Dyson, British vacuum cleaner maker, announced that they intend to release a "premium" electric vehicle in 2020.  

Dyson, has been working with electric battery technology for close to two decades as they developed advanced hand dryers and vacuum cleaners Leveraging this expertise in battery tech, Dyson has stated that this will be the first in a line of battery vehicles.
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"We know this is a crowded market," said Dyson founder Sir James Dyson following his confirmation that the company intends to invest  $2.7 billion on battery and car technology. Half of this investment is projected to be spent on design and manufacturing, and half will be spent on the battery.  

Combined with the fact that Dyson purchased a University of Michigan spinoff Sakti3 for $90 million that specializes in battery tech, a Morgan Stanley analyst (Adam Jones), explained last year that because Dyson uses the same motors found in electric cars, this undertaking could be a real possibility. 

“The potential concern for incumbent players is that true expertise in battery technology, electric motors, etc, may lie with companies like Dyson, LG (of Korea) and not the traditional suppliers/manufacturers which have been focussed on mastering the most dominant powertrain over the last 100 years,” Jonas said.

Sir James Dyson said he expected to make a profit on the venture, and predicted that this new automotive business would outgrow the rest of the company. 

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Canon just announced that it’s developing a new “Free Viewpoint” virtual camera system that will let you virtually move around inside a recorded event.

When deployed at a sports stadium or arena, the technology would allow a “virtual camera” to move around and view the action from pretty much any vantage point in the 3D space. You could go to ground level to watch the action as if you were one of the players, or you could float up above them to check out the birds-eye view.

The system would require a number of high-resolution cameras mounted in various places around the stadium. Each camera is connected to a network and controlled by software. Afterward, the video viewpoints are fed into an image processing engine that turns it into high-resolution 3D spatial data.

“Users can freely move a virtual camera around the 3-D space, resulting in video that can be viewed from various different angles and viewpoints,” Canon says. The system lets you “experience the simulated physical sensation of being among players on the field during a game.

“Along with providing a new way to enjoy sporting events, Canon plans to explore such potential applications for this system as training teams and athletes.”

Canon has basically figured out how to record an event and turn the action into the equivalent of a video game replay that you can move the camera around in. This type of thing would be even more immersive if it were to be viewed through a virtual reality headset, which is likely what Canon is exploring as well.

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Ford's vehicle design process is getting a major upgrade, thanks to Microsoft HoloLens.

The automaker on Thursday announced it has "been swapping some clay-sculpting steels and rakes for mixed reality headsets and visualization software" to more quickly prototype vehicles. Ford has been piloting Microsoft's augmented reality headset for the past year in Dearborn, Mich., and now the company expanding its use of this technology "across the globe."

The technology lets designers and engineers see 3D holographic versions of possible side mirrors, grilles, and vehicle interiors as if they were already incorporated into a physical vehicle, Ford said. With HoloLens, designers can "explore different shapes, sizes and textures of future vehicle attributes in minutes and hours instead of the weeks and months it can take to create clay models," the company said.

"We may not be able to teleport yet, but HoloLens allows us to review full-size 3D designs with designers and engineers around the world in real time," Craig Wetzel, a Ford design manager, said in a statement. "And we've only just scratched the surface, so possibilities for the future seem almost limitless. This is very exciting."

HoloLens might also be used to help sell those cars once they become reality. In 2015, select Volvo dealerships added HoloLens to their showrooms to help buyers customize their dream car.

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Coca Cola was one of the first globally-recognized brands outside of the IT market to speak about Big Data, when in 2012 their chief big data officer, Esat Sezer, said “Social media, mobile applications, cloud computing and e-commerce are combining to give companies like Coca-Cola an unprecedented toolset to change the way they approach IT. Behind all this, big data gives you the intelligence to cap it all off.”

More recently, Greg Chambers, global director of digital innovation, has said “AI is the foundation for everything we do. We create intelligent experiences. AI is the kernel that powers that experience.”

