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Archive for the ‘business’ category: Page 273

Apr 21, 2016

San Francisco adopts law requiring solar panels on all new buildings

Posted by in categories: business, law, solar power, sustainability

Tech capital is first major US city to require all new buildings of 10 storeys or under to have solar panels, reports BusinessGreen.

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Apr 21, 2016

Who Will Protect Us From Space Pirates?

Posted by in categories: business, robotics/AI, space

It may sound like sci-fi. But millions and millions of dollars are pouring into projects to mine asteroids and the moon. And with a space gold rush comes space pirates.

With trillions of dollars worth of minerals lying just under the moon’s surface or spinning around the solar system inside asteroids, space mining is big business.

Well, big potential business. No one has dug nickel out of an asteroid or scooped any tantalum from the lunar dust—at least not for profit. Before space miners can get drilling, they need to invent specialized industrial robots, set up orbital outposts and—arguably most importantly—convince investors, workers, and prospective buyers that space minerals are worth the cost and effort of mining them.

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Apr 20, 2016

Build Networks, Not Bots

Posted by in categories: business, robotics/AI

Bots are only as good as their under pinning legacy infrastructure/ networks. Glad to see this article and someone speaking again for investors outside SV.


Bots hit the mark on every pattern Silicon Valley loves. But for investors and entrepreneurs — and executives outside of San Francisco trying to figure out what this bot business is all about — it’s worth taking a step back and looking at this frenzy with fresh eyes and a bigger picture.

Simple interactions between people — making a connection, following and messaging — when captured in a digital network of people who know each other already personally, professionally or by reputation, have created a handful of extremely valuable networks where three billion people today spend the majority of their time.

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Apr 19, 2016

The Limits of Bots

Posted by in categories: business, computing, robotics/AI

Some fundamentals to consider when implementing online bots. It truly has to be for companies/ businesses a cultural, operating model, and business model fit. And, for consumers it is about your own personable fit. Not all bots are created equal meaning no one size fits all. Do your due diligence like you would on any investment as a business and any long term relationship as a consumer.


A version of this essay was originally published at Tech.pinions, a website dedicated to informed opinions, insight and perspective on the tech industry.

We’ve now had two major developer events in a row where chat bots were a significant theme, with both Microsoft’s Build and now Facebook’s F8 focusing on this rapidly emerging new form of interaction with companies and brands. With two such big names behind the trend, it’s easy to get caught up in the hype and enthusiasm these companies obviously share for the technology. But it’s important to stay grounded as we evaluate chat bots as a potential successor to today’s app model.

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Apr 19, 2016

The Untold Story of Magic Leap, the World’s Most Secretive Startup

Posted by in categories: business, virtual reality

That astounding sum is especially noteworthy because Magic Leap has not released a beta version of its product, not even to developers. Aside from potential investors and advisers, few people have been allowed to see the gear in action, and the combination of funding and mystery has fueled rampant curiosity. But to really understand what’s happening at Magic Leap, you need to also understand the tidal wave surging through the entire tech industry. All the major players—Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung—have whole groups dedicated to artificial reality, and they’re hiring more engineers daily. Facebook alone has over 400 people working on VR. Then there are some 230 other companies, such as Meta, the Void, Atheer, Lytro, and 8i, working furiously on hardware and content for this new platform. To fully appreciate Magic Leap’s gravitational pull, you really must see this emerging industry—every virtual-reality and mixed-reality headset, every VR camera technique, all the novel VR applications, beta-version VR games, every prototype VR social world.

Like I did—over the past five months.

Then you will understand just how fundamental virtual reality technology will be, and why businesses like Magic Leap have an opportunity to become some of the largest companies ever created.

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Apr 18, 2016

When Artificial Intelligence Started To ‘Change The World’

Posted by in categories: business, computing, quantum physics, robotics/AI

AI has been around for over 50 years. So, no it is not new technology. However, what is new is the various breeds of AI. Online bot technology is where folks can expect a larger immediate return. physical Robotics is still not going to deliver at the level that the consumers and various businesses require for adoption on a massive scale. Again, quantum and bio-computing will improve robotics as well as other areas of AI.


The history of technology, whether of the last five or five hundred years, is often told as a series of pivotal events or the actions of larger-than-life individuals, of endless “revolutions” and “disruptive” innovations that “change everything.” It is history as hype, offering a distorted view of the past, sometimes through the tinted lenses of contemporary fads and preoccupations.

