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“Dropbox files to raise $500 million in IPO” plus 29 more VentureBeat

“Dropbox files to raise $500 million in IPO” plus 29 more VentureBeat


Dropbox files to raise $500 million in IPO

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 12:54 PM PST


Dropbox filed for an initial public offering today with the aim to raise $500 million for its cloud-based file storage and collaboration service. It had secretly filed to go public in early January.

The San Francisco-based company brought in $1.1 billion in revenue last year, with a net loss of $111 million. It has more than 500 million registered users, with more than 11 million paying users. The company’s last private valuation was $10 billion. Dropbox’s annual revenue has grown significantly year-over-year, while the company has also managed to slash its losses from nearly $326 million in 2015.

Investors and the tech industry will be watching the results of this offering closely, considering that it’s the first big tech IPO of 2018. Dropbox is heading into a potentially choppy market, too: stock prices have been on a roller-coaster ride over the past several weeks, though the market has rebounded significantly from lows earlier this month. It will also be interesting to see how Dropbox fares on Wall Street compared to Snap’s disappointing performance over the last year.

Dropbox has plenty going for it with investors. Its model of attracting paying consumer users through a pair of premium plans alongside business sales has generated a ton of revenue, as well as potential up-sell opportunities going forward. The company’s revenue growth rate has begun to slow, however.

One of the company’s most interesting risk factors is the shifting state of net neutrality regulation in the U.S. Because Dropbox relies on speedy network connections to provide its customers with the data they need, the company points out that internet providers implementing usage-based pricing or speeding up competing offerings could negatively impact its business.

It will be interesting to see how this offering compares to Spotify’s reported plans to directly list itself on the New York Stock Exchange. That will be the first time a tech company of its size chooses to avoid a traditional IPO process and instead publicly list its shares without issuing any new ones.

Story developing, more to come. 

January 2018’s top 10 Minecraft Marketplace creations: castles and the Wild West

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 12:31 PM PST


Minecraft players downloaded 239,062 pieces of content from the Minecraft Marketplace in January. The marketplace is available in the unified Bedrock version of Minecraft on Windows 10, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and mobile (Bedrock comes to Switch later this year), and it features products made by both The Minecraft Team and community developers. Players can earn this content through in-game currency, but they can also spend real money, and a portion of those revenues go to the people who made the content.

Every month on GamesBeat, I dive into the shop to see what is selling. You can take a look at past results right here. In January, we saw a lot of returning favorites make the list like Blockception’s Whiterock Castle and Noxcrew’s Summer Minigame Festival. The Minecraft audience is probably ready for something new, and we could see creators capitalize on that in February with releases like the new City Life world pack from PixelHeads. For now, however, fantasy worlds and licensed mash-up packs from The Minecraft Team are still dominating.

Here’s the top 10 for January:

Top Performing Paid Content
Content Rank Details Store description
“Whiterock Castle”
by Blockception
1 World
4.7/5 user rating
A medieval fantasy castle with complex architecture
“Explore the lands of Whiterock Castle and start your own adventure!”
 “Dinosaur Island”
by PixelHeads
2 World
4.5/5 user rating
Deal with a variety of dinosaurs on a tropical island.
“Overrun by prehistoric beasts after the scientists lost control of their genetic experiments, explore and discover the hidden mysteries of this intriguing island.”
“Wildlife: Savanna”
by PixelHeads
3 World
4.7/5 user rating
Meet lions, elephants, and more along with your safari crew.
“Go on safari in a rugged off-road vehicle to discover brand new landscapes and exotic animals. Find giraffes, zebras and even cheetahs (if you're quick enough!), and befriend them for a whole new wildlife experience.”
 Norse Mythology Mash-Up
By Minecraft Team
4 Mash-Up Pack
4.8/5 user rating
A collection of skins, textures, and worlds inspired by Norse myths.
“Compose your own grand saga as you voyage through the 9 realms, from the treetops of Yggdrasil, down into the mines of Svartalfheim and the depths of Hel! The third episode in the mythology series, this pack has hand carved textures, a thunderous soundtrack and a horde of skins.”
“Summer Mini Games Festival”
by Noxcrew
5  World
4.4/5 user rating
A wonderland of obstacle courses and activity centers.
“Take a daytrip and test your skills at Mini-Golf, Blocksketball and the shooting range. Other summertime shenanigans include playing Splashdown in a luxury boat, Spleef in a volcano and monkeying around in the Aqua Jungle.”
“Sunnyside Academy”
by Imagiverse
6 World
4.3/5 user rating
A functioning town with a school at its center.
“Gear up for school with friends, or tackle solo assignments, build your own home and help maintain the town in this colorful neighborhood!”
“Adventure Time Mash-up”
by Minecraft
7 Mash-up pack
4.8/5 user rating
Brings the Adventure Time cartoon into Minecraft with textures, skins, and the Land of Ooo world.
With Jake the Dog and Finn the Human, and a bundle of their friends, it’s Adventure Time!… Mash-up! Featured in this pack: your favorite Adventure Time characters, the Land of Ooo, a bespoke texture set, BMO themed UI and original soundtrack.
 “The Crater”
by Blockception
8 World
4.2/5 user rating
A settlement inside of a huge impact crater.
“A vast crater is the setting of this survival spawn – the result of a devastating meteorite impact and now a remnant of destruction turned into an idyllic spawn.”
“PureBDcraft”
by BDcraft
9 Texture pack
5/5 user rating
Revamps every texture to make things look more comic-book-like.
Completely transform your Minecraft world into a comic! Blocks, Items, Mobs and UI are revamped with this bright, bold High Def pack in 32x, 64x and 128x resolutions, full of details and geeky references.
 “Dustville Survival Spawn”
by Noxcrew
 10  World
3.8/5 user rating
Start your new game in a Western frontier town.
Begin your life in the Wild West in the desert town of Dustville. Wander in the shade of the canyons and the old mines. Settle a farm out in the mesa. Ride out and find your own fortune!