As sales of sugary, fizzy drink products have declined in recent years Coca Cola has hooked into data to help produce and market some of its healthier options, such as orange juice, which the company sells under a number of brands around the world (including Minute Maid and Simply Orange).

The company combines weather data, satellite images, information on crop yields, pricing factors and acidity and sweetness ratings, to ensure that orange crops are grown in an optimum way, and maintain a consistent taste.

The algorithm then finds the best combination of variables in order to match products to local consumer tastes in the 200-plus countries around the world where its products are sold.

The company has also used AI-driven image recognition technology to spot when photographs of its products, or those of competitors, are uploaded to the internet, and uses algorithms to determine the best way to serve them advertisements. Ads targeted in this way have a four times greater chance of being clicked on than other methods of targeted advertising, the company has said.

The Coca Cola company is a shining example of a business which has re-ordered itself based on data and intelligence. It has long shown an appreciation of the fact that today’s technology offers unprecedented opportunity to reassess just about every aspect of how business is conducted. Rethinking itself as a technology driven company with a focus on strategic implementation of data and AI means it is likely to retain its place at the head of the pack for the foreseeable future.

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In China, over 500 million people use iFlytek Input to overcome obstacles in communication. Some also use it to send text messages through voice commands while driving, or to communicate with a speaker of another Chinese dialect. The app was developed by iFlytek, a Chinese AI company that applies deep learning in a range of fields such as speech recognition, natural-language processing, machine translation, and data mining.

Court systems use its voice-recognition technology to transcribe lengthy proceedings; business call centers use its voice synthesis technology to generate automated replies; and Didi, a popular Chinese ride-hailing app, also uses iFlytek’s technology to broadcast orders to drivers.

In August, iFlytek launched a voice assistant for drivers called Xiaofeiyu (Little Flying Fish). To ensure safe driving, it has no screen and no buttons. Once connected to the Internet and the driver’s smartphone, it can place calls, play music, look for directions, and search for restaurants through voice commands. Unlike voice assistants intended for homes, Xiaofeiyu was designed to recognize voices in a noisy environment.

At the Anhui Provincial Hospital, which is testing a number of trials using AI, voice-based technologies are transforming many aspects of its service. Ten voice assistants in the shape of a robot girl use iFlytek’s technology to greet visitors in the lobby of the outpatient department and offer relief for overworked receptionists. Patients can tell the voice assistant what their symptoms are, and then find out which department can help. Doctors at the hospital are also using iFlytek to dictate a patient’s vital signs, medications taken, and other bits of information into a mobile app, which then turns everything into written records. The app uses voice print technology as a signature system that cannot be falsified. The app is collecting data that will improve its algorithms over time.

iFlytek’s developer platform, called iFlytek Open Platform, provides voice-based AI technologies to over 400,000 developers in various industries such as smart home and mobile Internet. The company is valued at 80 billion yuan ($12 billion), and has international ambitions, including a subsidiary in the U.S. and an effort to expand into languages other than Chinese.

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Pinterest's shift to mobile is paying off.

Nearly 85% of searches on Pinterest were via mobile devices, leading to monthly mobile search growth of more than 45% from a year ago, according to Pinterest. By comparison, the company's overall user growth was 40%.

The San Francisco-based start-up — founded in the midwest in 2010 by Silbermann, Evan Sharp and Paul Sciarra — says it crossed the 200 million mark 2½ times faster than it took to reach 100 million so-called Pinners — through mobile and breakneck growth in Western Europe (France, England, Germany), Latin America (Brazil) and Asia (Japan).

Its customer base is also expanding beyond its typical use — food, decorating the home, wedding planning — to automotive and entertainment, Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann says.

This year, Pinterest has added better visual discovery tools:

— A search and Lens camera search prominently on Pinterest apps.

— A deeper push into the food space, helping Pinners more easily find recipes based on diet, cook time and ingredients.

— Shed the Like button on Pins.

— Integrate its visual search technology into the Samsung Galaxy S8.