In contrast, ENIAC in Action: Making and Remaking the Modern Computer, is a nuanced, engaging and thoroughly researched account of the early days of computers, the people who built and operated them, and their old and new applications. Say the authors, Thomas Haigh, Mark Priestley and Crispin Rope:

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Apr 16, 2016

How bots will change the Web, according to a bot we built to answer that question

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, business, cybercrime/malcode, finance, internet, robotics/AI, transportation

I am still not convinced that everyone fully understands how bot technology is about to change IoT and its impact to online business industry. Let me share a few ideas: Financial Auditing and accounting. Bots will be able to do a more thorough job in managing, tracking, reporting financials that many finance back office controls can be performed by bots and requiring a sign off by CFO/ Lead Controller. And, Accounting & Audit firms can easily leverage the technology to perform audits on companies remotely without having to send teams of auditors to a client’s site.

Here’s another one; I decide to set up a few 3D printers to make some unique seals for aircraft manufactures for their jets/ planes; and I need a call center plus online sales teams taking and processing orders. With bot technology my whole operation is automated and no need for sales people, call center folks, or operators. All I need is myself and couple of techies to manage the bot operations; and more profit for me and my team.

However, we still have to keep a tight oversight on hacking which is still a risk; however, we should see more micro-size companies spin up as a result of online bots and 3D printers in our immediate future.

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Apr 12, 2016

TechInsurance Cites Microsoft’s Tay Glitch As Classic Technology E&O Risk

Posted by in categories: business, law, robotics/AI

Although this article is over 5 days old plus talks about the risks identified by TechInsurance company; it does highlight the potential new wave of lawsuits in the years to come that we could see flood the law offices and courts around AI. Also, it will be interested to see over the next 5 years how laws, reg. compliance, etc. will evolve with the deployment of AI.


Technology insurance provider reminds IT businesses that technical glitches and customer behavior are significant sources of risk.

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Apr 12, 2016

Long-range secure quantum communication system developed

Posted by in categories: business, encryption, finance, information science, quantum physics, security

Scientists from ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia have enabled the longer distance (250 Kilos) of secured data transmission occur via Quantum. Nice; and should be a wake up call to the US as well on advancing their efforts more.


A group of scientists from ITMO University in Saint Petersburg, Russia has developed a novel approach to the construction of quantum communication systems for secure data exchange. The experimental device based on the results of the research is capable of transmitting single-photon quantum signals across distances of 250 kilometers or more, which is on par with other cutting edge analogues. The research paper was published in the Optics Express journal.

Information security is becoming more and more of a critical issue not only for large companies, banks and defense enterprises, but even for small businesses and individual users. However, the data encryption algorithms we currently use for protecting our data are imperfect — in the long-term, their logic can be cracked. Regardless of how complex and intricate the algorithm is, getting round it is just the matter of time.

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Apr 10, 2016

Alphabet Inc Uses Its Head in AI

Posted by in categories: business, information science, robotics/AI, security, singularity

I imagine that Alphabet has been already exploring the whole online bot technology with its cloud as well as other AI technology. However, one real opportunity in the online cloud services is the “personable” experiences for consumers and businesses. Granted big data & analytics in the cloud is proving to be exceptional for researchers and industry; however, how do we now make the leap to make things more of a personable experience as well as make it available/ attractive for individual consumers & small business especially we look at connected AI & singularity. Personally, I have not seen any viable and good answers at the moment to my question. Security & privacy still is a huge hurdle that must be addressed properly to ensure adoption by consumers from a personable experience perspective.


The market for cloud services is expected to skyrocket in the years ahead. With hundreds of billions of dollars at stake, industry leaders including Microsoft, IBM, and Alphabet are going all-in to capture their fair share of the cloud revenue pie. Alphabet has taken a different path than its tech brethren in the cloud market, but it appears that’s about to change.

Until recently, Alphabet seemed content to focus its cloud efforts on data hosting, or Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). Not a bad plan given that the amount of data amassed in today’s digital world is unparalleled and is expected to continue growing as consumers become more connected. But even at this early stage of the cloud, data hosting has become a commodity. The real opportunity lies in cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and data analytics solutions, which Alphabet is beginning to address.

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