And here’s the best-performing content that people earned through their in-game efforts.

  1. Dinosaur Island by PixelHeads
  2. Norse Mythology Mash-Up by The Minecraft Team
  3. Wildlife: Savanna by PixelHeads
  4. Adventure Time Mash-Up by The Minecraft Team
  5. PureBDCraft by BDCraft
  6. Halloween Mash-Up by The Minecraft Team
  7. DestructoBot 5000 by Noxcrew
  8. Lapis Lagoon by Imagiverse
  9. Dragon Hero by PixelHeads
  10. Fallout Mashup by The Minecraft Team

I got in touch with BDCraft to talk about its texture pack, which is a regular on the top 10. You can catch that interview soon.

Michigan’s ‘Marshall Plan for Talent’ aims to become model for tech education nationwide

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 11:50 AM PST


As tech executives call for state education programs to do a better job of providing STEM education, states are jockeying to show that they are attuned to the industry’s needs.

This week, Michigan’s Republican governor Rick Snyder unveiled what he calls the “Marshall Plan for Talent” — a $100 million, five-year investment to restructure Michigan’s education system to do a better job of preparing students for the tech fields that are positioned to have the most job openings. The program will incentivize school districts and universities to offer more work-based learning programs, through both state grants and bringing on private sector businesses as partners.

States launch talent development programs every year to little fanfare. So Gov. Snyder is taking on some risk by setting ambitious expectations for his state’s program — the original Marshall Plan was a $130 billion investment from the U.S. to help rebuild Europe after World War II that’s now frequently cited in history textbooks. But he believes the Marshall Plan can serve as a nationwide example for how states should be educating their students in the digital age, when so few states are ill-equipped to do so.

“This talent gap has been a huge problem everywhere, so let’s be the best at solving it because it will be a great economic engine for Michigan and good for our nation,” he told VentureBeat in a phone interview.

Gov. Snyder’s term ends in 2018, and term limits make him ineligible for re-election. How transformative the talent development program will truly be is up for debate. But many of the pillars of the plan echo some of the most popular ideas being currently being discussed in tech education.

Learning on and for the job

Portions of the talent development program were first uncovered as part of the city of Detroit’s unsuccessful bid to land Amazon HQ2, alongside the Canadian city of Windsor. Gov. Snyder, a former venture capitalist, told VentureBeat that representatives from Amazon did express concerns about the state’s ability to provide talent.

“I think the whole Amazon headquarters process was a helpful catalyst to really make sure our citizens can appreciate what we need to to to address this question [of how to train talent],” Gov. Snyder said.

The most concrete goal of the Marshall Plan for Talent is to ensure that Michiganders have the skills needed to fill a projected 811,055 statewide job openings through 2024 in five industries — information technology and computer science; manufacturing; health care; professional trades; and other business services jobs like financial managers and market researchers.

The way Gov. Snyder sees it, most degrees are awarded based upon “how many classes you attend and how many credit hours you took” — and the classes themselves don’t do a good enough job of giving the students the skills they need to land a job. In competency-based learning programs, students will have to pass a certification test or demonstrate the skills they’ve learned in a practical setting, like the workplace at the end of their program.