Silbermann expects the "gradual transition" to mobile to continue over the next 12 months, but declined to project how many more people will join Pinterest. (By comparison, Facebook says it has 2 billion monthly active users and 1.3 billion for Messenger. Twitter has 328 million monthly active users, according to market researcher Omnicore.)

What he did share is that Pinners are 39% more likely to be active retail shoppers — and when they do, they spend 29% more than people who don’t use the Pinterest app.

A whopping 98% of Pinners says they try new things they find on it, compared to 71% on social-media platforms, according to Pinterest research

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Apple revealed some of the most highly anticipated iPhones yet at its big event Tuesday. The high-end model features a completely new look, with a screen that stretches from edge to edge, and gets rid of the home button that's been on every other iPhone since 2007. Apple's also making a big push into "augmented reality," where images from apps are superimposed over live video captured by the camera.

As anticipated, a new iPhone X features a souped-up display and design and prominently features facial recognition technology. With no home button, the phone wakes up with a tap, and Siri can be activated with a larger side button. To unlock the phone, users can activate Face ID, which identifies users with a one-in-a-million chance of mistakes.

Apple also introduced the new iPhone 8 and 8 Plus with aerospace-grade materials, a better display and speakers, and super-strong glass exterior reinforced with steel. New sensors in a dual camera, alongside machine learning, will help these phones take photos and videos with less noise, Schiller said, especially in the Plus model. The phones have 3-D touch technology and new stereo speakers that are 25 percent louder.
The new Apple Watch, Series 3, has cellular built in. The new watch will also allow streaming for millions of songs, as it is more power-efficient, has a dual-core processor and supports speaking from Siri.

The new Apple TV 4K supports sharper resolution TV shows and movies and Apple is bringing live sports and news to the TV. Apple also stated that they are working with Hollywood studios and streaming services like Netflix to get sharper-resolution content.

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China's industry ministry is developing a timetable to end production and sale of traditional fuel cars and will promote development of electric technology, state media on Sunday cited a Cabinet official as saying.

The reports gave no possible target date, but Beijing is stepping up pressure on automakers to accelerate development of electrics.

China is the biggest auto market by number of vehicles sold, giving any policy changes outsize importance for the global industry.

A deputy industry minister, Xin Guobin, said at an auto industry forum on Saturday his ministry has begun "research on formulating a timetable to stop production and sales of traditional energy vehicles," according to the Xinhua News Agency and the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily.

France and Britain announced in July they will stop sales of gasoline and diesel automobiles by 2040 as part of efforts to reduce pollution and carbon emissions that contribute to global warming.

China passed the United States last year as the biggest electric car market. Sales of electrics and gasoline-electric hybrids rose 50 percent over 2015 to 336,000 vehicles, or 40 percent of global demand. U.S. sales totaled 159,620.

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After unveiling its shows initiative earlier this month, Facebook will be making its new hub for videos available to most of its US users over the next couple days.

Called Watch, the new area includes a wide range of videos of varying lengths, including scripted series, live shows that feature hosts responding in real time to viewer questions, and Major League Baseball games and other sports events.

Watch, which will be available through Facebook's mobile app as its own tab, desktop website, and newer TV app, was tested with a small portion of Facebook users in the US over the past couple of weeks. Starting Thursday, hundreds of shows were available to a broader group of Facebook users, a company representative told Business Insider.

Watch represents Facebook's push into the market of professional, episodic video, a move that pits the social network against more established players in the space like Netflix and YouTube.

Facebook sees high-quality, scripted video as important for retaining users, particularly younger ones who are increasingly flocking to its rival Snapchat. Facebook also views shows as a way to rake in advertising dollars traditionally reserved for conventional TV.

Watch includes a large group of publishers, including digital players like BuzzFeed and more traditional ones like A&E. Some of those publishers will make money solely through ad breaks, while others are funded by Facebook. The company has also partnered with specific people, including former YouTube personalities, for super-short shows.

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