Monthly Archives: September 2017

Apple could nourish a powerful engine of the iPhone’s success by allowing third party developers to tap into the neural engine inside its new phone. Convincing programmers and companies to spend time and money bringing new features and functions to the iPhone has been an efficient way for Apple to drive sales of its most important product. In June, Apple announced new tools to help developers run machine-learning algorithms inside apps, including a new standard for neural networks called CoreML. Moorhead says it would be logical to connect that with the new AI hardware in the iPhone X. “I see a direct link between CoreML and the neural engine,” he says. Longer term, mobile hardware that can run machine learning software efficiently without will be important to the future of autonomous vehicles and wearable augmented-reality glasses—ideas Apple has recently signaled interest in.

2017 has been a coming-out year for the Brain-Machine Interface (BMI), a technology that attempts to channel the mysterious contents of the two-and-a-half-pound glop inside our skulls to the machines that are increasingly central to our existence. The idea has been popped out of science fiction and into venture capital circles faster than the speed of a signal moving through a neuron. Facebook, Elon Musk, and other richly funded contenders, such as former Braintree founder Bryan Johnson, have talked seriously about silicon implants that would not only merge us with our computers, but also supercharge our intelligence. But CTRL-Labs, which comes with both tech bona fides and an all-star neuroscience advisory board, bypasses the incredibly complicated tangle of connections inside the cranium and dispenses with the necessity of breaking the skin or the skull to insert a chip—the Big Ask of BMI. Instead, the company is concentrating on the rich set of signals controlling movement that travel through the spinal column, which is the nervous system’s low-hanging fruit.

THE NEW IPHONE X packs more new stuff into any device since the original iPhone. It's the most complete redesign of the product ever and even offers a glimpse at what the iPhone might become when the world no longer wants smartphones. Of course, you probably won't buy one. Even if you can afford the super high price, getting your hands on an iPhone X in the next few months will be like hunting for the holy grail. Except in this case, the fancy one is the right answer. Today, at an event in Cupertino that doubled as a grand opening of its new spaceship of a campus, Apple launched three new iPhones. Yes, three. The iPhone 8 and 8 Plus upgrade the existing models without completely changing them. (More on those in a second.) The third model, the iPhone X, is another thing entirely. Meet the X First of all, the X looks like no other phone. It doesn't even look like an iPhone. On the front, it's screen head to foot, save for a small trapezoidal notch taken out of the top where Apple put selfie cameras and sensors. Otherwise, the bezel around the edge of the phone has been whittled to near-nonexistence and the home button disappeared—all screen and nothing else. The case is made of glass and stainless steel, like the much-loved iPhone 4. The notched screen might take some getting used to, but the phone's a stunner. It goes on sale starting at $999 on October 27, and it ships November 3. The screen itself, called a Super Retina Display, is a 1125x2436 OLED display reportedly made by Samsung. It's the first time Apple's used OLED tech in an iPhone, and it offers some big advantages. On a normal LCD screen, even black pixels are lit up a bit, which means you're never seeing true black—just really dark gray. OLED, on the other hand, can light some pixels but not others, which means black pixels just stay off. Your dark colors will seem much darker, other colors even richer, and even text becomes more pleasant to read. Apple's also incorporated its TrueTone technology for white-balancing the screen in different conditions, which should make everything look even better. Since there's no room for the home button on the front, a bunch of the feature's functions have been moved to the power button, which Apple's apparently calling the "side button" now. Long-press it for Siri, double click for Apple Pay. There's still a little tactility in this phone, even as it becomes little more than a pane of glass. Even with the huge screen, the iPhone X more closely resembles the iPhone 7. The iPhone's screen-to-size ratio was always one of the smallest in the industry, thanks to the home button and Apple's undying love for design symmetry. Getting rid of the home button allowed Jony Ive's design team to get rid of so much more—just imagine your iPhone 7, but everywhere there's metal, imagine screen. That's the iPhone X. Like the other two phones, the iPhone X runs Apple's latest processor, the A11 Bionic, along with 3 gigs of RAM. It's been years since the iPhone wanted for processing power, but the iPhone X might need all it can get. It has to power all that screen, for one thing, but Apple also seems to have created the iPhone X as a foray deeper into both artificial intelligence and augmented reality. Both require serious horsepower. The iPhone X's stated battery life has improved—Apple says it lasts two hours longer than the iPhone 7—and so has its charger. After years of observing the Android ecosystem's messy and multi-standard embrace of wireless charging, Apple's finally in the game. You won't have to plug your X into the wall to charge it; you'll just lay it down on the inductive pad. Apple is adopting the Qi standard, so it will work with current Qi pads by companies like Mophie and Belkin. Apple is also releasing its own charging accessory called AirPower that has room for your iPhone and your Apple Watch.

