminary testing. In spots with stronger signals, it’s theoretically capable of reaching downlink and uplink rates of up to 2.3Gbps and 1.25Gbps, respectively. Only the pricier of the two available Mate 30 Pro models ships with a 5G modem, it’s worth noting. The Mate 30 is a strictly 4G affair. Battery life and charging The Mate 30 series might have system-in-chips in common, but the batteries are another story. The Mate 30 Pro’s is 4,500mAh in capacity (up slightly from the Mate 20 Pro’s 4,200mAh) versus the Mate 30’s 4,200mAh (up from 4,000mAh), and Huawei says they’ll last for 9.2 hours and 8.2 hours, respectively. Both support Huawei’s 40-watt SuperCharge technology, which can deliver up to 70% power in half an hour. On the wireless charging side of the equation, all three Mate 30 series phones wirelessly charge at up to 27 watts and reverse wirelessly charge any Qi-compatible gadget from their rear covers. Reverse wireless charging isn’t anything new for Huawei, but this iteration is slightly more powerful than previous generations. Software The Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro ship running Emotion UI (EMUI), Huawei’s custom skin atop Android 10. However, as result of the U.S. government’s executive order preventing Huawei from procuring “hardware, software, and technical services” from U.S.-affiliated companies, it’s expected to be Android Open Source Project (AOSP), a restricted version of Android that doesn’t offer access to Google apps and services (like the Google Play Store, Google Assistant, Gmail, Google Photos, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Drive, and Google Duo) out of the box. “We cannot use the Google Mobile Services core — we can use the Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) core,” said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s consumer division, onstage. “[That’s] because of a U.S. ban that these phones cannot preinstall the GMS core. It has forced us to use the HMS Core running the Huawei app gallery on the Mate 30 series phones.” We’ve reached out to Huawei for confirmation, and to clarify whether it’ll offer a workaround. Reuters reported earlier this year that Huawei would offer “its own interface” that will allow users to access some Google apps, but it’s not clear how that might work. Like the latest publicly available version of EMUI (EMUI 9.0), this new EMUI is chock-full of features with varying degrees of usefulness, most of which Android purists can disable, ignore, or replace without inordinate hassle. One is a custom home screen launcher that lacks an app drawer on the default configuration; another is the use of SwiftKey as the stock keyboard, as opposed to Android’s system keyboard or Google’s Gboard. Also along for the ride are a low-power ambient display mode and system-wide dark mode and a “dark mode engine” that inverts the colors of third-party apps. Also new? A nifty AI auto-rotate feature that follows your gaze to rotate on-screen content in your direction. It joins “multi-screen collaboration,” which lets you sync text, photos, texts, files, and more to a compatible PC. There’s a raise-to-wake function, plus a split-screen view with a versatile screenshot-snipping tool. As with the P30 series, the notch’s appearance is customizable through software — to a degree. You’re able to “mask” it by blacking out the notification shade. And face unlock is present and accounted for, as is support for swipe and knuckle gesture shortcuts; Private Space, which lets you create a secondary device profile linked to an alternative fingerprint; and a suite of utilities, including a voice recorder, QR code reader, flashlight, and calculator. Finally, if you’re an Audi owner, you’ll be pleased to hear that the Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro double as digital car keys — Huawei has teamed up with the automaker to preload an app that unlocks your car (Connect Key) on both phones. Huawei Assistant The Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro are also the first to launch with Huawei’s homegrown AI assistant, powered by the company’s Ability Gallery: Huawei Assistant. It’s akin to Google Assistant and can be accessed by swiping to the right of the home screen. Huawei Assistant features a news feed with custom recommendations and content from selected publishers, along with a search feature that lets users quickly surface installed apps, memos, emails, and calendar entries. Instant Access provides four shortcuts to apps that in the future will be intelligently chosen based on context, and SmarterCare provides real-time information, such as weather forecasts, missed calls, and schedule reminders. Huawei says that Huawei Assistant might eventually do things like book restaurants, flights, taxis, and hotels. Huawei Mate 30 Porsche Design RS As in years past, Huawei has teamed up with Porsche for a special edition of the Mate 30 Pro. The aesthetics are a tad different — the Huawei Mate 30 Porsche Design RS has a long vertical stripe on the back that houses the camera module at the top, and it’s covered in black leather. It also bumps up the RAM to 12GB and storage capacity to 512GB but otherwise packs the same internals as the Mate 30 Pro. Pricing and availability Here’s how the Mate 30 series pricing breaks down: Mate 30 Pro 8GB RAM and 256GB storage: €1,199 ($1,325.67) Mate 30 Pro 8GB RAM and 256GB storage (4G): €1,099 ($1,215.24) Mate 30 8GB RAM and 128GB storage (4G): €799 ($883.41) Availability details have yet to be announced. The phones come in black, silver, purple, and green gloss, the latter featuring a matte gradient finish with an anti-slip surface. A “vegan leather” option ships in forest green and orange. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Google unveils Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL with gesture recognition and dual rear cameras | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/15/google-unveils-the-pixel-4-and-pixel-4-xl-with-gesture-recognition-and-dual-rear-cameras"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 unveils Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL with gesture recognition and dual rear cameras Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Google's Pixel 4 and 4 XL. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. At an event in New York City this morning, Google took the wraps off the latest additions to its four-year-old Pixel smartphone portfolio: the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. They’re successors to the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL , respectively, and there’s little to distinguish them from each other beyond variations in size, screen resolution, and battery life. But they share a host of upgrades on the inside and out, including dual rear cameras and gesture-detecting radar technology. The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are available in up to three colors — depending on the region — Just Black, Clearly White, and Oh So Orange. Preorders start today, and the devices begin shipping on October 24. Here’s the pricing: Pixel 4 64GB: $799 Pixel 4 128GB: $899 Pixel 4 XL 64GB: $899 Pixel 4 XL 128GB: $999 A new design The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL usher in a new design language for the Pixel series, putting to rest its hallmark two-tone aesthetic. They opt instead for uniformly glossy glass and thick fingerprint-resistant outer bands, with curved corners and top and bottom bezels that are measurably narrower than those of their predecessors. 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 Pixel 4 sports a smaller, 19:9 aspect ratio Full HD+ 19:9 OLED screen — 5.7 inches measured diagonally — compared with the Pixel 4 XL (6.3 inches). Predictably, it has a lower resolution versus the Pixel 4 XL’s Quad HD+ panel, which comes in at 3040 × 1440 pixels for a screen density of 537 pixels per inch. Those differences aside, both the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL feature what Google is calling Smooth Display, which automatically boosts their screens’ refresh rate from 60Hz to 90Hz depending on the content. They also benefit from Ambient EQ, a carryover from Google’s Nest Hub that automatically optimizes the white balance for ambient lighting conditions. Beneath the Pixel 4’s and Pixel 4 XL’s display is a loudspeaker and a USB-C port, and above it — near the top — are a proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, flood illuminator, infrared camera, and dot projector. Around back, a square-shaped camera module juts out from the top left, packing a Sony IMX 363 12.2-megapixel camera (f/1.7 aperture, 77-degree field of view) with laser autofocus and dual pixel phase detection and a Sony IMX 481 16-megapixel telephoto camera (f/2.4 aperture, 52-degree field of view) with spectral and flicker sensors. The latter is capable of up to 8 times zoom (2 times optical), thanks to a combination of optical zoom and Google’s Super Res Zoom technology, which uses a combination of AI and burst photos to improve the quality of zoomed-in images. The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL have a single Sony IMX 520 8-megapixel front-facing camera (f/2.0 aperture, 90-degree field of view), a departure from the Pixel 3 series’ dual-camera setup. Even absent a second sensor, however, the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL can capture portrait mode selfies (shots that ever-so-slightly blur the background while maintaining lock focus on the foreground) that Google says are of superior quality to those generated by software alone, owing to depth data derived from both dual pixels and dual cameras. Above: The Pixel 4 and 4 XL in “Oh So Orange.” Rounding out the accoutrements are a colorful power button and a volume rocker on the handsets’ left side, as well as circular cutouts for noise-canceling microphones. Active Edge — touch-sensitive right and left bezels that trigger the Google Assistant when squeezed — makes a triumphant return on the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. Sadly, there’s no 3.5 audio jack in tow with either phone. . Killer gestures — and cameras Motion Sense At Google’s I/O developer conference four years ago, the company’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) team unveiled Project Soli , tech that taps high-speed 60GHz radar sensors and algorithms to detect motion with sub-millimeter accuracy. The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are the first consumer devices on the market with built-in Soli technology, which Google has branded Motion Sense. On its face, Motion Sense might seem like an incremental improvement over LG’s Air Motion — and similar in that it’s able to recognize gestures to skip songs, snooze alarms, and silence phone call. But Motion Sense can novelly recognize when someone reaches toward the Pixel 4 or Pixel 4 XL and switch on the screen autonomously, and it can detect when someone is looking at it directly. Plus, its “skip song” action is compatible with over 23 media apps out of the box, including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Google Play Music, Pandora, Shazam, Spotify, SiriusXM, and Deezer. Google teamed up with The Pokémon Company to create Pokémon Wave Hello, a promotion for the upcoming Pokémon Sword and Shield that serves as an introduction to Motion Sense’s basic gestures. Swiping a finger above the Pixel 4’s or Pixel 4 XL’s screen prompts a reaction from one of five selectable Pokémon, while an upward swipe reveals a Pokédex-like dashboard with each one’s height, weight, type, and ability stats. Another marquee experience is Headed South by Ustwo Studios, the development house behind the blockbuster series Monument Valley. In it, you use touch to nudge your character — a bird named Soli, a not-so-subtle nod to Project Soli — toward a non-player bird’s slipstream in order to catch up to it. One thing to note is that Motion Sense isn’t supported in every region and country the Pixel 4 series will ship to. That’s because Google has to certify Soli sensors with regulatory authorities in order to legally transmit at the required frequencies. At launch, Motion Sense works in over 50 regions, including the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the U.K., and the United Arab Emirates, but absent from the list are Japan, Mexico, India, and New Zealand. To avoid potentially interfering with navigation systems and military equipment, it’ll disable itself when you enter unsupported regions. Facial recognition The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are the first in the Pixel series to ship with Google’s new and improved facial recognition feature, which can authenticate faces from any portrait or landscape angle. There’s a brief calibration step that involves making a rolling motion with your head as the phones’ sensors learn your facial geometry, but once that’s finished, unlocking the phones takes no more than a glance in the front-facing sensors’ direction. The Pixel 4 series’ facial recognition flavor supports app sign-in, as well as payments, much like Apple’s Face ID. Google Play Store transactions can be authorized with a quick face scan, as well as in-app and web purchases through Google Pay. But that’s at your own risk — Google notes that the tech could be fooled by someone who looks a lot like the phone’s owner (e.g., an identical sibling). Cameras The Pixel 3’s and Pixel 3 XL’s cameras are regarded as some of the best on the market, and the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL appear poised to maintain pole position. It’s not so much the sensors that stand out from the crowd, but the computational photography features with which they’re imbued. On the videography side, there’s Audio Zoom, which uses the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL’s microphones to detect the loudest source of audio within the frame of view and zoom in on it. And there’s Frequent Faces, which focuses on people you often photograph. Both the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL max out at 4K resolution, up to 30 frames per second. Above: The Pixel 4 series’ camera UI. Night Sight uses AI to boost the brightness of flash-free and ultra-dark images. It launched with the Pixel 3, but the Pixel 4 series’ incarnation boasts improved dynamic range and color, thanks to support for longer exposure times — up to around 16 seconds. Additionally, it adds a new focus option — Infinity — that slots alongside the existing Near, Autofocus, and Far features. Entirely new is an astrophotography mode that enhances the contrast of the night sky to boost star visibility, albeit only when the Pixel 4 or Pixel 4 XL is held perfectly still or mounted on a tripod. (Google says the mode will come to the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a series in a camera app update.) Photographers will no doubt appreciate the Pixel 4 series’ burst shot mode, which captures 10 high-quality photos, along with high-resolution video, and the new dual exposure controls that afford granular control over scene brightness and shadows. Another nifty tool — Social Share — surfaces commonly used social media apps, like Messages, Snapchat, and Instagram, with an upward swipe on thumbnails. Above: Astrophotography with the Pixel 4 series. Other Google Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL camera features of note are an autofocus mode that tracks subjects in view, eliminating the need to manually lock focus, and Playground, which takes advantage of Google’s AR Core framework in Android to animate superheros, stickers, and captions that interact with the physical world around you. Top Shot captures a burst frame before and after you tap the shutter button and uses on-device AI to pick the best shot — taking into account things like smiles, open eyes, and gazes. As for Photobooth, it taps machine learning to automatically capture the “best” pictures — e.g., when someone smiles, sticks out their tongue, makes a face, or winks. Google’s outstanding HDR+ mode is here too, of course. It captures a series of up to nine photographs at varying exposures — underexposed (dimly lit), overexposed (brightly lit), and in-between levels — and generates a composite, ensuring that details and highlights aren’t lost during post-processing. Live HDR+ approximates the effect in real time, in the viewfinder. In addition, the Pixel 4 does machine learning-based white balance to capture true colors in difficult lighting. Also worth highlighting is Google Lens , which works in real time on the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. The growing list of things Lens can recognize covers over 1 billion products from Google Shopping, as well as furniture, clothing, books, movies, music albums, video games, landmarks, points of interest, notable buildings, Wi-Fi network names and passwords, flowers, pets, beverages, and celebrities. It’s also able to surface stylistically similar outfits and home decor and to translate words in foreign languages printed on signage or menus. But perhaps most useful of all, Lens can scan documents and extract phone numbers, dates, and addresses from business cards before automatically adding them to the contacts list of your choice. Powerful hardware The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are no less well-endowed under the hood than they are above glass. Both pack Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 system-on-chip, the same silicon inside Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9 and the recently announced LG V40. According to the chipmaker, the 7-nanometer eight-core chip can achieve up to 2Gbps cellular speeds courtesy of the embedded X24 LTE modem. It’s up to 45% faster overall, thanks to a 64-bit ARM Cortex design based on Qualcomm’s in-house Kryo 485 processor. Four cores handle the heavy lifting — one prime core clocked at 2.84GHz and three performance cores at 2.42GHz — while four efficiency cores running at 1.8GHz handle less performance-intensive tasks. The Snapdragon 855 diffuses AI capabilities across multiple processing components (including a new tensor accelerator called Hexagon 690) for a total theoretical capacity of 7 trillion operations per second. Qualcomm is claiming an AI performance improvement of 3 times compared to its previous flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 845. Meanwhile, the Snapdragon 855’s graphics chip — the Adreno 640 — is 20% faster than the Snapdragon 845’s Adreno 630, and it supports HDR (along with APIs like Vulkan 1.1) and custom algorithms designed to reduce dropped frames by over 90%. Additionally, it enables developers to use physically based rendering (PBR) to replicate the way light reflects off real-world materials. Last, but not least, the Snapdragon 855 features a redesigned camera pipeline that moves computer vision features directly into the ISP. Dual 14-bit CV-ISPs are packed into the Spectra 380, each with hardware-based depth sensing that allows for video capture, object classification, and object segmentation in real time. Suffice it to say, the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL are a good deal faster than the outgoing models on paper, but it’s a mixed bag on the battery front. The Pixel 4 has a 2,800mAh battery, which clocks in at 115mAh smaller than the Pixel 3’s pack (2,915mAh), while the Pixel 4 XL’s battery is larger than the Pixel 3 XL’s, at 3,700mAh (up from 3,430mAh). The good news is that they support 11W fast charging up to 11W and wireless Qi charging accessories, including the Pixel Stand released last year. Both handsets have 6GB of RAM (2GB more than the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL) and pack both a next-generation Pixel Visual Core and Pixel Neural Core, Google-designed coprocessors that power-efficiently crunch millions to trillions of operations per second. The former accelerates the Pixel 4 series’ HDR+ feature, as well as Zero Shutter Lag (which eliminates the delay between triggering the phone shutter and the moment the photo is actually recorded) and Rapid and Accurate Image Super-Resolution (RAISR) technologies that use machine learning to produce high-quality versions of zoomed-in images. As for the latter, it processes and sends the face data it receives through sensors to the Titan M chip for authentication (more on that in a bit), and it speeds up tasks like always-on listening. Above: The Pixel 4 and 4 XL in three colorways: Clearly White, Just Black, and Oh So Orange. On the storage side, the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL make do with 64GB or 128GB, depending on the model. An 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac chip supplies Wi-Fi connectivity, and a bevy of sensors — including an accelerometer, gyrometer, magnetometer, and barometer — orient the phones in three-dimensional space. (As in previous Pixel and Nexus devices, they’re managed by the Android Sensor Hub, a low-level system that powers sensor fusion and activity and gesture recognition.) There’s NFC onboard for contactless payment functionality (via Google Pay or the platform of your choice); Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy for accessories pairing; and GPS and GLONASS for granular positioning. The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL have a regular SIM slot and an eSIM (Embedded SIM), and as with their predecessors can be provisioned to a network without the need to swap a physical SIM. In a first for the Pixel series, both phones can use the SIM and eSIM simultaneously in dual standby mode for calls, texts, or data. Lastly, they sport a Google-engineered Titan M security chip with a purpose-built micro-controller and network controller chip. Google says the chip borrows from server security tech to protect sensitive data, like facial recognition info. Live Caption, Pro Sessions, and more The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL ship running Android 10 , the latest version of Google’s Android operating system. Google officially announced 10 in September, but we’ve compiled a list of highlights here in case you’re in need of a refresher. Always a tap or voice command away is Google Assistant, Google’s intelligent voice assistant that can summon an Uber, pull up a podcast, perform a search for local businesses, and control thousands of smart home devices from hundreds of brands. It’s improved on the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, where its speech recognition and natural language understanding algorithms have shrunk in size from 100GB to less than 0.5GB and work offline. Google Assistant now processes speech at “nearly zero latency” and is able to deliver answers up to 10 times faster than before. Above: Google Assistant in action. Google Assistant on the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL features a colorful overlay near the bottom of the screen that pops up when invoked, with recognized words and phrases shown floating in front of a blurred foreground. Support for Continued Conversations eliminates the need to repeat the “Hey Google” hotword after Google Assistant responds to a query, and the assistant now integrates more tightly with first-party apps like Google Maps and Photos. For instance, a question like “Where can I find sugar nearby?” prefills Map’s search bar with “eggs nearby,” while a request like “Show me photos from California” surfaces relevant pics from within Photos. Like Pixel devices before them, the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL ship with exclusive software features that aren’t available on other Android phones. One is Pro Sessions, or one-on-one support sessions offered through the Google One app in English in the U.S. and Canada. Another is Live Caption , which Google announced at I/O 2019 in May. With a tap of the Pixel 4 or Pixel 4 XL’s volume rocker and the corresponding on-screen shortcut, Live Caption (which will come to the Pixel 3 and 3a in December) provides real-time continuous English speech transcription in a moveable overlay for apps like YouTube, Google Podcasts, Google Photos, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix (but not phone calls, voice calls, or video calls). There’s also a new Recorder app, which features automatic transcription (in U.S. English) and audio search for words and phrases — neither of which require an internet connection. More useful still, Recorder automatically recogizes audio events like applause, birds, cats, dogs, laughter, music, roosters, speech, phones, and whistling. Google’s Personal Safety app makes its debut with the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, and it lets you quickly share your location and a brief custom message describing your current situation with multiple contacts. Additionally, it’s able to automatically dial 911 if it detects that you’re involved in a car crash, using your location and readings from the handsets’ accelerometers and microphones — albeit only in the U.S. for now. Above: Android 10’s Dark Mode, which can be enabled on the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL. Now Playing on the Pixel 4 leverages on-device machine learning to listen for millions of tunes in the background and surface metadata when it finds a match. Rounding out the Pixel 4 series’ features list is Call Screen, which transcribes calls in real time so that you can decide whether to pick up, and Google Duplex , which dials restaurants to make reservations on your behalf. Lastly, buyers get 100GB on Google One for three months. Accessories and availability The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL come with few extras. In select countries, including the U.K., carriers like Three are throwing in a free HP Chromebook 14 (a $290 value) for customers who preorder one of the new devices. Both phones are compatible with and available through all major carriers in the U.S., including AT&T, C Spire, Cellcom, Google Fi, Charter’s Spectrum Mobile, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, Visible, and Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile. Alternatively, you can pick one up unlocked through the Google Store, Best Buy, Amazon, and other major brick-and-mortar retailers, plus Google’s Project Fi. Alongside the Pixel 4 series, Google is offering knit fabric cases in a range of colors, including black, grey, and blue. They’re also available for preorder for around $40. 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. "

"How AI powers the Pixel 4 | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/21/how-ai-powers-the-pixel-4"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 AI powers the Pixel 4 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Pixel 4 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’s Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL go on sale this week after debuting at a hardware event in New York last week. And as with previous versions of Google’s flagship smartphone, artificial intelligence powers many exclusive new features and improvements. On-device machine learning is a main theme for the latest Made by Google hardware. The Pixel 4 uses Neural Core, a TPU chip upgrade from the Pixel 3’s Visual Core chip. Pixel 4 comes with lots of preexisting AI-enabled features, like Now Playing for song detection , but there are four major changes: speech recognition, next-gen Google Assistant , a range of new camera features, and facial recognition to unlock the phone and make payments. Camera Smartphone makers no longer sell phones. They sell cameras. That’s why Google spent about as much time talking about the Pixel 4 camera at its unveiling last week as it did talking about the rest of the phone. AI recommends things like Night Sight in low-light settings and powers depth prediction for Portrait Mode images. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Portrait Mode in Pixel 4 is as sharp as ever. Above: Portrait Mode with Pixel 4 XL Depth prediction Portrait Mode shots with Pixel 4 seem stronger than results with previous Pixel phones. Night Sight also gets improvements. If you’re taking a handheld shot, Night Sight can deliver impressive results that some have called “mad science. ” But if you prop up a Pixel 4 so it’s still or use some sort of tripod, Night Sight can last three minutes or longer, delivering not just more crisp low-light imagery, but actually taking photos of stars in the sky. Our initial tests found that this is no exaggeration. Photos of the night sky can be taken with Pixel 3, 3a, and 4. Above: Night Sight with astrophotography on Pixel 4 XL Another big difference compared to cameras on other Pixel phones is that you can shoot ultra 4K video, and a tap and hold of the camera button records video. (Previously, a tap and hold of the camera button took dozens of photos.) A swipe down for extended control lets you enable things like Frequent Faces. Machine learning-based white balance was first introduced for Pixel 3 and continues with Pixel 4 to deliver pictures with accurate color temperature. Above: Super Res Zoom shot of Oakland Tribune Tower from four blocks away in Oakland, California Super Res Zoom is another major feature for the Pixel 4 and uses a new telephoto lens with up to 8 times zoom for improved results compared to previous shots with digital zoom. Frequent Faces records and stores data about people you photograph regularly in order to shape Top Shot photo recommendation results. Facial recognition Facial recognition powers a number of features in the Pixel 4, like Face Unlock to open the phone or make a payment and the Featured Faces feature for recognizing people you take pictures of the most. With Motion Sense radar that’s triggered when the phone senses movement, Google claims Face Unlock is faster than Apple’s iPhone Face ID. Facial recognition with Pixel 4 launches with the ability to verify Google Pay transactions with a face scan, something that was not available at launch for Apple Pay users. But Google’s first-ever facial recognition for smartphone system is experiencing some major growing pains. Sleuthing by BBC found last week that Face Unlock works on people even when their eyes are closed, a concern for some users. The fact is, even in a Touch ID world of fingerprint scans, a person with bad intent can force someone to open their phone, but it may be easier to see a face than scan a finger. The most likely misuse of a design flaw like this is probably a spouse unlocking their partner’s phone, but it’s easy to think of malicious vulnerabilities when it’s widely known that Pixel 4 will work on the faces of people who are unconscious, sleeping, or dead. Google did not initially plan to make any changes to this feature, but on Sunday the company announced a fix that requires detection of blinking eyes and will be released as part of a software update in the coming months, a company spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email. Another potential area for improvement is the performance of Google’s facial recognition on people with dark skin. Weeks before the release of the Pixel 4, the New York Daily News reported that contractors working for Google used questionable tactics to improve its facial recognition’s ability to recognize people with dark skin, such as being less than upfront about how the face scans would be used or referring to the scans used to improve Google’s facial recognition as a game. The contractor Randstad apparently attended the BET Awards in Los Angeles and rounded up homeless people in Atlanta by handing out $5 Starbucks gift cards. These revelations drew the attention of the Atlanta city attorney and raised questions about what constitutes a fair price for an image of a person’s face. Amid ongoing investigation, the face scan collection program has been suspended. Future updates may lead to performance improvements. On my dark skin, the Pixel 4 was very consistent in ideal conditions with balanced lighting, but there were moments when in reasonable lighting Face Match repeatedly failed to recognize me. After failure to carry out Face Unlock multiple times in a row, the phone suggested that I delete my face profile and create a new one. Reenrollment helped some, and no formal count of Face Unlock success or failure instances were recorded as part of this Pixel 4 review, but opening my phone was a routinely hit-and-miss exercise when scanning my face in bed in the morning, in a vehicle at night, with overhead lighting, or in other common scenarios with less-than-ideal lighting. Above: A selfie taken after a failed Face Unlock with Pixel 4 XL The setup for facial recognition on your phone takes about 30 seconds of pointing your nose slowly in different directions to complete a face scan. That’s more extensive than the Face Match capture process on a Nest Hub Max smart display , likely because facial recognition replaces the fingerprint scanner that used to be the primary means of unlocking a Pixel phone and because in that scenario the facial recognition only needs to tell the difference between up to 6 people per household. Low performance of facial recognition on people with dark skin is an industry-wide problem. More audits and analysis of how Google’s facial recognition performs on people with light and dark skin tones will be conducted as the phone becomes publicly available. Despite my own experience regularly encountering failed Face Unlock attempts, it’s far too early to refer to it as a failure — as some journalists have chosen to do — because Google’s just getting started with facial recognition. If my own experience is any indication, replacing Touch ID fingerprint scans with Face Unlock comes with tradeoffs. Next-gen Google Assistant As Google showcased last week , the new Google Assistant can open apps, search the web, get directions, and send Google Assistant search query results to contacts. Next-gen Google Assistant uses Continued Conversation to enable multi-turn dialogue. This means that after you say the initial “Okay, Google” wake word, Google Assistant will carry out the command and then continue listening for additional commands until you say “Stop” or “Thank you” to end the exchange. Continued Conversation has been available for some time now on smart displays and speakers, but when used on a smartphone, it supplies a stream of cards and content. This makes for a different experience than you get with a smart display that changes the on-screen imagery after each question. A stream that lets you scroll back and forth and complete actions highlights your own stream of conscious. This means that you can very quickly go from asking Google a question about any given topic to diving into the topic and continuing to learn more to sharing with friends or acting upon that information. You can also interact with an app or website while Google Assistant runs in the background, a true multimodal experience. There are still shortcomings. Tell Google Assistant to share with a friend and it may only take a screenshot. I asked Google to share an email and podcast episode with a friend on different occasions and it just took a picture. This works when Google is sharing a weather report, for example, but not for things like a website or email. A URL link is almost always more helpful. Also of note: The new Google Assistant uses an on-device language model and Neural Core to make it faster than its counterpart in other smartphones, but that doesn’t mean the end of latency. The new Google Assistant can still encounter delays due to slow Wi-Fi or data connection. And the new Google Assistant will not be available at launch for G Suite accounts. It seems odd the new Google Assistant designed to make you as efficient as possible is unable to work with G Suite. Finally, the new Google Assistant can interact with apps and does a better job of surfacing your Google Photos content, but it’s still not contextually aware. So if you open Google Maps and then say “Find the nearest flower shop,” your assistant will exit Google Maps and return to a web search to share results. The new assistant also gets a slightly different look in Pixel 4, appearing only as a glowing set of Google primary colors at the bottom of the screen. Google Assistant with Pixel 4 makes room for real-time transcription of your words. This is helpful for confirming that the assistant correctly heard your request, and the movement of words on the screen lets you know the assistant is listening and establishes a kind of rhythm to follow for each voice command. Speech recognition For years, it’s been true that you can use conversational AI to turn speech into words faster than you can type with your thumbs on a smartphone. Speech-to-text transcription can be found in an increasing number of places, and with the Pixel 4 you get automated transcription of people speaking in videos. Live Caption provides text transcription of audio in podcasts, audio messages, and video from your camera roll to YouTube. There are occasional misses here, but this is a helpful feature when you can’t listen to audio but still want to enjoy videos and other content. A simple tap and hold of the text that appears on the screen can move it around, and a double tap expands to show more text. The new Recorder app can also transcribe your voice recordings, a feature that allows you to search audio files for words and export text transcripts. The Recorder app uses real-time speech-to-text transcription, and it sometimes makes mistakes, which is in line with other speech transcription services. Recorder can also automatically identify keywords in transcripts and recommend audio message titles based on keywords in transcripts, or on music, applause, or speech. Downsides: The Recorder app does not do a great job of breaking up or labeling speakers in a conversation, so transcribed words can blend into one another from time to time. Software updates to Recorder should probably address the fact that it adds no timestamp to transcription text that can be exported. Each of these new features uses natural language understanding technology that’s been available for years in GBoard for writing in a Google Doc or sending a message. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Samsung's Bixby Views lets developers make voice apps with visuals | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/29/samsungs-bixby-views-lets-developers-make-voice-apps-with-visuals"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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’s Bixby Views lets developers make voice apps with visuals Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Samsung VP ES Chung onstage at Samsung Developer Conference 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. Samsung’s Bixby is getting a range of upgrades today, including Bixby Templates for easier creation of voice apps and Bixby Views for voice apps to work on visual surfaces like televisions, smart watches, tablets, and the Smart Hub refrigerator. Bixby Views competes with similar visual-voice app experiences from Google Assistant and Alexa’s Visual Presentation Language, which was made generally available last month. Voice app developers in categories like news, navigation, or ridesharing can also register their app in Natural Language Categories, a way for Bixby to recommend a voice app based on user needs if you simply say “I need a ride” rather than asking for a specific capsule by name. The news was shared at the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) today at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, California. Samsung also introduced One UI 2 for mobile app developers and plans in 2020 for hardware manufacturers to create SmartThings-compatible devices. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Bixby Templates will launch with premade apps for creating facts, joke, or quiz voice apps. There’s also an information graph template. “With this, you can create a capsule from any table filled with data,” Viv Labs VP of engineering Adam Cheyer said onstage. Last year at SDC, Samsung introduced the foldable Infinity Flex smartphone and launched the Bixby Developer Center for third-party creators of voice apps , which Samsung calls capsules. Samsung's Bixby Views demo for voice apps on TV and smart watch at #SDC2019 pic.twitter.com/6uKAF5KOcw — Khari Johnson (@kharijohnson) October 29, 2019 Starting today, Bixby capsules will work for all Bixby-compatible devices like the Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Buds, smart televisions, and the Family Hub refrigerator, Viv Labs CEO Larry Heck said. Enabling Bixby Views only requires a quick change in code in Bixby Developer Center. Bixby is available on 160 million devices and speaks eight languages, Samsung executive VP Eui-Suk Chung said today. To compete with Alexa skills and Google Assistant actions, Samsung launched the Bixby Marketplace for capsule voice app for users in the U.S. and South Korea in July. In other updates for Samsung’s AI assistant this year, while introducing the S10 in February, Samsung launched Bixby Routines , a way for the AI assistant to learn your habits and anticipate your needs. In another developer update a day before the conference, Samsung introduced the Blockchain Platform SDK to enable the creation of cryptocurrency wallets and decentralized apps that use blockchain. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Ring employees reportedly had access to all live and recorded customer videos (Updated) | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/10/ring-employees-reportedly-had-access-to-all-live-and-recorded-customer-videos"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Ring employees reportedly had access to all live and recorded customer videos (Updated) Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Ring Camera 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. Ring, the smart home device startup Amazon acquired for $1 billion in March 2018, reportedly has a security problem: Some of its employees were given unfettered access to footage from customers’ security cameras. The Intercept , citing an anonymous source, today reported that beginning in 2016, Ring provided its Ukraine-based research and development division — Ring Labs — access to a folder on Amazon’s S3 cloud storage service containing every video recorded by every Ring camera around the world. Moreover, it says that team members were provided a database linking each video to corresponding Ring customers. Downloading the files wouldn’t have required more than a few clicks, the publication notes — they weren’t encrypted, reportedly because Ring leadership believed it would be too costly and would rule out future revenue opportunities. News of Ring’s lax security practices emerged late last year, but The Intercept’s report pulls back the curtain on specific lapses. It comes roughly three months after it was revealed that IBM secretly collaborated with the New York City Police Department to develop a camera system that could search for people by skin color and gender, and six months after the American Civil Liberties Union found that Amazon helped law enforcement in Florida and Oregon to test its facial detection services. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Ring Labs staff was tasked with manually tagging and labeling objects to build databases that could be used to improve Ring’s computer vision algorithms. A second source told The Intercept that recorded videos came from both in-home and exterior Ring cameras, and that some of the frames employees annotated showed “people kissing, firing guns, and stealing.” Ring’s privacy terms of service and privacy policy make no mention of manual video labeling, noting only that owners “may choose to use additional functionality in … Ring product[s] that, through video data from your device, can recognize facial characteristics of familiar visitors.” The reported reason for the annotation was to make more robust Ring’s object detection and facial recognition software. According to a recent report in The Information , its cameras’ Neighbors feature, which Ring advertises as a distributed surveillance platform that can detect attempted burglaries and distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar people, frequently reports false positives. Additionally, The Intercept says, Ring liberally provided U.S.