Business – Page 14

Blockchain trends for 2018

August 17, 2018

While the mainstream viability of cryptocurrency remains in question, one of the technologies that has emerged in its wake is primed to do big things.

Blockchain continues to grow in popularity as people across multiple industries find new applications for it. Recently, Deloitte released a report entitled, ‘2018 Global Blockchain Survey’. In it, they explore several relevant, blockchain trends that are worth paying attention to in 2018 and onward.

If you are interested in exploring what blockchain can do for your business or whether your startup idea can benefit from this versatile and secure technology, the prospects are rather promising.

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AI, Artificial Intelligence, Business, Employment, Latest Trend

AI will create as many new jobs as it loses

August 16, 2018

PwC, the business consultancy, reckons that as many UK jobs will be created by AI as will be lost by AI.

A PwC report forecasts that about 20% of UK jobs will be automated by 2037—but 20% more jobs will also be created.

That’s 7 million jobs lost and 7.2 million jobs gained.

PwC reckons that manufacturing sector jobs could be reduced by around 25% – a net loss of nearly 700,000 jobs.

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Business, Human Behavior, Latest Trend

Companies are buying these portable soundproof rooms like crazy to fix the worst thing about their open floor offices

August 16, 2018

Room is a new company that’s created private, semi-soundproof phone booths for noisy, crowded offices.

Already, the company has snagged high profile clients like NASA, Salesforce, and Nike.

Room says they’re on track to sell $10 million worth of product in their first year of business.

If you work in an open office, it’s likely that you’ve ducked into a hallway, a closet, or even the bathroom to get a few moments of quiet to make a phone call.

With the move to the open office and the collective banishment of cubicles, finding a quiet, private place can sometimes be close to impossible.

Continue reading… “Companies are buying these portable soundproof rooms like crazy to fix the worst thing about their open floor offices”

Alternative Transportation, Business, Finance, Science & Technology News

Bird is the fastest startup ever to reach a $1 billion valuation

August 15, 2018

Electric scooter startup Bird is the fastest company to reach a valuation of $1 billion.

Bird, one of many scooter startups currently sweeping the US, was last valued at $400 million after closing $100 million in series B funding in early March. In late May, Bird was reported to be raising $150 million in series C funding led by Sequoia Capital, at a $1 billion valuation.

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Business, China, Economy, Science & Technology News, Shopping

Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (BAT) are now valued at a combined $1 trillion USD.

August 14, 2018

Alibaba and Tencent alone now account for almost one-third of the MSCI China Index, fueling its 47 percent gain in 2017.

As of this past March, China had skyrocketed to 164 unicorns, worth a combined $628.4 billion USD. Roughly 50 percent are controlled or backed by BAT.

But BAT isn’t keeping ambitions local. Worldwide, BAT invests in over 150 companies, spanning the gamut from AI to biotech.

And with access to more internet users than the U.S. and all of Europe combined, BAT is fueled by the greatest treasure trove of data on the planet.

Continue reading… “Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (BAT) are now valued at a combined $1 trillion USD.”

Artificial Intelligence, Business, Crime Prevention, IBM

IBM patenting watermark technology to protect ownership of AI models

August 6, 2018

Digital properties such as photos and videos get stolen frequently, which is why many creators of such forms of content employ watermarking methodologies so that ownership is easier to claim in case of theft. Another less-known digital property that can get stolen are artificial intelligence (AI) models, that have been developed by researchers after months, and sometimes years of effort.

IBM is now developing a technique to allow AI researchers to “watermark” these models. The technology is currently “patent-pending”.

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Analysis, Business, Employment

Almost 80% of US workers live from paycheck to paycheck. Here’s why

July 31, 2018

America doesn’t have a jobs crisis. It has a ‘good jobs’ crisis – where too much employment is insecure, and poorly paid.

The official rate of unemployment in America has plunged to a remarkably low 3.8%. The Federal Reserve forecasts that the unemployment rate will reach 3.5% by the end of the year.

But the official rate hides more troubling realities: legions of college grads overqualified for their jobs, a growing number of contract workers with no job security, and an army of part-time workers desperate for full-time jobs. Almost 80% of Americans say they live from paycheck to paycheck, many not knowing how big their next one will be.

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Analysis, Business, Employment

A 15-year study of 5,000 entrepreneurs finally answers the question: Is it better to quit your day job or keep it?

July 28, 2018

Data doesn’t lie.

There is a sexy image of an entrepreneur as someone toiling away in a garage, tinkering full time on their new venture, or joyously yet feverishly staying up until 3 a.m. working on their latest innovation or iteration of their product.

We love to celebrate these fantasy risk-takers and breakthrough-makers, ones who put it all on the line and then cash in big.

Continue reading… “A 15-year study of 5,000 entrepreneurs finally answers the question: Is it better to quit your day job or keep it?”

Augmented Reality, Business, Housing, Science & Technology News, Virtual Reality

Inside a $1 Billion real estate company operating entirely in VR

July 25, 2018

Born during the aftermath of the financial meltdown a decade ago, a publicly-traded real estate brokerage called eXp Realty is establishing itself as one of the brightest rising companies in its industry—and one of the most creative users of digital technology today.

By several measures, the company is experiencing a moment of true exponential growth.

Since last October, eXp Realty’s stock price has surged more than 300 percent, and this year the company announced they had doubled their number of real estate agents in just seven months. At the beginning of the year, they had roughly 6,500 brokers, but today they have over 12,000 operating in more than 300 markets across the US and Canada. This pace of growth is unprecedented for a single national brokerage and almost unthinkable for a real estate company not structured as a collection of local franchises.

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Augmented Reality, Business, Virtual Reality

UBS digitally clones it’s chief economist so he wouldn’t miss his meetings

July 24, 2018

UBS Chief Economist Daniel Kalt is in very high demand. So, the Swiss investment bank decided to clone him, digitally at least. Now through a rendering captured by more than 120 high-definition cameras in over a full day of shooting, the company can have Kalt (or at least his likeness) meet with multiple clients at a time via interactive video chat, without ever even stepping foot in the conference room.

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3D Printer, Business, Clothing, Shopping

Adidas’ vision for the future: Personalization, fast

July 23, 2018

Adidas unveils new 3D printed sneaker.

For all but the most elite athletes, buying athletic shoes can be hit or miss: Go to the store, find something you like, and try it on. If it doesn’t feel quite right, too bad. Try another shoe.

Adidas sees a future where motion capture tech, data analysis software, and 3D printing come together in the store to create a pair of kicks tailored to your exact needs. One foot slightly smaller than the other? No problem. You overpronate? Don’t worry about it. Technology will provide the perfect shoe.

All of the big shoe companies are racing toward that goal. Adidas offered a glimpse of how that might happen when it brought its pop-up Speedfactory Lab Experience to Brooklyn, New York.

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Big Problems, Business, Economy, People Making a Difference

A new way to think about solving the world’s biggest problems

July 12, 2018

How to build global cooperation. It’s SIMPOL!

A while back I received a book in the mail titled “The SIMPOL Solution: A New Way to Think About Solving the World’s Biggest Problems” by John Bunzl and Nick Duffell, who were unknown to me. I get sent a lot of books with grandiose titles and don’t get around to reading most of them. But something about this one intrigued me, along with an endorsement by Noam Chomsky, who wrote “It’s ambitious and provocative: Can it work? Certainly worth a serious try”.

Continue reading… “A new way to think about solving the world’s biggest problems”