Digital Feed - A2D Consulting

Augmented Reality For Combat Missions

11/29/2018

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Source: Engadget

The United States Army will give Microsoft a $480 million contract to supply its augmented reality Hololens headset for use in training and even live combat missions. With the goal of increasing "lethality by enhancing the ability to detect, decide and engage before the enemy," the US Army is expected to buy up to 100,000 headsets. The US Army reportedly wanted a device that would be able to measure vital signs and breathing, monitor for signs of concussion and provide night vision. Non-traditional military suppliers such as Magic Leap and Microsoft were encouraged to bid for the contract. Microsoft's Hololens augmented reality headset is not available for consumers but has become increasingly popular with businesses for marketing, training, and manufacturing.

With close to 50,000 units sold so far, the US Army's contract will practically triple Microsoft Hololens' sales. The headset is available to businesses for $5000 and $3,000 for developers. Microsoft released a statement to Bloomberg saying "augmented reality technology will provide troops with more and better information to make decisions. This new work extends our longstanding, trusted relationship with the Department of Defense to this new area."

Click here to read the full article.

Mobile Accounted For Over 1/3 Of Online Sales During Black Friday

11/26/2018

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Source: Pattanaphong Khuankaew via Getty Images/ Engadget

Over a third of online Black Friday purchases (33.5%) in the United States were completed from a mobile phone according to Adobe analysts, up from 29.1% in 2017. This year's mobile online sales of $2.1 billion set a record, comfortably topping the record set last during Cyber Monday of $1.4 billion. In total, consumers spent $6.22 billion during this year's Black Friday in the United States, a 23.6% increase over 2017. Some credit for mobile's increasing share of online sales can definitely be attributed to companies providing better and better mobile experiences for consumers.

Unsurprisingly, this year's biggest hits during Black Friday in the United States were tech related with laptops, video games and headphones among the most purchased items.

Cyber Monday, the online shopping event that was the previous record holder for most online sales, takes place today.

Click here to read the full article.

British Columbia Will Phase Out Non-Electric Cars By 2045

11/21/2018

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Source: REUTERS/Chris Helgren

British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province, will introduce legislation that will require all new vehicles sold in the province by 2045 to be zero-emissions or electric. The legislation will set targets for 10% of new car sales in 2025, 30% by 2030, and 100% by 2040 to be zero-emissions or electric. To support the legislation, British Columbia plans to expand both its incentive program (offers credits for the purchase or lease of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and electric cars) and its fast charging network. Quebec, another Canadian province, and a couple of U.S. states have passed similar pieces of legislation aimed at increasing the sales and supply of electric vehicles.

The news came Tuesday from current British Columbia Premier, John Horgan, who also explained that the sales targets noted in the legislation are part of a bigger effort to hit ambitious carbon emissions goals. British Columbia plans increase its electric vehicle incentive program for consumers by $15 million this year. British Columbia offers consumers who lease or purchase new hydrogen fuel cell vehicles C$6000, and C$5000 for those who lease or purchase new plug-in hybrid vehicles or battery electric vehicles.

Canada has seen electric vehicle sales double in the second quarter of 2018 compared to last year, according to data firm FleetCarma.

Click here to read the full article.

SpaceX Gets Approval For Full Satellite Internet Constellation

11/19/2018

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Source: SpaceX

SpaceX received permission to launch 7,518 satellites into orbit last week from the Federal Communications Commission in the United States, the second such approval from the FCC after receiving approval for the launch of 4,425 satellites in March 2018. The approval means SpaceX has now received full approval for the 12,000 satellites needed to launch Starlink, a project which will use low-orbiting satellites to provide global internet connectivity. SpaceX has stated it intends to send its first batch of satellites into orbit in 2019 and expects to have the entire Starlink constellation up and running by the mid 2020s.

Starlink, which is expected to cost $10 billion to develop, will provide internet coverage globally by creating a synchronized orbit of satellites that will ensure there is line of sight with at least one of Starlink's satellites at all times from anywhere on earth.

The FCC also approved the requests of 3 other companies to send satellites into space - Keplar Communications, LeoSat, and Telesat. SpaceX's approval is conditioned on it launching half of the approved satellites into orbit within the next six years.

Click here to read the full article.

Germany Increases Focus on AI

11/16/2018

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Source: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Hesse's Science Minister Boris Rhein and President of Darmstadt University of Technology (TU Darmstadt) Hans Jurgen Promel attend a demonstration of a rescue robot at the university in Darmstadt, Germany, October 8, 2018. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

In order to close the digital gap between it and leading countries in technology, Germany will create 100 positions for professors focused on artificial intelligence and invest more than 3 billion euros in AI funding by 2025. Chancellor Angela Merkel explained that in addition to the federal investment, the private sector is also expected to provide more than 6 billion euros in funding. Chancellor Angela Merkel will focus on Germany's digital deficiencies in what is probably her final term as Chancellor and stated an aim for "'Made in Germany' to be a brand in artificial intelligence as well." Germany was ranked 29th out of 34 for internet connection speeds in industrialized countries last year, and has failed to produce a world leading startup that pioneers AI technology.

Chancellor Angela Merkel appointed Dorothee Baer, Minister of State for Digital Affairs, to coordinate Germany's digital strategy. Baer and others have stated that Germany's economic stability has resulted in a lack of preparation for the digital future. Germany's export model, which has been leading industrial innovation for years, is focused on traditional manufacturing and it appears to be struggling to keep up. Merkel's comments came at the end of two-day cabinet on AI and she made it clear that fixing Germany's digital deficiencies is a "prerequisite for its future prosperity."