-based executives and engineers access to its support video portal, allowing them to view live footage from cameras “regardless of whether they needed access to … do their jobs.” With no more than an email address, these employees could pull up feeds from any customer. The Intercept’s source claims that they never witnessed Ring staff abusing the feature, but recalled occasions when engineers “‘[teased] each other about who they brought home'” after dates. According to The Intercept, Ring reigned in access to live and recorded video footage following its acquisition by Amazon. But sources told the publication that staffers in Ukraine sometimes work around the restrictions. In a statement provided to VentureBeat, a Ring spokeperson denied that employees had ever been provided employees access to live streams of Ring devices. Here’s Ring’s response in full: “We take the privacy and security of our customers’ personal information extremely seriously. In order to improve our service, we view and annotate certain Ring video recordings. These recordings are sourced exclusively from publicly shared Ring videos from the Neighbors app (in accordance with our terms of service), and from a small fraction of Ring users who have provided their explicit written consent to allow us to access and utilize their videos for such purposes. Ring employees do not have access to livestreams from Ring products. We have strict policies in place for all our team members. We implement systems to restrict and audit access to information. We hold our team members to a high ethical standard and anyone in violation of our policies faces discipline, including termination and potential legal and criminal penalties. In addition, we have zero tolerance for abuse of our systems and if we find bad actors who have engaged in this behavior, we will take swift action against them.” Updated at 8:10 p.m. Pacific: Added a statement from a Ring spokesperson. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon’s continued quest to put Alexa everywhere | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/27/on-amazons-continued-quest-to-put-alexa-everywhere"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 continued quest to put Alexa everywhere 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. Announcements at the Amazon devices event this week came at a blistering pace. In a roughly 80-minute span, the company revealed a menagerie of new smart devices that includes speakers, a smart display, a lamp, an oven, a dog tracker, integrations with GM cars, earbuds, a ring, and eyeglasses. These join the growing cadre of first- and third-party products that tap into Alexa, Amazon’s virtual assistant. But that’s just one tendril of Alexa’s ever-increasing reach. The assistant’s going to live on some devices alongside other virtual assistants, per a recent joint announcement with Microsoft, Salesforce, and others. Amazon is expanding Alexa by making it easier to create Alexa skills and by strategically penetrating the market in India, and it’s also making a play for the IoT networking space with Sidewalk. Amazon has never pretended that its goal with Alexa is anything but ubiquity. The formula is not complex: You need a virtual assistant, things upon which to put the virtual assistant, and connectivity (both to the internet and to other devices). Next you need adoption to achieve critical mass, and then you can control everything. Amazon’s announcements this week show that it’s gaining ground on all of the above. In your home and on your body The most obvious way Alexa penetrates consumers’ daily lives is through attractive but non-essential tech gear like Fire tablets, Fire TV, and Echo devices. The Echo brand alone got a raft of new additions and updates to existing devices, including a smart display and a pile of smart speakers, one of which boasts high fidelity and connects to Fire TV devices. There’s also the new Echo Glow — a smart lamp for kids — and the Amazon Smart Oven. 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 were new Alexa-powered wearables, too, in the form of Echo Buds (smart earbuds), Echo Frames (smart prescription eyeglasses), and Loop (a smart ring not to be confused with Ring, the smart doorbell/home security system). Amazon also announced a new Eero mesh Wi-Fi system and new Ring home security devices and device updates, all of which support Alexa voice commands. This is all from just one press conference, mind you. And you can see more on Amazon’s “More Alexa” page. But even that doesn’t take into consideration the fact that you can easily get Alexa on your smartphone, or that, according to Amazon, some 85,000 Alexa-compatible devices currently exist, with more coming all the time. A press release reads in part: Later this year, customers can enjoy even more convenient, voice-controlled cooking and small kitchen appliances from top brands, including Crock-Pot, GE Appliances, Hamilton Beach, Instant Pot, June Oven, LG, and Whirlpool; new support for garage door openers from beam Home and Nexx; and smart blinds and shades from IKEA, Legrand, Lutron, Schellenberg, and Somfy. Other Alexa-compatible devices coming soon for the home include new products from Procter & Gamble, Dyson, Mr. Christmas, Traeger, and more. So it’s 85,000 and counting, then. Alexa isn’t just on home devices and wearables, either — it’s ready for the road, as well. “GM is the first automaker to deliver a fully embedded Alexa experience based on the Alexa Auto SDK,” said Amazon VP of devices and services Dave Limp during the press conference. “Alexa will be available on millions of vehicles across all four GM brands — Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC. The best part is that this isn’t just about brand-new vehicles. It’ll also be available to millions of existing vehicles on the road with a simple over-the-air update.” This follows the Alexa Auto announcement a year ago, as well as the recent Auto SDK 2.0 update. Under the hood and across the ocean Clearly, Amazon is not planning for Alexa to live and die by its own first-party devices. In fact, the company continues to go to great lengths to both improve Alexa on its own backend and make it as easy as possible for developers to create new Alexa Skills and plug into more devices. Alexa Smart Screen Device SDK version 2 is now in public preview for developers. “This makes it easier for hardware manufacturers to add the same visuals we use in our Echo Show to their devices,” said Limp at the event. Education platforms like Canvas, Kickboard, and Coursera are connecting with the new Alexa Education Skill API to help parents check on their kids’ schoolwork. “Once connected, parents can say things like, ‘Alexa, what homework does Chris have tonight?’ or ‘Alexa, how did Sam do on the math test yesterday?’ and actually get a real response,” said Limp. Amazon has also extended the Alexa Connect Kit, which allows developers (and arguably, non-developers) to easily add Alexa’s smarts to all manner of things. “We added new multi-step capabilities so that devices can feed telemetry to the cloud, make new decisions about operations, and give new instructions to devices — so any device can keep getting smarter, just like Alexa,” said Limp. Amazon also added some specific APIs for its smart cooking devices, like temperature controls and oven preheating, and it created a reference design that developers can use to generate their own ideas. In a later interview with VentureBeat, Rohit Prasad, chief scientist for Amazon’s Alexa AI, expounded on ways Amazon is trying to make it easier for people to build skills, adding to the more than 100,000 that already exist. “We also lowered the barrier with Alexa skills [so] that you don’t need to be a machine learning expert to build these kinds of engaging experiences,” he said. He was referencing a school teacher in India he had met who added Alexa to a mannequin and is using it to engage his students as they learn English and other subjects. It wasn’t an accident that Prasad had India on the brain. Among its many other announcements this week, Amazon launched a multilingual mode for Alexa that automatically detects Hindi and English in India, along with French and English in Canada and Spanish and English in the U.S. India is an enormous emerging market, with a population of about 1.3 billion people — more than twice the total population of all of North America. If there was any doubt about how expansive Amazon wants Alexa’s presence to be, Limp removed it when he spoke about the “Alexa economy” — a term that would sound like mere market speak were it not for the extraordinary amount of money involved. “There are now billions of dollars flowing through the Alexa economy — that’s developer only,” he said. He didn’t qualify that statement further, but it’s notable that he’s not talking about how much money Alexa is making for Amazon, but how much money is moving through the closed “economy” around Alexa. This will soon also include the just-announced inventory sensors in the Smart Home Skill API that opens up a whole new revenue stream by automatically ordering consumables like printer ink or detergent for connected devices. A proprietary internet of things In addition to the throngs of Alexa-compatible devices, easy-to-use developer tools to take advantage of them, and forays into emerging markets, Amazon is looking toward the network, too. Owning your home Wi-Fi mesh network with Eero is one thing, but taking hold of a broader IoT-optimized network is quite another. That’s what Amazon Sidewalk is all about. Sidewalk is a low-cost, low-power, and low-bandwidth wireless protocol that uses the 900MHz frequency band to link IoT devices together and send them over-the-air (OTA) updates, and it can connect across distances of up to a mile. Why does Amazon need its own network of this kind, when there are numerous competitors in the space? VentureBeat’s Kyle Wiggers theorizes that it has to do with the possibility of paid services or fees for device certification down the road. On the whole, the “Alexa everywhere” effort is really a massive internet of things (IoT) play. One of the biggest problems with IoT, historically, is vendor lock-in. No one wants a household of mismatched walled gardens, where your lights can’t talk to your toaster, which can’t talk to your Bluetooth speaker, which can’t talk to your security camera. But if the garden is big enough, you never notice the walls. Theoretically, people don’t want to be in a walled garden of any kind on principle, but in real life it usually comes down to convenience. If Amazon can remove friction from the user experience, people will acquiesce to the vendor lock-in. The end goal is market saturation. Amazon will know if it has won the virtual assistant wars if Alexa becomes a proprietary eponym for “virtual assistant,” much as facial tissue is known colloquially as “Kleenex” and a staggering number of people still refer to all tablets as “iPads.” One device that is — in a roundabout way — among the most notable from the event is the Echo Glow smart lamp. It’s just $29, and its main feature appears to be letting kids use voice commands to turn on colorful lighting effects. It’s an inherently banal device, and not interesting at all from a technological perspective, but that’s sort of the point. You want a neat light-up lamp thing in your kid’s room? Why not spend a few dollars more to get the voice-controlled bit? And now Alexa lives in your child’s bedroom, and Amazon ticks a box on its spreadsheet. One more room. One more customer. Young kids may not have iPhones and Apple Watches, but they do have fun little lamps in their rooms. So the first virtual assistant they’ll get acquainted with is Alexa. And with a large enough ecosystem in tow, Alexa may the first and last virtual assistant millions of tomorrow’s consumers buy into. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon is poorly vetting Alexa's user-submitted answers | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/01/amazon-alexa-answers-vetting-user-questions"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 is poorly vetting Alexa’s user-submitted answers 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. Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, and Cortana can answer all sorts of questions that pop into users’ heads, and they’re improving every day. But what happens when a company like Amazon decides to crowdsource answers to fill gaps in its platform’s knowledge? The result can range from amusing and perplexing to concerning. Alexa Answers allows any Amazon customer to submit responses to unanswered questions. When the web service launched in general availability a few weeks ago, Amazon gave assurances that submissions would be policed through a combination of automatic and manual review. But an analysis of public Alexa Answers data conducted by VentureBeat shows that untrue, potentially sponsored, and offensive questions and answers are accepted and served to the over 100 million Alexa-enabled devices sold to date. Bad info Alexa Answers employs a points-based system to ensure quality answers float to the top — at least in theory. When a submitted answer goes “live” — that is, when Amazon begins serving it to Echo and third-party Alexa device owners — positive feedback from those users (as well as the number of times it’s shared) increment its overall score. (After responding to a question with an Alexa Answers submission, Alexa asks “Did that answer your question?”) Conversely, negative feedback decrements the score. Along with an average star rating (out of five) assigned by members of the Alexa Answers community, the feedback score determines whether an answer is served to Alexa users. Those below a certain score threshold aren’t shared, while higher-rated answers to questions with multiple submissions are shared more often. Alexa Answers lets Amazon account holders browse and answer questions asked by Alexa users across topics like animals, climate, film and TV, food, geography, history, literature, music, science, sports, and video games. They’re also able to sort questions by recency, popularity among Alexa Answers or Alexa users, or status (i.e., whether they’ve been answered). VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Above: Alexa responds to the question “Why are cows bad for the environment?” Questions sourced from Alexa Answers are appended with an “According to an Amazon customer” disclaimer. That’s true no matter which Alexa-enabled device answers the question, whether an Echo smart speaker or display; a Fire Tablet; an Android tablet preloaded with Alexa Smart Screen; or the Alexa app for Android, iOS, and Windows. Consider the question: “ Why are cows bad for the environment ?” There are a few things happening here, so let’s unpack them individually. During our testing, the Alexa app for Android and iOS in Canada initially relayed Alexa Answers content without the disclaimer. It was fixed roughly a week after we brought the bug to Amazon’s attention, but we’ll have to take the company at its word that the disclaimer works in every supported region and language. Your mileage may vary. Above: Asking “Why are cows bad for the environment?” repeatedly can yield a slightly controversial answer. Next, notice that Alexa is providing two different answers. That’s because this particular question has two submissions on Alexa Answers. Amazon tells us that for questions with two or more contributor-submitted answers, Alexa might rotate among them until a clear winner emerges. Sometimes getting a different answer is as simple as asking Alexa again — or on mobile, restarting the app and then asking again. To be fair, “Why are cows bad for the environment?” is a leading question, but it underlines a serious flaw of Alexa Answers. Slightly rephrased questions can yield different answers, or occasionally no answer at all. For instance, if you ask Alexa “Are cows bad for the environment?,” it will answer along the lines of “Sorry, I don’t know that one.” Questionable questions The questions in Alexa Answers come from Alexa customers who ask questions to which the assistant doesn’t have an answer. Once a question has been asked a certain number of times — Amazon declined to say how many — it makes its way onto the Alexa Answers portal, where it’s fair game for anyone with an Amazon account. As a result, different answers to nearly identical questions emerge often. Above: Rephrasing a question slightly can result in radically different answers. Alexa succinctly responds to the prompt “ What wine goes with chili? ” with “Red wine.” But if you ask “ What wine goes well with chili? ,” Alexa gives a more detailed answer: “Most sommeliers agree that light reds like Pinot Noir and Beaujolais served lightly chilled go very well with chili. The fruitiness and body play nicely with the layers of spices found in most chili recipes.” It’s easy to see how this can be abused. For instance, the question “ What plants are bad for cats? ” has two answers of varying helpfulness: “poison ivy and my moms cooking” and “Poinsettias.” The former is likely meant in jest, but it stands in contrast to the detailed list Google Assistant provides from PetMD.com. Questions in Alexa Answers are transcribed using Alexa’s imperfect text-to-speech engine, which leaves answerers in the position of making best guesses as to the questioner’s meaning. For example, one user assumed that “siki sauce” in the question “ What is sat siki sauce? ” was intended to be “tzatziki sauce,” and that “mick” in “ How much is mick romney worth? ” was a butchering of “Mitt” (referring to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney). But they don’t always get it right. One user responded to the question “ How do dolphins breed? ” with “Dolphins are mammals and breathe with the lungs,” presumably assuming “breed” was meant to be “breathe.” Questionable answers Amazon says that questions submitted to Alexa Answers might be automatically rejected by a combination of automated and manual filters if they fall into any of these categories: Inappropriate (subjective, advice, vulgar, profane, insulting, or offensive) Incomprehensible Incorrect or irrelevant Threatening Defamatory Invasive of privacy Infringing of intellectual property rights (including publicity rights) Alexa Answers also allows members to flag answers they believe are in violation of the the terms of service. Flagged answers aren’t visible on the Alexa Answers site, and they aren’t shared with Alexa customers, but they can be rewritten and resubmitted to address the reason for flagging. Problematically, the Alexa devices we tested responded to all of these questions at the time of publishing. It’s the responsibility of users to retroactively flag problematic answers, which exposes Alexa users to them in the meantime. Controversial and offensive answers Here more questions that are troublesome from the start, some with equally troublesome answers: How big do money trees get? Is climate change a hoax? How do you breed villagers? (this is likely a Minecraft reference) Inaccurate answers It’s not unusual to come across factual inaccuracies on Alexa Answers. Above: Factual inaccuracies aren’t uncommon in Alexa Answers content. Consider the question “ What is the hottest flame color? ” Reference.com reports that violet and white are the hottest on the color spectrum and visible spectrum, respectively, but an Alexa Answers contributor wrote “orange.” The human body has 22 pressure points, but you wouldn’t know it from Alexa’s answer to the question “ How many pressure points does a human body have? ” Inexplicably, the only submitted answer in Alexa Answers is “420.” And dogs aren’t jerks — at least not intentionally — but that’s the explanation one user gave for the question “ Why do dogs chew things up? ” Are AA batteries safe to eat? One would assume not, but that’s contrary to what one Alexa user heard when he asked his Echo device about. The answer he received — which assumed he was referring to a product within Amazon’s low-cost brand family, Amazon Basics — was: “Yes, but don’t eat too many.” Another Alexa user asked “ Are eggshells good for the soil? ” An Alexa Answers user responded “no don’t use the eggshells use the yolk the plants will be happier,” which isn’t entirely accurate. Yolks contain animal proteins that must be broken down before plants can use them, meaning they need to rot. And in truth, eggshells tilled into soil provide plants with a source of calcium. Above: Another small factual inaccuracy. Some questions submitted to Alexa Answers have conflicting answers. One contributor on the question “ Has India landed on the moon? ” noted that India located but wasn’t able to establish contact with its latest moon lander, Chandrayaan-2. Meanwhile, a second user made a joke. The fact is that while the lander deviated from its intended trajectory and lost communication, suggesting a crash, it technically landed on the moon (albeit probably not intact). Above: Two answers are sometimes better than one, but Alexa only serves one to customers. Answers to the question “ Who discovered San Francisco bay? ” are similarly indecisive, with one asserting the Ohlone Indian tribe should be credited with the discovery rather than Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portolà. Ideally, Alexa would provide both answers instead of one at random. (Google Assistant sidesteps this awkwardness by noting in its answer, which it draws from Wikipedia, that Gaspar de Portolà is the first known European discoverer of San Francisco Bay.) Questions about up-to-the-minute statistics predictably become outdated quickly. Take this one, for example: “ How many subscribers does [YouTuber Alex] wassabi have? ” Three months ago, the answer was 9.5 million subscribers. That number has since grown to 11.5 million. Asinine answers Above: Alexa Answers users have a sense of humor. Ridiculous questions warrant ridiculous answers in the eyes of some Alexa Answers users. Case in point: “ How do you catch an elephant? ” yields “In order to catch an elephant, you need cakes, raisins, a telescope, and a pair of tweezers” (an excerpt from Amy Schwartz’s children’s novel “How to Catch an Elephant”). Alternatively, it yields the decidedly dirtier reply: “First you dig a hole, fill it with ashes, and cover it with peas and when the elephant comes to take a pea, you kick it in the ash hole.” Above: More jokes. Silly answers abound to open-ended questions like “ Name some aquatic animals? ” The only response is “Whale, shark, whale shark, Blue Whale, dolphin, orca, crocodile, turtle, alligator, sponge, eel, great white shark, baby shark, momma shark, daddy shark. ” Asking “what are some aquatic animals?” surfaces content from Reference.com: “Some aquatic animals are sea turtles, jellyfish, clownfish, and blue whales.” Sponsored answers In another worrisome trend, some answers to questions on Alexa Answers seem to contain forms of advertising, sponsorship, or spam. Above: An example of potentially sponsored content on Alexa Answers. A user responding to the question “ How do you fully solve a rubik’s cube? ” endorsed the Lego Mindstorms EV3 robotics kit: “The best way to solve the Rubik’s cube is to build your own MindCub3r robot, that can be built from a single LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 home set (31313). MindCub3r will scan the scrambled cube and then fully solve it, using its unique mechanism to twist the sides and to turn the cube around.” Above: Any zombies in Florida? No, but there’s a “zombie run.” The questions “ What are Florida’s zombies? ” and “ Are there zombies in florida? ” could be referring to the May 2019 Lake Worth power outage notice that included a warning about zombies in the city, but Alexa Answers users took the opportunity to advertise Lake Worth’s Zombie Run. One answer reads: “Lake Worth Beach, a Florida city that is famous for having a hacker send out a ‘zombie alert,’ last year is hosting a ‘zombie run’ Oct. 25, 2019 for residents.” Protected process We’ve asked Amazon for more information about how Alexa Answers works, but the company has so far been cagey about the details. It’s unclear why some questions designated “live” on the Alexa Answers dashboard are served to Alexa users while others aren’t. In our testing, most questions and answers worked when we tried them, regardless of their status. Some questions and answers we submitted to Amazon during our investigation have since been removed, and we expect that at least some of the examples above will be, too. “High quality answers are important to us, and this is something we take seriously — we will continue to evolve Alexa Answers,” an Amazon spokesperson told VentureBeat when contacted for comment. Alexa Answers suffers from the shortcomings of the question-and-answer platforms that came before it, perhaps most famously Yahoo Answers, WikiAnswers, and StackExchange. It’s incumbent upon users to answer questions thoroughly and in good faith, and to self-police beyond the behind-the-scenes automated filtering. The majority of Amazon customers participating in Alexa Answers stick to the rules, but some flout them. And unfortunately, it’s unclear if malicious actors face punishment other than having their flagged answers removed. That’s bad news for Alexa users who are served answers from Alexa Answers. They simply aren’t provided the reputational information about the answers’ contributors. By lumping together contributors under the label “Amazon customers,” Amazon runs the risk of elevating or conferring authority to people with poor track records for Alexa Answers — a dangerous notion for Alexa device owners with kids who consider Alexa a reliable source of knowledge. There’s also a unique and problematic structural difference between the way users interface with information on answer websites versus virtual assistants. If you’re looking for the best Yahoo Answer, ideally the site’s system has chosen a best answer for you based on upvotes and other factors. But either way, you can see the math, as it were — all the other answers, good and bad, serious and joking. If there’s not a clear best answer, you can scan what’s there and use your own judgment to suss out how helpful it is. And if an answer is a clear joke, prank, or spam, it’s usually pretty easy to spot it and immediately scroll on. But with a voice assistant, you get none of that opportunity; you’re getting one and only one answer in response to a question, and part of the convenience of using such as assistant is that, presumably, its back end does all of the work for you. There’s no silver bullet, but Amazon would do well to more closely scrutinize the answers submitted to Alexa Answers, perhaps with enhanced automated screening and human moderation. It might consider allowing people to prevent unrated submissions from Alexa Answers from reaching a child’s Alexa-enabled device — or their own 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. All rights reserved. "

"Amazon brings Alexa to AWS IoT Core devices | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/25/amazon-brings-alexa-to-aws-iot-core-devices"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 brings Alexa to AWS IoT Core devices Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn AWS CTO Werner Vogels onstage November 29, 2018 at re:Invent. 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. Amazon’s annual AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas — where the tech giant reliably announces a host of products heading to Amazon Web Services, its cloud platform — doesn’t kick off officially until next week. But that didn’t stop the tech giant from previewing a few of the highlights, the bulk of which relate to the internet of things (IoT). Why the investment in IoT? Perhaps because AWS maintains pole position in the segment, which is anticipated to be worth $212 billion by the end of 2019. According to a survey conducted by the Eclipse Foundation in 2018, AWS was by far the most popular cloud platform for IoT developers, growing in popularity by 21% from 2017 to a 51.8% share, compared with Azure’s 31.21% share (up from 17% in 2017). Amazon CTO Werner Vogels told VentureBeat in a recent interview that AWS customers deploy upwards of hundreds of thousands of sensors. Alexa Voice Service (AVS) Integration for AWS IoT Core First on the list was Alexa Voice Service (AVS) Integration for AWS IoT Core, the managed cloud service that lets gadgets interact with cloud apps and other devices. It’s designed to let manufacturers create Alexa built-in devices — or accessories that connect to Alexa to play music, control smart home devices, and more — with constrained hardware resources. Alexa built-in devices previously required at least 100MB of RAM and ARM Cortex A-class microprocessors, but thanks to new AWS cloud processing components that offload tasks like buffering and mixing audio, the baseline requirement has been reduced to 1MB of RAM and Arm Cortex M-class microcontrollers. Alexa Voice Service (AVS) Integration for AWS IoT Core specifically offloads media retrieval, audio decoding, audio mixing, and state management to a new virtual Alexa-built in device in the cloud. New AWS IoT-reserved MQTT topics allow for message transfer between devices connected to AWS IoT Core and AVS using the MQTT protocol. As for the complementary AVS Integration for IoT Core Device SDK, it supports sending and retrieving messages over reserved MQTT topics as well as interfacing with device microphones and speakers and managing device-side state, all on the same IoT Core connection. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Amazon says that Alexa Voice Service (AVS) Integration for AWS IoT Core can lower the materials costs associated with Alexa built-in devices by up to 50%, and bring Alexa to products like light switches, thermostats, and small appliances. “With [this] new categories of Alexa built-in devices … end users can now experience Alexa in new parts of their home, office, or hotel rooms for a truly ambient experience, where they talk directly to their surroundings rather than to an Alexa family of devices,” Amazon wrote in a press release. IoT Greengrass and IoT Core IoT Greengrass, Amazon’s service that extends AWS to edge devices so they can act locally on the data they generate while using the cloud for management, is gaining improvements on the container support and data streaming side. Now, IoT Greengrass provides interoperability with the existing Docker ecosystem, allowing customers to package apps into a Docker container image and deploy it to a device. And it offers a new data stream capability that collects, processes, and exports streams from devices and manages the lifecycle of that data, eliminating the need for developers to handle their own data stream management. On the subject of IoT Core, customers can now provision device fleets with the aptly named AWS IoT Core Fleet Provisioning service, which automatically sets up devices with unique identities and performs the client- and cloud-side configuration needed for devices to operate with AWS IoT upon connection. Those customers can also take advantage of the new configurable endpoints for IoT Core and custom domains (as well as enhancements to custom authentication that allow it to work with MQTT connections), which make it easier to transition from self-managed infrastructure to fully managed AWS IoT services. Last on the list of new products is secure tunneling for AWS IoT Device Management, a capability that allows the creation of a device tunnel — in other words, a secure remote communications session — between two devices. With it, app developers can build remote access solutions that provide connectivity to individual devices for troubleshooting purposes, and connect to devices deployed behind restricted firewalls or isolated control networks without the need to adjust firewall configuration settings or manage proxies for each network user. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Alexa controls for kitchen appliances, shades, and garage door openers are generally available | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/11/26/alexa-controls-smart-home-devices-inventory-sensors"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Alexa controls for kitchen appliances, shades, and garage door openers are generally available Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. Amazon Alexa developers looking to support motorized window shades and kitchen appliances have reason to rejoice. A host of smart device control features previewed earlier this year are now generally available , including semantic extensions, cooking modes, and inventory sensors. As of today, developers can map one of three building blocks — toggle, range, and mode — to model functionality for water valves, closets, drawers, garage doors, gates, curtains, shades, blinds, awnings, and other gadgets. Four semantic extensions support utterances that use “open,” “close,” “raise,” and “lower” commands, which Amazon notes are some of the more natural ways Alexa customers speak to appliances. Developers can leverage extensions to control a projector screen with the request “Alexa, lower the movie screen,” or trigger a window blind with “Alexa, open the window.” And shades like those from IKEA (and soon Lutron and Schellenberg) can be adjusted using requests like “Alexa, raise the blinds” and “Alexa, open the blinds to 80%.” Plus, starting with manufacturers like Nexx, the extensions “open” and “close” will support garage door controls with phrases like “Alexa, close the garage door.” In a related development, the Cooking API is now available, allowing Alexa customers to control conventional ovens, pressure cookers, coffee makers, toasters, slow cookers, and more with voice. Select appliances — including GE Appliance ovens, June Ovens, and Traeger Grills — enable home chefs to check cooking progress and temperature, and 40 new modes let them specify cooking types and techniques, such as air-fry and pressure cook. Additionally, developers can now allow Alexa users to set a device’s temperature without specifying a duration, or to cook food until it reaches a given internal temperature. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! This afternoon also marks the official launch of inventory sensors, or any connected smart home device that uses a consumable or has replacement parts. Now, Alexa can let customers know when supplies used by their device (e.g., a printer, thermostat, toothbrush, washing machine, dishwasher, or vacuum cleaner) are running low or parts need replacement, and facilitate orders or reorders through Amazon’s Dash Replenishment Service. There’s a reason Amazon’s devoting time and attention to smart home device integrations where Alexa is concerned. Smart home device shipments are expected to experience a 26.9% year-over-year uptick to 832.7 million units by 2020 and to hit 1.6 billion units by 2023. And of the 75% of respondents to a recent Dashbot survey who use voice assistants like Alexa at least once a day, 23% say they control smart home devices with their assistant. Of that group, 63% tap assistants for home automation multiple times a day. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Uber releases Ludwig, an open source AI 'toolbox' built on top of TensorFlow | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/11/uber-releases-ludwig-an-open-source-ai-toolbox-built-on-top-of-tensorflow"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 releases Ludwig, an open source AI ‘toolbox’ built on top of TensorFlow 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. Want to dive earnestly into artificial intelligence (AI) development, but find the programming piece of it intimidating? Not to worry — Uber has your back. The ride-hailing giant today debuted Ludwig, an open source “toolbox” built on top of Google’s TensorFlow framework that allows users to train and test AI models without having to write code. Uber says Ludwig is the culmination of two years’ worth of work to streamline the deployment of AI systems in applied projects and says it has been tapping the tool suite internally for tasks like extracting information from driver licenses, identifying points of interest during conversations between driver-partners and riders, predicting food delivery times, and more. “Ludwig is unique in its ability to help make deep learning easier to understand for non-experts and enable faster model improvement iteration cycles for experienced machine learning developers and researchers alike,” Uber wrote in a blog post. “By using Ludwig, experts and researchers can simplify the prototyping process and streamline data processing so that they can focus on developing deep learning architectures rather than data wrangling.” Above: Visualizations produced by Ludwig. As Uber explains, Ludwig provides a set of AI architectures that can be combined to create an end-to-end model for a given use case. Kicking off training requires no more than a tabular dataset file (like CSV) and a YAML configuration file that specifies which columns of the former are input features (i.e., the individual properties or phenomenon being observed) and which are output target variables. If more than one output target variable is specified, Ludwig learns to predict all the outputs simultaneously. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! New model definitions can contain additional information, including preprocessing data for each feature in the dataset and model training parameters. And models trained in Ludwig are saved and can be loaded at a later time to obtain predictions on new data. Novelly, for each data type Ludwig supports, the toolset offers data type-specific encoders that map the raw data to tensors (data structures used in linear algebra), along with decoders that map tensors to the raw data. Built-in combiners automatically piece together the tensors from all input encoders, process them, and return them to be used for the output decoders. “By composing these data type-specific components, users can make Ludwig train models on a wide variety of tasks,” Uber wrote. “For example, by combining a text encoder and a category decoder, the user can obtain a text classifier, while combining an image encoder and a text decoder will enable the user to obtain an image captioning model … This versatile and flexible encoder-decoder architecture makes it easy for less experienced deep learning practitioners to train models for diverse machine learning tasks, such as text classification, object classification, image captioning, sequence tagging, regression, language modeling, machine translation, time series forecasting, and question answering.” Additionally, Ludwig provides a set of command line utilities for training, testing models, and obtaining predictions; tools for evaluating models and comparing their predictions through visualizations; and a Python programmatic API that lets users train or load a model and use it to obtain predictions on new data. Moreover, Ludwig’s capable of distributed model training through the use of Uber’s Horovod , a framework that enables support for multiple graphics cards and machines. Currently, Ludwig contains encoders and decoders for binary values, float numbers, categories, discrete sequences, sets, bags, images, text, and time series, and it supports select pretrained models. In the future, Uber plans to add new encoders for data types for text, images, audio, point clouds, and graphs and to integrate “more scalable solutions” for managing big datasets. “We decided to open-source Ludwig because we believe that it can be a useful tool for non-expert machine learning practitioners and experienced deep learning developers and researchers alike. The non-experts can quickly train and test deep learning models without having to write code. Experts can obtain strong baselines to compare their models against and have an experimentation setting that makes it easy to test new ideas and analyze models by performing standard data preprocessing and visualization.” Ludwig’s debut follows the release of Uber’s Pyro in 2017, a deep probabilistic programming language built on Facebook’s PyTorch machine learning framework. And it comes as no-code AI development tools — like Baidu’s EZDL and Microsoft’s AI model builder — continue to gain steam. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Facebook will now show you the Russian bots you unknowingly follow | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2017/11/22/facebook-will-now-show-you-the-russian-bots-you-unknowingly-follow"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 will now show you the Russian bots you unknowingly follow Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California 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 is taking steps to help people understand how they may have been influenced by Russian propaganda profiles and Pages across its properties. The social networking company today announced that it plans to launch a portal where anyone can go to find out if Pages or Instagram accounts they like or follow were set up by the Russia-based Internet Research Agency (IRA). This tool will be available by the end of 2017 and will cover the time period between January 2015 and August 2017, basically the entire duration of the U.S. presidential election season. “It is important that people understand how foreign actors tried to sow division and mistrust using Facebook before and after the 2016 U.S. election,” the company wrote in a blog post. Above: Facebook will set up a portal for users to find out if a Page or Instagram account they follow was created by Russian actors. At last count, it’s estimated that Russian propaganda on Facebook has influenced 150 million users. It hasn’t all been aimed at supporting Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, but includes such social issues as gun rights, immigration, Black Lives Matter, and more. As a result of this influx of propaganda, Facebook, along with Twitter and Google/YouTube, was summoned before Congress to answer questions about how to prevent such abuse in future. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has come out strongly against Russian interference, after first denying that his company had any undue impact on the election in which Donald Trump was elected president. Based on the screenshot provided by Facebook, it appears that only the Pages and accounts created by the Internet Research Agency will be displayed when you access the portal, not the specific pieces of content you may have read. But, as Recode notes , this tool is limited to showing you the accounts that you directly follow, not the ones that your friends do, so you’re going to only get one piece of the pie. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Facebook takes down false ad placed as a stunt by left-leaning PAC | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/26/facebook-takes-down-false-ad-placed-as-a-stunt-by-left-leaning-pac"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 takes down false ad placed as a stunt by left-leaning PAC Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. ( Reuters ) — Facebook said on Saturday that it had removed an ad that falsely claimed U.S. Republican senator Lindsey Graham supported the Green New Deal, demonstrating that it will fact-check ads from political groups but not politicians. The ad, which ran on Friday, was put up as a stunt by a left-leaning Political Action Committee, or PAC, called The Really Online Lefty League, to test Facebook’s political ad policies. Facebook has been criticized in recent weeks over its decision to not fact-check ads run by politicians, drawing ire from Democratic candidates running in the 2020 presidential election, such as former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren. Last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended Facebook’s policy , saying the company did not want to stifle political speech. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Facebook spokesperson Tom Channick told Reuters on Friday that since the new ad came from a political action group, rather than a politician, it was eligible for review by the company’s third-party fact-checking partners. At the time of writing, the video could still be viewed on the PAC’s Facebook page, but paid distribution had been stopped. The ad came days after Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez grilled Zuckerberg on whether Facebook would permit her to run such an ad, during a congressional hearing on Wednesday. Adriel Hampton, treasurer of The Really Online Lefty League, said the Graham ad was inspired by the exchange. Senator Graham’s office said on Friday that it was aware of the ad and confirmed the senator opposes the Green New Deal, a proposal championed by Ocasio-Cortez that would eliminate U.S. greenhouse gas emissions within a decade. Facebook and other social media companies are under pressure to police misinformation on their platforms during the run-up to the November 2020 election. On Friday, Facebook started to test Facebook News , a new section of its mobile app dedicated to “high-quality news.” But the company came under fire from some political activists over its decision to include right-wing news website Breitbart News as one of its Facebook News publishers. Facebook said that Breitbart is an unpaid partner, unlike some outlets in the section. Breitbart News did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Facebook News will feature content from almost 200 publishers, including the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. A Facebook spokesperson told Reuters that if any Facebook News publisher posts misinformation, the publisher would no longer be eligible for Facebook News. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Investigators raid Cambridge Analytica's London offices | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/24/investigators-raid-cambridge-analyticas-london-offices"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Investigators raid Cambridge Analytica’s London offices Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The nameplate of political consultancy, Cambridge Analytica, is seen in central London, Britain. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. ( Reuters ) — Investigators from Britain’s data watchdog searched the London offices of Cambridge Analytica, the data analytics firm at the center of a storm over allegations it improperly harvested Facebook data to target U.S. voters. About 20 officials, wearing black jackets with “ICO Enforcement” on them, arrived at the firm’s central London offices on Friday evening soon after a High Court judge granted a search warrant sought by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The officials concluded the search around 0300 GMT on Saturday. “We will now need to assess and consider the evidence before deciding the next steps and coming to any conclusions,” an ICO spokesperson said in a statement. The officials, who were let into the building by security guards, were seen checking books and papers through the windows of the second-floor offices on London’s busy New Oxford Street, a Reuters witness 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! Elizabeth Denham, head of the ICO, sought the warrant after a whistleblower said Cambridge Analytica had gathered private information of 50 million Facebook users to support Donald Trump’s 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Britain is investigating whether Facebook, the world’s largest social media network, did enough to protect data. U.S. lawmakers on Friday asked Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg to come to Congress to explain to explain how the data got into Cambridge Analytica’s hands, adding to pressure on the firm, which is under fire from investors and advertisers. Separately on Friday, Britain’s Guardian newspaper said a former Cambridge Analytica political consultant had accused the company’s management of misleading the British public about work it did for a pro-Brexit group before the vote to leave the European Union. Brittany Kaiser, a business development director at the company from 2014 until earlier this year, told the Guardian that Cambridge Analytica carried out data-crunching and analysis work for Leave.EU, while publicly denying it was doing so. Arron Banks, a major donor to Leave.EU, told the newspaper that Leave.EU did not receive any data or work from Cambridge Analytica although the UK Independence Party, which also campaigned for Brexit, gave the firm some of its data which the firm analyzed. “But it was not used in the Brexit campaign. Cambridge Analytica tried to make me pay for that work but I refused. It had nothing to do with us,” Banks was quoted as saying. Efforts by the ICO to investigate Cambridge Analytica had hit a snag on Thursday after a judge adjourned its application to search the British consultancy group’s office by 24 hours. U.S. and European lawmakers have demanded an explanation of how the British consulting firm gained access to the data in 2014 and why Facebook failed to inform its users, raising broader industry questions about consumer privacy. Facebook’s Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that his company made mistakes in mishandling data and promised tougher steps to restrict developers access to data. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Facebook to create a privacy panel as part of $5 billion FTC settlement | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/07/24/facebook-to-create-a-privacy-panel-as-part-of-5-billion-ftc-settlement"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 to create a privacy panel as part of $5 billion FTC settlement Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Facebook Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. ( Reuters ) — The Federal Trade Commission is set to announce on Wednesday that Facebook has agreed to a sweeping settlement of significant allegations it mishandled user privacy and pay $5 billion, two people briefed on the matter said. As part of the settlement, Facebook will agree to create a board committee on privacy and will agree to new executive certifications that users’ privacy is being properly protected, the people said. Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg will have to certify every three months that the company is properly safeguarding user privacy, a person briefed on the matter said. The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the FTC will allege Facebook misled users about its handling of their phone numbers and its use of two-factor authentication as part of a wide-ranging complaint that accompanies a settlement ending the government’s privacy probe, citing two people familiar with the matter. Separately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to announce a related settlement with Facebook for around $100 million over allegations it failed to disclose risks to investors over its privacy practices. The Wall Street Journal reported the SEC settlement earlier. The Post also reported the FTC also plans to allege Facebook provided insufficient information to about 30 million users about a facial recognition tool, an issue identified earlier by Consumer Reports. The settlement comes amid growing concern among U.S. policymakers about the privacy of online users and have sparked calls for new legal protections in Congress. Separately, the U.S. Justice Department said late Tuesday it is launching a broad antitrust probe into the competitive practices of large tech companies like Facebook. Two people briefed on the matter confirmed the Post report the FTC will not require Facebook to admit guilt as part of the settlement. The settlement will need to be approved by a federal judge and will contain other significant allegations of privacy lapses, the people said. The fine will mark the largest civil penalty ever paid to the FTC. The FTC and Facebook declined to comment. The FTC confirmed in March 2018 it had opened an investigation into allegations Facebook inappropriately shared information belonging to 87 million users with the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. The probe has focused on whether the data sharing violated a 2011 consent agreement between Facebook and the regulator and then widened to include other privacy allegations. A person briefed on the matter said the phone number, facial recognition and two-factor authentication issues were not part of the initial Cambridge Analytica probe. Some in Congress have criticized the reported $5 billion penalty, noting Facebook in 2018 had $55.8 billion in revenue and $22.1 billion in net income. Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, said last week the fine should be $50 billion. While the deal resolves a major regulatory headache for Facebook, the Silicon Valley firm still faces further potential antitrust probes as the FTC and Justice Department undertake a wide-ranging review of competition among the biggest U.S. tech companies. Facebook is also facing public criticism from President Donald Trump and others about its planned cryptocurrency Libra over concerns about privacy and money laundering. The Cambridge Analytica missteps, as well as anger over hate speech and misinformation on its platform, have prompted calls from people ranging from presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren to a Facebook co-founder, Chris Hughes, for the government to force the social media giant to sell Instagram, which it bought in 2012, and WhatsApp, purchased in 2014. But the company’s core business has proven resilient, as Facebook blew past earnings estimates in the past two quarters. Facebook is set to report earnings on Wednesday. ( Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; additional reporting by Vibhuti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Lisa Shumaker ) VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Facebook's Libra shrugs off defections as it announces 5-member board | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/14/facebooks-libra-shrugs-off-defections-as-it-announces-5-member-board"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 Libra shrugs off defections as it announces 5-member board Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you ready to bring more awareness to your brand? Consider becoming a sponsor for The AI Impact Tour. Learn more about the opportunities here. ( Reuters ) — Backers of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project pledged to forge ahead after selecting a five-member board on Monday, shrugging off the latest member defection by online travel company Booking Holding earlier in the day. “It is a correction; it’s not a setback,” said Dante Disparte, head of policy and communications for the Libra Association, whose 21 remaining members held their inaugural meeting in Geneva. The owner of Priceline, Kayak and Booking.com on Monday confirmed that it had pulled out of the group, which is trying to bring digital coins into mainstream commerce. Libra lost its last global payments backers on Friday, when Mastercard and Visa abandoned the Geneva-based Libra Association. EBay, fintech startup Stripe and payments company Mercado Pago also pulled the plug. The exodus followed warnings from politicians and regulators, from the United States to Europe, that Libra risked upsetting global financial stability, undermining users’ privacy and facilitating money laundering. The latest withdrawals followed the departure of PayPal from the Libra Association earlier this month. It leaves Facebook without the backing of any major payments firms for the project, due to launch by June 2020. Disparte acknowledged that the digital currency’s regulatory issues could push back its launch date. At the meeting in Geneva, members agreed interim articles of association laying out how the organization will be governed, as required by Swiss law, according to a fact sheet provided by the Libra Association. Most decisions will require a majority vote of the group’s governing council, although changes to membership or management of the reserve would require a two-third supermajority. The group elected five people to serve on the board, including Facebook’s David Marcus as well as representatives from PayU, venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, blockchain company Xapo Holdings Limited and non-profit Kiva Microfunds. The association’s other prominent remaining members include Vodafone and ride-hailing firms Uber and Lyft. Its only payments firm remaining is Netherlands-based PayU, which according to its website does not operate in the United States, Canada or large swaths of Africa and the Middle East. The departure of major financial firms means Facebook can no longer count on a global player to help consumers turn their currency into Libra and facilitate transactions. This presents a new stumbling block for Libra’s efforts to convince regulators and politicians about the coin’s safety. France pledged last month to block Libra from operating in Europe, while the Bank of England laid out high hurdles it must meet before its launch. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has also suggested the project could not advance before concerns were assuaged. Libra, announced as Facebook expands into e-commerce, will be backed by a reserve of real-world assets, including bank deposits and short-term government securities, and overseen by the Libra Association. The structure is intended to foster trust and stabilize the price volatility that plagues cryptocurrencies and renders them impractical for commerce and payments. ( Reporting by Tom Wilson and Katie Paul; additional reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bangalore and Peter Henderson in San Francisco; Editing by Pravin Char and Lisa Shumaker ) VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"U.S. Congress grills Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook's Libra, privacy, elections, and more | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/23/u-s-congress-grills-mark-zuckerberg-on-facebooks-libra-privacy-elections-and-more"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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. Congress grills Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook’s Libra, privacy, elections, and more Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington in 2019 Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. ( Reuters ) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg conceded on Wednesday that the company’s planned digital currency Libra was a “risky project,” but sought to reassure skeptical U.S. lawmakers that it could lower the cost of electronic payments and open up the global financial system to more people. Sporting a suit and tie, Zuckerberg also fended off aggressive questions on election interference, free speech, hate groups, and fake news from members of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. Representative Maxine Waters , the panel’s fiery Democratic chair, quizzed Zuckerberg on Facebook’s steps to combat misinformation and voter suppression ahead of the November 2020 U.S. presidential election. She also suggested policymakers should consider breaking up Facebook. Waters had previously called for halting the Libra project before its planned 2020 launch, and has drafted legislation that would bar tech companies from entering financial services. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “It would be beneficial for all if Facebook concentrates on addressing its many existing deficiencies and failures before proceeding any further on the Libra project,” Waters told Zuckerberg two days after Facebook disclosed it had removed a network of Russian accounts targeting U.S. voters on its Instagram platform. Bipartisan criticism Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike blasted Facebook for failing to crack down on online child exploitation and political misinformation, and for data privacy lapses. Several said they did not trust Facebook to help provide financial services to its 2.4 billion users, given the past scandals. “Facebook’s internal model was for a long time ‘Move fast and break things,’ Mr. Zuckerberg. We do not want to break the international monetary system,” said Representative Nydia Velazquez (D). Zuckerberg said Facebook would insist on U.S. regulatory approval before launching Libra, which is being established by a Switzerland-based consortium that includes venture capital firms and nonprofits. He said Facebook would even leave the Libra Association if other companies sought to launch the currency without that sign-off. Libra has faltered in recent weeks amid sustained criticism from lawmakers and regulators globally over fears it may aid money laundering and upend the global financial system. Several financial partners, including Mastercard, Visa, PayPal, and eBay, have abandoned the project. Representative Ann Wagner (R), pressed Zuckerberg on why so many companies have abandoned the Libra effort. “You’ve lost these stable partners, and I find it highly concerning,” she said. “Why do a number of these founding members have concerns of whether you’re up to the task of meeting our money laundering and regulatory standards?” The 35-year old Facebook CEO conceded that those companies dropped out because Libra is a “risky project” and that he was not sure it would even work. During his testimony, the price of Bitcoin versus the U.S. dollar tumbled to a five-month low. Facebook has ‘work to do’ Calm and composed, Zuckerberg navigated the hostile room without major slip-ups and was even afforded a gentle rib by Democratic representative Katie Porter, who complimented him on his short haircut. The CEO last appeared before Congress in April 2018 when he fielded 10 hours of questions over two days from House and Senate panels on political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of Facebook customer data to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. On Wednesday, he acknowledged Facebook’s mistakes, saying he understood the social media giant was not the “ideal messenger” for the Libra project and that the company has “work to do to build trust.” But he said past missteps should not stand in the way of Libra, which is based in Switzerland. “The vision here is to make it so that people can send money to each other as easily and cheaply as it is sending a text message.” Zuckerberg was unable though to make material commitments on behalf of Libra because Facebook no longer controls the project, sometimes to the frustration of lawmakers. On October 14, the Libra Association — comprising 21 members — agreed to articles of association laying out how the organization will be governed , as required by Swiss law. Most decisions will require a majority vote of the group’s governing council, meaning Facebook will not call the shots. Lawmakers also touched on other hot button issues, including diversity, inclusion, and charges brought by the housing regulator in March, still pending, alleging Facebook violated fair lending laws. Representative Joyce Beatty (D), hammered Zuckerberg, saying she viewed Facebook’s efforts to address civil rights abuses as insufficient, calling them “appalling and disgusting.” Some Republicans did offer support for Zuckerberg and the Libra project, arguing the government should not stop the private sector from innovating. “I have my own qualms about Facebook and Libra and the shortcomings of Big Tech,” said Representative Patrick McHenry, the top Republican on the panel. “But if history has taught us anything, it’s better to be on the side of American innovation.” VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Nokia signs patent and equipment deal with Xiaomi amid big push into Chinese market | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2017/07/05/nokia-pushes-deeper-into-chinese-market-by-signing-patent-and-equipment-deal-with-xiaomi"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Nokia signs patent and equipment deal with Xiaomi amid big push into Chinese market Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Nokia Security Center in Berlin. 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. Nokia is continuing its aggressive play for the massive Chinese market by announcing a new deal with handset maker Xiaomi. The Chinese company will license Nokia’s mobile patents and purchase telecom equipment from the Finnish company for an undisclosed sum. While the financial impact may not be immediately clear, this latest deal follows a flurry of announcements Nokia has made over the past week about its pursuit of the Chinese market. As Nokia continues its turnaround, the telecom company is placing a big bet on its future in China, where Xiaomi is just the latest catch. “Xiaomi is one of the world’s leading smartphone manufacturers, and we are delighted to have reached an agreement with them,” said Rajeev Suri, president and CEO of Nokia, in a statement. “In addition to welcoming such a prominent global technology company to our family of patent licensees, we look forward to working together on a wide range of strategic projects.” Many of the announcements are being made at Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2017. While Nokia has operated in China for years, the company clearly believes it has a massive opportunity there that it hopes to now seize. On June 29, Nokia announced it had created a new business unit to focus on helping “Chinese internet firms expand overseas.” That business unit would provide things like data centers and cloud services. A few days later, Nokia signed an agreement to create a joint venture with China Huaxin Post and Telecommunication Economy Development Center that melds their equipment businesses in Shanghai. The company also announced a deal to provide equipment for Shanghai’s smart city programs and a digital health partnership with China Mobile. In the latest move, Nokia will also cross license Xiaomi’s mobile patents. The licensing deals are a strategic cornerstone for Nokia as it seeks to reinvent itself following a decision several years ago to sell its handset business to Microsoft. Nokia created a unit within itself called Nokia Technologies , which technically holds the patent portfolio the company built up over decades. Nokia takes the money it gets from licensing those patents and uses it to fund new product development and, in some cases, acquisitions of businesses such as Withings , which moved Nokia into the digital health space. Nokia Technologies also recently hired Gregory Lee to be its new president. Lee had held various roles at Samsung since 2004 but had served as CEO and president for the company’s North America division since 2014. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Huawei Mate 20 Pro: AI Cinema effect adds 'Sin City'-like color isolation to your videos | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/10/16/huawei-mate-p20-pro-ai-cinema-effect-adds-sin-city-like-color-isolation-to-your-videos"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Huawei Mate 20 Pro: AI Cinema effect adds ‘Sin City’-like color isolation to your videos Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The "AI Color" video effect on the new Huawei Mate 20 Pro 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 is a phone not a phone? When it’s a camera, of course. That’s where we’re at with most new-fangled smartphones — the phone functionality itself is a secondary consideration, while its various internet-connected apps and features are pretty much a given. In 2018, the quality of the camera is nearly always positioned as the main selling point and differentiator. When Samsung launched the Galaxy A9 last week, it touted the phone’s four-lens rear-facing camera, which includes telephoto, zoom, and depth features. A few months back, Light raised $121 million to bring DSLR-quality photos to mobile cameras through algorithmic imaging. Reviews these days also tend to focus on the quality of the camera, as with the recent iPhone launch and Huawei’s P20 Pro, which we called mind-blowingly awesome. With that in mind, Chinese smartphone giant Huawei today unveiled the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro and, again, the camera (both hardware and software) was a major focal point. The company showcased a new ultra wide-angle camera lens, for starters, but a couple of particularly interesting video camera effects stood out. You will have noticed that “bokeh” has become a buzzword in smartphone photography — due to improved depth-sensing capabilities that blur the background while keeping the subject firmly in focus. Well, the Huawei Mate 20 range can now do that with video so that when you follow a person around a room, the background is blurry while the subject remains crystal clear. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! But arguably the more interesting effect is what Huawei is marketing as “AI Cinema” mode, which is capable of rendering both color and black-and-white images in a single shot, similar to the color pop feature recently announced for Google Photos. Here’s how it works. AI Cinema In the device itself, Huawei actually calls the effect “AI Color,” and it sits just to the left of “background blur” — the bokeh video effect. Above: Huawei Mate P20 Pro: Video effects When you activate the AI Color feature, the subject you are following remains in color while everything else is in black and white. This presumably works for pets too (we didn’t have any hamsters on hand), and we are told it can also work for inanimate subjects. Here’s a quick GIF we made of the effect in action. Above: Huawei Mate P20 Pro: AI Color effect, (AI Cinema) It is possible to recreate similar effects in professional video-editing software, but having something like this baked into a smartphone — and able to work in real time — is a notable advance not only for smartphone camera technology, but for the underlying AI-powered computer vision smarts that enable it. The ‘Sin City’ effect If you’ve seen the award-winning 2005 flick Sin City , you’ll know what Huawei is playing at. Sin City garnered critical acclaim for the way it mixed splashes of color into what was largely a black-and-white movie, allowing one character in a scene to be represented in color while everyone else remained monochrome or to appear in color against a black-and-white background. Above: Brittany Murphy in Sin City (2005) Some scenes were rendered with just a smidgen of color sprayed across an otherwise black-and-white screen. Huawei’s effort isn’t quite up to the standards of Sin City ‘s color-processing prowess, but it shows how technologists are pushing the boundaries of what is possible with a tiny AI-infused pocket rocket. It also serves as yet another reminder of how big a marketing role the smartphone camera now plays. The fact that the Huawei Mate 20 / 20 Pro has ditched the 3.5mm headphone jack wasn’t mentioned throughout the announcement, and nobody really even asked the question. I briefly considered asking about its omission, but what’s the point — it’s pretty much assumed now that most flagship phones won’t come with a headphone jack. It’s a minor inconvenience, designers think, when all people really care about is the camera. ** This article was updated 25/11/2019 to correct the device names to Huawei Mate 20 / 20 Pro. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Huawei’s Honor View20, with 48MP camera and in-screen selfie lens, launches globally | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/22/huaweis-honor-view20-with-48mp-camera-and-in-screen-selfie-lens-launches-globally"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Huawei’s Honor View20, with 48MP camera and in-screen selfie lens, launches globally Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Huawei's Honor View20 smartphone 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. Huawei sub-brand Honor today officially launched its latest View20 flagship globally. The Chinese smartphone company presented the Honor View20 at a packed event in Paris, after first unveiling the device in early December ahead of its launch in China a couple of weeks later. The company confirmed today that the device will be available across Europe, the Middle East, Russia, India, and Southeast Asia, with “other markets” to follow soon. While Honor began as a budget brand to make Huawei more competitive with price-conscious demographics and developing markets, Honor has been venturing into flagship territory, as many of the devices lean toward the higher end of the spectrum. The View20 is a case in point, shipping with Huawei’s very own Kirin 980 chipset — similar to other high-end smartphones in the Huawei range — which is designed for artificial intelligence (AI) acceleration. Elsewhere, the View20 is available in 6GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB configurations, supports 3D motion-controlled gaming, and comes with a 4,000mAh battery that can be supercharged to more than 50 percent in around half an hour. And — drumroll, please — it has a 3.5mm headphone jack. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Design The View20’s striking design was made possible by nano-lithography, a printing treatment used to etch a V-shaped moiré pattern into the phone’s reflective backplate. (Honor claims it was inspired by a Hellenistic sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike , though the resemblance is tenuous, at best.) Its gradient finish glimmers in the light like few phones we’ve used before, which may not be a good thing if your taste skews toward the conventional. Still, it certainly stands out in a crowded field. Above: Honor View20 A less polarizing feature of note is the curved glass-and-metal body, which measures 8.1 millimeters at its thickest point and comes in four colors — blue, black, red, and “phantom blue.” It’s framed by an aluminum shell, conferring a solid feel that stands in pleasant contrast to lightweights like Google’s Pixel 3 XL. Unfortunately, this necessitated compromises: The Honor View20 doesn’t support wireless charging, and it isn’t waterproof. Honor said that it is water-resistant to a point, but we’d hesitate to leave it poolside. Above: Honor View20: Rear view The View20’s straightforward button layout is some consolation. On the right-hand side, you’ll find the power button and volume rocker. The fingerprint sensor is around back, occupying the space between the dual camera modules and embossed Honor logo, and on top is the aforementioned 3.5mm audio jack. A USB-C port on the bottom, between the loudspeaker and one of several microphones, rounds out the I/O. Above: Honor View20: Bottom view Performance The View20 has the distinction of being one of the first Honor-branded devices with Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin 980, a 7-nanometer chip system-on-chip. Compared to the Honor View 10 ’s Kirin 970, Honor claims it’s up to 75 percent faster in single-core tasks, and that its integrated GPU — the Mali-G76 — improves graphics performance by a whopping 46 percent. The Kirin 980 is also AI-forward, thanks to its dual-core neural processing unit (NPU) coprocessor. This NPU is able to recognize 4,500 images per minute; it drives the View20’s new object identification feature, HiVision, which can identify countless objects including hundreds of landmarks and thousands of paintings. This was also available in Huawei’s Mate 20 series of devices that were launched last year. To segue briefly away from performance and into more details on HiVision, this feature is split into four key sections: QR code, translate, shopping, and identify. Simply by pointing your phone at an object you can shop for similar items related to it — for example, here we pointed the phone at a photo of the Eiffel Tower on a computer screen, and it served up links to buy professional prints and photos online. Above: Honor View20: HiVision shopping search But it could be any object really — such as a mug sitting by the side of your desk. Above: Honor View20: HiVision shopping search If you’re not looking to shop for items, then you can change the setting to “identify,” where it can spot anything from a famous landmark to a car or a bunch of flowers. HiVision then overlays the image with a little text box that tells you what it is, with a link to further information. Above: Honor View20: HiVision identify objects Alternatively, if you’re not looking to shop or identify, then you can translate texts between languages and scan QR codes with this same application. Performance further benefits from GPU Turbo 2.0, a software feature that “optimizes” performance and “improves” touch controls in select titles including PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Arena of Valor, Rules of Survival, Mobile Legends, Bang Bang, Vainglory, and Asphalt 9: Legend. The results of our preliminary benchmark tests line up with those claims, more or less. In Geekbench , the View20 achieved a single-core score of 3,292 and a multi-core score of 9,609, scoring roughly on par with the Huawei Mate 20 (3,390 single-core and 10,318 multi-core). The Antutu results were a little less encouraging — we saw scores of up to 274,349, which fall far short of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro’s 303,313 — but it managed to come ahead of flagships like the Google Pixel 3 (269,901) and Samsung Galaxy S9+ (266,871). The Kirin 980’s advantages extend to power management, too. Honor says that the View 20 draws 58 percent less energy than its predecessor, thanks in part to the increased efficiency of the Kirin 980 and an “intelligent” scheduling mechanism that reduces processor load. That remains to be seen, but in our limited testing, its 4,000 mAh battery — up from the View 10’s 3,750mAh battery — didn’t deplete terribly quickly day-to-day. With light usage — i.e., checking emails, browsing the web, and scrolling through social feeds — the View20 lasted a full day, and frequently a day and a quarter. When it does die, of course, it doesn’t take long to charge — as noted earlier, it should not take much longer than half an hour to give this around 55 percent charge. Against Qualcomm’s current-gen Snapdragon 845 and Samsung’s Exynos 9810, the View20 and Kirin 980-packing handsets plainly hold their own. But it bears mentioning that we’re likely only weeks away from phones with Qualcomm’s 7-nanometer Snapdragon 855 , which promise significant improvements in the areas of AI, per-core performance, power efficiency, and photography. That’s certainly something to factor into your buying decision. Cameras and more Among the main selling points of the View20, from a marketing USP at least, is the in-screen “pinhole” camera that is designed to maximize the display real estate — it doesn’t rely on chunky bezels or hideous cut-out “notches.” As we noted a few weeks back, this kind of design is something we will see a lot more of throughout 2019 and beyond, and already there are a handful of other devices on the market with a similar design — these include the Samsung Galaxy A8S and Huawei’s Nova 4 , both of which debuted in China last month. With the View20, however, Huawei and Honor are pushing to sell the first mass-market device that sports the distinctive in-screen selfie lens. With a 6.4-inch 2,310p x 1,080p “all-view” display, only the 4.5mm front camera blemishes the screen — as a result of this, the phone offers a 91.8 percent body-to-screen ratio. Above: Honor View20: Screen-embedded camera For people who like to watch a lot of movies and videos on their phone, this means that they can go pretty much full-screen — so long as they can tolerate the little black camera hole in the corner. To go full-screen on a 16:9 video, you can enlarge the video a little to fill the display. Alternatively, a 21:9 ratio video will fill the screen by default. Above: Honor View20: Full screen Based on our tests, it is still a little bit distracting having that little pinhole blip on the display, but it is infinitely better than some of the oversized notches that exist on other phones. Plus, if you really don’t like the little pinhole camera, you can go into the phone’s settings and get your darkened status bar back — all videos and pictures will only display up to this bar when the “hide notch” option is selected. Above: Honor View20: Notch or no notch Alongside in-screen selfie cameras, another trend that’s likely to emerge in 2019 flagship phones is super high-resolution rear cameras. Thanks to the Sony IMX586, a 48-megapixel camera sensor that debuted last year , Honor is the first company to launch a phone for the global masses with such a high megapixel count. Aside from the main 48-megapixel shooter, the View20 also sports a time-of-flight (TOF) 3D camera and a flash. It’s also worth noting here that there is a fingerprint sensor on the rear — this bucks a recent trend that has seen companies ( including Huawei ) move the fingerprint scanner to the front inside the display. Above: Honor View20: Rear view In truth, most people will have very little need for such detail in their photos — unless they’re planning on having giant posters made from their snaps. Compared to the photos taken on the triple-lens Huawei Mate 20 Pro (bottom), which has a 40-megapixel shooter, there really isn’t a great deal of benefit to be had from those additional pixels. And in these comparison shots taken below, I’d say that the Huawei Mate 20 Pro takes better photos. Above: Outdoor photo taken with the Honor View20: 48-megapixels Above: Outdoor photo taken with the Huawei Mate 20 Pro: 40-megapixels In terms of low-light situations, again, the Honor View20 didn’t perform as well as the Huawei Mate 20 Pro’s photo (bottom). Indeed, the Mate 20 Pro low-light shot (bottom) looks as though it was taken during daylight. Above: Honor View20: Dusk photo Above: Huawei Mate 20 Pro: Dusk photo With the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro launches last year, users were able to utilize a neat color-isolation feature (“AI Color”) in their videos, similar to what they do in the movie Sin City. Above: AI Color: Color isolation in video Similarly, for the first time users were able to initiate a background blurring (“background blur”) effect in their videos, similar to the bokeh effect that has infiltrated still photography on smartphones. Above: Background blur in video Both of these nifty AI-infused features have also now made their way onto the Honor View20, which is a significant boon for prospective buyers. Above: Honor View20: AI Color and background blur Software The View20 ships Honor’s Magic UI, which made its debut on the Honor Magic 2 late last year. It’s somewhat hyperbolically described in press materials as a “next-generation AI-powered system,” but in truth, it’s more or less a customized variant of Emotion UI (EMUI), Huawei’s Android skin that Honor previously shipped with its phones. There’s a new color scheme, icons, and fonts, to be sure, plus features like real-time in-call voice translations. Also in tow is YoYo, an intelligent assistant that supports two-way speech translation in ten languages, lets you control DJI drones with voice commands (yes, really), and serves up smart suggestions in the View20’s keyboard based on what’s on screen. It also integrates with the HiVision feature inside the Honor View20’s camera app, enabling you to look up the calories of food, search for products online, and get dermatological advice informed by pictures of your skin. For spec geeks, here’s a full list of the main specs. Above: Honor View20 specifications Availability and pricing While we know that the Honor View20 will be made available across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, the company has yet to confirm specific country launches beyond the U.K., Russia, and India. We can also state with a high degree of confidence that the device won’t be made available to buy in the U.S., because Huawei has yet to officially launch any of its phones in the U.S. At the time of writing Huawei has only confirmed how much the Honor View20 will cost in the U.K., but this will be indicative of its price in other markets. It will cost £499.99 ($650) for the 6GB / 128GB version, and £579.99 ($750) for the 8GB / 256GB handset. The phone is available to buy immediately. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"HMD Global unveils Nokia PureView 9, a $699 Android One device with 5 cameras | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/24/hmd-global-unveils-the-nokia-pureview-9-a-700-android-one-device-with-5-cameras"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages HMD Global unveils Nokia PureView 9, a $699 Android One device with 5 cameras Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The Nokia 9 PureView 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. HMD Global, the so-called “home of Nokia phones,” officially launched its brand new flagship phone at MWC today, one that could get photography buffs a little excited. Presenting to a packed auditorium in Barcelona, HMD Global unveiled a slew of new devices: the $35 Nokia 210 feature phone; the $99 entry-level Nokia 4 Plus smartphone; and a duo of mid-range devices — the Nokia 3.2 and Nokia 4.2 — that sport built-in Google Assistant buttons. But in truth, there was only one device that people were truly excited to see, and that is the Nokia 9 PureView. While we pretty much knew that the Nokia 9 PureView was coming due to an abundance of leaks and official teases stretching back months, we now know exactly what HMD Global has been cooking up, and how much you can expect to pay for it. High 5 The Nokia 9 PureView’s core pitch is that it’s the “world’s first 5-camera array smartphone,” sporting 2 x 12-megapixel color and 3 x 12-megapixel monochrome (black and white) sensors. Using the phone’s orientation in the below photo, the sensor in the middle and the one directly beneath it are color, while the monochrome lenses form a triangle of sorts around the central lens — one above it and two on either side. The other two circles are the flash (left) and the time-of-flight sensor, which is used to measure the distance between the phone and an object to create a sense of depth. Above: Nokia 9 PureView It’s worth noting here that all five cameras work as a system — when you snap a photo, they fire simultaneously and “layer up” to create a more detailed and clear image. While a monochrome lens means that the phone can shoot natively in black-and-white (no software required), there are additional benefits to having three of such sensors. Monochrome cameras capture only black-and-white, thus they have no filter. This means they can capture more light than a color sensor can — roughly three times more. The upshot? Better photos, particularly in low-light situations. There are already some phones with 4 cameras — such as the Samsung Galaxy A9 , and the just-announced Samsung Galaxy S10 5G , but 5 lenses is something of a novelty. For the Nokia 9 PureView, HMD Global worked with algorithmic imaging company Light, which has raised bucketloads of investors’ cash to bring DSLR-quality imagery to smartphones. It’s worth noting here that among Light’s list of illustrious investors is Foxconn unit FIH Mobile, which just happens to be HMD Global’s investor and manufacturing partner. On a related note, the Nokia 9 PureView is likely to kick-start something of a trend, as we know that Light is already working with other smartphone companies, including Sony. Light itself has previously launched a camera to showcase its technology — costing around $2,000, the L16 sported 16 x 13-megapixel camera modules. Does this suggest that we’ll start seeing smartphones with a dozen or more lenses? Quite possibly — an LG patent suggests that it’s working on a device with 16 lenses. Above: Light: L16 Photo opportunity The Nokia brand has been attached to a number of notable camera-related milestones through the years. It was among the first brands to to include a megapixel camera in its phones, while it was the first to usher in premium Zeiss optics into its devices back in 2005. And, of course, Nokia eventually became renowned for PureView, which first came to light in the Nokia 808 PureView smartphone in 2012. PureView became synonymous with excellence in smartphone cameras — the Nokia 808 PureView had a stonking 41-megapixel shooter, which actually remained the highest resolution in any mainstream smartphone until Huawei unveiled the 48-megapixel Honor View 20 smartphone last month. Through the years, PureView has graced a dozen or so Nokia and Microsoft devices, but the Nokia 9 PureView is the first device to have PureView in its name since the Original Nokia 808 PureView was unveiled at MWC seven years ago. It’s also worth looking at the role nostalgia has played in the Nokia brand’s resurgence. In 2017, the Finnish firm resurrected the classic Nokia 3310 but with a modern twist, not to mention the Nokia 8110 , affectionately known as the Banana Phone. And at MWC today, Nokia — via its HMD Global overlord — gave the kiss of life to PureView, after reacquiring the trademark from Microsoft last year. The need-to-knows Above: Nokia 9 PureView While the camera(s) is just about the most important thing on a phone these days (alongside Instagram), let’s look at what else the Nokia 9 PureView has to offer. The device sports a 6000 series aluminum chassis, with dual-tone anodization on the metal, and Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back. It ships with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of built-in storage, and 5.99″ 18:9 display, and packs a 3,320mAh battery, wireless charging, in-screen fingerprint reader, and a biometric face-unlock system. In terms of processor, the Nokia 9 PureView doesn’t have the latest Snapdragon 855; instead it has the 845 predecessor. The main reason for that is the collaboration efforts involved in making the phone in conjunction with Light and Qualcomm. “It’s really the co-development that’s gone into it — in order to get this ready [the Nokia 9 PureView] we had to start early on, so at that time, when the R&D started, the 855 wasn’t available,” HMD Global CEO Florian Seiche told VentureBeat. “We had to choose — do we delay the whole phone program by porting it over, or do we keep it on the 845?” Elsewhere on the device, some people will be disappointed to know that there is no headphone jack — but a USB-C dongle is included. And thankfully, the company has elected to keep a large bezel at the top rather than using a hideous notch or slightly more aesthetically pleasing pinhole cutout. Additionally, HMD Global is continuing its Android One adoption, which means the Nokia 9 PureView is about as pure a view as you’ll get on Android these days, with no bloatware or crapware included. Above: Nokia 9 PureView As for cost, HMD Global confirmed a “global average price” of $699, which is nearly its most expensive device to date, with the exception of last year’s Nokia 8 Sirocco, which cost the equivalent of around $940 , though it never made it to the U.S. HMD Global hasn’t yet confirmed its exact market launch plans this time around, except to say that it will be made available to buy imminently. But given that the company recently inked its first carrier partnerships in the U.S. — with Verizon and Cricket Wireless — it’s a safe assumption that the Nokia 9 PureView will be landing in the U.S. soon. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Samsung and Huawei foldables at MWC: Look, but don't touch | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/25/samsung-and-huawei-foldables-at-mwc-look-but-dont-touch"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 and Huawei foldables at MWC: Look, but don’t touch Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Huawei Mate X: Foldable Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Samsung, Huawei, and Chinese company Royole all have foldable devices on display at MWC in Barcelona this week, but one clear message has emanated from these companies so far: You can look, but please — do not touch. Korean tech giant Samsung first unveiled its Galaxy Fold at its own event last week, alongside a bunch of other devices — these included the new S10 range of flagships and a future-gazing 5G device. While most of these are available for the eager public to fondle to their heart’s content at Samsung’s MWC booth, there is one notable exception. In the wake of the official Galaxy Fold unveiling last week, Samsung didn’t give anyone the chance to get to grips with the device themselves. And with MWC now well underway, it’s clear that the company is being super restrictive on the public’s ability to get too close to the device. The closest any passersby will get to the Galaxy Fold will be roughly 4 feet behind a cordoned-off glass case, like it’s some sort of million-dollar gem. Above: Samsung Galaxy Fold A mere hop, skip, and a jump across from the Galaxy Fold, Huawei has adopted a similar strategy with the Mate X, the 5G foldable it revealed just yesterday. Above: Huawei Mate X: Foldable If there was any lingering doubt that foldable manufacturers didn’t want members of the public to get their sticky hands on their hardware, well, Chinese company Royole — which has been working on flexible screens for several years before rushing to debut its FlexPai phone a few months back — put an end to that with this show of protection. Above: Royole FlexPai While all this may be partly designed to feed into the hype — “ hey, this is way too special for just anyone to pick up ” — treating this new form factor like Hannibal Lecter doesn’t really give one a great deal of confidence that they will be ready for their intended launch dates: late April for the Galaxy Fold, and the middle of 2019 for the Mate X. Royole’s FlexPai is already available to buy as a developer edition , so its reluctance to let the public handle its device is arguably more surprising. Perhaps the one takeaway from all of this is that these devices are still early stage, and thus they are as imperfect as they are expensive. Only serious techies are likely to buy these foldables in the early days, and as is the case when any new form factor comes to the fray, we’ll likely see many iterations roll out before we arrive at a design that is both commercially attractive and affordable. Nobody is really under any illusion that Samsung’s $1,980 Galaxy Fold or Huawei’s $2,600 Mate X are designed to be mass-market devices — they’re blatantly not. These glass cases are basically shorthand for: These are still a little half-baked, and we don’t want you to form a negative opinion just yet. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"ProBeat: Samsung must delay the Galaxy Fold, or it will fail | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/19/probeat-samsung-must-delay-the-galaxy-fold-or-it-will-fail"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Opinion ProBeat: Samsung must delay the Galaxy Fold, or it will fail 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. It’s been almost two months since Samsung announced the Galaxy Fold. The $1,980 foldable phone starts shipping on April 26. Samsung should absolutely delay it. Update on April 22 : Samsung is delaying the Galaxy Fold. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve certainly heard that some Samsung Galaxy Fold review units have been failing. After a day or two of use, some reviewers were left with flickering screens or broken displays, including CNBC’s Steve Kovach, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman , The Verge’s Dieter Bohn , and Marques Brownlee (aka MKBHD). Other reviewers have not experienced problems with the screen. Samsung issued the following statement in response: A limited number of early Galaxy Fold samples were provided to media for review. We have received a few reports regarding the main display on the samples provided. We will thoroughly inspect these units in person to determine the cause of the matter. Separately, a few reviewers reported having removed the top layer of the display causing damage to the screen. The main display on the Galaxy Fold features a top protective layer, which is part of the display structure designed to protect the screen from unintended scratches. Removing the protective layer or adding adhesives to the main display may cause damage. We will ensure this information is clearly delivered to our customers. As far as PR statements go, this one is decent. Unfortunately for Samsung, this isn’t a case where messaging will fix the underlying problems. Multiple broken screen issues The first part of the statement is standard: Using words like “limited,” “early,” and “few” — followed by saying the company will investigate the problem — is common when downplaying issues in consumer devices. But Samsung has only given itself a week to figure out the problem, and by then preorders will have already shipped. Kudos to Samsung for making sure to break out the second part of the statement. While some reviewers did remove the protective layer before their screen broke, others did not. So Samsung needs to figure out why some screens are breaking on the Galaxy Fold regardless of the protective layer. But even if all the issues could be traced back to the removal of the protective layer, that’s still not a good excuse. Samsung’s promise to clearly warn customers that the protective layer should not be removed is not enough. The protective layer should either not be removable, or removing it should not break the screen. Great products are designed to be fail-proof. That’s true for hardware and software. You want to give your customers as few instructions and warnings as possible. Anytime you have to tell them they’re doing something wrong is a failure on your part, not theirs. Delay, but don’t cancel A screen that breaks in a day or two is enough reason for Samsung to push back the Galaxy Fold launch. And yet, I don’t think the company should cancel it. As Evan Blass put it, the Samsung Galaxy Fold isn’t for you. This is a proof-of-concept device for early adopters. If Samsung does not delay the Galaxy Fold, however, even enthusiasts won’t bother with it. The Galaxy Fold’s issues will continue dominating the conversation. Already that’s the main focus of the reviews. The narrative will never shift to the pros and cons of foldable screens, what this form factor means for the future of smartphones, and what the second-generation needs to address. That will simply result in Samsung being forced to cancel the Galaxy Fold. If the company doesn’t act now, it may very well be too late. Delaying the launch is the only rational choice. ProBeat is a column in which Emil rants about whatever crosses him that week. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. 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. "

"Surviving Nokia: How Oulu, Finland rebounded from the collapse of its largest employer | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/10/surviving-nokia-how-oulu-finland-rebounded-from-the-collapse-of-its-largest-employer"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Surviving Nokia: How Oulu, Finland rebounded from the collapse of its largest employer 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. While the collapse of Nokia’s once-mighty cell phone business made international headlines, perhaps no community felt the impact more than Oulu, Finland. The city was a major stronghold of Nokia’s research and manufacturing. A place small enough that many people either worked for Nokia or one of its network of local suppliers, or knew someone who did. In such a place, the titanic shifts in market share or mobile technologies were not just abstract chitchat about disruption, but a potentially fatal blow to the community. Which makes the current state of Oulu somewhat miraculous. Rather than crumbling, Oulu has staged a remarkable reinvention. More than five years after the worst of the Nokia layoffs, tech employment is higher than ever thanks in large measure to a growing number of startups that have taken root here. That resilience was the result of an aggressive response that brought together local government officials, universities, and entrepreneurs. It’s a model worth understanding for other regions that have faced, or will inevitably face, the tumult that comes when digital shifts upend legacy economic engines. In Oulu, the result of this swift action has led to a conventional wisdom that would have been unimaginable six years ago. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! “Without the story of Nokia and mobile phones and how it ended, we would not have this mobile industry here,” said Juha Ala-Mursula, director of BusinessOulu, the city’s economic development agency. “Today we can say that Nokia’s problems were the best thing that could have happened to us.” Nokia’s fall from grace Oulu is Finland’s fifth most populous city, sitting on the eastern edge of the Baltic Sea and just south of the frozen frontier of Lapland. With about 200,000 residents and a slew of technical universities, the city has played a central role in the evolution of several generations of wireless technologies. While Nokia , the pride of Finland, had its headquarters just outside Helsinki in the city of Espoo, the city of Oulu, about an 8-hour car ride to the north, became its second largest outpost. For much of the 1990s and early 2000s, that was a particularly good thing for Oulu. Nokia’s digital cell phones were the largest selling in the world, accounting at one point for about 40% of all mobile phones being sold. About 15 years ago, Nokia had about 4,800 workers in Oulu and connections to about 2,000 subcontractors. Oulu was one of the main development hubs for feature phone software for the company. One Finnish economic institute estimated that Nokia was responsible for about 25% of Finland’s growth over the course of a decade. This booming consumer business, coupled with the other half of its business, selling networking and telecom equipment to carriers, made the company the pride of its homeland. This Finnish miracle hit a wall in 2007 when Apple introduced the iPhone. In what seems like the blink of an eye, Nokia went from cell phone king to digital also-ran. Layoffs started and gathered force. Then in 2013, in what would turn out to be a terrible move for all concerned, Microsoft agreed to acquire Nokia’s consumer business for $7.2 billion. Meanwhile, Nokia was scrambling to right its telecom equipment business, which had also softened. The Microsoft deal was bad news for Nokia employees right from the start. In 2014, Microsoft announced it was cutting 18,000 employees, including 12,500 former Nokia employees , as it absorbed the new business. A year later, it added another 7,800 layoffs to that total, mostly in its phone business. Microsoft had also fumbled the shift to mobile, and was hoping that making its own cell phones would jump-start its own mobile operating system. No such luck. By 2016, Microsoft had all but shut down the Nokia business it had bought while writing off the entire purchase price. On the ground in Oulu, the shockwaves never seemed to cease. “We spent long nights trying to figure out what to do,” said Ala-Mursula, a former Nokia employee himself. “We wanted to move forward, and not back. No one else was going to save us.” There is a Finnish word, “sisu”, that refers to the culture’s perseverance in the face of hardship. The word is often invoked in reference to the Russian invasion during World War II. But it continues to resonate in situations like the one facing Oulu. As Nokia imploded, local university, business, and political leaders began meeting to lay out a practical plan for recovering. The comeback: digital health In taking stock of its strengths, regional leaders very quickly hit on two assets. The first was the deep bench of talent in the area of radio signal engineering, a cornerstone of mobile technologies. And the second was the large base of life sciences and health care research being conducted in the region. The pair seemed to form the ideal foundation to encourage digital health startups that would need people with medical experience as well as connectivity experts. The city pulled in players such as Oulu University Hospital (OYS), the University of Oulu, and various local research centers and initiatives already under way. Together, they created a broad program dubbed OuluHealth. “People want to lead healthier lives,” said Minna Komu, network director of OuluHealth. “We have the skill set in this city to do that. So why not provide and tools and the toys they need?” The goal was to shape and support a defined ecosystem around digital health. Among the programs created: Oys Testlab to test products that use 5G and 3D virtual technologies in a hospital setting; OAMK Simlab for testing and getting feedback on products from health care providers; and the Oulu Welfare Lab for demoing products in social and residential environments. This also included initiatives such as the Biobank Borealis of Nothern Finland , which houses a huge amount of medical samples that are available to researchers. And OYS has announced plans to invest €500 million through 2030 to transform itself into a digitally driven “hospital of the future.” “We can now analyze huge amounts of data with the help of AI,” Komu said. “That’s going to enable personalized health care on a large scale.” There are already about 60 startups participating in some part of OuluHealth’s programs. Perhaps no company illustrates this momentum as well as QuietOn , which makes noise-cancelling earplugs to help people sleep better. One of the company’s founders, Janne Kyllönen, was working for Nokia a few years ago and found his noise-cancelling Bose headphones too big and unwieldy. After Nokia closed one of its local offices, he teamed up with another Nokia refugee, Matti Nisula, and together they launched the company to use their backgrounds in signal processing to develop a more compact product. An early version was embraced by Finnair, allowing them to ramp up production. Now a second version has been released to target sleep-deprived consumers. Those founders brought on another ex-Nokia employee, Pekka Sarlund, to be CEO. “I started my Nokia career in ’86, and finished in 2010, after 25 years,” Sarlund said. “In that sense, the area is not that big, and we know each other.” Indeed, many other QuietOn employees have Nokia on their resume. The founders got a helping hand from their former employer, thanks to the Nokia Bridge program which provided generous exit packages based on the person’s time with the company, and another $28,000 if they were going to start their own company. Interestingly, QuietOn also got an assist from yet another group of Nokia alumni who had started design firm Haltian. Founded in 2012, Haltian was created by a group of former Nokia employees who had been working together on an internal project when they were shut down and it became clear their project had no future. Though the project died, the team enjoyed working together, and so they created Haltian to help other companies design products, particularly connected hardware. “We were working together in an internal unit of Nokia,” said Haltian cofounder Ville Ylläsjärvi. “Even back then, we were focused on developing new ways of creating products.” They played a role in some QuietOn design work, and also in connected health ring Oura. Along the way, the Haltian team created the Thingsee IoT platform to manage large-scale industrial deployments of connected devices and raised a $5 million round of venture capital in December 2018. The bigger picture: 5G and beyond The construction of the digital health ecosystem is an example of the blueprint Oulu is trying to follow under a broader umbrella called the Oulu Innovation Alliance. For example, a second pillar under the OIA is Information and Communication Technologies, another obvious legacy of its Nokia history, to build on that foundation of radio signal talent and experience. The goal is similar: create a well-defined ecosystem around ICT startups. Those efforts are helped by the fact that researchers at Oulu University and Nokia played key roles in developing the 5G technology now being deployed around the world. The city is highlighting the fact that it has more than 500 local companies making some kind of core wireless product. Oulu also struck a partnership with Finnish carrier Telia to begin early 5G deployments in places like its port and the local hockey rink to allow the city to become a testbed. “We estimate that the first applications of 5G can be found in an industry where automation, remote process management and versatile real-time data usage benefit from the minimal delay and top speed of 5G,” said Janne Koistinen, 5G program director for Telia Finland, in a statement last November. “Oulu’s strong ecosystem and the operators’ open-mindedness in the introduction of new technologies accelerated our decision to continue the deployment of 5G in Oulu.” Those efforts are also getting a boost from Nokia itself. While diminished, the company still has 2,300 employees in Oulu, which remains home to its 5G radio design and innovation team. Beyond that, the company produces 5G base stations here, and has turned the facility into a model for its Factory for the Future. That includes installing sensors everywhere, using better data analytics to improve productivity, and introducing robots to build increasingly complex products. “We have our own factory here,” said Jani Leskinen, head of Nokia’s research and development in Oulu. “Why not use this as a playground?” But with other Nokia talent having walked out the door, companies such as ARM, Altair Semiconductor, and Mediatek have opened offices in town the past few years to attract those coveted engineers. Some of them have even located themselves in former Nokia buildings, which have been reconverted across the city to labs and workspaces for startups. The city also established the €35 million Northern Startup Fund, a mix of public and private money that’s managed by Finnish VC Butterfly Ventures. The Finnish government’s Regional Capital Investment Strategy (RCIS) also jumped in last year by announcing a series of targeted tax breaks and incentives for ICT companies that move to Oulu or expand there. Finally, Oulu scored another coup when Finland designated the city the center of its fledgling 6G efforts. Dr. Ari Pouttu, a professor at the University of Oulu who was influential in the evolution of 5G standards, has now turned his attention to this next challenge, which is just getting underway. The program runs over the next eight years, and is valued at about $285 million, with about half coming from public funding and the other half to be raised from industry partners. “The industry doesn’t want to talk about 6G because it is diluting their message about 5G and their ability to make money from 5G,” Pouttu says. “We heard a lot of ironic comments about our efforts one year ago, because everyone thought it was too early. And then we heard China was going to launch a 6G program, and then Korea. Now attitudes are changing because no one wants to get left behind.” Oddly, now the region’s biggest problem is promoting this growth in order to attract talent to a place that is not likely to be high on the list for European engineers and entrepreneurs considering their next move. Such efforts included organizing annual press trips to explore the tech system. But it also includes such events as Polar Bear Pitching , one of coldest and craziest startup pitching events on the continent. Each year, a dozen or so startups are selected to come to Oulu, where they climb down into a hole cut in the frozen Baltic Sea where they can pitch as long as they can stay in the water. The idea started six years ago with Mia Kemppaala , when she was working in the Oulu University startup hub Business Kitchen. As the Nokia tragedy unfolded, she began thinking about how she could promote the region’s other tech assets, something that would draw on residents’ reputation for mischievous humor and could help Oulu’s startups as well. “It was really pessimistic,” Kemppaala said. “But when it’s difficult times in Finland, people really come together.” She said that while entrepreneurs in Oulu seemed to have great ideas, they weren’t very good at explaining them. When it occurred to her to mix in the local custom of taking icy swims, the concept for a pitch contest began to form. What better way to make someone focus their presentation and show they can deal with hardship than sticking them in near-freezing water? “This is what’s great about Oulu,” she said. “When you have a crazy idea like this, people embrace it.” (Disclosure: VentureBeat’s travel to Oulu and accommodations were paid by BusinessOulu as part of a media tour of the region’s tech ecosystem.) VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Oppo and Xiaomi tease 'under-display' selfie cameras with no notches or punch holes | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/03/oppo-and-xiaomi-tease-under-display-selfie-cameras-with-no-notches-or-punch-holes"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Oppo and Xiaomi tease ‘under-display’ selfie cameras with no notches or punch holes Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Oppo teases phone with "under-display" camera 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. Xiaomi and Oppo today offered a glimpse into what smartphone selfie cameras may look like in the not-so-distant future. Over the past few years, we’ve seen phone makers iterate with the front-facing shooter layout as they look to minimize the bezel and maximize screen real estate. This has led to “notched” phones that sport cutouts for the selfie camera , while other companies have developed in-screen punch hole cameras. Elsewhere, we’ve seen slider phones reappear on the market and phones with pop-up cameras , while the Samsung Galaxy A80 featured a camera that slides up and rotates. While these designs vary, they share one common goal: to ensure the front-facing camera consumes as little of the screen as possible. But the next step in this effort is particularly interesting, as selfie cameras could be completely hidden inside the mobile phone screen. No notch, no punch hole, and no moving parts. Early this morning, China’s Oppo tweeted a “very first look at our under-display selfie camera technology,” first reported by Engadget. As you can see, the device is pretty much full-screen at the top until the camera is activated, at which point a black bar slides out to enable the selfie lens. https://twitter.com/oppo/status/1135393369113280512 Then, in what can only be described as yet another “ battle of the firsts ,” rival company Xiaomi tweeted this out less than four hours later. Do you want a sneak peek at the future? Here you go…introducing you to Under-Display Camera technology! #Xiaomi #InnovationForEveryone pic.twitter.com/d2HL6FHkh1 — Xiaomi #PopUpInStyle (@Xiaomi) June 3, 2019 We’ve known for a while that smartphone manufacturers have been working on this technology in the race to go truly bezel-less. Coupled with the fact that fingerprint readers are moving in-screen , OLED displays are doubling as a phone’s speaker , and foldables are now hitting the consumer sphere , we could be on the cusp of big changes in the smartphone realm, in terms of both form factors and the underlying technologies. Neither Oppo nor Xiaomi has provided any details about their respective under-display cameras, or when we can expect them in a phone we can actually buy. But judging by the videos, the technology seems to be at a fairly advanced stage. Samsung, still the top smartphone company in terms of global shipments, revealed a few months back that it is working on similar technology as it strives to create the “perfect full-screen device” with all sensors housed beneath the display. But according to Samsung exec Yang Byung-duk, this vision could be a couple of years away from becoming a reality. “Though it wouldn’t be possible to make [a full-screen smartphone] in the next 1-2 years, the technology can move forward to the point where the camera hole will be invisible while not affecting the camera’s function in any way,” he said. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. 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. "

"U.S. security concerns could stall Huawei's and ZTE's 5G expansions | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/01/16/u-s-security-concerns-could-stall-huaweis-and-ztes-5g-expansions"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Analysis U.S. security concerns could stall Huawei’s and ZTE’s 5G expansions 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. Will U.S. citizens get their first 5G phones from Huawei or ZTE? Not if Congress has its way. Over the past week, members of Congress have been getting tough on the two Chinese companies, formally identifying both as threats to national security following years of investigations. Today, Reuters reported that unidentified U.S. lawmakers asked AT&T to stop collaborating with Huawei on standards for its next-generation 5G network, and cut ties to Huawei altogether. The report follows U.S. Representatives Michael Conaway’s and Liz Cheney’s introduction of the Defending U.S. Government Communications Act , a bill to bar the U.S. government from using or contracting with Huawei and ZTE, after a House intelligence committee report concluded that their products were insecure for government and military use. In the works since well before a September House hearing on Huawei and ZTE, the Congressional actions appeared to coincide with ZTE’s claim at CES that it would launch its first 5G phone in the United States by early 2019 and AT&T’s unexpected decision to kill plans to start selling Huawei phones in this country. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Today’s report suggests that AT&T walked away from Huawei under pressure from government regulators, who were most likely lobbied by the same members of Congress involved in the investigation. It’s unclear whether or how much AT&T was collaborating with Huawei on 5G; the company was reportedly working with Qualcomm and Ericsson prior to announcing its end of 2018 5G network plans, but could easily have had other partners. There is good reason to be concerned about the security of cellular networks. As VentureBeat reported last week, the upcoming U.S. launches of two 5G networks will mark the beginning of a long-planned drive to put 5G cellular radios everywhere, and within everything. Designed to add connectivity to billions of devices — securely — 5G is also expected to serve as the networking technology inside next-generation cities and car traffic infrastructures. Consequently, if a foreign government had a secret back door to infiltrate 5G networks, it could take control of entire cities, including all of their 5G-connected devices and vehicles. That nightmare scenario is the flip side of the “ubiquitous 5G” dream, and the precise reason 5G was built with new security protocols. As Ericsson noted in a 5G security white paper , the ubiquity of 5G will turn virtual vulnerabilities into tangible public safety threats, so 5G networks demand extra protections: integrated attack resistance, multiple layers of encryption, integrity protection against injection or modification of traffic, and authentication superior to username/password combinations, just to name a few. Today, LTE networks running compromised equipment or software can be susceptible to intrusions, and even networks with solid hardware can be taken down by one or more inexpensive devices. While Trump administration protectionism might otherwise be blamed for the recent Congressional actions, investigations into Huawei’s and ZTE’s potential threats to critical U.S. infrastructure date back to at least 2012, when 60 Minutes and the aforementioned House report spotlighted the concerns. Although ZTE and Huawei are supposedly private companies, ZTE is state-owned and was founded by investors associated with China’s aerospace ministry; Huawei was started by an ex-Chinese military engineer, and has what has been described as an “opaque” corporate structure. Both are suspected of covert ties to the Chinese government, and neither would explain why Chinese Communist Party committees had been set up within their business structures. In recent years, both companies have been investigated for breaking U.S. laws: Huawei has been accused of assisting an alleged elite cyberwarfare unit of China’s army, as well as bribery, corruption, and immigration violations, while ZTE pled guilty to selling sanctioned computer equipment to Iran, and allegedly obstructed an investigation into the sales. At the same time, both companies are in the top five for global telecom equipment sales, with significant supply contracts for overseas governments. Their continued growth depends in part upon the United States market, but given the directions Congress is taking, the likelihood of seeing either company making major inroads here has just dropped significantly. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"White House mulls executive order to ban Huawei and ZTE equipment in U.S. | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/12/27/white-house-mulls-executive-order-to-ban-huawei-and-zte-equipment-in-u-s"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages White House mulls executive order to ban Huawei and ZTE equipment in U.S. 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. (Reuters) — President Donald Trump is considering an executive order in the new year to declare a national emergency that would bar U.S. companies from using telecommunications equipment made by China’s Huawei and ZTE , three sources familiar with the situation told Reuters. It would be the latest step by the Trump administration to cut Huawei and ZTE, two of China’s biggest network equipment companies, out of the U.S. market. The United States alleges that the two companies work at the behest of the Chinese government and that their equipment could be used to spy on Americans. The executive order, which has been under consideration for more than eight months, could be issued as early as January and would direct the Commerce Department to block U.S. companies from buying equipment from foreign telecommunications makers that pose significant national security risks, sources from the telecoms industry and the administration said. While the order is unlikely to name Huawei or ZTE, a source said it is expected that Commerce officials would interpret it as authorization to limit the spread of equipment made by the two companies. The sources said the text for the order has not been finalized. 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 executive order would invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law that gives the president the authority to regulate commerce in response to a national emergency that threatens the United States. The issue has new urgency as U.S. wireless carriers look for partners as they prepare to adopt next-generation 5G wireless networks. The order follows the passage of a defense policy bill in August that barred the U.S. government itself from using Huawei and ZTE equipment. China’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that she did not want to comment on the order as it had not been officially confirmed. “It’s best to let facts speak for themselves when it comes to security problems,” Hua said. “Some countries have, without any evidence, and making use of national security, tacitly assumed crimes to politicize, and even obstruct and restrict, normal technology exchange activities,” she added. “This in reality is undoubtedly shutting oneself off, rather than being the door to openness, progress and fairness.” Huawei and ZTE did not return requests for comment. Both in the past have denied allegations their products are used to spy. The White House also did not return a request for comment. The Wall Street Journal first reported in early May that the order was under consideration, but it was never issued. Hit to rural networks Rural operators in the United States are among the biggest customers of Huawei and ZTE, and fear the executive order would also require them to rip out existing Chinese-made equipment without compensation. Industry officials are divided on whether the administration could legally compel operators to do that. While the big U.S. wireless companies have cut ties with Huawei in particular, small rural carriers have relied on Huawei and ZTE switches and other equipment because they tend to be less expensive. The company is so central to small carriers that William Levy, vice president for sales of Huawei Tech USA, is on the board of directors of the Rural Wireless Association. The RWA represents carriers with fewer than 100,000 subscribers. It estimates that 25 percent of its members had Huawei or ZTE equipment in their networks, it said in a filing to the Federal Communications Commission earlier this month. The RWA is concerned that an executive order could force its members to remove ZTE and Huawei equipment and also bar future purchases, said Caressa Bennet, RWA general counsel. It would cost $800 million to $1 billion for all RWA members to replace their Huawei and ZTE equipment, Bennet said. Separately, the FCC in April granted initial approval to a regulation that bars giving federal funding to help pay for telecommunication infrastructure to companies that purchase equipment from firms deemed as a threat to U.S. national security, which analysts have said is aimed at Huawei and ZTE. The FCC is also considering whether to require carriers to remove and replace equipment from firms deemed a national security risk. In March, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said “hidden ‘backdoors’ to our networks in routers, switches — and virtually any other type of telecommunications equipment – can provide an avenue for hostile governments to inject viruses, launch denial-of-service attacks, steal data, and more.” In the December filing, Pine Belt Communications in Alabama estimated it would cost $7 million to $13 million to replace its Chinese-made equipment, while Sagebrush in Montana said a replacement would cost $57 million and take two years. Sagebrush has noted that Huawei products are significantly cheaper. When looking for bids in 2010 for its network, it found the cost of Ericsson equipment to be nearly four times the cost of Huawei. (Reporting by Diane Bartz and David Shepardson; Additional reporting by Christian Shepherd in Beijing; Editing by Chris Sanders, Leslie Adler & Shri Navaratnam) VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Qualcomm interview: China's early launch proves the world wants 5G now | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/23/qualcomm-interview-chinas-early-launch-proves-the-world-wants-5g-now"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Qualcomm interview: China’s early launch proves the world wants 5G now Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn An actual 5G millimeter wave phone runs on Verizon's "5G UWB" network. 