Technology Titans Join Forces on New Data Transfer Project
While numerous services allow individuals to download data, only few allow uploading data to multiple accounts. If successful in creating universal data portability, the project could dramatically impact the tech industry and its current business models.
“Imagine being able to easily switch to a new music streaming service while being able to bring your playlist with you,” notes Digital Trends. “Or being able to switch to a new mobile operating system without the need to start from scratch.”
In a Google Open Source blog post, the company emphasized the need to help consumers “transfer their data directly from one service to another, without needing to download and re-upload it.” Users of Google’s Download Your Data tool “can already do this; they can transfer their information directly to their Dropbox, Box, MS OneDrive, and Google Drive accounts today.”
With DTP, Google explains it is “looking forward to working with companies across the industry to bring this type of functionality to individuals across the web.”
The Microsoft blog identifies “key development principles around interoperability and portability to promote user choice, encourage responsible product development, and maximize benefits for users”:
- Build for users
- Use strong privacy and security standards
- Focus on a user’s data, not enterprise data
- Respect everyone
The DTP open source code is available online and the companies encourage developers to get involved. According to Google, the “prototype already supports data transfer for several product verticals including: photos, mail, contacts, calendar, and tasks. These are enabled by existing, publicly available APIs from Google, Microsoft, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, Remember the Milk, and Smugmug.”
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/technology-titans-join-forces-on-new-data-transfer-project/
IBM and MIT Media Lab Test AI Recommendation Algorithm
Some of those same companies are now asking themselves if they can both use AI to keep the consumer’s attention while also adhering to an ethical framework. IBM Research and MIT Media Lab have developed a recommendation technique that its research scientists say does just that.
VentureBeat reports that the research team, led by IBM Research AI global leader Francesca Rossi, has created a technique that, “while optimizing its results for the user’s preferences, also makes sure it stays conformant to other constraints, such as ethical and behavioral guidelines.” The team demonstrated the technique in “a movie recommendation system that allows parents to set moral constraints for their children.”
Instead, Mattei and the rest of the IBM team defined the rules by examples. “We thought that the idea of learning by example what’s appropriate and then transferring that understanding while still being reactive to the online rewards is a really interesting technical problem,” he said. The team decided to test out the algorithm with movie recommendations “because quite a bit of movie-related data already exists and it’s a domain in which the difference between user preferences and ethical norms are clearly visible.”
The recommendation algorithm is comprised of two training states. In the first, which happens offline, “an arbiter gives the system [appropriate and in appropriate] examples that define the constraints the recommendation engine should abide by.” The algorithm studies the examples and “the data associated with them to create its own ethical rules.” The more examples and data, “the better it becomes at creating the rules.”
The second stage of the training “takes place online in direct interaction with the end user,” whereby the algorithm “tries to maximize its reward by optimizing its results for the preferences of the user and showing content the user will be more inclined to interact with.” The system deals with the potential of conflicting goals between ethics and preferences by setting a “threshold that defines how much priority each of them gets.” In the movie recommendation demonstration, parents were able to use a slider to choose the balance.
See the full story here: http://www.etcentric.org/ibm-and-mit-media-lab-test-ai-recommendation-algorithm/
DISRUPTIVE: Virtual Reality CEO & GEM Alumnae, Mary Spio, Signs Deal with NBA 2K League Teams
Mary’s goals for CEEK VR extend beyond a standard brand partnership with a few #esports organizations. Mary explained that her company is “aiming to one day offer a VR viewing experience of live NBA 2K League matches. A partnership with multiple teams in the league is a natural stepping stone to that goal.”
Mary founded CEEK VR four years ago to develop omni-channel VR technology, create and curate VR content and distribute VR experiences across digital and traditional channels (e.g., iOS, Android, Oculus, in-store, online, etc.) , a feat no other company has achieved.