This is necessary not only to help students land a job, but also to help them prepare for a future where more of an emphasis will be placed on life-long learning, and workers will have to earn more certificates at different points in their career. One way to do so is through apprenticeships, which have received support from President Donald Trump.

This line of thinking is one that has been echoed by some in tech, most notably Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

“Twenty, thirty years ago — you educated yourself, and that carried you through for the rest of your life. That’s not going to be true for the generation which is being born now. They have to learn continuously over their lives — we know that, so we have to transform how we do education,” Pichai said told MSNBC and Recode last month.

Of the $100 million being doled out by the Marshall Plan for Talent, $50 million will go toward the creation of new educational programs and grants that will help schools transition to this new type of educational model. For example, grants will be provided to K-12 schools that work alongside businesses to develop new classes and make curriculum adjustments, as well as to purchase new technical equipment that the state hopes will be matched by the private sector.

A number of other states, such as Utah, are also placing a greater emphasis on turning to public-private partnerships to develop curriculum. Utah launched an IT Pathway Program in 2017 to kickstart a discussion between the tech community and educators about how to improve STEM education.

The governor’s plan also proposes $25 million toward the creation of scholarships for low-income residents — including those that can assist with other obstacles to education, like lack of access to transportation and child care. $20 million will go toward creating marketing and educational campaigns promoting career opportunities in the state of Michigan, and $5 million will go toward providing incentives for current teachers to receive training in areas that are currently understaffed, as well as finding ways to train career experts to become teachers.

Piloting the future of work

The Marshall Plan for Talent still needs to be approved by the state legislature along with the rest of Gov. Snyder’s 2019 budget. The governor’s website states that the plan will be paid for via bond refinancing.

Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told VentureBeat that the $100 million allocation essentially amounts to “a line item” in the state budget. He views the Marshall Plan for Talent as more of a pilot than a one-time investment.

“Tech really lends itself to work-based learning. The question is that work-based learning clearly requires a lot of organization and a large number of employers who want to go down that path. So there’s both an organizing issue — who is going to set up and organize all of this? — and are these companies ready to embark on this?” Muro told VentureBeat.

The governor’s office cited existing partnerships with Microsoft’s TEALS program and Cisco — which runs a program in Michigan that offers IT courses that can be transferred to other state universities — as indicative of the level of interest the private sector has in working with schools.

Muro also noted that working with private companies might provoke fears of excessive market concentration — bigger companies will likely lobby to ensure their needs are met the most — so the state should also consider working with STEM nonprofits to develop curriculum.

In transitioning to this new model of competency-based learning, Michigan will face the same challenges as those traditionally faced by public universities and K-12 schools: ensuring that all students across the state will have access to the same resources, not just students in the wealthiest school districts or bigger cities; finding ways to lower the cost of education; and ensuring adequate access to the right teachers.

Michigan, like other states, faces a teacher shortage — the number of initial teaching certificates issued in Michigan each year has fallen from 6,077 in in 1996 to 3,696 in 2016, as spending for K-12 funding has seen its ups and downs in the state, particularly during the recession. “As I meet high school students who are coming up into the college level, there’s a very distinct level in skill sets based upon what was available at that high school that these students are coming from,” Tom Brady, a Michigan native and the CTO and cofounder of Ann Arbor-based drone inspection company SkySpecs, told VentureBeat.

Many of the most well-known tech startups in Michigan — such as Duo Security, currently the state’s only unicorn — are located in Ann Arbor, close to the University of Michigan, which they say has provided a healthy pipeline of engineering graduates. Brady, who founded SkySpecs in 2012, says that finding software developers is still difficult.

Another metric that the Marshall Plan for Talent will likely be judged on is: Can it provide enough talent as the state’s fast-growing tech startups continue to scale (SkySpecs currently has 23 employees) and successfully place students outside of Ann Arbor and Detroit, currently the city’s two biggest hubs for tech.

For Michigan, ensuring that its students are prepared for the economic distribution of the future holds a particular level of importance. As the auto industry was decimated starting in the early 2000s, the state lost jobs every year for nearly 10 years, before a turnaround starting in 2011.

“It [The Marshall Plan] was a one-time investment over a number of years that was a catalyst for fundamental transformation. And that’s what this is … we’re doing well as a state, [but] we had really difficult times,” Gov. Snyder told VentureBeat.