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NATO Looks To Disruptive Technology To Keep Competitive Edge

11/14/2018

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Source: NTB Scanpix/Gorm Kallestad via REUTERS

NATO is looking at working with startups to boost innovation and maintain its competitive edge as its adversaries have begun to close NATO's advantage due to easily accessible emerging technologies. NATO is currently working on innovative projects such as delivering 3-D printed weapon parts by drone and NATO's Head of Transformation Command, General Andre Lanata, has explained that NATO is focusing on other areas such as connectivity, big data, quantum computing, artificial intelligence and logistics.

General Andre Lanata's comments came during a conference in Berlin this week where he also urged traditional arms manufacturers and startups to work with NATO. His command also hosted an "innovation challenge" for the third time which brought 10 small firms and startups together to pitch ideas for defeating drones in the air and on the ground.

Click here to read the full article.

Alibaba's Singles' Day Breaks Online Shopping Records

11/12/2018

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Source: Alibaba

Alibaba's Global Shopping Festival, also known as Singles' Day, sold $30.8 billion in goods over 24 hours across 230 countries. This year's online shopping record beat last year's record during the Global Shopping Festival of $25.3 billion by 27%, and easily topped the $5 billion in online sales that occurred in the United States during Black Friday. Artificial intelligence helped the 200,000 offline smart stores and 180,000 brands over the 24 hour period with sales forecasting, inventory management, pricing strategy, and product assortment. Alibaba CEO, Daniel Zhang, stated at the conclusion of the Festival that Alibaba will try to take the entire consumer retail market online.

Statistics:

20 seconds- within the first 20 seconds of the sale, gross merchandising volume broke $155 million.
1 min 30 seconds - within the first minute and thirty seconds, gross merchandising volume broke $1billion.
1 hour 1 minute- gross merchandise volume exceeded $10 billion within 1 hour and 48 seconds

For context, Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday generated last year a combined total of $14.49 billion.

The top five countries that sold to China during the Global Shopping Festival were Japan, the United States, Korea, Australia, and Germany.

Click here to read the full article and here to read about the technology portfolio enabling it all.

Why People Visit YouTube

11/8/2018

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According to research from the Pew Research Center, 51% of adult YouTube users use the video service to help them learn how to do new things, while 19% use the platform to help them decide whether to buy a product. Other key findings show that 81% of parents let their children (ages 11 or below) watch content on YouTube, while 34% allow their children to watch YouTube videos regularly. The study also conducted research into YouTube's video recommendation system and found that it recommends progressively longer and more popular videos to users.

The survey also highlights that although many users rely on the platform to help them understand events (19% of adult users reported the site was very important in helping them understand events happening in the world), around two-thirds of YouTube users reported that they find obviously untrue or false videos at least sometimes.

YouTube is currently the second most used search engine in the world after Google, and over 1.9 billion users log onto the platform every month.

Click here to read more about Pew Research Center's Survey.

Web Summit Begins Today

11/5/2018

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Source: Web Summit

The Web Summit kicks off tonight with the Opening Night Festival, which will begin with a speech from the inventor of the world wide web (www), Tim Berners-Lee. This year's summit is expected to welcome more than 70,000 participants from 170 countries to its combination of 25 different conferences. The technology summit will run from 5 to 8 of November and is expected to have a positive impact of 300 million to the Portuguese economy.

The Web Summit began in 2010 in Ireland, combining a focus on technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. In 2016, the summit moved to Lisbon, Portugal where it will remain until 2028. Last year, the summit brought close to 60,000 participants together including 1,400 investors, 2,500 journalists and 1,200 speakers. In preparation for the increase in participants this year, both the location space and wifi capabilities have been increased.

Click here to read the full article and here for the Web Summit's website.

Uber Launches Monthly Subscription Service

10/31/2018

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Source: The Verge

Yesterday, Uber launched Ride Pass, a monthly subscription service that will be available in five cities across the United States: Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando. The price of the subscription will be $14.99 a month in all cities except Los Angeles, where it will cost $24.99 a month. Buying into Ride Pass will allow Uber riders to lock in flat rates on all UberPool and UberX trips they take over that month, without being subjected to price increases from surge pricing, traffic or other external factors. Uber joins Lyft, another American ride hailing company who also released its subscription service this month, as ride hailing companies look to create incentives to prevent users from jumping to other apps searching for shorter wait times or cheaper fares.

For riders, Uber is trying to make this decision as easy and simple as possible with features such as auto-renewal and savings tracking, where riders who subscribe to Ride Pass will be able to see their savings (from locked in fares) in real time through the app. For drivers, Uber will cover the difference between the cost of the driver's time and distance driven and the locked in fares Ride Pass users receive ensuring that the savings riders receive have no effect on driver earnings.

Lyft's subscription service, called All-Access Plan, was rolled out nationally in the middle of October with a price of $299 per month. All-Access Plan provides subscribers with 30 rides with a cost of up to $15. If the ride happens to cost more than $15, the subscriber pays the difference. Lyft's announcement of the subscription service indicated that the service was intended to help its users get rid of their personal cars and rely solely on Lyft for the majority of their daily travel.

Lyft and Uber are both expected to go public in 2019.

Click here to read the full article.