See the full story here: https://www.ebony.com/career-finance/disruptive-virtual-reality-ceo-gem-alumnae-mary-spio-signs-deal-with-nba-2k-league-teams
Airline Passengers Are Split Over Using Phones in the Air
While airlines seem determined to keep passengers connected 24-7, most people from France, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Britain and the U.S. are happy to have their phones rendered unusable while en route, the poll suggests. Indian, Chinese and Arab passengers, by contrast, are generally keen to make calls.
Some 69 percent of Germans reckon it’s not necessary to be permanently available, compared to just 12 percent of Indians and 18 percent of Chinese, according to the survey. The risk of disturbance was cited as the chief concern surrounding inflight phone links, with Japanese travelers most worried. Many Asian flyers said they’d pay for connectivity even if the flight cost much more.
See the full story here: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-16/airline-customers-show-east-west-split-over-inflight-phone-links
With virtual reality, juvenile lifers practice for a world they may experience.
Prison officials in Colorado and Pennsylvania hope that VR can help jumpstart the process, ensuring that juvenile lifers successfully return to society. But Peters cautions that a virtual scenario is no replacement for real life.
“Nothing can prepare you,” Peters said, who now works as a general contractor in the Philadelphia area. “It is worse than a culture shock. I liken it to taking me to a foreign country, leaving me there, and having to learn everything all over again in a new language.”
See the full story here: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/07/17/a-view-of-tomorrow
VIRTUAL REALITY PERFORMERS BRING SOCIAL MEDIA ALIVE
Social Media went into meltdown today when a group of VR-wearing, futuristic looking folk started popping up all over Dublin with “Social Media, What’s Next?” emblazoned on their pink jumpsuits, giving the public a glimpse at just one of the tech trends coming around the corner.
Early bird tickets for Social Media Live are now on sale at a cost of €280 and can be purchased at www.socialmedialive.ie, along with further information on exhibitions and conference sponsorship opportunities.
Early bird tickets are available until September 13th, 2018 and can be purchased at www.socialmedialive.ie
For further information on Social Media Live and a list of confirmed speakers to date, visit www.socialmedialive.ie
See the full story here: https://irishtechnews.ie/virtual-reality-performers-bring-social-media-alive/
Sony Extends Life of “Hotel Transylvania 3” IP with Virtual Reality Game
Today, in an effort to extend the life of the IP as much as possible, the company is releasing “Hotel Transylvania Popstic,” a new VR rhythm game based off of the film.
“From the outset, Hotel Transylvania Popstic was designed to work for the growing VR arcade audience. It’s the perfect pairing of a movie brand that families love and a music rhythm game that is as fun to watch as it is to play,” said Jake Zim, Senior Vice President, Virtual Reality, Sony Pictures Entertainment.
To make this virtual game a reality, Sony has partnered with Specular Theory award-winning immersive content studio. Through the partnership, “Hotel Transylvania Popstic” is now available at more than 500 VR arcades, including SpringboardVR, Private Label VR, Synthesis VR, VR World NYC and Viveland, in North America, Europe and China.
See the full story here: https://www.thevideoink.com/2018/07/17/sony-extends-life-of-hotel-transylvania-3-ip-with-virtual-reality-game/
Co-Founders of Intel’s Replay Technologies Start New Drone Augmented Reality Company
Two of the founders of 3D company Replay Technologies Inc., acquired by Intel in 2016, are setting up a new augmented reality venture called XTend Reality Expansion Ltd. The company recently raised several million dollars from Tel Aviv University's TAU Ventures and private investors, according to a Monday announcement.
Since the acquisition, Intel has used its now-subsidiary to set up Intel Studios, dedicated to the production of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) content. The technology is also used by Intel to capture and deliver high-definition 3D content from sporting events.
Registered in July by brothers Aviv and Matteo Shapira and headquartered in Tel Aviv, XTend uses the brothers' experience to develop drone-based extended reality technology, intended to combine virtual elements in real-life environments. Combining elements of cinematography, computer graphics, and computer vision, the technology developed will enable users to gamify real-life activities, simulate the experience of pilots or race car drivers, or see themselves from above like a game character while moving about.
See the full story here: https://www.calcalistech.com/ctech/articles/0,7340,L-3742563,00.html