ProBeat: Google’s RCS business messaging push is too much, too early

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 10:31 AM PST


Google yesterday announced that the rich communication services (RCS) messaging experience on Android is now open to businesses. Nobody is using RCS yet, but businesses are already being encouraged to get on board. This is a big mistake.

First, some background. The default SMS app on Android — unless the carrier decides to change it — is called Messages. Google is using this app to push its implementation of RCS so that Android phones can offer features like group messaging, IP voice calls, and file sharing. The service is powered by the Jibe RCS cloud (Google acquired Jibe in September 2015).

Google also shared this week that it has now partnered with 43 carriers and device manufacturers to bring RCS messaging to every Android user (although the company notes 60 support the standard in some form). That’s decent progress (the last major partnership, with Huawei, was announced in January), and it’s unfortunate the company is squandering things with its “RCS business messaging” push.

Here’s the pitch, in Google’s own words:

Last year we created an Early Access Program to make it easier for brands to start participating in RCS business messaging (the mobile industry’s term for rich business-to-consumer messages). Today companies across food, travel, retail and delivery services in the U.S. and Mexico are starting to have better conversations with their customers using RCS as part of our Early Access Program. With RCS, businesses can send more useful and interactive messages to their customers. This means, for example, that a retailer can send beautiful images of their products, rather than a text message, and even let the customer select and buy something, all without leaving the messaging app.

None of this sounds terrible, per se, especially since Google claims users have to opt-in. Unfortunately, RCS barely has any adoption, and timing is everything.

RCS is a fledgling that needs nurturing

For RCS to gain momentum, Google has to convince both carriers and smartphone makers to support the technology. It’s simply not there yet. Here’s the list so far:

  • Carriers: America Movil, AT&T in Mexico, Celcom Axiata Berhad, Freedom Mobile, Oi, Telia Company, Telefonica, Deutsche Telekom, Globe Telecom, Orange, Rogers Communications, Sprint, and Telenor Group
  • Smartphone makers: Google, TCL/Alcatel/Blackberry, Transsion, BLU, Positivo, Multilaser, Mobiwire, Azumi, Essential, Huawei, LG, Archos, BQ, Cherry Mobile, Condor, Fly, General Mobile, HMD Global — Home of Nokia Phones, HTC, Kyocera, Lanix, Lava, Micromax, Motorola, MyPhone, QMobile, Sony Mobile, Symphony, Vodafone, Wiko, ZTE

That’s not bad, especially given Google has only been at this for two years. But key players — like the top two smartphone makers, Samsung and Apple — are still missing, not to mention a slew of major carriers.

While Google continues to add partners, it isn’t sharing estimates on how many RCS messages are actually being sent. Google is instead talking about the potential of its partnerships, which it says amount to “more than 1.8 billion mobile subscribers worldwide.”

Even if both your phone and your carrier support RCS, which is already a stretch, chances are you aren’t using it. The reason for this is simple: The recipient also has to be using a phone and carrier that supports RCS.

Realistically, you’re using Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, WeChat, or any number of the various messaging apps out there.

RCS could turn into brand hell

Can you imagine if any of today’s successful messaging apps let businesses spam users in their early days, long before you and your friends had embraced them? There is no way these apps would have the billions of users they have today.

Already most of Android users’ communications with their friends happens outside of Android Messages. If your first interaction with RCS is a business message, you’re going to be even less likely to use it yourself. If Google doesn’t realize this and adjust accordingly, chances are all your RCS communications will be from businesses, a horrible experience if you’re trying to compete with all the messaging apps that already significantly augment texting.

It doesn’t matter if those RCS messages are engaging, useful, or even cute. They’re going to be seen as annoying, ads, or even spam.

(It could be that this is exactly what Google wants, given that the majority of its revenue comes from advertising. I don’t believe that, however, as RCS has way too much potential and requires a disproportionate effort to grow if it’s just going to be used for marketing purposes.)

I could see a future where Android Messages, or maybe even texting in general, is simply accepted as a way of communicating with businesses and brands. Third-party messaging apps will be for everything else.

That’s not going to help RCS adoption. Google needs to significantly slow down its business push if it wants RCS to make a difference.

You can’t spam your way into organic growth.

Update at 11:25 a.m. Pacific: Google wants to make clear that businesses will not be able to easily spam users with RCS.

“With our Early Access Program we review each campaign to ensure messages are not spam,” a Google spokesperson told VentureBeat. “It’s also important to note, these business messages are ones that people have specifically opted into receiving and they can opt-out at any time. As we continue to grow, we will have policies that prohibit spam and both automated and manual mechanisms to protect users.”