The vast majority of marketers do not understand the full implications of new European data laws and are ill-equipped to deal with their consequences. According to a World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) survey of major global brands that spend more than $20bn on marketing annually, 70% of brand owners do not feel marketers in their organisation are fully aware of the extend of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and just 65% expect to be fully compliant when it comes into force in May 2018. One in four organisations admitted they are still in the “initial planning stages”, while only 41% have a framework or strategy in place to ensure they comply with the new laws. While GDPR is an EU law, any country that wants to do business in a country from the bloc will need to ensure they are compliant with it. Any that are found to be in breach risk fines of up to 4% of global turnover or €20m; whichever is higher. The UK has already said it will match these terms when it leaves the EU. Yet there is still a severe knowledge gap, especially among marketing teams based outside Europe. Some 56% of those questioned said their European teams were aware of the challenge, compared to a global average of 44%. “It is a concern that only nine months away from implementation many marketers are not prepared. The risks of not being ready for GDPR are huge both financially and in terms of consumer reputation” says Jacqui Stephenson, global responsible marketing officer at Mars, and chair of the WFA’s Digital Governance Exchange. One of the major issues with becoming GDPR-compliant is “connecting the dots between data stored across different parts of the organisation” – this was cited by 66% of respondents as “extremely challenging” or challenging”. Another 73% see reviewing and understanding compliance levels across third parties as a major challenge. And in terms of priorities, it is consent mechanisms, reviewing and updating privacy policies and reviewing data inventory that top the list. To help with managing GDPR, one in three of those surveyed are planning to hire a data protection officer, which will become a legal obligation for companies that monitor or process vast amounts of consumer data. Some 30% said they already have someone in this role.

APOLOGIES TO ELON, but the world has a new ruler when it comes to combining electric propulsion with beauty. Because this week, Jaguar Land Rover unveiled the E-type Zero, a battery-powered revival of the classic 1960s sports car that none other than Enzo Ferrari called the most beautiful car ever. The sad news is that the car—which carries a 40-kWh battery pack, offers a range of 170 miles, and goes from a standstill to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds—is just a concept, rendering those specs meaningless. Jag says it will “investigate bringing this concept to market,” but whatever it decides, it’s guilty of a bait and switch here. For the automaker (and, ahem, the journalist), the shiver-inducing thought of an electric historical classic offers a tidy segue into news of Jaguar Land Rover’s future: The automaker also announced this week that by 2020, it will offer an electric or hybrid variant of every model it makes. The shift will start next year, when the Jaguar’s first fully electric SUV, the I-Pace, goes on sale.

YouTube is accessed daily by more US teens than any other social platform, but these viewers also say it has too many ads. More than four in 10 teen YouTube users ages 12 to 17 say there are too many ads on the platform, according to a January 2017 survey from Forrester Research. eMarketer projects that 23.2 million 12- to 17-year-olds will watch digital video monthly this year. Snapchat and Instagram were tied as the two platforms teens were least likely to feel had too many ads. Just over one in 10 teen users of each platform complained about excessive ads. But a heavy ad load hasn’t deterred teens from using YouTube. The study also found that 77% of teens use it daily, compared with 55% who use Facebook, the second most popular social network among the demographic. Teens appear willing to put up with ads on YouTube, along with other services like Facebook, which 26% of users said had too many ads. The type of ad being served may have an effect on whether or not teen users notice how plentiful those ads might be. “Teens might think there are too many ads on YouTube because YouTube ads are pre-roll or sometimes mid-roll video ads that users have to either watch, or click to skip after a few seconds,” said Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst at eMarketer. “They may be more likely to skim right by ads that appear on Facebook or other social platforms, as the ads are native to the service,” she said. An earlier study by IPG Media Lab and YuMe found that pre-roll ads—the kind commonly served on YouTube—were considered the least interruptive video format by US internet users overall.