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. History will remember April 2019 as a particularly big month for 5G networks, as carriers from the U.S. , South Korea , and Europe all launched or significantly expanded their first 5G services. Last night, another global power revealed that it is 5G-ready, as state-owned carrier China Unicom announced that it’s moving up China’s first 5G network deployment to May. The news was unsurprisingly trumpeted by key 5G chipmaker Qualcomm , which has taken a key role in supplying components and support for all of the launches, and will have 5G modems inside most of China Unicom’s first 5G devices. To mark this significant global milestone for 5G deployments, I interviewed Qualcomm 5G marketing director Ignacio Contreras and 5G communications lead Samir Khazaka, discussing both the China Unicom announcement and the broader state of 5G across the world today. The message was clear: “All rational players in the industry” are in the process of preparing to deploy 5G very quickly, as there’s widespread carrier and consumer interest in faster, more capable devices and networks — noticeably more excitement than in the 3G to 4G transition. Here’s a lightly edited transcript of our discussion. VentureBeat: Before we get into global questions, what’s the bigger picture behind China Unicom’s early 5G deployment? Ignacio Contreras: 5G is coming fast. If we go back 10 years, to the launch of 4G in December of 2009, there were two or three OEMs that really committed to developing products. And less than a handful of operators committed to transitioning from 3G to 4G. Remember at that time, there was also this competition between WiMax and LTE on what was going to be the standard for 4G overall. Fast forward 10 years. The transition to 5G is a very different picture. We have a whole set of device makers willing to develop products on 5G — we already announced that there are more than 30 products already in design or planned to go to launch this year using our 5G solutions, and we have more than 20 operators worldwide committed to deploying 5G early, this year. And China is a big thing. From 3G to 4G, it took several years for China to get it started with LTE. But once it got started, of course, the technology started gaining scale much, much quicker. Now we see China coming to 5G on year one. And we feel that that will make a big difference in terms of the speed of adoption of technology. It’s not just China. This year you will see deployments of 5G across the U.S., Europe — Swisscom just announced — South Korea with the three major carriers, Australia, Japan, and of course China now all coming at virtually the same time. You can have those discussions as to who’s first, who’s second on all of this. But in year one, seeing launches of the next generation cellular technology across all these regions, is something that’s certainly unique, versus any other transition that we have had to newer cellular technology. VentureBeat: Is there anything particularly interesting about China’s 5G implementation? Contreras: China Unicom is using what’s called a non-standalone architecture for 5G. Not long ago, the expectation was that China was going to mostly use [the 5G standard’s] standalone architecture that uses both a 5G radio and 5G in the core network overall. A few years back at Qualcomm and other companies, there was an ambition and need to accelerate the deployment of 5G given the benefits in terms of capacity, speeds, and giving operators access to new spectrum assets, like millimeter wave or 3.5GHz and the mid-bands. So Qualcomm and companies involved in the 5G standards saw value in creating a non-standalone mode, in which you’re still using 4G for the core network and radio control resources to manage the network, but data is transferred over 5G. Now we see China Unicom adopting this architecture on the initial rollout of 5G. So plans to accelerate 5G using the non-standalone version of the standard are working. And we see a clear intent from operators to deploy 5G very fast. That’s what we see now as the meaningful part of China Unicom adopting the non-standalone architecture — to be able to roll out 5G very soon. VentureBeat: In the United States, Verizon has made a big deal about how “true 5G” requires millimeter wave radios , and AT&T initially launched 5G with millimeter wave as well. Like South Korea, China is launching 5G on sub-6GHz frequencies, without millimeter wave. Is sub-6GHz going to wind up becoming the “true 5G” or mass-market 5G for most people, with millimeter wave purely optional? Contreras: To be clear: no. Both of them are 5G, and it will depend on the spectrum landscape and particular operator needs to determine the timing of deploying one, the other, or both. With sub-6GHz — actually with LTE — you can achieve multi-gigabit speed, with the proper network configuration. But you can get more if you access 5G and you have other other aspects of the 5G specification, like multi-MIMO, that allow you to have not just a good peak speed, but also more consistent performance, particularly in challenging network conditions, like when you are far from the cell tower. Advancements in 5G allow [carriers] to take more advantage of mid-band spectrum assets. The big challenge here is that people keep consuming more and more data, so we are looking at any possible tool to be able to address that capacity. And you can do some of those things in sub-6GHz, but millimeter wave is a whole new set of spectrum assets that were not even available before. You can use the full 800MHz of spectrum in the millimeter wave band, that combined with LTE, you can achieve speeds up to 7Gbps. That would not be possible as of now, on sub-6GHz alone. VentureBeat: What are your views at this point on low-band spectrum, like 600-700MHz, which T-Mobile U.S. and Rogers in Canada are planning to use for 5G? Contreras: A few months back, we introduced the Snapdragon X55 , our new second-generation 5G modem, along with our second generation of RF front end solutions. And that whole 5G subsystem from modem to antenna is designed to address all key bands, whether it’s millimeter wave, sub-6GHz… all meaningful combinations of spectrum overall. One thing that will be very important is spectrum-sharing technology. With the spectrum sharing, you can use the same band simultaneously to support both 4G and 5G devices, right. So unlike in the past, in which transitions had to be a hard switch, this technology will be key to smooth out and make it easy for operators to transition into 5G. So you will see that if practically any major LTE band will become also suitable for 5G because of these technologies. We expect that the [first-generation Snapdragon] X50 will power virtually all the first wave of 5G launches across all regions this year… The X55, we expect to see in commercial products more towards the end of this calendar year. VentureBeat: Are there any sort of comments you can make regarding the health concerns that some people have raised on millimeter wave and 5G in general, due to the densification of networks? Contreras: From the device standpoint, where we focus our efforts, just like the rest of the industry, we design our products to comply with safety regulations, and there’s a whole process that includes several organizations like the World Health Organization and others, to help define what are the proper limits of RF emissions. Two things that are important to highlight: One, with 5G, the total transmit power from any device, those limits don’t change. So whether you have a 3G or 4G or 5G device, basically the RF emissions limits don’t change with that, nor does exposure to RF emissions coming from these kinds of devices. So that’s one thing that’s important for the debate. And the other thing is millimeter wave. It does not penetrate human tissue beyond a very low skin depth. The focus now tends to be more about the protection of skin tissue, versus other aspects that have seen before with traditional RF spectrum. Because of the way that 5G millimeter wave is designed, the beam is always trying to be pointed to make a reflection, relative to the cell tower, and that’s usually away from the person. The beam will always will try to move away from your hand or the person overall, and try to focus on a surface that can reflect the signal toward the base station. VentureBeat: You had the opportunity to visit Chicago for the launch of Verizon’s 5G service there, and we’ve recently seen comments on spotty 5G services in South Korea. In the near term, what performance experience do you think the average consumer across U.S., South Korean, or Chinese cities will be seeing? Contreras: What I can tell you from my own experience in Chicago is that you very quickly get used to hundreds of megabits per second of speed. And then it’s hard to come back to things that are lower than that overall. My main thought is that it’s more about the app developer ecosystem, and how developers now with 5G out there can take advantage of its capabilities. Developers have to start encoding and creating experiences based on the new capabilities of the network. Just like we saw with 4G. VentureBeat: When do we realistically think that developers are going to be able to rely upon enough of a 5G network in the United States or in China that can actually roll out services that are specific to 5G? Contreras: We are on the onset of 5G. I don’t have any particular timeline in mind, but we should expect more widespread proliferation towards next year, of course. Definitely something that’s faster than what the transition was from 3G to 4G overall. That’s the benchmark that we’re using here — if the transition from 3G to 4G was considered to be a fast transition, this will be even faster than that. Samir Khazaka: We’re happy with seeing the acceleration, and the effort that is being put early on 5G and the level of competition that’s happening, in the industry in order to bring these networks online, and push them hard and deploy them. These first few cities that got launched, a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of making sure that these devices are working and they’re stable, that the network is there, the standards are ready — that’s already kind of been done. And I think what remains is easier, which is we have to optimize a little bit, and also launch many more of those sites. I think that’s kind of happening and the operators are moving fast in that direction. And I think you’re going to see competition also take hold and accelerate that. So admittedly, today’s the early stages, but it’s a great start. And it’s hard to judge it based on that, based on today. You have to wait a little bit, until the networks start to take shape more. But if you’re an end user that’s ready to go and upgrade your device, you’re going to want to have the greatest and latest modem in the device, because you’re keeping that device for a reasonable period of time. Your operator is fast launching all of these different assets. So you want to be able to benefit from that not just in the coverage area that you have today in your city, but as that coverage also expands. Contreras: We are convinced that once you are on 5G, you see meaningful change in terms of the overall user experience. But also there’s a need for operators as well — they need more capacity, they need to have more access to new spectrum assets and technology to be able to be competitive and again, satisfy their customers with the data demand that they are going to be placing on the network. The combination of those two factors are what’s driving all rational players in the industry, OEM and operators, to prepare and deploy 5G very, very quick. VentureBeat: Putting networks aside, most of the announced 5G phone options appear to be in the $1,000 and up range, so how long is it going to take to get users onto 5G? In the last 24 or 48 hours, Huawei said it was planning on putting out 5G phones in the $600 range or thereabouts for China, but what about Qualcomm options? Is the hope that U.S. carriers will subsidize these phones to get people using 5G on their networks? Contreras: This is a competitive market, so the value proposition needs to be compelling. Xiaomi announced in Europe that their 5G device will be priced at 599 Euros, which is about 680 U.S. Dollars. So the range will be there. And yes, 5G this year will be present in premium devices, so you will see 5G in premium offerings from OEMs. But in this context, you will see a set of price ranges that are aimed to be compelling value propositions. And also in terms of the operators, they can also create value propositions in a number of ways. One is subsidies/financial plans, or bundling with accessories, or bundling with content. There’s a number of elements of how operators can actually create propositions that are compelling today. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"China sets 40-city national 5G rollout for October 1 | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/17/china-sets-40-city-national-5g-rollout-for-october-1"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages China sets 40-city national 5G rollout for October 1 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. Less than a month after China Unicom moved up its seven-city initial launch of 5G services to May, the Chinese government has decided to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the country’s founding by officially launching 5G on a nationwide scale. The launch will coordinate three leading state-backed carriers to bring commercial 5G service to 40 Chinese cities. China’s plan was reported today by the government-controlled newspaper China Daily , citing a source at Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE. According to the report, China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom will each have between 30,000 and 50,000 base stations deployed across 40 mainland cities by the October 1 launch date. Rollout plans for Hong Kong remain unclear. The move is likely to give China superior national 5G coverage compared with both the United States and South Korea, which will each have at least three carriers with commercial 5G service at that point — but not on the same scale. Base stations for the Chinese launch will be provided by domestic manufacturers ZTE and Huawei , as well as Ericsson, said ZTE deputy general manager Michael Gao Wenhao. While the “race to 5G” has had several early winners in terms of “ first to roll out quasi-5G services ,” “ first to roll out mobile 5G services ,” and “ first to roll out mobile consumer 5G devices ,” achieving nationwide 5G coverage is a far more complicated task — and subject to plenty of potential for fudging. Offering 5G in 40 cities across a landmass the size of China isn’t exactly comparable to achieving similar coverage in Switzerland, where two local carriers are already jousting to deliver the smaller country’s first nationwide coverage. Moreover, the actual quantity and speed of 5G coverage can vary considerably within a city, as Verizon has demonstrated in its still-limited U.S. deployments. Chinese companies have been among the first to announce and release consumer 5G devices, so there should be no shortage of smartphone choices for customers in October. In addition to Huawei and ZTE, companies such as Lenovo, OnePlus, Oppo, and Xiaomi are all in the process of shipping their first 5G phones , alongside devices made by South Korea’s Samsung and LG , as well as technologies from U.S. companies Netgear and Qualcomm. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Huawei's new 5G base stations claim faster sub-6GHz uploads and downloads | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/17/huaweis-new-5g-base-stations-claim-faster-sub-6ghz-uploads-and-downloads"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Huawei’s new 5G base stations claim faster sub-6GHz uploads and downloads Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Huawei deputy chair Ken Hu discusses 5G at the Mobile Broadband Forum in Zurich. 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. While U.S. cellular providers have largely focused on rolling out 5G using short-distance, high-performance millimeter wave radios, carriers in Europe and Asia have initially launched 5G using “sub-6GHz” frequencies — mid-band radio channels that send signals over longer distances while giving up raw speed. But Huawei has been working to reduce the performance gap between sub-6GHz and millimeter wave solutions and has just announced new 5G base stations with third-generation massive MIMO antenna technology, promising considerably faster 5G uploads and downloads over large areas. Huawei’s new base station technology increases transmit power by 60% over the prior generation, as well as doubling spectrum bandwidth to 400MHz, while weighing only 55 pounds — a record lightness that enables single-person installation “in most scenarios.” Put another way, one Huawei base station will now be able to reach many more users and deliver higher speeds than before. Despite ongoing controversy over the security of Huawei’s 5G network hardware within the United States, the Chinese company’s base stations have proved irresistible to even close U.S. allies, due to their combination of performance and pricing. After selling 40,000 first-generation massive MIMO base stations to Chinese and Japanese carriers, Huawei shipped over 400,000 second-generation units worldwide and expects to hit 600,000 by year’s end. As more Huawei base stations ship, they increase the likelihood that the non-millimeter wave flavor of 5G will become the international default — and improve in performance. The company says the new hardware reduces latency for cloud VR services and significantly improves upload performance by more efficiently utilizing and aggregating sub-6GHz spectra. Additionally, new “hardcore massive MIMO algorithms” promise especially precise beamforming across thousands of radio channels, delivering fast, low-interference performance to large numbers of simultaneous users. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! It’s worth noting that existing Huawei base stations are already delivering impressive 5G speeds using sub-6GHz frequencies. The company said earlier this month that it hit a record of 3.67Gbps on Sunrise’s live 5G network, blazing past the 2Gbps peak speeds U.S. carriers have clocked on live millimeter wave networks. Rival Qualcomm has said its current 5G chips are capable of achieving 7.5Gbps speeds with optimally configured networks. Since carrier installations of base stations aren’t generally obvious to consumers, it’s unclear when and where Huawei’s third-generation solutions will appear. But it’s safe to assume that they’ll begin to bolster sub-6GHz 5G networks outside of the United States starting at some point in 2020. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple's Q4 2018: $62.9 billion in revenues, another record on iPhone sales | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/11/01/apples-q4-2018-62-9-billion-in-revenues-another-record-on-iphone-sales"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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’s Q4 2018: $62.9 billion in revenues, another record on iPhone sales Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Apple CEO Tim Cook introduces the company's latest MacBook Air in Brooklyn, NY, on October 30, 2018. 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. Apple reported its fiscal fourth quarter 2018 financial results today, posting record quarterly revenue of $62.9 billion on sales of 46.889 million iPhones, 9.699 million iPads, 5.299 million Macs, and $9.981 billion in services. The catchall category “Other Products,” which includes Apple’s wearables, hit a new high of $4.234 billion. The company topped both its revenue guidance range of between $60 billion and $62 billion for the quarter, and the analyst consensus forecast of $61.5 billion. Measuring all sales from July 1 through September 30, notably including the first 10 days of Apple Watch Series 4 and iPhone XS availability, the quarter again set records for Apple. Sales were just barely up year over year for iPhones, which were at 46.677 million in Q4 2017, while iPad sales were down from 10.326 million and Macs were down slightly from 5.386 million. However, the company made over $10 billion more in revenue during the quarter, up from $52.579 billion in Q4 2018 — a 20 percent improvement year over year. Earnings per share (EPS) were up 41 percent, generating over $19.5 billion in operating cash flow. “We’re thrilled to report another record-breaking quarter that caps a tremendous fiscal 2018, the year in which we shipped our 2 billionth iOS device, celebrated the 10th anniversary of the App Store and achieved the strongest revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Over the past two months, we’ve delivered huge advancements for our customers through new versions of iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac as well as our four operating systems, and we enter the holiday season with our strongest lineup of products and services ever.” Apple attributed the quarter’s results to strong iPhone and wearables sales, likely buoyed substantially by the new Apple Watch Series 4. The company also set quarterly records for its Services category, which was very close to $10 billion for the first time, and the Mac, which generated $7.4 billion in revenue. The biggest weakness for the quarter was in iPad sales, which were down 16 percent from the prior quarter and 6 percent from the year-ago quarter. Revenues were down 15 percent year over year as well. Apple held both the announcement and release of new, more expensive iPad Pro models until after the quarter ended; they and the iPhone XR will show up for the first time in the company’s fiscal first-quarter 2019 results. Once again, Apple’s strongest regional revenue growth came from Japan with a 34 percent year-over-year increase, followed by the Asia-Pacific region, which saw a 22 percent increase. The Americas, China, and Europe all saw gains in the 16 to 19 percent range year over year and similarly strong double-digit improvements over even the preceding quarter. Apple’s board of directors declared a cash dividend of $0.73 per share of common stock, payable November 15 to shareholders of record as of the close of business November 12. For fiscal Q1 2019, Apple is offering a revenue guidance range between $89 billion and $93 billion, with gross margin between 38 and 38.5 percent. That compares with Q1 2018’s projected range of $84 billion to $87 billion, which it surpassed with actual revenues of $88.293 billion. Notably, the company expects its tax rate to rise from this quarter’s estimated 15 percent to 16.5 percent in the next quarter. Apple will further detail the results in an earnings call with analysts and media , which we will cover live. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple reports $84.3 billion revenue for Q1 2019 after historic downward revision | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/29/apple-q1-2019-revenue"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 reports $84.3 billion revenue for Q1 2019 after historic downward revision Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn iPhone XR Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. After slashing its fiscal first quarter 2019 earnings forecast earlier this month, Apple today announced quarterly revenues of $84.3 billion, including $51.98 billion in iPhone sales, $7.416 billion in Mac sales, $6.729 billion in iPad sales, $10.785 billion in services revenue, and $7.308 billion in combined wearables and accessories sales. Following Apple’s revisions, analysts had projected total revenues in the $84 to $85 billion range. As contrasted with Q1 2018’s record $88.3 billion in revenues , today’s result constitutes Apple’s first year-over-year holiday sales decline since 2001 — the year the company introduced the original iPod. Thanks to growing sales of iPods, then iPhones, iPads, and related services, Apple continued to achieve record quarterly and annual results on an almost interrupted basis until last year. Strong global demand for iPhones hadn’t yet peaked, though its Mac, iPod, and iPad unit sales had each previously plateaued. In November, the company said it expected record holiday revenues in the $89 billion to $93 billion range, but at the beginning of January, it cut the forecast to $84 billion. In a letter to investors , Apple cited weakening sales in China, an issue subsequently noted by other smartphone makers, as well as fewer iPhone upgrades than expected, which it attributed in part to a discounted iPhone battery replacement program rather than its latest iterative releases or rising prices. Despite reports of manufacturing slowdowns, it maintained that the iPhone XR was its top-selling iPhone model. Looking at revenues rather than unit sales, which Apple is no longer reporting, fiscal Q1 2019’s numbers were generally up over the year-ago quarter. Apart from iPhones, which dropped from $61.104 billion in Q1 2018 to $51.982 billion in Q1 2019, revenues from Macs, iPads, services, wearables, home, and accessories were all up at least modestly, with services and wearables posting particularly strong gains. Apple noted that its revenues from everything apart from the iPhone grew by 19 percent, while iPhone revenue was down by 15 percent. The quarter’s strongest growth was from the combined wearables, home, and accessories category, which jumped 33 percent year-over-year, followed by a 19 percent increase in services and a 17 percent growth in iPad revenues. As for prior-quarter comparisons, Apple always experiences surges during the holiday quarter, which this year saw the release of the iPhone XR, third-generation iPad Pro , Retina MacBook Air , and an upgraded Mac Mini , as well as benefiting from gifting of recently debuted iPhone XS and Series 4 Apple Watches. Apple’s revenues were goosed by price increases on almost every new product introduced for the holidays. “While it was disappointing to miss our revenue guidance, we manage Apple for the long term,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, “and this quarter’s results demonstrate that the underlying strength of our business runs deep and wide. Our active installed base of devices reached an all-time high of 1.4 billion in the first quarter, growing in each of our geographic segments. That’s a great testament to the satisfaction and loyalty of our customers, and it’s driving our Services business to new records thanks to our large and fast-growing ecosystem.” Apart from disappointing sales, the last quarter capped off a roller-coaster year for Apple’s stock. Despite well-publicized issues over software slowdowns of aging iOS devices, the company in August became the first to achieve a $1 trillion market capitalization , only to lose that valuation in November. The company’s market cap fell by roughly a quarter after it said it would no longer disclose unit sales for its devices , which observers interpreted as a sign that iPhone sales had peaked. It was further rocked by January’s downward forecast revision. Prior to today’s earnings release, the company’s market cap sat at approximately $740 billion, 33 percent below its peak level of $1.11 billion. It now sits below Microsoft, which has a $789 billion market cap, and Amazon, with a $783 billion market cap. Apple’s board of directors declared a cash dividend of $0.73 per share of common stock, payable February 14 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 11. For fiscal Q2 2019, Apple is offering a revenue guidance range between $55 billion and $59 billion, with gross margin between 37 and 38 percent, a notable dip from its normal 38 to 38.5 percent range. That compares with Q2 2018’s revenues of $61.2 billion, making it Apple’s first forecast of a year-over-year second quarter decline in recent memory, and the company’s first weakened prediction for the entire first fiscal half of a year. Apple will further detail the results shortly in an earnings call with analysts and media. We will cover the call live. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple announces Apple News+ with 300 publications at $10 per month | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/25/apple-announces-apple-news-magazine-subscription-service"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 announces Apple News+ with 300 publications at $10 per month 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. One year after acquiring the Texture all-you-can-read magazine service and integrating most of the company’s employees into the Apple News team, Apple today revealed a rebranded version as its own news subscription service: Apple News+. After announcing that Apple News is now the number one news app, with over 5 billion articles read every day, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Apple would debut the News+ service to provide access to multiple news publications every month — 300, according to Roger Rosner, the company’s VP of applications. The service includes both magazines and newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, National Geographic, and Wired, among many others. Select all-digital publications are also featured. Individual publications can include “live covers” — traditionally flat covers brought to life with videos — and article formatting that’s specific to the iPhone, so a user doesn’t need to zoom in and out of PDFs. The News+ interface is directly integrated into Apple News. Apple says that the service uses on-device intelligence to make determinations on articles to recommend to users, and does not allow advertisers to track users — “what you read about on Apple News will not follow you across the web,” said Rosner. Today’s announcement was one of several widely expected announcements heading into the company’s “It’s Show Time” media event, and a poorly kept secret. Following grumbling from holdout publishers in February regarding Apple’s revenue-sharing plans for the service, hooks for the feature popped up in a macOS beta earlier this month. Prior to its acquisition by Apple, the six-year-old Texture offered unlimited access to over 200 magazines for a recurring $10 monthly subscription fee. Pricing is being kept the same for News+, with the first month free and Family Sharing included. U.S. and Canadian users will get the service today, with Australia and Europe later this year, starting with the U.K. Controversially, Apple is reported to be taking 50 percent of the subscription fees for itself and distributing the remainder to publications fractionally, based on the attention their individual articles receive. Thanks to its integration with iOS and macOS, Apple News has become a popular app with iPad, iPhone, and Mac users — and generated commensurately large audiences for individual news stories. But publishers have complained that Apple News has thus far generated limited revenues and little to no loyalty to their brands, despite Apple giving publications the ability to keep 100 percent of ad revenues from self-sold ads, and in some cases paying for early access to third-party news content. Apple News and Apple News+ aren’t Apple’s first efforts to redefine journalism for the post-print era. In 2010, the company pitched the original iPad as a potential savior for the moribund newspaper and magazine industry, launching a publication aggregation folder called Newsstand in October 2011. Apple also acquired Prss , a digital magazine creation platform, back in 2014. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple debuts Apple Card to transform the credit card experience | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/25/apple-debuts-apple-card-to-transform-the-credit-card-experience"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 debuts Apple Card to transform the credit card experience 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. iPhone users are already using Apple’s Wallet app, Apple Pay, and Apple Pay Cash — wouldn’t they like an Apple credit card, too? The Cupertino company and bank partner Goldman Sachs believe the answer is “yes,” so they’ve teamed up for Apple Card. In addition to offering major rewards for users, the new payment solution promises to improve the credit card experience by offering a healthier approach to spending. The Wallet app will include a more transparent list of transactions, organized in an easy to read format, plus a more flexible way of making payments on outstanding balances. As expected , Apple Card is designed to complement existing Apple-branded payment options, as well as displacing other credit cards that might be in a user’s wallet. Though the end goal is to increase Apple’s share of the dollars spent by its users, the pinch this time will be felt by rival payment providers, and come with incentives for new card users. Every time you spend with Apple Card, you get 2 percent cash back — a feature the company calls Daily Cash. Purchases directly from Apple come with 3 percent cash back. That could lift the company’s sales of its own products, providing a greater incentive to pay “full price” at Apple than seek discounted prices elsewhere. Additionally, the card has no fees: no late fees, membership fees, or international fees, with the promise of unspecified but lower interest rates than competitors. The absence of late fees is jaw-dropping; whether it will be sustainable for the long term is yet to be seen. Apple Card will be accepted by vendors who participate in MasterCard’s global payment network, and the banking side will be backed by Goldman Sachs. While the card will be digital and connected to an iPhone, there will also be a physical card made from titanium that can be used in stores; purchases made with the physical card are only eligible for 1 percent Daily Cash. Above: Apple’s titanium version of the Apple Card. Another reason to sign up for Apple Card: greater transaction privacy. Apple has maintained that its customers are “not the product” with its services, which is to say that it doesn’t harvest or sell their personal information to profit off their data. With Apple Card the company can facilitate transactions that have similar end-to-end encryption and privacy protections as other communications through its servers. Additionally, it says that Goldman will not share transaction details with third parties. Previously, Apple’s proprietary Apple Pay system served largely as a facilitator between card issuers and retailers, authenticating users’ identities so their purchases can be completed wirelessly. Apple took a tiny cut of each purchase in exchange for biometrically identifying the customer; now it will get a larger cut for handling a bigger part of the card issuing, relationship management, and transaction business. Apart from Apple Card, the only way to use an Apple-backed service for Apple Pay transactions is Apple Pay Cash — effectively a debit card backed by the Discover Debit network. Apple Pay Cash was primarily intended as a Venmo alternative to help iPhone users receive and send funds with other iPhone users. Users can add funds to the Apple Pay Cash Card from a bank account or other debit card, and transfer funds back into a bank at will. Apple and Goldman will begin to offer Apple Card this summer. Apple says that signups will be handled directly from iPhones, with quick approvals and access to device-specific card numbers. Users interested in joining Apple’s notification list for the Card can do so here. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple 2019 AirPods hands-on: AI assistance is now only a 'Hey Siri' away | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/27/apple-2019-airpods-hands-on-ai-assistance-is-now-only-a-hey-siri-away"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 2019 AirPods hands-on: AI assistance is now only a ‘Hey Siri’ away Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Apple's second-generation AirPods on a third-party charging mat. 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. No one was ready for the original version of AirPods. Apple announced the stubby wireless earphones in September 2016, then missed their promised October release date, and only began to trickle the first shipments out in December. Early users were at best mixed on their fashionability and practicality , while availability remained poor for months. Then something weird happened. Instead of the typical thunderclap moment when a new Apple product debuts and people line up to try or buy it, AirPods slowly became acceptable, and in some circles, even cool. Apple clinically blamed a supply-demand mismatch for continued availability problems, which skeptics attributed to poor supply and fans attributed to surprisingly high demand. Regardless of the reasons, interest built up for a sequel. So two and a half years after the first model’s introduction, we’re saying hello (or “Hey, Siri!”) to Apple’s second-generation AirPods, which just arrived in stores. Physically, they’re virtually indistinguishable from the original design — contrary to some pre-release rumors, they haven’t changed in color, texture, or shape, nor are they waterproof or laden with a mysterious new health sensor. Above: The original (left) and second-generation (right) AirPods look virtually identical. The new model’s improvements are almost entirely invisible. A new H1 headphone chip replaces the first model’s W1 wireless chip, promising instant AI support when you say “Hey Siri,” faster Bluetooth pairing, lower latency, and an hour of extra talk time. That’s it for the standard model, which preserves the prior version’s $159 price. If you instead pony up $199, the new AirPods come with a wireless charging case that Apple revealed in September 2017 , then held back for over a year amid reported problems with AirPower, its companion wireless charging pad. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Since VentureBeat is increasingly focused on AI, I’m going to dive into the new Hey Siri feature before moving briefly into the other topics. Buckle up, because it’s about to get a little bumpy. Does anyone care about Hey Siri? Apple’s digital assistant Siri is a mess , and as last year’s HomePod release demonstrated, it’s best not to get your hopes up for it to work perfectly — even when it’s a new Apple product’s signature feature. It’s supposed to use a combination of local and cloud processing to help you quickly access information, play music, and use various features of your device, but in real world use, its performance is hit-or-miss. As I was writing this article, I asked Siri on an iPhone to “tell me what you can do,” and received responses such as “I’m not sure I understand” and “that may be beyond my abilities at the moment.” But slightly changing the question to “what can you do?” caused the long-established list of “some things you can ask me” to flash on an iPhone screen for 5 seconds before disappearing … complete with zero audio response through new or old AirPods. Roughly 5 years ago, “Hey Siri” debuted to make Siri easier to activate. Apple devices with Hey Siri support constantly listen for those two words, and instantly trigger Siri whenever they’re spoken. This eliminates the need to activate Siri with a button, and in some cases, that’s a handy feature. Hey Siri started in iPhones before coming to certain iPads, Apple Watches, and Macs ; it’s not available on Apple TVs or iPods. Bringing Hey Siri to a $159 pair of AirPods could have been great for all Apple users. Since AirPods are specifically designed to extend the speaker and microphone ranges of other devices, they’re built for use cases where adding voice control without physical access to the devices makes sense. You might want to keep both your phone and your hands in your pockets on a cold day. There might be a time when you’re trying to listen to music streamed from your Apple Watch, iPad, or Mac completely hands-free. Or you might want to control an Apple TV quietly from bed without fidgeting with a remote. I said “could have been” because the AirPods version of Hey Siri doesn’t actually let you do all these things — at least, not right now. The feature works as expected on iOS devices, letting you instantly conjure up Siri for whatever you may want to try, and I was surprised at how fast Siri responded: The new AirPods are definitely listening. When they were paired with my Apple Watch, I was able to get Siri to launch watchOS apps, but other Siri inquiries were passed through the connected iPhone, displaying content on the phone’s screen while speaking key parts through the headphones, a mixed result. Oddly, I had trouble getting the second-generation AirPods to work properly with either the Apple TV HD (formerly known as the fourth-generation Apple TV) or the Apple TV 4K, both running the latest version of tvOS, 12.2. Both devices claimed to initially pair with the headphones but almost immediately lost their connections. I was also interested in seeing how my 2016 Retina MacBook Pro with Touch Bar (and Siri button, but not integrated Hey Siri) worked with the new AirPods. At least for now, Hey Siri didn’t work with my Mac. I was able to stream music and other audio to the new AirPods, but saying Hey Siri was met with complete silence. A friend confirms, however, that the feature works properly on his 2018 MacBook Air with its own Hey Siri hardware. My suspicion is that some of the issues I encountered will be improved with subsequent software releases for the Apple TV, Mac, and Apple Watch, if not a firmware update to the AirPods. But as updates to the original AirPods firmware were intermittent at best, I’m not holding my breath right now. Wireless charging as premium feature A bigger change to AirPods is one you’ll need to pay extra to experience: wireless charging. Apple added a Qi-compatible charging coil to the deluxe version of its AirPods charging case, and made two small changes to the outside of that case. First, the tiny dot power and pairing indicator light is now outside rather than inside, so you can see when it’s making contact with a charger. Second, the rear pairing button has been moved to the rear side’s center rather than the rear bottom. There’s one and only one reason to care about this feature: convenience. Apple ships even the wireless charging case model of AirPods with a Lightning cable and preserves the bottom Lightning port so you needn’t rely on the wireless feature. This is your only option if you’re still waiting on Apple’s official charging pad AirPower, which as of press time still doesn’t have a release date. I personally tested the wireless charging on a competing product from Nomad called the Base Station Hub Edition. The $100 accessory has a padded leather charging surface that can be used to charge up to three small devices at once, or one iPhone and one pair of AirPods in the wireless charging case, assuming you line up the devices properly on the three hidden Qi charging coils. While Nomad’s device doesn’t have all the fancy features Apple promised for AirPower (on-screen charging indicators! place devices anywhere! enough room for three devices!), it has the benefits of looking good and actually existing at an unobjectionable price point. That assumes, of course, you’re willing to drop the extra cash to wirelessly charge your wireless headphones. Otherwise, you can stick with the $159 model and plug the case in when you need more power. Latency, sound, and everything else Putting aside the wireless issues I experienced with certain devices, the second-generation AirPods are essentially a modestly improved version of the original. Users will find that they remain remarkably easy to pair with iOS devices and fairly easy to pair with other Apple products; the new H1 chip promises faster device switching and lower latency — the latter reducing synchronization issues when playing games or watching videos. I found the difference to be just barely noticeable with videos, but in a game like Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, the sync between eating pellets and power-ups was better. Overall, the new AirPods’ sonic signature has improved a little. In brief A/B testing, I noticed what sounded like clearer and slightly more pronounced bass in the new model, with what appears to be an enhancement in overall sonic range — highs, mids, and lows alike sounded a little more defined. I keep using words like “little” and “slightly” to emphasize that the differences aren’t huge, and Apple could have made a bigger change by switching to a noise-isolating design, but the new AirPods do sound incrementally better to me. The new model also promises an hour of extra Bluetooth talk time, which is to say 3 hours rather than 2, while keeping the same 5 hours of normal music play time without case assistance. A fully recharged case can keep the AirPods going for 24 hours, unchanged from before. Collectively, Apple’s three batteries are enough to satisfy everyone except those who keep their wireless headsets permanently grafted to their ears throughout the day. Some early AirPods adopters have noticed that their first-generation models’ batteries are dramatically less performant than they were when originally purchased — no surprise given that batteries typically only preserve 80 percent of their initial capacity after hundreds of charge-discharge cycles. Since the batteries aren’t replaceable, this should be a known issue for any AirPods buyer: Expect to hand down or toss out your AirPods every two or three years. I’d need more time with AirPods than I’ve had thus far to issue a complete review, but for the time being, my impressions are generally positive. The last AirPods weren’t cheap, but they delivered a solid listening experience with fantastic convenience. This year’s model is an improvement, though you should probably keep your expectations low, particularly if you’re hoping for anything special from the “Hey Siri” feature. Having purchased the first model, I’d personally be inclined to hold out for a bigger (and preferably waterproof) upgrade, assuming my batteries keep running and recharging properly. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple News+ experience reportedly disappoints some early publishers | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/15/apple-news-experience-reportedly-disappoints-some-early-publishers"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 News+ experience reportedly disappoints some early publishers Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Apple News+. 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. After a splashy launch at Apple’s campus last month, the subscription news and magazine service Apple News+ is already facing complaints from some of its earliest participants, Digiday reports today. Their conclusion: Apple’s focus is more on making money from aggregating content than on providing consistent experiences for either users or publishers. Apple News+ is an evolution of Texture , a magazine-focused “all you can read” service Apple acquired in early 2018. While Texture offered access to roughly 200 magazines for $10 per month, News+ expanded the collection to over 300 publications, now including some paywalled newspapers and websites — one of several changes that made both publishing and navigating News+ content confusing. According to the report, publishers have run into serious problems formatting articles for the app. Apple hasn’t fully followed through on promises to provide some publishers with article templates that will pop in the News app, and there are bugs in the tools that are supposed to turn print magazine pages into News-ready articles and ads. Digiday also says that Apple is “playing favorites” with publishers, inviting only some into a private Slack channel for assistance. As a result, some publications are simply submitting magazines in PDF format, while others are choosing the expense of effectively copy- and design-editing all of their content a second time for News+ — even though they don’t know how much money they’ll make from Apple’s audience. Users of the app then have the uneven experience of trying to navigate through a mix of PDFs, numerous articles sharing the same lookalike templates, and a smaller number with custom designs, all with confusing navigation. Other companies might be able to claim indifference to such issues, but Apple puts heavy emphasis on the elegance and user-friendliness of its products, elements that aren’t apparent in News+. “You think of Apple, and they’re so design-conscious,” one of five publisher sources said. “This doesn’t feel like that at all.” Much like Apple’s prior news-focused endeavors, Apple News+’s appeal to both publishers and users will likely remain cloudy for some time. After opting not to participate itself in the launch, The New York Times reported that over 200,000 people signed up for Apple News+ in its first 48 hours — a tiny number by contrast with Apple’s other services, but more users than Texture had at peak. That number, however, was likely fueled by a mix of Texture converts and free 30-day trials, so it remains to be seen how many people will be willing to pay once those trials expire in the next 10 to 12 days. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple reports $58 billion in Q2 2019 revenue, services hit $11.5 billion | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/30/apple-reports-q2-2019-revenue"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 reports $58 billion in Q2 2019 revenue, services hit $11.5 billion Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn iPhones now constitute the majority of Apple's annual revenues, surpassing unit sales of Macs by around eight times. 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. Following its unexpectedly disappointing fiscal first quarter results , Apple today reported second-quarter 2019 revenues of $58 billion, a 5% year-over-year decline, offset by record high services revenue of $11.5 billion. The total number was slightly above analysts’ consensus estimates of $57.4 billion, and in the middle of Apple’s $55 to $59 billion guidance range. During the quarter, Apple says, it sold $31.05 billion in iPhones, $5.5 billion in Macs, $4.87 billion in iPads, and nearly $5.13 billion in combined wearables and accessories. The iPhone and Mac numbers are both down from the comparable second quarter of 2018 despite atypically aggressive marketing efforts, but the iPad and wearable/accessory categories both showed marked dollar value growth over the year-ago quarter. Unfortunately, the company no longer provides unit sales for its product lines. International results were mixed. While net sales were up slightly year-over-year in the Americas and Japan, they were down in Europe, China, and the rest of the Asia-Pacific region. In total, international sales accounted for 61% of the company’s quarterly revenue. The $58 billion total figure fell from the $61.1 billion Apple took in during the year ago quarter, making this the second consecutive quarter of year-over-year declines for the huge and previously growing company. Apple CEO Tim Cook notes, however, that services revenue was up sharply — around 16% from a year ago — and that the iPad experienced its strongest growth in six years. Our March quarter results show the continued strength of our installed base of over 1.4 billion active devices, as we set an all-time record for Services, and the strong momentum of our Wearables, Home and Accessories category, which set a new March quarter record. We delivered our strongest iPad growth in six years, and we are as excited as ever about our pipeline of innovative hardware, software and services. We’re looking forward to sharing more with developers and customers at Apple’s 30th annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June. Apple notably slashed its fiscal first quarter 2019 earnings forecast in January before announcing holiday quarter revenues of $84.3 billion , down from $88.3 billion one year before. At the time, the company attributed the downturn to expected sales shortfalls in China, unfavorable exchange rates — primarily in developing countries — and longer iPhone replacement cycles, which it suggested were extended by a battery replacement program. Certain iPhone models saw multiple targeted price drops before across-the-board reductions based partially on lower Chinese tax rates. Today, Apple is guiding third-quarter 2019 revenue between $52.5 billion and $54.5 billion, which would be roughly flat compared with last year’s third quarter, without any change to its typical 37-38% gross margin. To reward potentially concerned investors, the company is upping its dividend by 5% to 77 cents per share of stock, and is announcing a $75 billion share repurchase program. Further details on the results will be forthcoming in a quarterly earnings call, which we’ll be covering live. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Canalys: Wearables have a $200-$399 sweet spot, led by Apple Watch | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/08/15/canalys-wearables-have-a-200-399-sweet-spot-led-by-apple-watch"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Canalys: Wearables have a $200-$399 sweet spot, led by Apple Watch 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 North America, the market for wearables — particularly wearable bands — is still continuing to grow, and Apple’s popular Apple Watches unsurprisingly continue to lead the pack in shipments, research firm Canalys notes in a new quarterly report released this morning. But the market is segmenting into two clear sweet spots, $200 to $299 and $300 to $399. These now collectively represent 60% of all shipments, with the lower price bracket seeing slightly more shipments than the higher one. During the second quarter of 2019 alone, the North American wearables market hit a $2 billion valuation, Canalys says, with over 60% of Apple’s 4.7 million global Apple Watch shipments going to the region. As a result, the Apple Watch grew 32% over the 2018 quarter, shipping 2.9 million units for a 37.9% North American market share. Fitbit was in second place with 1.9 million shipments, losing smartwatch sales year over year while shipping more “basic bands.” Samsung, Garmin (0.5 million) and Fossil (0.3 million) distantly rounded out the top five, all falling well short of the “others” category at 1.3 million units. Only Samsung posted strong annual percentage gains — a 121% increase in shipments — though it started and ended at low absolute numbers. Canalys suggests the company’s new focus on Galaxy Watch Active and Active 2 , priced between $200 and $300, is helping it get “nearer the bullseye — hitting the right price point in a way that spurs massive demand.” Interestingly, the firm suggests second-place Fitbit dropped the ball with its Versa Lite, describing the device as “overly pared-down” and “losing functionality” without appropriate targeting. Fitbit’s North American shipments grew only 18% year over year, and its market share fell to 24.1%, notably still over twice as high as Samsung’s 10.6% share. The report suggests the market for smartwatches priced at $500 or higher has contracted significantly, with very few shipments coming from the $700 or above price tier. Apple notably discontinued its ceramic Edition watches, which started in that price region, but the company continues to sell leather-banded Hermes models at steep premiums. Apart from certain Fossil sub-brands, other companies rarely play in the category, which might account for the low number of units shipped. At the present time, Apple starts its flagship Series 4 Apple Watch at a $399 price point, with the larger 44mm model at $429 and models with LTE cellular support beginning at $499 — stainless steel versions all carry $300 premiums. Prior-generation Series 3 models start at $279 and climb to $409 with cellular connectivity and a larger body size, which Samsung has aggressively targeted with the new Galaxy Watch Active2 at a $280 starting point. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple TV+ looks increasingly desperate to lure viewers ahead of launch | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/30/apple-tv-looks-increasingly-desperate-to-lure-viewers-ahead-of-launch"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 Apple TV+ looks increasingly desperate to lure viewers ahead of launch 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. Virtually everyone knows by now that Apple is launching subscription television offering Apple TV+ publicly on November 1. But the company, which has reportedly invested billions of dollars in dozens of original programs for the service, appears to be facing a serious problem: finding viewers willing to pay for it. Even though Apple announced a relatively aggressive $4.99 monthly price for the service , everything suggests Apple TV+’s earliest viewership will come largely from giveaways. Last month, Apple said it would give a free year of Apple TV+ service to purchasers of new iPhones, iPads, Macs, iPods, and Apple TV boxes. Today, actress Hailee Steinfeld told her Instagram followers that Apple is expanding the giveaway to include Apple Music student subscriptions, making the video service free for anyone with an existing $4.99 audio streaming account. To be clear, I don’t fault Apple for trying to get Apple TV+ in front of as many eyeballs as possible. In fact, I personally appreciate the recent and obviously related rollouts of Apple TV apps to certain Samsung smart televisions , Roku devices , and Amazon Fire TVs, which have belatedly but collectively brought iTunes videos and Apple TV+ subscription access to tens of millions of previously unsupported TVs. Since Apple has certainly sold millions of new devices since September, and Apple TV+ includes “family” access for up to six people per account, the company is building a solid day one viewer base for its new shows. The issue is that regardless of how Apple’s executives and accountants spin the numbers, these are Apple TV+ viewers — potential viewers — rather than Apple TV+ customers. By virtue of having purchased a new Apple device over the past month, I qualify as a potential Apple TV+ viewer, but I certainly would not pay $5 per month for anything that’s been announced thus far for the service. Reviews for the initial slate of Apple TV+ shows have been mediocre. Based on reports of production troubles , I would use the word “unsurprising” to describe that situation, though I had hoped the company would recover from sketchy and unpleasant trailers. Unfortunately, Metacritic reveals that all of the shows have rated less than 70 out of 100: Flagship drama The Morning Show is currently at 60/100, while the Jason Momoa-backed See is scraping the barrel’s bottom at 38/100. These numbers aren’t good by any measure and only look worse if you consider how much money Apple has spent — and has committed to keep spending — on these programs. A fair argument can be made that Apple had no choice but to give away Apple TV+ access for the first year. It doesn’t have a catalog of original content like the one Disney leveraged to launch its own $7 monthly Disney+ service. One might suggest Apple is playing the long game, offering free trials to existing customers as it builds up its library of original TV shows and movies. Since content creators — and dare I say potential future advertisers? — may be reluctant to participate in a video service that has no viewers, Apple needs to do whatever it can to get those numbers up, and quickly. From my perspective, though, launching Apple TV+ in its current form was a big mistake. There were multiple compelling alternatives, including turning the entire iTunes TV show library into an all-you-can-watch subscription service (akin to Apple Music), or bundling access to multiple existing third-party channels with original Apple content in a single service. Apple already had the relationships and properly encoded content to make either of these deals happen in a snap, but it didn’t. Either of these options would have been an instant “yes” for millions of existing Apple customers, who would gladly have paid for a true rival to Netflix with different on-demand content. Starting with established shows and adding original content is a formula that worked for Netflix and is working for Disney+. Some people (including me) even saw enough combined value in Disney’s back catalog and future pipeline to pay for three years of service in advance. Instead, Apple somehow decided to go it alone with Apple TV+, just as it did with its standalone Apple TV devices, passing on numerous opportunities to work with TV makers and cable companies to create a better solution. We know how that worked out for Apple TV boxes, which have spent years as also-rans in the media streaming hardware market. After years of “pulling the string” to see where its Apple TV hobby would go, Apple is looking at a multi-billion dollar investment that now seems unlikely to turn a profit or break even in the immediate future. We’ll see whether Apple is able to convert some of its growing pool of free trial-acquired potential viewers into paying customers, but unless the content becomes significantly more compelling over the next year, Apple TV+ may well become more noteworthy for the dramas it’s creating for Apple than anything it’s offering to viewers. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple finally confirms its $3B acquisition of Beats Electronics | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2014/05/28/apple-confirms-3b-acquisition-of-beats"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 finally confirms its $3B acquisition of Beats Electronics 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. Apple today confirmed weeks of rumors by announcing that it’s acquiring Beats Electronics in a deal worth $3 billion. The purchase means Apple will now be able to expand its hardware business into premium headphones. It also gives Apple an on-demand streaming music service via Beats Music, which the company has previously been hesitant to do for fear that it would cannibalize digital download sales on iTunes. The deal itself includes a purchase price of approximately $2.6 billion in cash and approximately $400 million in stock that will vest over time for both Beats Electronics and its Beats Music streaming music service. That’s a tad lower than what sources originally reported ($3.2 billion), but it’s still quite a bit of money. (Also the amount hardly puts a dent in Apple’s mountain of cash — nearly $160 billion , according to the company’s last SEC filing.) “Music is such an important part of all of our lives and holds a special place within our hearts at Apple,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement about the deal. “That’s why we have kept investing in music and are bringing together these extraordinary teams so we can continue to create the most innovative music products and services in the world.” As part of the deal, Beats CEO Jimmy Iovine and iconic rapper and Beats cofounder Dr. Dre will join Apple. This is something that bystanders speculated about in the days after news of the acquisition leaked, with Iovine said to be Apple’s choice to take over its digital media business. Apple, however, did not disclose in the release what roles Iovine and Dre will assume at the company. “I’ve always known in my heart that Beats belonged with Apple,” said Iovine in a statement. “The idea when we started the company was inspired by Apple’s unmatched ability to marry culture and technology. Apple’s deep commitment to music fans, artists, songwriters and the music industry is something special.” Apple said it expects the acquisition deal to close in the fiscal fourth quarter, provided that everything passes regulatory approval. Related: Beats by Apple: Why a deal makes sense — and what it says about today’s Apple Many people expected Apple to announce the Beats acquisition during the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference next month, but it looks like Apple didn’t want to overshadow any other announcements the company may have planned. And while Apple didn’t mention anything about WWDC, I’d be shocked if the company didn’t expand on its plans for Beats at the event. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple launches wireless AirPods, BeatsX, Powerbeats3, Beats Solo3 headphones | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2016/09/07/apple-launches-wireless-airpods-beatsx-beats-solo3-powerbeats3-headphones"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 launches wireless AirPods, BeatsX, Powerbeats3, Beats Solo3 headphones Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. At a press event in San Francisco today, Apple announced new wireless AirPods headphones that work with the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus , neither of which has a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. There are also new Beats headphones. The new AirPods feature a new W1 chip and the ability to talk with Apple’s Siri virtual assistant with just a tap. They provide five hours of battery life on one charge, and up to 40 hours in their new custom case. They’ll be able to play music paired to either the new iPhones or an Apple Watch. With iCloud, syncing across Macs can also be coordinated. Pairing is as simple as hitting the Connect button that pops up on an iPhone. But these earphones will easily switch devices with the latest Apple operating systems: iOS 10, macOS Sierra, and watchOS 3. That means the feature won’t work with Android devices or PCs running Windows. However, the AirPods themselves will be pair with non-Apple devices and Apple devices running older operating systems via Bluetooth, by way of the pairing button on the AirPod case, as Apple blogger John Gruber noted on his website Daring Fireball. Rumors about new iPhones that don’t support regular headphones date back to 2015. That’s given third-party accessory makers time to adjust their lineups accordingly. But Apple isn’t about to be left out of its own revolution in audio componentry. That Apple would come out with first-party wireless earphones is easy to understand — its iconic white earphones date back to the days of the original iPod. And for months people have been speculating that Apple would offer headphones that use the Lightning cable as one solution to the iPhone-without-a-headphone-jack problem. They’ll be available in the box along with the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, but the new AirPods are more fascinating. Above: Pairing the AirPods to an iPhone. The $299.95 Beats Solo3 wireless headphones offer up to 40 hours listening time. Apple is pointing to the new $199.95 Powerbeats 3 wireless earphones for people who want to workout while listening, while the $149.95 BeatsX wireless earphones are intended for use “all throughout your day,” Apple vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller said. The Solo3 headphones are available for purchase now, and people can sign up to be notified when the other two models become available. The announcement of the new Beats headphones is surprising — were it not for the report last week from iGeneration saying that Apple had accidentally sent it an email promising that new Beats by Dre products would be announced at today’s event. Then again, Apple did spend a good amount of money to buy Beats Electronics — $3 billion, to be exact — and you would expect Apple to take advantage of its headphone talent and technology as it yanks the headphone jack from its biggest product. The AirPods will be available for sale starting in late October for $159. Update on September 9: Added detail about Bluetooth pairing for non-Apple 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. 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. "

"Entire world terrified about losing Apple AirPods that no one even owns yet | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2016/09/08/entire-world-terrified-about-losing-apple-airpods-that-no-one-even-owns-yet"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Entire world terrified about losing Apple AirPods that no one even owns yet Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The new wireless AirPods with an iPhone 7. The world clearly has a pretty low regard for itself. Humanity’s self-esteem problems were on stark display yesterday when everyone’s first reaction to Apple’s new wireless headphones was exactly the same: “I’m totally gonna lose those things.” "Lost Fucking Immediately" LOL pic.twitter.com/ibjzoyf7Ug — Sam (@IsuruSam) September 8, 2016 Seriously, people, are we really such bumbling idiots that we can’t hold onto a couple of untethered… the best way to buy Airpods will be to just pick them up one at a time off the street — Owen Williams ⚡️ (@ow) September 7, 2016 I mean, we’ve been carrying around change in our pockets for decades, and that’s worked out okay. Well, I guess except for all that change in the couch cushions. And the washing machines. But otherwise… Me when I try to look for my #AirPods pic.twitter.com/FzYPh8YY67 — J (@julie_lwt) September 7, 2016 This being the internet, the hysteria quickly ran amok, with people demanding solutions to problems they don’t even have yet… They better introduce a new Find My AirPods app. pic.twitter.com/CiOKI1844n — Andy Zhu (@TamedToronto) September 8, 2016 And as the fear spread, it mutated into alarm over the greater potential menace posed by AirPods. Like death and general mayhem… only looking at the picture and I've already choked, died and got one lodged in my ear canal #AppleEvent #AirPods pic.twitter.com/lsl9HpZtjO — Ross Buchanan (@rossy) September 7, 2016 And for God’s sake, what about the children? Is anyone thinking about the children? Kids are gonna choke on those airpods. Trial lawyers are gonna have big cases. CPSC may end up pulling them. https://t.co/t1XSZmVsvb — Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) September 8, 2016 In general, the internet was indignant. Whether it was The Guardian calling them in its review : “a tampon without a string.” Or Popular Mechanics venting its fury over the way AirPods would throw the entire universe out of balance: With completely wireless buds, you’ll not only have to deal with buds that are easy to lose, but you’ll have to deal with them every time you take them out of your ears. Want to take off your headphones and talk to someone for a few minutes? I hope you have fun holding a stray AirPod in your hand, or fishing a loose one out of your pocket a minute later, or have the carrying case on you literally at all times. And really, why even go on living in that case? It probably will only inflame the situation to point out that while the cost is $169, no one anywhere is forcing anyone to buy these things or use them. It is a strange bit of logic that seems to say, I have no choice but to buy a new smartphone without a headphone jack. Which means I have no choice but to buy wireless headphones from Apple. Which means I will lose them. Which will be entirely Apple’s fault. Lost amid this wailing and gnashing of teeth are the other options. Don’t buy this version of the iPhone. If you do, use the Lightning EarPods that come with the phone. Or use the adapter to continue with other wired headphones. Or buy any of the numerous other options for wireless headphones that are out there. Some of these options come with an unfortunate side effect: You will have to actually think for yourself and do some research. Like a couple of Google searches. But I guess I am more optimistic about humanity. I believe we can overcome, collectively, this new threat to our very existence that Apple has thrown at us and triumph over this adversity in the end. Our future, no doubt, depends on it. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Qualcomm's QCC3026 chip lets phone makers bundle truly wireless earbuds | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/06/29/qualcomms-new-qcc3026-lets-phone-makers-bundle-truly-wireless-earbuds"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Qualcomm’s QCC3026 chip lets phone makers bundle truly wireless earbuds Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Qualcomm's low-power Bluetooth system-on-chip solutions enable developers to make fully wireless earphones. 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. Apple wasn’t the first company to offer truly wireless earbuds, but its AirPods have seriously taken off, and rivals want to offer compelling alternatives — at lower prices. To that end, Qualcomm today announced the QCC3026, a Bluetooth system-on-chip (SoC) that will enable developers to quickly bring competing wireless earbuds to market, and even bundle them with next-generation phones. As a less expensive alternative to the QCC5100 chip announced in January, the QCC3026’s key selling points are pricing and battery life. Qualcomm says that the chip will be affordable enough that phone makers can bundle wireless earbuds in their boxes as they eliminate classic headphone ports. Additionally, the company claims an “up to 50 percent” reduction of power consumption compared with prior entry-level alternatives, with the potential for all-day battery life. “Consumers are eager for earbuds they can use all day, when they are at home, in the office or out and about without constantly needing to recharge,” said Qualcomm SVP Anthony Murray. “This latest addition to our portfolio is a very robust and cost-effective true wireless solution that is optimized for both superior sound quality and pricing value, and will allow our customers to put this exciting technology in the reach of millions more buyers.” Additionally, the QCC3026 includes support for several Qualcomm audio technologies, including enhanced TrueWireless Stereo, aptX audio over Bluetooth, and cVc noise cancellation to reduce background noise and echo feedback. The chip promises robust wireless connections, easy pairing, and support for digital assistants. Chinese phone maker Oppo simultaneously announced today that it will be using the QCC3026 in wireless stereo earbuds that will be included with certain Find X flagship phones, and sold separately. Original design manufacturers (ODMs) will offer other manufacturers access to QCC3026 reference designs in the second half of 2018. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Samsung debuts Galaxy Buds with Bixby | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/20/samsung-debuts-galaxy-buds-with-bixby"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 debuts Galaxy Buds with Bixby 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. Samsung today unveiled the Galaxy Buds, wireless earbuds that speak with intelligent assistant Bixby and can wirelessly charge on the back of the new flagship S10 smartphone. The earbuds made their debut today together with S10, S10+ and S10e phones , the Galaxy Fold smartphone that opens like a tablet , and other new devices at Unpacked, an event held at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. Galaxy Buds will come in black, white, or yellow; cost $129; and be available for purchase March 8. Bixby with Galaxy Buds means you can turn ambient sound settings on or off, or use voice commands for things like checking your schedule, playing music, and other tasks hands-free with your voice alone. Starting today, Bixby can speak German, Spanish, and Italian, an expansion for the intelligent assistant’s language capabilities first announced at the Samsung Developer Conference last fall. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Galaxy Buds offer 6 hours of battery life and have adaptive microphones to capture the sound of your voice with external mics when it’s quiet outside and internal mics for when it’s loud outside. The Galaxy Buds are 30 percent smaller than Samsung’s IconX earbuds , released in 2016. As smart speaker penetration and assistant access on smartphones continue to grow, major tech companies have taken steps to place their conversational AI platforms in more earbuds and headphones. Beyond the poorly received Pixel Buds , Google Assistant has been integrated into high-end headphones from Bose, Sony, and other brands, while Amazon opened its mobile accessory kit to all device makers to make it easier to integrate Alexa into headphones last fall. Apple is reportedly planning to release second-generation AirPods with hands-free Siri access and health data collection abilities in the first half of 2019. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple debuts new AirPods with H1 chip and wireless charging case option | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/20/apple-debuts-new-airpods-with-h1-chip-and-wireless-charging-case-option"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 debuts new AirPods with H1 chip and wireless charging case option 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. A year and a half after announcing that it would release a wireless charging case for its AirPods headphones, Apple is finally ready to ship the accessory — along with a second-generation version of AirPods. The company said today that it will sell two versions of the “new AirPods:” AirPods with Charging Case, and AirPods with Wireless Charging Case. As has been rumored, the new AirPods include several key changes: the ability to automatically activate Siri when “Hey, Siri” is spoken, improved performance, and the new charging case. Despite internal changes, the new AirPods bundle looks virtually identical to the original version, apart from a new external charging light on the new charging case. According to Apple, the H1 chip enables several enhancements to the original AirPods experience: one hour of additional talk time — three total hours, or a 50 percent improvement — plus 2 times faster pairing connections when switching devices, 1.5 times faster connection to phone calls, and 30 percent lower latency when using the headphones with games. The standard five-hour run time for standard audio playback per charge remains unchanged. When fully charged, each of the charging cases brings the total run time of the AirPods to over 24 hours. Apple notes that the wireless charging case can be recharged with Qi-compatible wireless chargers. What hasn’t changed is the basic AirPods design. Rumors ahead of today’s announcement suggested that Apple might offer two color options, change the glossy surface texture, or otherwise tweak the look and feel of the truly wireless earphones. For the time being, that’s not the case. Above: The new AirPods with wireless and non-wireless charging cases. Preorders are being taken now for delivery and in-store availability next week. For the first time, Apple is offering an engraving option for the charging cases, which can be ordered for free from the company’s online store. The new AirPods will sell for the same $159 price as their predecessor with a standard Lightning charging case, or $199 with the wireless charging case. You can also purchase the wireless charging case for $79. At least for the moment, Apple’s own and long-awaited AirPower wireless charging mat is still missing in action. It was announced a year and a half ago for AirPods, iPhone, and Apple Watch charging and expected to debut alongside the wireless AirPods charging case. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple's Powerbeats Pro is a sweatproof, in-ear AirPods alternative | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/03/apples-powerbeats-pro-is-a-sweatproof-in-ear-airpods-alternative"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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’s Powerbeats Pro is a sweatproof, in-ear AirPods alternative 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. Apple’s AirPods wireless earphones quickly proved impressive enough to make the company’s single-wire BeatsX model feel like a silly mistake , so the company went back to the drawing board for a truly wireless Beats option: Powerbeats Pro. Officially announced today after imagery leaked in iOS 12.2 , Powerbeats Pro is effectively a more powerful and expensive alternative to the latest AirPods , stepping up in everything from size to battery life and waterproofing. Both headphones are built around the same Apple technology, the new H1 headphone processor, which means that the core experiences are similar: true stereo Bluetooth audio without any wires, plus Hey Siri support, fueled by separate built-in batteries and a rechargeable carrying case. But Powerbeats Pro offers nine hours of listening time to AirPods’ five, though their included cases both promise 24 hours of total listening between charges. Apple is able to offer the added battery life because Powerbeats Pro is much larger than the AirPods. Like prior wire-laden Powerbeats , each earphone has an included adjustable earhook and a thick housing. Here, both earphones have track and volume controls, rather than stuffing one multi-purpose tap sensor into each thin AirPods stem. Also unlike the AirPods, which use Apple’s one-size-fits-most hard plastic earbud design, PowerBeats Pro has silicone tips for an in-ear experience with passive noise isolation. Users can choose between multiple tips to fit their ear canals, and Apple claims that they deliver “powerful, balanced audio” with “enhanced clarity, and improved dynamic range” — phrases that could be taken literally if not for the historically bassy, boomy skew found in most past Beats headphones. Critical to athletes is another feature: some water protection. Apple describes the Powerbeats Pro as offering sweat and water resistance, though it’s unclear just how much liquid they can actually survive. Nothing’s mentioned about swimming in the headphones, which suggests they’re not fully waterproof, but they’re promised to survive “tough workouts.” If white AirPods aren’t your style, Powerbeats Pro comes in four initial colors: black, navy, moss green, and a creamy ivory. Each comes with a black case that uses a Lightning connector to recharge; unlike the AirPods, wireless recharging isn’t an option. You’ll also pay more for the extra features. While AirPods start at $159, Powerbeats Pro sells for $250. Apple’s website currently shows them as “coming soon,” without online or retail store availability. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple releases iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS 13.2 with support for AirPods Pro | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/28/apple-releases-ios-ipados-and-tvos-13-2-with-support-for-airpods-pro"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 releases iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS 13.2 with support for AirPods Pro Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller attempts to explain Deep Fusion, a computational photography feature found in new iPhones. 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. Less than a month after debuting the first developer betas of iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS 13.2 , Apple today released the final versions of all three operating systems to users. In addition to bug fixes, the releases include a collection of small but welcome improvements that were removed from 13.0 and 13.1 releases at the eleventh hour, pending additional software polishing. As is typical of these releases, each OS has its own platform- and device-specific features, while using a shared code base. All of the versions include support for Apple’s just-announced AirPods Pro wireless headphones , with iOS and iPadOS adding new noise cancellation and transparency mode toggle screens that were revealed in betas. iOS and iPadOS users with certain AirPods and Beats headphones get access to a feature called Announce Messages with Siri, which enables Siri to speak text messages as they come in. Additionally, iOS 13.2 users with the latest iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro models gain access to Deep Fusion , a new Camera app feature that uses multiple exposures to enhance detail in images, particularly including textures. Apple has also added an automatic AirPlay to TVs feature, enabling users to ease the process of sending videos or audio to a nearby Apple TV running tvOS 13.2, as well as some third-party streaming devices with Apple TV apps. A new Transfer to HomePod feature lets users tap an iOS or iPadOS device on the smart speaker to instantly continue audio. The updates also include deeper HomeKit automation for AirPlay 2 devices and multi-voice recognition support for the HomePod. iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS 13.2 are available for download now through Apple’s Settings menus and standard Software Update mechanisms. Version 6.1 of watchOS for Apple Watches is also expected to be released in the near future. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. 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. "

"Apple reveals $249 AirPods Pro with in-ear tips and noise cancellation | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/28/apple-reveals-249-airpods-pro-with-in-ear-tips-and-noise-cancellation"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 reveals $249 AirPods Pro with in-ear tips and noise cancellation 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. Having made little white earphones ubiquitous during the iPod era, Apple nevertheless surprised everyone with the success of its truly wireless AirPods. After a year and a half of rumors , followed by a partial leak of the hardware , there’s officially a third version, AirPods Pro , which is moving the company’s ear wearable category forward — both in features and in pricing. Unlike the first two generations of AirPods, which used a fairly standard “earbud” design that sat outside the user’s ear canals, AirPods Pro is halfway between its predecessors and Apple’s less well-known wired canalphones, the In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic. For that reason, Apple refers to AirPods Pro as an “in-ear design,” now including sweat- and water-resistance to an IPX4 standard. That’s enough for non-water sports and exercise. The new model preserves AirPods’ wireless functionality with charging tips on the bases of their stems, but includes silicone rubber tips that go into your ears to provide noise isolation. Users get three different sizes of tips that can be fit to their ears, and Apple says it’s using an “innovative vent system to equalize pressure, minimizing the discomfort common in other in-ear designs.” AirPods Pro are the first AirPods to include noise cancellation of any sort, and there are two levels: passive noise isolation achieved through fitting the silicone tips to your ear canals, and active noise cancellation (ANC) using a toggle in iOS and iPadOS. When active noise cancellation is turned on, the earphones sample ambient noise around you and counterbalance it to create a quiet listening experience. A “transparency mode” blends ambient noise and music together for users who don’t want to tune out the world around them. In addition to those features, Apple has tweaked the AirPods Pro internals from the latest AirPods. There’s now a force sensor inside to detect strong press toggles between ANC and transparency modes, plus an audio driver with “superior sound quality” that automatically adjusts to the wearer’s ear shape. Apple claims that the driver offers “detailed mid- and high-frequency audio” while also delivering “consistent, rich bass down to 20Hz.” While Apple is still using an H1 chip in AirPods Pro, it’s unclear how microphone performance for calling will compare with the prior model. The new design uses dual mics for ambient noise sampling, and if Apple’s software is up to snuff, AirPods Pro will hopefully be able to properly isolate the user’s voice from the environment. Battery life is surprisingly not as impacted by the active noise cancellation feature as one might expect. AirPods Pro promises the same five-hour battery life per charge as the latest AirPods without ANC, or four and a half hours with ANC. The included charging case adds “over 24 hours of listening time or over 18 hours of talk time,” while featuring the same inductive Qi wireless charging support. Changes to the shape and slant of the stems have resulted in a redesign of the prior AirPods charging case for the Pro model. What used to be almost indistinguishable from a package of dental floss is now noticeably wider and shorter. Like the AirPods Pro, the case is only available in glossy white, contradicting pre-announcement rumors that Apple would be color-matching the iPhone 11 Pro with four different options. AirPods Pro will be available in stores October 30 for $249, a premium of $90 over the current AirPods without the inductive wireless charging case, and $50 more than the AirPods with the wireless charging case. We’ll have more to say in a hands-on piece in the very near future. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. 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. "