Pas un jour ne passe sans qu'Amazon n'annonce un nouveau projet de croissance. Après le rachat des supermarchés Wholefoods cet été, et la création de 130.000 nouveaux postes, le géant du commerce en ligne a annoncé jeudi matin son intention d'ouvrir un second siège en Amérique du Nord pour y loger jusqu'à 50.000 employés. L'entreprise est prête à dépenser 5 milliards de dollars pour ce projet. Les offres sont attendues le 19 octobre et le groupe devrait se décider dans le courant de l'année prochaine. La localisation même du futur siège n'est pas arrêtée. Amazon, qui a baptisé ce projet «Amazon HQ2 » cible plutôt les grandes métropoles comptant plus d'un million de personnes et situées à moins de 45 minutes d'un aéroport international. Bien sûr, les mesures incitatives que les pouvoirs publics locaux - Etats et municipalités - pourront offrir seront «des facteurs importants » dans sa décision, a-t-elle précisé.

You remember those heady days? The ‘Oreo Tweet’ at the 2013 Super Bowl was heralded as massively impactful despite reaching barely a fraction of 1% of the target market. Social media agencies sprung up all over the globe predicated on a new viral approach to marketing and an organic way of interacting with consumers that patently did not work but equally patently attracted a lot of investment. Companies set up social media teams to connect with customers and then blanched at the single-digit interactions that resulted. VIDEO: Mark Ritson – Why social media is mostly a waste of time for marketers We were all going to have one big, happy conversation with consumers. The drab, old grey world of cluttered manipulation that constantly besieged the customer with ads was over and a rainbow of natural and open dialogue between brands and their consumers was appearing above us. Except that all turned out to be utter cock. Social media remained a cultural revolution but brands and their commercial agendas were entirely and completely rejected from the dialogue that Zuckerberg had promised them they would access. One of the main factors in that failure to engage was Facebook itself, which actively and openly reduced the organic reach that brands could achieve on the platform.

Think your friend looks fat in that dress but don’t want to tell her? It’s unlikely she’ll know you’re faking that supportive smile. After all, humans are notoriously bad at detecting insincerity. But ask 100 people to interpret that look on your face and the jury will probably come back with a swift verdict: You’re lying. That’s due to swarm intelligence, the concept that more minds are greater than one (thus the ask-the-audience segment of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire). As Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk and others sound the alarm over fears that artificial intelligence will eventually subjugate humans, other scientists and entrepreneurs are developing ways to harness swarm intelligence to reap the benefits while keeping people in the equation, along with their creativity, intuition, judgment and morality. In turn, an increasing number of companies, in fields ranging from marketing and medicine to the military and beyond, are tapping into the products and services being offered by swarm-intelligence startups in the U.S., Italy, Singapore and elsewhere. A SWARM LETS YOU BUILD AN ARTIFICIAL SUPER EXPERT THAT OUTPERFORMS A TYPICAL HUMAN EXPERT. DR. LOUIS ROSENBERG, CEO, UNANIMOUS A.I. One such outfit is Unanimous A.I., a Silicon Valley–based company that meshes human swarms with complex algorithms. In a recent study, one of its swarms collectively made 46 percent fewer errors when identifying fake smiles than individual participants. “Humans are not very accurate at telling if someone is being honest or deceptive,” says CEO Dr. Louis Rosenberg, who finds swarm intelligence not only a better predictor of truth but also an effective way of solving problems. He references nature’s swarms, such as birds, bees and fish. When it comes to food, shelter and survival, they outperform individuals and collectively make decisions for the greater good. “If a swarm acted like Congress, it would die,” he says, emphasizing that survival depends on cohesion. On Rosenberg’s social platform, UNU, human clusters ranging in size from five to 75 members answer a variety of questions. Operating remotely, participants drag magnetized markers to possible answers arranged around a hexagon. The cluster has 60 seconds to provide a group answer. More than 150,000 people are registered on the platform, and the results speak for themselves: Average joes make better Oscar predictions than film critics, and a TechRepublic reporter who made a $1 Kentucky Derby bet based on UNU’s group think ended up pocketing $542 in winnings. “A swarm treats people as a data processor,” Rosenberg says. “A swarm lets you build an artificial super expert that outperforms a typical human expert.”

Automakers are preparing for the death of car ownership in cities. General Motors launched in 2016 its car-sharing service called Maven. Maven is primarily used by millennials who may be reluctant to own a car in expensive cities like New York and San Francisco. Although the study bodes well for traffic relief, it's worth taking it with a grain of salt. Ditching a personal car in favor of ride-hailing apps can help alleviate traffic if done on a wide enough scale. But unless more people start to rely on carpool services like Lyft Line or UberPOOL, ride-hailing still contributes to more single-occupancy cars on the road. Hampshire said of the people surveyed who used Uber and Lyft as their primary method for getting around, only 12% elected to use the companies' carpool options. The study's results may also vary in cities that have better access to public transportation. Either way, the study shows ride-hailing can make it easier to ditch personal cars in large cities.