"AliveCor raises $30 million for its credit card-sized heart monitor and app | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2017/03/16/alivecor-raises-30-million-for-its-credit-card-sized-heart-monitor-and-app"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages AliveCor raises $30 million for its credit card-sized heart monitor and app Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn AliveCor's Kardia Monitor and app 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. Gadgets are fun to use, but they rarely get FDA clearance to be marketed as medical devices. AliveCor wants to change that with a tiny EKG monitor that connects to an app. The medtech company announced today that it has raised an additional $30 million in funding to help track heart-related conditions. AliveCor’s Kardia Mobile is a sleek, credit card-like device that connects wirelessly to the Kardia app, which is available on both iOS and Android. Users vary, according to AliveCor CEO Vic Gundotra. “They are either people with or at risk of a chronic heart condition, individuals who have a family history of heart disease, or those who are simply health-conscious,” he wrote in an email to VentureBeat. Users place their fingertips on the device’s electrodes to record their heart’s electric activity (movements of each chambers in the heart), which, according to AliveCor’s website, takes about 30 seconds. The EKG data is then transmitted to the company’s cloud service, where doctors can access the information. Above: Example of AliveCor’s EKG recording data. “A trained doctor can learn far more about your health from this EKG than just by looking at heart rate,” wrote Gundotra. “A cardiologist or electrophysiologist can see arrhythmias and other conditions that can lead to much more serious consequences if not diagnosed early and treated.” AliveCor uses AI to identify each user’s EKG and signal any irregularities to the doctor. 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 FDA-approved device costs $100 and is sold on AliveCor’s website, as well as on Amazon. Gundotra declined to comment on the number of customers AliveCor has, but claims the company has recorded over 12 million EKGs to date. “We sell our products directly to consumers,” he wrote. “Half of our sales come from working with doctors to recommend the product to their patients.” While traditional EKG recording devices — like the Holter monitor — are obvious competitors for AliveCor, fitness wearables could soon become a threat. Fitbit cofounder and CEO James Park spoke at a conference in December about his company’s plans to dive into medtech. Fitbit received considerable backlash over its allegedly failed attempts to accurately monitor people’s heart rates. But the company could also be seeking FDA approval soon and has already incorporated heart-rate tracking sensors into its Alta HR wristband. Gundotra rejects the comparison to Fitbit. “We compete against the perception that we are a fitness device,” he wrote, “when in reality, AliveCor goes beyond wearables to deliver the next generation of tracking clinically validated data that helps consumers take an active role in monitoring their heart health.” Medtech giant Omron Healthcare led today’s round, with participation from Mayo Clinic. Since it was founded in 2011, AliveCor has raised capital from investors that include Khosla Ventures, Bold Capital Partners, and Burrill Life Sciences Capital. The company would not disclose the total amount raised. The new funds will be primarily used for hiring. “The company looks to expand its focus to include engineers with specialized skills, like AI,” wrote Gundotra. Based in Mountain View, Calif., AliveCor currently has 50 employees. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Study: Apple Watch Cardiogram app bested EKG band in spotting errant heartbeat | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/21/study-apple-watch-cardiogram-app-bested-ekg-band-in-spotting-errant-heartbeat"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Study: Apple Watch Cardiogram app bested EKG band in spotting errant heartbeat 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. Peer-reviewed medical journal JAMA Cardiology today published a study suggesting that an Apple Watch equipped with Cardiogram, an AI-assisted heart monitoring app, is more effective at detecting atrial fibrillation than a dedicated electrocardiogram (EKG) wristband, and nearly as effective as a 12-lead EKG machine. As spotted by AppleInsider , the study raises the prospect that advanced AI will enable wearable devices to detect dangerous medical conditions using only basic sensors. The study, “Passive Detection of Atrial Fibrillation Using a Commercially Available Smartwatch,” included users of the Apple Watch app Cardiogram and its DeepHeart neural network, co-developed with researchers at the University of California, San Francisco. DeepHeart was trained to detect irregularities in the timing of heartbeats, canvassing over 139 million heart rate measurements from nearly 10,000 people to create fibrillation risk scores. Researchers found that the Cardiogram/DeepHeart pairing had 98 percent sensitivity and 90.2 percent specificity in detecting atrial fibrillation compared with a 12-lead EKG machine, versus 67.7 percent sensitivity and 67.6 percent specificity coming from participants who self-reported persistent fibrillations. In other words, passively wearing an Apple Watch with Cardiogram installed was nearly as accurate as being actively checked by a medical-grade apparatus, and far more accurate than attempting to detect an issue without sensors. Additionally, Cardiogram’s 98/90.2 percent results appear to be superior to those obtained with the KardiaBand , a $200 EKG wristband accessory released for the Apple Watch. Using a simpler two-lead design, the KardiaBand received FDA clearance specifically for detecting atrial fibrillation, achieving accuracy rates of 93/84 percent on its own, or 99/83 percent with a physician interpreting the recording. Kardia notably charges fees for physician EKG reads. 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 DeepHeart researchers say that this is “the first large-scale, peer-reviewed study to appear in a medical journal demonstrating consumer wearables’ ability to detect a major health condition.” They also noted that DeepHeart’s pre-training and semi-supervised learning yielded “a significant increase in accuracy compared to similar artificial intelligence research,” suggesting that having skilled researchers involved in the initial setup of the AI can considerably improve its utility for health diagnoses. Apple has reportedly been working on expanded heart monitoring hardware for Apple Watches, and is currently working on a similar heart study with Stanford University, though it’s open by invitation only. Cardiogram is available for everyone as a free download from the iOS App Store. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"FDA clears first 6-lead consumer ECG, AliveCor's $150 KardiaMobile 6L | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/13/fda-clears-first-6-lead-consumer-ecg-alivecors-150-kardiamobile-6l"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages FDA clears first 6-lead consumer ECG, AliveCor’s $150 KardiaMobile 6L Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn KardiaMobile 6L. 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. Electrocardiogram (ECG) heart monitoring technology has made great strides over the past decade, shrinking from machines found at doctors’ offices down to smartphone accessories and smartwatch features — but each size reduction has compromised the monitor’s clinical-grade accuracy. Today, AliveCor is bucking that trend with the announcement of KardiaMobile 6L, the first six-lead personal ECG device to receive FDA clearance. Until now, a smartwatch or smartphone user effectively traded the simultaneous dozen-signal (12-lead) monitoring of a medical-grade ECG for the convenience of a one-signal (single-lead) device that could be carried anywhere. While 12-lead ECG machines are wheeled around on carts, requiring octopus-like wires and conductive gels to measure a heart’s electrical signals from various points across your body, a single-lead device places two electrodes on two body points — a wrist and finger, or two fingers — to make a simpler, less thorough measurement. KardiaMobile 6L uses a form factor similar to the prior two-electrode KardiaMobile accessory, but instead is a three-electrode device, with twin steel pads on its top and a third on its bottom. Once again, the palm-sized device is roughly the same size as a thin, small TV remote control, and fits easily into a pocket or purse so you can carry it anywhere. Scans are conducted via an accompanying smartphone app. But there’s a vast difference in the amount of information KardiaMobile 6L gathers. Across multiple scans — fingers plus ankle, and fingers plus left knee — the user forms Einthoven triangles that allow KardiaMobile 6L to gather as much information as a six-lead machine: three bipolar limb leads (I, II, and III) and three unipolar limb leads (aVR, aVL, and aVF). That leaves only six unipolar chest leads for separate monitoring in a hospital or clinic. While Apple Watches and other devices can provide a basic ECG capable of detecting some irregular heart signals, the KardiaMobile 6L’s scans collectively provide a physician with data capable of revealing more arrhythmias and heart issues. Moreover, because the AliveCor device is capable of shifting locations from knee to ankle, it’s capturing data from places that a wrist-bound ECG cannot — until and unless people start wearing additional wireless sensors. “I am impressed with the quality and simplicity of 6-lead smartphone ECG tracings,” said Scripps Research Translational Institute director and cardiologist Eric Topol, MD, “which will unquestionably sharpen our ability to diagnose heart rhythm and conduction abnormalities. It’s a welcome and needed step forward for mobile heart diagnostics.” As is typical for devices requiring FDA clearance, KardiaMobile 6L has been in development for some time, and was previously tested under the name Project Triangle. Now that clearance has been granted, AliveCor plans to have the device in consumers’ hands by mid-June for $150, a 50% premium over the prior version. Preorders are available starting today at KardiaMobile6L.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. All rights reserved. "

"IDC: Apple still led wearables market in Q1 2019, but Huawei grew 282% | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/30/idc-apple-still-led-wearables-market-in-q1-2019-but-huawei-grew-282"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages IDC: Apple still led wearables market in Q1 2019, but Huawei grew 282% Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Apple's second-generation AirPods on a third-party charging mat. 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. Market research firm IDC published its first-quarter 2019 report on the wearables market today, and no one will be surprised to learn that Apple maintained its industry-leading market share thanks to growth in shipments of Apple Watches, AirPods, and Beats headphones. But Asian rivals Xiaomi, Huawei, and Samsung all saw sharper year-over-year increases than Apple, IDC suggests, with Huawei posting 282.2% gains — a small miracle given the clouds gathering over the company’s businesses. Worth noting up front: IDC’s numbers look at shipments rather than sales, numbers that — if accurate in the first place — could be manipulated merely by pushing more inventory out the door with plans to aggressively discount it later. Additionally, the firm added “ear-worn devices” to the largely wrist-worn category last year, enabling both smartwatches and certain earphones to figure into its tracking; wrist wearables are said to constitute a 63.2% share of the market, while ear devices had a smaller 34.6% share, but faster year over year growth: 135.1% compared with only 31.6% for wrist wearables. For Apple, the uptick was big in shipment numbers, but not as impressive by percentages: Shipments were up to 12.8 million in the first quarter of 2019, a 49.5% jump from 8.6 million units a year earlier. However, the company’s 26.8% overall market share slipped a hint to 25.8%, still roughly twice that of its closest competitor. Chinese companies Xiaomi and Huawei took second and third place in shipments for the quarter, with 6.6 million and 5 million units respectively. Huawei’s number was up almost four times from a year ago, enabling it to surge past now fourth-place Samsung, which shipped 4.3 million units in the quarter. All three companies were up markedly in shipments from year to year, reflecting the market’s overall growth, while fifth-place Fitbit moved from 2.2 million units a year ago to 2.9 million in the first quarter of 2019, falling to 5.9% market share. Interestingly, IDC suggests that Apple has been overtaken in wrist wearable shipments (4.6 million) by Xiaomi (5.3 million), and is only modestly ahead of Huawei (3.9 million). Doing the math, that means ear-worn devices such as AirPods generated the bulk of Apple’s wearable demand, though the late March release of second-generation AirPods may have been responsible for the big uptick in shipments for the quarter. IDC notes that the Mi Band was Xiaomi’s most popular wearable, shipping 5 million units on its own, while Huawei and Samsung benefited from bundling their wearables with hot-selling smartphones. Samsung notably launched the Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Watch Active in February, offering the wireless earphones as a free gift for early Galaxy S10 customers. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Huami's $188 Amazfit Verge 2 challenges Apple Watch with 4G and ECG | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/11/huamis-188-amazfit-verge-2-challenges-apple-watch-with-4g-and-ecg"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Huami’s $188 Amazfit Verge 2 challenges Apple Watch with 4G and ECG Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Huami Amazfit Verge 2 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. Apple’s dominance of the young market for wearables has been under attack from Xiaomi , which briefly led in watch shipments last year but has alternated between second and first places this year thanks to strong shipments of its Apple Watch challengers. Today, Xiaomi-backed Huami officially revealed Amazfit Verge 2 , a smartwatch with a ceramic body, ECG functionality, and 4G/LTE cellular capabilities — all at less than half the price of the latest Apple Watch. Unlike the latest Apple Watch , which is made primarily from aluminum with a ceramic rear electrode housing, the Amazfit Verge 2 has a microcrystalline zirconium ceramic housing that’s said to take 35 days to process. Apple only offered a full ceramic body with its discontinued premium Series 2 and 3 Edition models , which sold for nearly 10 times Verge 2’s price. Huami also includes a Retina-quality 454×454-pixel, 1.39-inch AMOLED round display covered in 2.5D glass, making it a viable rival for Apple’s devices in both look and feel. As is typically the case with cut-rate alternatives to Apple products, however, you get most but not all of the same internal functionality for the lower price. Huami is using a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2500 processor, 4GB of onboard storage, a 420mAh battery with 28 hours of promised run time, GPS, NFC, and Bluetooth 4.2 support. That’s a quarter the storage and a much slower processor than an Apple Watch Series 4, but similar battery life and wireless support. You also lose full waterproofing: Amazfit Verge 2 is only IP68 splash resistant, not submersible. Backed by Xiaomi’s Android MIUI OS and a custom chip, the ECG functionality promises Apple-like 24-hour heart monitoring with atrial fibrillation and arrhythmia detection, while the 4G modem is unlocked with support for all mainland Chinese carriers, using an eSIM for network registration. There’s no word yet on whether the cellular feature will be available outside China. For 1,299 Chinese yuan ($188), the advanced version of the Amazfit Verge 2 includes both ECG and 4G support with a hybrid leather and silicone strap, while a step-down 999 yuan ($145) model drops the ECG functionality and includes only a silicone strap. There’s also an Avengers Limited Edition with a customized white band and special watch faces for 1,499 yuan ($217). All of the models are available to preorder now, with sales commencing on June 21. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Huami Amazfit GTR targets Apple Watch with 74-day battery and Iron Man model | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/07/16/huami-amazfit-gtr-targets-apple-watch-with-74-day-battery-and-iron-man-model"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Huami Amazfit GTR targets Apple Watch with 74-day battery and Iron Man model 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. While several companies have successfully offered less expensive alternatives to the Apple Watch , mounting a direct challenge with premium features and design isn’t easy. But Huawei-owned Huami is giving it a shot with the new Amazfit GTR. Boasting a Retina-class AMOLED screen with 326PPI pixel density covered by Gorilla Glass 3 , the Amazfit GTR offers seriously impressive battery life and a range of distinctive designs — including a licensed Iron Man edition, and another with Swarovski crystals. Amazfit GTR is offered in two sizes: a 42mm model with a 1.2-inch, 390 x 390 screen and 195mAh battery, and a 47mm version with a 1.39-inch, 454 x 454 screen and 410mAh battery. Huami is positioning the smaller version as an atypically slim and lightweight 42mm watch, backed by enough battery power for 12 days of normal use or 34 days of “basic watch” functionality. If you’re willing to accept the size of the larger model, you’ll get up to 24 days of normal use or 74 days of “basic watch” performance. By comparison, Apple Watches promise one day of normal use, and even the latest and longest-running models need to be recharged every two days. Huami hasn’t skimped on other hardware features, either. Amazfit GTR includes Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, GPS and GLONASS, 50-meter water resistance, and a PPG sensor for optical heart rate monitoring. Other increasingly common smartwatch sensors, including a barometer, 6-axis accelerometer, 3-axis geomagnetic sensor, and ambient light sensor, are also included in each model, along with Android and iOS platform compatibility. On the design front, the 42mm model can be had in black, white, pink, or red standard versions, each only 25.5 grams in weight, while a limited edition model adds 60 Swarovski crystals within its ring-shaped bezel. The heavier 47mm Amazfit GTR comes in aluminum (36-gram), stainless steel (48-gram), or titanium (40-gram) versions; there’s also an Iron Man model with a golden body, customized red silicone strap, and exclusive Iron Man-themed face. Huami’s prices are aggressive, too. A standard 42mm model is only 799 Chinese yuan ($116), with the Swarovski edition selling for 999 yuan ($145). The aluminum and stainless steel 47mm models are 999 yuan each, while the titanium and Iron Man editions run 1399 yuan ($203). Currently, the watches are only available for order in China , but they’re highly likely to make their way out of the country in the months to come. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple introduces Apple TV 4K to revive its streaming video hopes | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/12/apple-introduces-apple-tv-4k-to-revive-its-streaming-video-hopes"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 introduces Apple TV 4K to revive its streaming video hopes Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Apple TV 4K 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. Two years after Apple’s attempt to reboot its TV ambitions , the company introduced a new version of its streaming device and a signficant update to the software that powers it. Dubbed Apple TV 4K, the new version of the gadget will support the far richer 4K HDR video standard that is slowly gaining traction among TV manufacturers and content creators. Apple said its new Apple TV will support Dolby Vision. The 32GB version goes for $179 and the 64GB one will cost you $199. Apple TV 4K preorders start on September 15, and the devices ship on September 22. “Throughout the history of the TV, there’s been a few key inflection points that have transformed the way we experience television,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in introducing the new Apple TV. Apple has long had big ambitions for changing the way we watch TV. In 2015, the company unveiled a costly update with a new Siri-power remote. But instead of turbo-charging this segment for Apple, the company has fallen further behind rivals such as Roku, Amazon, and Google. “Apple TV 4K is incredible,” said Apple executive Eddy Cue. The device will include a new A10X processor as well as new version of tvOS, Cue said. That’s good for double the processing speed as the last version, plus there’s 3GB of RAM. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple reportedly launching video service around March 2019 | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2018/03/26/apple-reportedly-launching-video-service-around-march-2019"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 reportedly launching video service around March 2019 Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. Apple aims to launch its streaming video service as soon as March of next year, or roughly around the summer of 2019, the New York Times reports today. Run by a team formerly from Sony’s TV division, the Apple Worldwide Video studio now has around 40 employees overseeing shows and plans to offer a mix of adult dramas, kids’ TV, and content for Latin America and Europe from a 128,000-square foot headquarters in Culver City, California. Over the last six months, Apple has used a reported $1 billion budget to sign producers and showrunners for 12 different series, aggressively bidding against Netflix and other studios. However, the Times reports that Apple is on track to spend far more than that, having recently outspent both YouTube and Facebook on original series, including projects from top names in the television and movie business. While the prospect of partnering with Apple may be appealing to some producers, the company is reportedly looking for shows with a “bright, optimistic” spin, in part so they could be aired without edits in Apple’s retail stores. This angle was reportedly why respected producer Bryan Fuller’s will no longer be involved in a reboot of Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories anthology series. Fuller has not yet been replaced. Other shows currently under development include an M. Night Shyamalan thriller, a space drama from Battlestar Galactica ‘s Ronald D. Moore, a comedy with Kristen Wiig, a drama from La La Land ‘s Damien Chazelle, a futuristic drama from The Hunger Games ‘ Francis Lawrence, and a drama from Octavia Spencer. Additionally, a morning network TV drama from Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston is expected to complete its initial script this week. The reported mid-2019 launch allows time for each show’s production to ramp up and episodes to be filmed. Earlier this month, Apple vice president Eddy Cue told an audience at SXSW that the company was focused on telling great stories in long-form videos, rather than offering YouTube-style videos or acquiring a rival such as Netflix or Disney. Despite Cue’s comments, Apple was rumored last week to be considering an acquisition of Sony’s television studios. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Samsung Smart TVs will support Apple AirPlay 2 and iTunes videos in spring 2019 (Updated) | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/01/06/samsung-smart-tvs-will-support-apple-airplay-2-and-itunes-videos-in-spring-2019"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 Smart TVs will support Apple AirPlay 2 and iTunes videos in spring 2019 (Updated) 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 the late 2018 deal that brought Apple Music to Amazon Echo speakers wasn’t surprising enough, Samsung today announced a similar partnership with Apple for 2018 and 2019 Samsung Smart TVs. Support for iTunes movies, iTunes TV shows, and AirPlay 2 will be coming in spring 2019. The deal is all but unprecedented for Apple, which has historically restricted playback of iTunes videos to its own devices, including Apple TVs, iPods, iPhones, iPads, and Macs, with no support for competing media players, such as Roku, or various smart TV platforms. That said, PCs running iTunes have been able to play iTunes videos, and the company has allowed third parties to license both AirPlay and AirPlay 2 for years. According to Samsung, a firmware update to 2018 Smart TVs will add a new iTunes Movies and TV Shows app in more than 100 countries. AirPlay 2 will become available on Samsung Smart TVs in 190 countries around the world. “We look forward to bringing the iTunes and AirPlay 2 experience to even more customers around the world through Samsung Smart TVs,” said Apple Internet Software and Services SVP Eddy Cue, “so iPhone, iPad, and Mac users have yet another way to enjoy all their favorite content on the biggest screen in their home.” In addition to playing a user’s existing iTunes library, the new app will include Apple’s iTunes Store, so customers can buy and rent content, notably including 4K HDR videos that previously could only be streamed on the Apple TV 4K. Apple will integrate the app “seamlessly” with Samsung’s Universal Guide, Bixby, and Search, while AirPlay 2 will let Apple devices stream not only audio but also videos, photos, and other content — possibly screen mirroring — directly to Samsung’s TVs. Apple’s relationship with Samsung has been contentious in the past, notably due to longstanding allegations that the larger Samsung company was cloning iPhone and iPad design elements while its smaller business units supplied the same devices’ key components. However, Apple continued to rely upon Samsung for parts, including OLED screens, and the companies settled their seven-year legal dispute in 2018. It remains to be seen whether Apple is giving Samsung a leg up on other smart TV rivals or whether iTunes videos apps and AirPlay 2 support will make even more appearances on competing devices at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2019 this week. Updated at 12:27 p.m. Pacific: Apple has updated its Apple TV and AirPlay pages to suggest that the AirPlay 2 video feature will soon be coming to other smart TVs, as well: Leading TV manufacturers are integrating AirPlay 2 directly into their TVs, so now you can effortlessly share or mirror almost anything from your iOS device or Mac directly to your AirPlay 2–enabled smart TV. You can even play music on the TV and sync it with other AirPlay 2–compatible speakers anywhere in your home. Apple also says that Siri will soon be able to direct iPhone videos to HomeKit and AirPlay 2-capable TVs. With AirPlay 2 and HomeKit, you can use Siri on your iPhone to send a video to your TV. Better yet, ask Siri to play a specific show in a specific room. There’s clearly more to this initiative than just an Apple-Samsung partnership. We’ll be on the lookout for similar announcements from other smart TV makers during CES. Updated on January 7, 2019 at 9:50 a.m. Pacific: As expected, additional TV makers LG and Vizio have also announced support for AirPlay 2 and HomeKit in select 2019 smart television sets. Unlike Samsung, however, neither company has announced an iTunes videos app as of yet. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Intrusive Apple execs have reportedly upset TV show partners | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/03/04/intrusive-apple-execs-have-reportedly-upset-tv-show-partners"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Intrusive Apple execs have reportedly upset TV show partners 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. Apple hasn’t officially announced its subscription-based video streaming service , but some of its key production partners are already chafing at interference from company executives — including CEO Tim Cook. A scathing New York Post report suggests that Hollywood producers and agents “can’t stop griping about how ‘difficult’ Apple is to deal with,” leading to angry creative teams and production delays. In August 2017, Apple reportedly established a $1 billion fund to develop exclusive television shows and movies from A-list writers, actors, and producers. Following deals with everyone from M. Night Shyamalan to Oprah Winfrey, Rob McElhenney, and Reese Witherspoon, today’s report says that the company now has “several dozen shows” in the works, and plans to unveil the service this month. However, it will offer “just a handful” of the shows by the end of 2019, in part because it has insisted on changing both the content and an unspecified technology. According to the Post’s report, Apple executives have become heavily involved in the productions, offering numerous “notes” to guide development, despite writers and directors preferring to work without corporate intrusions. Cook has reportedly urged producers not to “be so mean!,” building on previous claims that the company hired edgy producers such as Bryan Fuller, yet wanted to make family-friendly content that could be aired in Apple’s retail stores. Additionally, Apple has nixed themes such as religion or technology’s negative potential, as it wants to avoid controversy and portray technology positively. More worryingly, the company reportedly hasn’t been satisfied with the quality of the shows, and has been firing and hiring writers during production. “A lot of the product is not as good as they hoped it to be,” a producer source said, and “there’s a lack of clarity on what they want.” The sources have characterized Apple’s executives as intrusive, nitpicky, and non-transparent — concepts that wouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with the company, but apparently are rubbing its creative partners the wrong way. Amongst the service’s many unknowns is a unique technology angle that was touted by Apple SVP Eddy Cue last year — potentially some form of interactivity for shows. The report suggests that Apple has continued to tweak the technology, requiring its recently hired video executives to keep traveling between their Los Angeles offices and Apple HQ in Cupertino to approve technology changes. Apple’s video service will come into direct competition with existing streaming rivals such as Netflix , Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video, as well as an upcoming service called Disney+ from long-time Apple partner Disney. Recent reports suggest that the service will include both Apple-developed content and TV channel-style access to video libraries from third-party providers. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Disney+ limitations highlight Netflix's global advantage in streaming wars | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/08/07/disney-limitations-highlight-netflixs-global-advantage-in-streaming-wars"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Disney+ limitations highlight Netflix’s global advantage in streaming wars Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Netflix 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 streaming wars saga got another jolt this week when content behemoth Disney announced a $12.99 bundle that seemed like a sure Netflix-killer. But as is so often the case, analysis around this development was done through the lens of U.S. audiences. Taking a broader view, the details of Disney’s streaming service illustrate the huge lead Netflix has in international markets and the challenges upstarts face. Netflix had about 151 million paid subscribers as of its most recent quarter, with about 60 million in the U.S. and 91 million abroad. Indeed, Netflix saw the number of its U.S. subscribers drop last quarter, while international growth continues ( though less quickly than projected ). Conventional wisdom says Netflix is going to get pummeled as content giants roll out streaming services like Disney+, HBO Max, Apple TV, and others. But rivals’ major impact is likely going to be felt more in the U.S. market (Apple being a possible exception). For instance, the basic Disney+ is set to launch in November in the U.S. for about $7 a month. It will have a monstrously large content library, thanks to its Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel properties. But while the company hopes to make its content available sometime next year in Europe and Asia, no date has been set. The target is for it to be available worldwide in two years, but it’s likely the international versions of Disney+ won’t have the full content libraries for at least four years, due to agreements already in place with other distributors. Netflix faced this same dilemma five years ago when it began a more aggressive international expansion. It did not own all the international rights to House of Cards , then its signature original show, which took some time to reacquire. Likewise, while there has been a lot of talk about Netflix losing the rights to Friends and The Office , that is mainly in the U.S. I live in France, where The Office is on Amazon Prime. Netflix will still carry Friends in many territories abroad, even as AT&T’s WarnerMedia hopes to use it to boost the launch of its HBO Max streaming service. Netflix will still also show CW series like Riverdale outside the U.S. And as Netflix executives noted recently, the service just added sitcom Big Bang Theory to many of its international territories, though it never had the show in the U.S. Likewise, the core HBO streaming services today are only available in a limited number of countries. Again, where I live, shows like Game of Thrones are carried by OCS. It’s not clear how much brand value HBO has around the world, though the current ownership at AT&T seems to think it’s high. When HBO Max does launch next spring, it will also be missing the Harry Potter movies, since NBCUniversal, which will be launching its own streaming service, has those licensed through 2025. This brings us back to Disney’s bundle announcement: Disney+, ESPN+ and ad-supported Hulu for about $12.99 a month. That seems like an unbeatable deal compared to Netflix’s two-HD stream plan, which now costs $12.99 per month in the U.S. The reactions were pretty positive for the price point and the value, but this bundle will be a U.S.-only offering. Hulu has never managed to make it abroad ( The Handmaid’s Tale is carried on OCS in France). And even the stripped-down ESPN+ service is going to face huge international licensing challenges. In an earnings call, Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company hopes to roll out some version of this bundle to international markets “over the next two to three years.” Amazon Prime Video remains the only other truly global challenger to Netflix. It has so far had some success but has made nowhere near the same cultural impact. The other potential international player is Apple. Its redesigned Apple TV app is live in 100 countries, offering packages with services like HBO. Of course, many of those subscriptions are also limited by geography. The new Apple TV+ service coming this fall will presumably be available everywhere. But Apple’s challenge here is that the service is initially accessible through its own TV box, which is one of the less popular streaming boxes, and its own devices. The company has struck deals to have the TV app placed on some newer Samsung TVs, and it hopes to announce more. Apple has used the default position on its device to springboard its own streaming music service, but even that strategy is showing some signs of slowing in the competition against Spotify. In general, Apple’s reach will be limited, just as virtually every other would-be Netflix competitor is when it comes to reaching global audiences. While Netflix is certainly going to face a smackdown in the U.S. over the next couple of years, it’s also going to have a long runway to build an even bigger lead internationally, which will leave many of these other services still struggling to make a dent. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple TV+ will reportedly cost $9.99 per month and launch in November | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/08/20/bloomberg-apple-tv-will-cost-9-99-per-month-and-launch-in-november"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 TV+ will reportedly cost $9.99 per month and launch in November 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. Apple’s video streaming strategy may be getting clearer, thanks to a report that the company’s subscription TV service will go live in November and cost $9.99 per month. According to Bloomberg , the tech giant will initially include just a handful of shows, with plans to expand. At $9.99, the service would be the same price as the basic Apple Music and Apple News+ subscription services. Apple TV+ is part of the company’s broader push to goose its Service revenues as iPhone sales stagnate. The company is also getting ready to introduce Apple Arcade, its subscription gaming service, which will reportedly cost $4.99 per month. Apple TV+ will have a free trial period, according to Bloomberg. The service is entering a tough landscape, facing streaming leader Netflix, which also offers a basic service at $9.99 but has already spent several years building its original content catalogue. And Amazon.com has done the same for its Prime Video service. In terms of timing, Apple TV+ will likely debut about t he same time as the Disney+ streaming service. The latter will have a monstrously large content library, thanks to its Star Wars, Pixar, and Marvel properties, and will only cost $6.99 per month. Disney will also offer a bundle for $12.99 per month that includes Hulu and ESPN. Down the road, AT&T and NBCUniversal will be rolling out their own competing services. The Financial Times reported that Apple’s response to this stiff competition has been to massively increase its budget for original programming, from a previously announced $1 billion to $6 billion. That’s still short of the $15 billion Netflix is on track to spend, but Apple is a cash machine with nearly limitless resources that will allow it close that gap over time if it chooses. Netflix is financing shows through debt, which could be problematic if the coming wave of competition slows subscriber growth. Bloomberg says it’s unclear just how Apple TV+ will release shows, whether one week at a time or a few at the start. Apple did not confirm pricing or the launch date to Bloomberg. Among Apple’s first shows is The Morning Show, for which the company just released a first full trailer. Bloomberg notes that Apple will spend $300 million for two seasons of the show. https://youtu.be/eA7D4_qU9jo Another challenge Apple faces will be availability of its service. While most other services will be available through a mix of apps and browsers, Apple TV+ will be part of the Apple TV app. The good news for the company is that Apple TV+ will immediately have broad international reach. Users can view content via the company’s Apple TV device, and it will be preinstalled on Apple devices like the iPhone and iPad. It will also be available via Roku, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung televisions, Bloomberg says. By the same measure, it appears the service will be restricted to customers with access to one of those platforms. Just how much that could limit Apple TV+’s growth will be interesting to see. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple TV+ faces huge obstacles even bargain pricing won't fix | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/09/13/apple-tv-faces-huge-obstacles-even-bargain-pricing-wont-fix"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Analysis Apple TV+ faces huge obstacles even bargain pricing won’t fix 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. Details revealed about Apple TV+ at the iPhone marketingpalooza this week show just how far behind Apple will be when it officially enters the video streaming arena. Even more problematic, Apple’s strategy for closing the gap with a low price and a free year for new gadget buyers could invite a new round of antitrust scrutiny. Why go there? Apple’s decision to enter the original video content game has always been a bit puzzling. Yes, the company has bottomless resources to do whatever it wants. And yes, Services are now arguably becoming its core business since iPhone sales have been stagnant for several years. Still, Apple used to insist that it doesn’t do anything unless it can bring something unique or innovative to the table. It’s hard to see how its new paid Apple TV+ streaming service fits that description. Yet Apple is twisting itself into a pretzel to make the idea seem fresh and exciting. In its press release , the company describes Apple TV+ as “the first all-original video subscription service and home for today’s most imaginative storytellers.” One of my favorite things tech companies do is invent an extremely tortured and narrow definition for a category or product and then declare themselves the leaders or pioneers of that niche. So yes, I suppose if one considers the exploding list of video streaming services, most of them offer boatloads of third-party content. And yeah, much of the Disney and Marvel and Star Wars stuff that will be crammed into Disney+ was likely in theaters first and so is not technically “original” when you stream it. And claims of “most imaginative storytellers” is just subjective enough to stir living room debates but not really warrant fact-checking. No there there Beyond that, however, is the glaring thinness of what is being offered at the start. The press release lists nine shows that will be available at launch on November 1. These are a diverse group, which is good but also leads one to wonder whether more than one or two shows would appeal to each customer’s tastes. Apple promises that more content will arrive each month. Nevertheless, the initial paucity is glaring. Analysts were praising the $4.99 cost and free year for gadget buyers as great surprises. But they now seem more like a recognition that Apple would have a hard time demonstrating the value of its offering compared to Netflix or Disney+. Netflix, for instance, has has 850 titles that are originals or exclusive to some extent. The latter includes series like Star Trek: Discovery. In the U.S., this is a show made for CBS’s streaming service. But for the rest of the world, it’s billed as a “Netflix Original,” meaning Netflix can boost the perception of how much “original” content it produces through such partnerships. And those titles don’t even touch the mountain of other movies and TV series on offer. While the average person is paying $12.99 for Netflix, the size of Apple TV+’s content library makes it hard to justify paying anything for the service. Throw in the dizzying number of streaming services launching over the next year, and standing out is no easy feat. Best way to differentiate? Make it a free giveaway. The EU will see you now The problem with freebies is that this is just the sort of thing European antitrust regulators frown upon. Companies that use the might of their platform to enter and win in a new market are seen as bad for competition. The EU has already accused Google of doing this three times, resulting in more than $9 billion in fines. That includes a a $5 billion penalty for abusing the dominant position of its Android mobile operating system. Arguing that Android is free didn’t really help Google, so Apple’s strategy of using its gadgets and App Store to push Apple TV+ is almost certain to draw scrutiny. And an antitrust complaint by a rival such as Netflix, which has already jousted with Apple over the App Store terms of services , seems inevitable. The fact that Apple has infinite resources to make original content would seem to be an advantage. Apple can afford to spend whatever it wants to win in this market, while Netflix is borrowing huge sums of money and facing constant questions about whether its growth can sustain its heavy debt load. Netflix may be a big fish, but financially speaking Apple is a bigger one. But that’s also another antitrust red flag. Apple’s bottom line Circling back to the question of Apple’s motivations, it’s hard to define what success will look like for Apple TV+. Is it the number of subscribers? Number of hours watched? (Side note: Wasn’t the company just trying to get us to spend less time with our gadgets last year ?) Or is it the more subjective measure of whether any of the shows are good? Perhaps this move is intended to goose gadget sales, but it’s hard to imagine that a streaming video service or subscription services like Apple Music or News will really be a deciding factor for someone considering a set-top purchase. Whatever calculations Apple is making, Apple TV+ will certainly provide a bump to Services revenues. For many Apple users, another $4.99 per month may be a question of: Why not? For non-Apple users who would watch via a browser or an app on a Samsung television, the incentive seems much weaker. In either case, the pricing and content offerings make it impossible to believe this service will be profitable in the coming years, if ever, given the huge upfront costs required. So Apple is creating a loss-leader for reasons that remain fuzzy. As Apple becomes less transparent about its metrics and finances, it’s likely we’ll only hear cherry-picked numbers that will make all of these benchmarks difficult to assess. We won’t really know how Apple TV+ is doing or whether all the money Apple is shoveling into the content hole is achieving whatever goals it has laid out. The rest of us will just have to continue adjusting to the idea that Apple’s future may depend less on the camera array in the latest iPhone and more on the on-screen chemistry between Jennifer Anniston and Steve Carell. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Roku brings Apple TV app with Apple TV+ support to over 25 devices | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/15/roku-brings-apple-tv-app-with-apple-tv-support-to-over-25-devices"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Roku brings Apple TV app with Apple TV+ support to over 25 devices 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. Following the January announcements of deals between Apple and several TV makers to bring AirPlay 2 streaming support to multiple 2018 and 2019 smart TVs, Roku and Apple today announced the release of a dedicated Apple TV app for some Roku devices — only the second non-Apple platform to support streaming of Apple’s iTunes video content. In addition to the app, Roku users will get full support for the Apple TV+ subscription service beginning on November 1. While the Roku-Apple deal has been in the works since earlier this year , the full scope of support became clear today. Over 25 Roku devices are supported, including Roku Express, Streaming Stick, Premiere, and Ultra models, as well as Smart Soundbars and Roku TVs. At this stage, it’s unclear whether all Roku TVs will support the Apple TV app, as only models with 7000X, C000X, and 8000X software are listed and the app is not yet appearing on recent TCL televisions. There are also some country-specific restrictions on Apple TV app availability. Users in the United States, Canada, and Mexico have access, as do users in some South American and European countries: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Additional countries will likely see support in the future. Like the surprising January deal between Apple and Samsung, Roku is offering users access to their iTunes libraries of TV shows and movies, as well as the ability to stream, buy, and rent content from the iTunes Store. The app was originally shown as iTunes Movies when Samsung released images earlier this year but is now known as Apple TV. To download the app, Roku users can select “Streaming Channels” from the Roku main menu and then search channels for “Apple TV.” Once the app is located, you can sign in using either a code at activate.apple.com, a QR code on the Roku screen, or a direct sign-in from the Roku app with Apple ID credentials. Roku notes that if the name Apple TV doesn’t appear, “it may not be supported on your Roku device,” leaving open the possibility that the app may not have propagated yet. The Apple TV+ subscription service will officially begin streaming videos on November 1, with a $5 monthly charge that’s waived for the first year if you buy select Apple devices. There’s no charge to stream previously purchased or rented iTunes content to Roku hardware. As of now, Roku has not announced whether users will be able to stream content directly from iPads, iPhones, and Macs to supported Roku devices using AirPlay 2. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Hands-on: Roku's Apple TV app helped me cut the cord -- from Apple | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/18/hands-on-rokus-apple-tv-app-helped-me-cut-the-cord-from-apple"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Hands-on: Roku’s Apple TV app helped me cut the cord — from Apple 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. Like virtually every Apple TV customer, I truly wanted Apple to succeed with its TV-tethered set top box — an enabling device for early cable TV “cord cutters.” I bought into the vision back in 2007 when it took the form of a stripped down $299 Mac computer, went along for the ride when it devolved into a tiny $99 video streaming box in 2010 , and kept my fingers crossed when 2015 and 2017 models added iOS-style apps and games to larger $149-$199 enclosures. Early on, Apple famously described the Apple TV platform as a “hobby.” But after 12 years of waiting for it to reach iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch levels of success, and seeing only modest interest from consumers, it’s tempting to call it a failure. I wouldn’t go that far, but like many people, I’ve tired of waiting for Apple to conquer the living room. It had so many opportunities — and even patented a bunch of them — including DVR functionality, TV-based video teleconferencing, and folding Apple TV into actual TVs. One by one, those plans have seemingly evaporated, leaving Apple TV devices as islands: Apple-curated menu and app experiences accessible only from a TV set’s HDMI input. Switching to that input has remained an annoyance, particularly for those of us with game consoles and other devices competing for HDMI ports. That’s why I was excited this week when Roku released an Apple TV app for Roku devices , importantly including third-party Roku TVs. The app gives Roku users access to the one thing Apple TV has done well for years — streaming Apple-curated videos — while nixing the need to switch to a separate HDMI input just to see iTunes purchases and rentals. Apple’s reason for making the move now is obvious: Its Apple TV+ subscription video service launches next month. As of mid-2019, Roku controlled a majority of the U.S. streaming box market — just under 30 million active users — and estimates have pegged it as having roughly four times Apple’s share. Like Samsung, which made a deal in January to bring a similar Apple TV app to its TVs, Roku offers Apple access to a much larger audience of potential Apple TV+ viewers and subscribers, including lots of people who didn’t already own Apple TV boxes. But there’s certainly some overlap between prior Apple TV users and Roku or Samsung TV users, including my household. I was very glad to see the Apple TV app pop up on my two TCL-made Roku TVs after a brief initial period of uncertainty and server propagation. As our Roku TVs have become more capable, including adding apps and Alexa integration, my wife and kids have been asking for a simpler way to access Apple content than screwing around with separate Apple Siri remotes and interfaces. Roku’s Apple TV app makes that possible. As shown above, it looks virtually indistinguishable from the TV app that runs natively on Apple TV HD and 4K boxes, which is to say nicer than the versions made for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. There’s a pill-shaped bar at the top to let you separately browse movies, TV shows, kids’ content, and your library, while Watch Now features the same full-screen imagery of featured and recently browsed content, minus only the latest tvOS software’s live video previews. By comparison with other third-party Roku apps, Apple also includes a surprisingly large collection of settings, including a robust privacy section that lets you see and manage app analytics data, turn play history data on and off, and enable or disable location information. Apart from the brutal version number (“2.0.0.2R115:3.0.0 (roku4-2R115)”), all indications are that Apple had a major role in developing the app, perhaps even doing so internally, as there don’t appear to be any credits to outside developers — arguably no surprise given that we’re talking about Apple. From a user experience standpoint, the Roku app is essentially a slightly slower version of what you’d get on a native Apple TV device. You’ll notice it taking a moment to load from the main Roku menu, and sometimes briefly spinning the waiting wheel when accessing content. Visual transitions that are smooth on Apple’s device have just enough of a stutter here and there to remind you that you’re not enjoying the “seamless integration of hardware and software” that you’d get from a $149-$199 Apple TV box. But at this point, that doesn’t really matter. As smart TV prices have dropped, Apple’s own devices have stood still at the same price points, such that you can now buy an entry-level Samsung smart TV with Apple TV app support for only $100 more than a standalone Apple TV box. Unless you’re really interested in playing Apple Arcade games on your TV, or deeply appreciate the added speed of an Apple TV box, there’s little need for the standalone device any more. Apple TV might not be a failure, but it’s not essential, either. Heading into 2020, Apple’s best shot at continuing to have a role in the living room is to reach as wide an audience as possible with the Apple TV+ video service. Just as with the Apple TV hardware and App Store before it, it’s unclear whether Apple will really be able to monetize Apple TV+ subscriptions — at least to the point where it’s making profit over its multi-billion-dollar content investments. But it’s obvious that doing so will require it to go beyond its most die-hard fans and reach more viewers, even if that means causing some people to cut the cord with its hardware. Though the standalone Apple TV app isn’t perfect, I’m glad to finally have that option. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Apple TV app is now available for select Amazon Fire TV devices | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/24/apple-tv-app-is-now-available-for-select-amazon-fire-tv-devices"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 TV app is now available for select Amazon Fire TV devices 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. Just ahead of next week’s release of the Apple TV+ subscription service , Apple today released the Apple TV app for certain Amazon Fire TV devices, dramatically widening the number of potential viewers for its original and iTunes Store-based content. The app mimics the functionality of the Apple TV app on the same-named streaming device, as well as the TV apps on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS platforms. As of today, the app is available for the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K and HD — two of the company’s most affordable media players. Support will be widened to the Fire TV Cube, third-generation Fire TV, and additional models in the near future. Users interested in the app can search for Apple TV in Amazon’s app store or ask Alexa to “find the Apple TV app.” Apple previously released Apple TV apps for recent model Samsung Smart TVs and Roku streaming media players , including Roku TVs built by third parties. With the addition of Amazon, the company is now offering Apple TV apps for the most popular streaming platforms in the U.S. and international markets, as well as some of the most popular smart TVs, though the apps tend to be available for users in select countries. For now, the Apple TV app is available to Amazon customers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., India, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Apple’s own Apple TV hardware includes video streaming functionality across a wider number of regions but costs $149 to $199, depending on HD or 4K support and storage capacity. Unlike the Amazon Fire TV app, which is limited to streaming content purchased through Apple’s devices, users can purchase iTunes Store content directly from the Apple TV. Apple previously released an Apple Music app for the Fire TV and permitted streaming to Echo devices , so this isn’t its first streaming app deal with Amazon, but it’s an interesting expansion of its subscription initiatives. Reciprocally, Amazon Music recently launched an app for the Apple TV, and Amazon Prime Video is similarly available across the Apple TV and other Apple devices. As with Roku, the addition of the Fire TV version of the app does not yet include support for AirPlay 2 streaming to Amazon devices — the only third-party vendor thus far with both an Apple TV app and AirPlay 2 support is Samsung. Having both features enables streaming of Apple content directly from the iTunes Store and various Apple devices, including iPads, iPhones, and Macs. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Verizon acquires AOL for $4.4B | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2015/05/12/verizon-acquires-aol-for-4-4b"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Verizon acquires AOL for $4.4B Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn AOL & Verizon 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. U.S. telecom giant Verizon has announced it’s acquiring digital media company AOL in a deal worth $4.4 billion. Verizon had been rumored to be circling AOL for an acquisition or joint venture for a while. It now seems a full-on purchase was the preferred option. Verizon is better known for its broadband and telephone services, but the New York-headquartered company is now pushing ahead with plans to become a content-focused media company, powered by videos and ads. AOL is one of the oldest brands on the Internet and is synonymous with much of the Web’s early initiatives, including email and instant messaging. It was also the company many people first used to connect to the Internet back in the 1990s. In fact, AOL still offers dial-up Internet access, with two million people still subscribing. But of course, it wasn’t AOL’s dawdling dial-up that helped court Verizon. Having merged with Time Warner in 2001, AOL was spun out as an independent company again in 2009 and soon revealed a new direction with a focus firmly on digital media, and acquisitions were core to this new business. AOL’s growth as a media company, with brands such as the Huffington Post, TechCrunch, and Engadget under its wings, as well as its original video content and programmatic advertising technology, will be particularly appealing to Verizon. The latter of these effectively gives Verizon a leg up into the automated buying/selling of ads, which could be lucrative for its own mobile and broadband offerings. AOL Advertising gives third parties access to AOL’s digital advertising tools, while its “Advertising.com” ad network is designed to help advertisers target relevant audiences and thus increase publishing revenue. “Verizon’s vision is to provide customers with a premium digital experience based on a global multiscreen network platform,” explained Lowell McAdam, Verizon chairman and CEO, in a press release. “This acquisition supports our strategy to provide a cross-screen connection for consumers, creators, and advertisers to deliver that premium customer experience.” The $4.4 billion cash deal equates to around $50 per share, meaning AOL’s shares shot up by around 17 percent in the wake of the announcement today. “The combination of Verizon and AOL creates a unique and scaled mobile and OTT media platform for creators, consumers, and advertisers,” said Tim Armstrong, AOL chairman and CEO, who will continue to head up AOL operations. “The visions of Verizon and AOL are shared; the companies have existing successful partnerships, and we are excited to work with the team at Verizon to create the next generation of media through mobile and video.” Today’s news also puts other suggested “partnerships” to rest once and for all — a Yahoo/AOL merger had been touted for a while, though Armstrong poured cold water on those rumors last year. While the Verizon deal is yet to be finalized, pending the usual regulatory approvals, AOL will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Verizon when it is finally completed. Meanwhile, here’s five quick thoughts on the Verizon/AOL deal. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Business database Crunchbase raises $18 million and launches new enterprise product | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2017/04/06/business-database-crunchbase-raises-18-million-and-launches-new-enterprise-product"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Business database Crunchbase raises $18 million and launches new enterprise product Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Crunchbase 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. Crunchbase , the business database that details myriad data points from startups and the investor ecosystem, has announced an $18 million funding round led by VC firm Mayfield. Created by Michael Arrington in 2007, Crunchbase initially existed under the TechCrunch umbrella. It was subsequently acquired in 2010 by AOL , which, in turn, was snapped up by Verizon five years later. Backed by $6.5 million in funding from Emergence Capital Partners, AOL spun out Crunchbase as a standalone entity in 2015. Crunchbase raised another $2 million shortly after, as it launched its paid service plans. With $18 million more in the bag, the company says it plans to “accelerate development” of new software-as-a-service (SaaS) products and grow its team — with a “significant commitment to diversity,” according to a press release issued by the company. The first of its new products is being unveiled today — Crunchbase Enterprise, which is targeted at teams and includes a number of additional benefits. Crunchbase now offers four tiers. The free incarnation allows profile views and company / investor searches, while the $29 / month Pro version ( launched in September) removes ads and enables alerts and stats, as well as a bunch of add-on features. The $99 / month Enterprise plan, which is aimed at teams of at least five people, offers all that Pro does but with better API access and with Salesforce integration, among other smarts. Crunchbase Enterprise is essentially aimed at sales teams, as it gives them an insight into market trends and other “signals.” The company’s fourth tier, Applications, is basically a platform that lets third parties build apps using Crunchbase data. “Crunchbase has become the go-to destination for accurate and up-to-date company information for businesses all over the world,” explained Crunchbase CEO Jager McConnell. “As we grow, hiring a diverse team will bring a variety of valuable perspectives into the business, which reflects the culture of Crunchbase. This will remain a focus of hiring as the company doubles in size in the next year. I’m inviting engineers from all backgrounds to text me at 415.881.8828 to find out more about joining our team.” We can perhaps expect McConnell to be muting his phone right… about… now. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Zynga posts mixed results: Record bookings of $395 million, but short on profits | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/30/zynga-posts-mixed-results-with-record-bookings-of-395-million-but-short-on-profits"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Zynga posts mixed results: Record bookings of $395 million, but short on profits Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Empires & Puzzles comes from Small Giant Games, which Gregory Milken invested in. 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. Zynga reported mixed results for the third quarter that ended September 30, beating revenue and bookings expectations but falling short on its profits after adjusting for one-time gains. It’s a bit complicated to figure out, as Zynga is doing a lot better than it said it would, but for various reasons, it isn’t making as much profit as expected. But those who delve into the numbers would probably agree that the profit shortfall isn’t a bad problem. In after-hours trading, Zynga’s stock price is up 4.2% to $6.47 a share. The San Francisco publisher of social mobile games reported its highest quarterly revenue and bookings in history ($345 million and $395 million, respectively), with mobile revenue up 54% from a year ago and mobile bookings up 64%. Revenue is based on the change in deferred revenue and bookings. Accounting rules require Zynga to spread revenue received upfront from a user over the lifetime of that user’s engagement. 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: Merge Magic is one of Zynga’s latest Merge game. Despite the strong revenue growth from games like Empire & Puzzles and Merge Dragons, the company lost money on an adjusted basis in part because it had to pay a higher bonus to the companies it acquired (Small Giant Games and Gram Games) because they hit their incentive targets. “We had a really good Q3. We actually hit a record in terms of our revenue and bookings highest in our, in our history from a quarterly standpoint,” said CEO Frank Gibeau in an interview with GamesBeat. “We delivered numbers that were above guidance and above consensus on the top and the bottom. It’s been so strong and with there’s so much momentum in the business that we’ve actually raised our guidance for the full year.” If Q4 goes as expected, then “it will be the biggest year in the history of Zynga in terms of revenue and bookings since the IPO” in 2011, Gibeau said. Actual results Above: Zynga CEO Frank Gibeau is pumped for the fourth quarter’s potential. Zynga posted GAAP net income of $230 million, thanks to a $314 million one-time gain from the sale (and lease back) of the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. If you exclude the one-time gain, Zynga had a loss of $84 million. Analysts had been expecting bookings of $385 million (a number that Zynga beat with $395 million) and non-GAAP profits of 5 cents a share, or $46 million (a number that Zynga missed). Its deferred revenue balance is now $403 million, compared to $174 million a year ago. “On a non-GAAP basis, it was a very strong profit quarter for us,” Gibeau said. Overall performance in the quarter was driven by strong momentum across live services as well as initial contributions from recently launched titles. In particular, Words With Friends, Zynga Poker and CSR2 were strong contributors in the quarter while Empires & Puzzles and Merge Dragons grew to new quarterly revenue and bookings highs. “CSR and Words With Friends and Zynga Poker are delivering, and we are starting to see contributions from Merge Magic, which is off to a good start, as well as the Game of Thrones social casino game,” Gibeau said. Zynga got its product pipeline going again with the launch of another new title — Merge Magic, which the company said is off to a great start. This comes on the heels of the recently launched Game of Thrones Slots Casino, which has become the fastest-growing slots title in its first full quarter post-launch. Above: A look at Zynga’s catalog. Zynga is raising its full-year 2019 guidance to $1.28 billion in revenue, up 41% year-over-year and an increase of $42 million versus prior guidance. The company is also raising bookings guidance to $1.55 billion, up 59% year-over-year and an increase of $46 million versus prior guidance. Mobile revenue was $328 million, and it now accounts for 96% of revenues. Facebook desktop web revenue, once the core of the company, is now just 4%. International revenue and bookings grew 67% and 89% year-over-year, respectively, and now represent 38% of total revenue and 41% of total bookings versus 34% of total revenue and bookings in the prior year period. Gram Games and Small Giant Games continue to perform ahead of Zynga’s expectations, resulting in an increase in contingent consideration expense (the bonus for hitting targets) of $61 million in the quarter. This is one reason the company’s net income of $230 million fell short by $20 million of Zynga’s own guidance. “The good news is they’re generating a lot of EBITDA (earnings before income taxes, depreciation, and amortization) and the accounting treatment of that means you have to book more of a reserve against it,” Gibeau said. Zynga said that social slots were up 23% in mobile bookings from a year ago, and Zynga Poker grew bookings sequentially. Going forward, Zynga is working on new games such as FarmVille 3, which is in soft launch, or limited release. Another title, Puzzle Combat, is also in soft launch. Zynga’s ad revenue was $64 million in the quarter, down 3% from a year ago, as Zynga had some new accounts that kicked in a year ago. Advertising is expected to grow in the low double-digits in the future. Player base Above: Zynga has added new Ferrari models to CSR2 in honor of the car maker’s 70th anniversary. In Q3, the average mobile daily active users (DAUs) were down 1% year-over-year as the addition of Empires & Puzzles and audience growth in Merge Dragons were offset by decreases in older mobile and chat games, as well as in Zynga Poker and Words With Friends. Our average mobile monthly active users (MAUs) declined by 13% year-over-year for reasons similar to mobile DAUs, with a greater impact from the decision to sunset certain chat games. Gibeau said the company shifted more of its messenger games from Facebook Messenger to Snapchat. In general, Zynga is generating more revenues from a smaller base of users. The future Zynga is also working on new games including FarmVille 3, Puzzle Combat, CityVille, and licensed titles including Harry Potter and two Star Wars games. “We’re in growth mode, we’re not in fixed mode anymore,” Gibeau said. “And it feels like our multiyear strategy is really unfolding. And as the new game pipeline continues to work, that’s the growth driver and, and we’re still in a position with $1.45 billion on the balance sheet. So we’re still very interested in acquisitions and we’ll look for the right teams and the right types of franchises to bring into the company.” Zynga has about 1,874 employees, down 144 from a year ago. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Zynga found its footing in mobile, and now it's finding big growth | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/07/31/zynga-mobile-growth"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages Zynga found its footing in mobile, and now it’s finding big growth Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Portrait and lifestyle shoot at Zynga's headquarters, San Francisco, CA, April 24-25, 2019. Pictured: a Zynga sketch artist in the Words With Friends department. 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. Zynga is once again one of the fastest-growing game developers. The studio saw its revenue jump to $306 million during the second quarter of its fiscal 2020. That’s up 41% year-over-year. The company also had bookings of $376 million, which is up 61% compared to the same quarter from its fiscal 2019. While the studio was once known for social-network games like FarmVille on Facebook, it has spent the last half decade attempting to shift to mobile. That transition is now over. Zynga now generates 95% of its revenue from mobile. Both Zynga’s revenues and bookings were ahead of Wall Street estimates, and the stock is up around 1 percent in after-hours training. Investors are likely pleased to see that the developer has a lot of diversity in its strategy in the moment. Empires & Puzzles and Merge Dragons both hit record revenues during Q2. The long-running hit Words With Friends had its best Q2 for mobile revenue and bookings ever. And other familiar Zynga brands, like CSR2, Zynga Poker, and Hit It Rich Slots are all growing as well. “We put together a pretty strong Q2,” Zynga chief executive Frank Gibeau told GamesBeat. “We delivered ahead of guidance and saw a very strong uptick in our bookings — 61% year-over-year. It was the best mobile-bookings quarter we’ve ever had. We’re starting to see really nice cash flow. We generated $99 million in the quarter, which is the best Zynga has seen since 2011. It’s up 140% year-over-year. We were able to raise our annual guidance based on the momentum we’ve had in live services.” As for its earnings, Zynga recorded a net loss of $56 million. That was ahead of its guidance of a $70 million loss. And with the company is pointing to its strong cash flow and significant revenue growth as evidence for its future profitability. For Q3, it is expecting to see a net income of $250 million, but that includes $305 million from the recent sale of its San Francisco headquarters. 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 secret to Zynga’s growth Zynga’s revenue growth is significant and impressive. And if you’re looking for the reason why it’s happening, Gibeau will cite the company’s live-service strategy. “The live services component of our business is really humming,” Gibeau told GamesBeat. “We’re seeing record performances from all the forever-franchises like Words With Friends and Zynga Poker. That’s the foundation of our success: investing in these ongoing franchises and growing them globally.” Empires & Puzzles is benefiting from that more than any other game. Zynga tries to update it weekly with new content or in-game events, and that keeps players engaged and interacting with their friends. Empires & Puzzles accounted for $84 million of the company’s $310 million in online game bookings. To compound that growth, Zynga is looking at multiple paths forward. It wants to create more of these “forever franchises.” These are games that don’t just come and go. Instead, they come and then they stick around for years. The studio already has multiple releases like that with Zynga Poker and Words With Friends. But it believes it needs more. That is why it recently launched FarmVille 3. Additionally, the studio is working with more big intellectual properties. It just launched Game of Thrones Slots. And it also has games based on Star Wars and Harry Potter in the works. Zynga is also on the lookout for new acquisitions. The company recently sold its headquarters in the hot S.F. real-estate market. That should give it some cash should it wish to move forward with bringing in any new studios or IP. Zynga in Asia But one of the biggest potential growth opportunities for Zynga is in the numerous and significant Asian markets. The company has focused its efforts for years on Europe and the Americas. When it did launch games in Asia, it didn’t put a lot of direct effort into growing in those regions. But it’s trying to change that now. “We’ve officially entered Asia,” Gibeau said. “We’ve had games out in Asia before, but now we’ve gone to a self-publishing model in South Korea and Japan with Empires & Puzzles. And it’s doing very well. In fact, it’s doing well enough that we’re going to turn on some marketing to start to grow out our business in Asia.” China, South Korea, and Japan are among the biggest markets in the world for mobile gaming. While Zynga’s growth is impressive, it is potentially leaving a lot of money on the table if it’s not finding ways to capitalize on those territories. “For us to be able to open that market is very exciting,” said Gibeau. The executive also noted that the company plans to be very global when it launches games based on popular brands like Star Wars and Harry Potter. GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"WhatsApp introduces face and fingerprint unlocking for iPhone | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/02/04/whatsapp-now-lets-you-unlock-your-iphone-with-face-or-fingerprint-id"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More Data Decision Makers Virtual Communication Team Collaboration UCaaS Virtual Reality Collaboration Virtual Employee Experience Programming & Development Product Development Application Development Test Management Development Languages WhatsApp introduces face and fingerprint unlocking for iPhone Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Touch ID: WhatsApp 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. WhatsApp now allows iPhone users to unlock the app with their face or fingerprint. The Facebook-owned messaging app was quietly updated over the weekend to version 2.19.20 and, as the update notes state, WhatsApp now includes support for Apple’s Face ID and Touch ID. To activate the new feature, you’ll need to head to the settings inside the app, then hit “account,” “privacy,” and “screen lock.” There, you can choose to activate Face ID or Touch ID, though of course the available option will depend on your model of iPhone — Touch ID exists on the iPhone 5S through to the iPhone 8 / 8 Plus. Face ID replaced Touch ID from the iPhone X onward. Once the feature is activated, you can stipulate if you prefer Face ID or Touch ID used immediately or after 1 minute, 15 minutes, or 60 minutes of inactivity. VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! Above: WhatsApp for iPhone One of WhatsApp’s big selling points is its end-to-end encryption , meaning no prying eyes — including those at WhatsApp itself — can read your messages. This has led to criticism from governments around the world that have been unable to intercept communications from criminals or those under suspicion of criminal activity. Rather than caving, however, Facebook appears to be doubling down on its encryption efforts — last week, news emerged that the company plans to unite its trio of messaging apps (Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp) under a single infrastructure that will include end-to-end encryption by default across all three. WhatsApp is now Facebook’s most popular app on mobile phones, according to recent App Annie data , and with data privacy rarely out of the headlines , it’s clear Facebook wants to position itself as a privacy- and security-focused company, despite the controversies that have plagued it in recent times. To that end, the company recently hired a trio of privacy experts, one of whom will serve as WhatsApp’s privacy policy manager. Allowing users to lock down WhatsApp behind a biometric authentication system could certainly help that broader mission, and it seems the company is preparing something similar for its Android app, as evidenced by a beta build that recently emerged. VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Discover our Briefings. The AI Impact Tour Join us for an evening full of networking and insights at VentureBeat's AI Impact Tour, coming to San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles! VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"The Xbox One Elite Controller is the best controller I've ever used | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2015/10/22/xbox-one-elite-review"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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 The Xbox One Elite Controller is the best controller I’ve ever used Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn The premium Xbox One controller is as cool as it looks. Are you looking to showcase your brand in front of the brightest minds of the gaming industry? Consider getting a custom GamesBeat sponsorship. Learn more. After playing games for more than 25 years, I’ve used dozens of gamepads, but I think I’ve found my favorite one ever. Next week, Microsoft will release the Xbox One Elite Controller. It’s a $150 device that does exactly what the standard controller does, but only better and with a few extras. That might sound crazy to a lot of you, and that’s fine. I don’t expect most gamers will care about something like this. But for those of you who are interested, for those of you who spend $150 on a gaming keyboard, $100 on a mouse, or $250 on a pair of earphones, I feel safe telling the people who don’t mind spending the money to game with the best equipment that the Xbox One Elite is the controller you’re looking for. 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: A look at the Elite controller from all angles. What you’ll like It feels amazing I don’t want to play console and most PC games with anything other than the Elite from now on. That’s because the controller feels so damn good. It’s made with high-quality parts, and you can sense that when you first grab hold of it. The plastics feel smooth, and the rubberized grip in the back provides enough friction to help you keep the gamepad secure without having to squeeze it. When you start playing games, the Elite melts into your hands. You forget it’s there, and a lot of that has to do with its satisfying heft. You might think that a heavier controller would make it more bulky and noticeable, but it’s the exact opposite. The mass of the controller burrows affectionately into your inner knuckles. Combined with the rubber grips, I’ve never had a gamepad that was so easy to hold with relaxed hands. The buttons are also wonderful. The face buttons, triggers, sticks, and D-pad are all great on the original Xbox One controller and the slightly revised controller that the company now sells (Microsoft updated its pad to improve the bumper buttons and to add a 3.5mm headphone jack). But everything is a bit better here. Pressing a face button feels more certain than ever. Clicking in a thumb stick requires the exact right amount of pressure. And the D-pad never leaves you wondering if it ate one of your inputs. The biggest improvement for me, as someone who has regularly used the original pad that came with my launch Xbox One, is in the bumpers. On my normal controller, it’s easy to click the bumpers, but it’s difficult to hold them down. They fight back against your index finger with a bit too much resistance. That’s better now. I understand that Microsoft fixed this with a revision, but it’s just nice to have the only complaint I had with the original gone. Now, pressing the bumpers is a delight. Instead of having their natural state and a state you have to force them into with your finger, these buttons now feel like they have two distinct states and you simply engage the one by rolling your finger over it. The new paddles on the back are equally easy to press. I am impressed with how this gamepad has made using odd fingers, like my middle and ring, feel natural. A lot of the credit for that has to go to Scuf, which holds the patent for a lot of this tech and design, but Microsoft’s engineers did not screw anything up. Finally, the included USB cord is probably the best cord of any kind that I’ve ever owned. It uses that thick rope-like material, and both its USB and micro-USB sides fit snuggly and securely. I sometimes have instances when playing with other controllers and cords on PC where something will come loose during gameplay. That is not going to happen with this device. I also tried other cords on the Elite, and its port is equally responsible for that secure connection, which is yet another testament to its build quality. The customizations work and they make sense Of course, if you don’t like the way certain things feel, you have the option to change them. The paddles, D-pad, and both sticks are completely removable. Additionally, the base Elite controller comes with one alternative D-pad and two other sets of thumb sticks (three in total). And keeping with the theme that this thing feels amazing, a part of me really likes switching to a new game that may benefit from a different setup because it is so satisfying to pull the sticks off and feel the magnet slurp on the new one. Also, I don’t think I would’ve ever known that this thing had swappable parts just by using it and looking at it. It looks sturdy and nothing wobbles or rattles out of place in the middle of a gaming session (or ever). These parts won’t come off unless you deliberately take them off — although I’m saying that as someone who doesn’t have children or a dog. I suppose if you do, you may want to take advantage of the included controller carrying case when you’re not using it to ensure parts don’t go missing. Above: Those are our hands on that Elite controller! And you’re going to want those parts, because quickly swapping between certain sticks and paddle setups for specific games is one of the best ways to get the most out of this device. When I play first-person shooters, I like to have all four paddles on the back along with the standard thumb stick on the left along with the extra-tall thumb stick on the right. This gives me quick-and-responsive character movement on the left and hyper-accurate aiming on the right. I can then map all of the face buttons to the paddles so that I never have to stop aiming to jump or do another maneuver. When I switch to an action game, like Transformers: Devastation, I switch back to the regular sticks (or maybe the medium-sized ones) and take off the paddles. Now, I know that a lot of this probably sounds familiar to anyone with a Scuf pad, but that’s not me. I’m not coming from that perspective. And I just feel like maybe, if I’m going to spend $150 on a controller, I want the official one that is also going to get all the support from Scuf as well. But knowing that Scuf is even a thing kinda proves a point about the Elite. It can make you better at games if you use it right. You can jack up the sensitivity for your aiming in Call of Duty and use a longer stick to get an advantage on the competition. I don’t know if it’s going to make a huge difference for me, but that’s just a perk for me on top of all the other things I love about Microsoft’s new controller. What you won’t like It’s a hassle to switch from one game to another While I like having choices, I’ve occasionally found that I want to just quickly boot up a game without having to go through the process of taking off parts. Rocket League on the PC works great with an Xbox One controller. But you rarely need to use the camera stick in that game, so I don’t need the paddles to replace the face buttons. In that case, I find that the paddles get in the way. Great! I’ll just take ’em off. But that means getting out the case, unzipping it, putting them away, zipping it back up, and getting back to my car soccer. That may not sound like much, but if you’re ever bouncing around between different kinds of games, it can get annoying. IR sensor is gone This is a bit of a bummer for me. I like to use my Xbox One controller on both my PC and my Xbox One. But going from one to the other is a little bit more difficult than it is with a standard controller. That’s because the Elite does not have the IR sensor. The regular gamepad has a built-in IR blaster that goes off when you are trying to sync it from the couch. The Xbox One’s Kinect sensor can monitor that and pair it to the system. That’s no longer an option, which means I have to remember to hit the weird sync button on the side of my Xbox One every time I get done playing PC games. I get it. The Kinect isn’t really that hot anymore, and I bet most Xbox One owners don’t have one. And since this is supposed to be a pro controller, why include extra junk that only works with the Kinect? But still, it’s something I would’ve appreciated. Conclusion I think it’s obvious that as much as I love the Xbox One Elite Controller, it’s not “$150 great” for everybody. This is a premium device that will replace a controller that is already wonderful. But if you are on the fence, and you play a lot of Xbox One or PC games with a gamepad, then I highly recommend it. The Xbox One Elite Controller is available October 27. The manufacturer provided us with a device 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. Discover our Briefings. Join the GamesBeat community! Enjoy access to special events, private newsletters and more. VentureBeat Homepage Follow us on Facebook Follow us on X Follow us on LinkedIn Follow us on RSS Press Releases Contact Us Advertise Share a News Tip Contribute to DataDecisionMakers Careers Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information © 2023 VentureBeat. All rights reserved. "

"Samsung's SmartThings passes 45 million monthly active users | VentureBeat"

"https://venturebeat.com/2019/10/29/samsungs-smartthings-now-has-more-than-45-million-monthly-active-users"

"Artificial Intelligence View All AI, ML and Deep Learning Auto ML Data Labelling Synthetic Data Conversational AI NLP Text-to-Speech Security View All Data Security and Privacy Network Security and Privacy Software Security Computer Hardware Security Cloud and Data Storage Security Data Infrastructure View All Data Science Data Management Data Storage and Cloud Big Data and Analytics Data Networks Automation View All Industrial Automation Business Process Automation Development Automation Robotic Process Automation Test Automation Enterprise Analytics View All Business Intelligence Disaster Recovery Business Continuity Statistical Analysis Predictive Analysis More 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’s SmartThings passes 45 million monthly active users Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn SmartThings ecosystem 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. Today at the 2019 Samsung Developer Conference in San Jose, Samsung announced that SmartThings, the Seoul company’s internet of things (IoT) platform, now has over 45 million monthly active users and works with more than 5,000 devices from 100 different manufacturers. It anticipates both of those metrics will grow in short order, thanks to newly announced developer and partner programs. One of those programs is Works as SmartThings Hub (WASH), which will allow OEMs like network operators to embed SmartThings Hub software into their devices. It complements Samsung’s existing Works With SmartThings program that certifies devices work with the entire ecosystem. The other is the SmartThings Device SDK Beta program, which will launch in 2020 to enable more third-party manufacturers to create SmartThings-compatible devices. It’s designed to be used in tandem with the SmartThings Device Kit, which makes onboarding to Wi-Fi easier so that developers don’t need their own cloud infrastructure. And it incorporates the new WebCore -integrated Rules API, which enables the creation and local execution of smart home routines. Samsung also said it would establish a new global certification center to “fast track … new devices to market.” VB Event The AI Impact Tour Connect with the enterprise AI community at VentureBeat’s AI Impact Tour coming to a city near you! For the uninitiated, SmartThings spans routers, sensors, fridges, TVs, and more thanks to the launch last year of Samsung’s SmartThings Cloud, which lets users control compatible IoT devices from a single app. (Samsung says that over 10 million homes in the more than 100 countries where SmartThings is available are connected to SmartThings Cloud.) It’s Samsung’s play for a ballooning IoT segment that shows no sign of slowing down — according to IDC, 41.6 billion devices will be connected to the internet by 2025. And by 2022, the market is anticipated to be worth $24.88 billion, growing with a 19.75% compound annual interest rate. This afternoon’s reveals come a year after Samsung announced it had doubled the number of SmartThings and launched tools to streamline development for the platform. Vodaphone recently adopted SmartThings for its V-Home system, which uses it to manage security devices from smoke detectors to alarms, and Korea Power Exchange tapped SmartThings to help manage its customers manage home energy use. Just this morning, global AI and IT platform provider Tuya announced a collaboration with Samsung to “advance smart solutions.” And August announced a direct software integration that’ll allow customers to sync the company’s smart locks with other connected SmartThings 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. All rights reserved. "