ProBeat is a column in which Emil rants about whatever crosses him that week.

Xiaomi and Microsoft team up on AI, cloud computing, and PCs

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 10:12 AM PST


Xiaomi and Microsoft announced today that they’re deepening a previously established partnership to encompass work on cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and PC hardware. Thus far, the two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding, pledging to evaluate future avenues of collaboration.

It’s good news for Microsoft, since Xiaomi is a fast-growing company with a strong presence in China that’s looking to build its business outside its home market. As Xiaomi rises, several key Microsoft products could benefit, including its Azure cloud platform and Cortana virtual assistant.

Xiaomi said in a press release that it is evaluating potential use of Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to support its ambition of reaching customers worldwide. Right now, the company uses Microsoft’s cloud computing regions in China (which are operated by a local company) to power its Mi Cloud service.

Speaking of Azure, the two companies are also working together on projects that use Microsoft’s AI capabilities, like the company’s computer vision and natural language APIs. It’s unclear what those will entail in practice, however.

Xiaomi is also talking to Microsoft about integrating Cortana into the Mi AI Speaker, a Bluetooth smart speaker that theoretically supports English commands but doesn’t seem to do well with them in practice. Microsoft’s virtual assistant already speaks Chinese, so integrating that service with Xiaomi’s product could provide it with new life outside the company’s home market.

An integration with Cortana may also help Xiaomi compete locally with Baidu, which is pushing its DuerOS virtual assistant platform inside China.

On top of all that, Xiaomi will also work with Microsoft to support the future launch of laptop and “laptop-type” devices in international markets. Microsoft is expected to provide joint marketing, channel support, and product development help as Xiaomi pushes out new hardware products.

The company is no stranger to the PC market, but this deal might help it pick up additional buyers.

This partnership builds on a 2016 deal that saw Xiaomi agree to ship Microsoft Office and Skype on its Android smartphones, along with an intellectual property agreement between the two firms.

Rainbow Six: Siege’s Outbreak horde mode is a smart fit

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 10:06 AM PST


As Ubisoft prepares to launch its third season, Rainbow Six: Siege is more popular than ever. But the publisher is introducing something outside of the tactical shooter’s core asymmetrical multiplayer with its new Outbreak mode. Unlike the head-to-head gameplay that has helped Siege grow to 25 million players, Outbreak has players teaming up for a cooperative horde mode.

Outbreak launches soon on the live servers, but I tried it out on the Rainbow Six: Siege test server on PC. It is a three-player mode where you team up with friends or random strangers to take on waves of zombie-like aliens. As in the competitive mode, you get to play as one of Rainbow Six hero characters, and their special powers help you survive this situation.

If you’ve played a horde mode in Gears of War, Call of Duty: Zombies, or any number of other games, you know the basic setup here. What’s nice, though, is that Siege was already a game about setting up (or infiltrating) defensive positions. So a lot of your skills translate to this more action-packed mission. For example, I played as Kapakan, who can set up booby traps on doorways and windows. This helped me take out a couple of zombies as they entered the objective area, but it maybe wasn’t as useful as setting up fortifications like wood panels on entrances and reinforced steel barriers on walls.

But unlike Call of Duty’s Zombies mode, you aren’t holding down one place for a long time. Once a wave is over, you get to freely explore the level to find the next position.

The bulk of the action, however, comes down to shooting enemies before they can disable your bomb. You need to defend that explosive so it can destroy some weird alien tentacle thing, and your gadgets will only go so far. The key to your survival definitely comes down to how capable you are at getting headshots.

I never got into Call of Duty: Zombies or Gears of War Horde Mode. While I enjoyed my time with Outbreak, it’s not going to pull me away from Siege proper. For those of you who love that kind of cooperative play, this new mode is a fun entry in that tradition.

U.S. urges Australia not to trust Huawei and China with its 5G network

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 09:58 AM PST


Pointedly expanding its efforts to address Chinese cybersecurity threats, the United States today urged Australia to keep Huawei equipment out of its 5G networks, reports Australia’s Financial Review. U.S. lawmakers and security agencies previously lobbied top U.S. carriers to cut ties with Huawei, but today’s discussions with Australia reach well beyond American borders, suggesting the potentially global scale of the 5G security risk.

According to the report, the heads of the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security personally briefed Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on “U.S. concerns about Chinese involvement in 5G networks,” including “security risks posed by Huawei’s potential involvement.” The report said that “Beijing’s cyber espionage was among the ‘top two’ risks on the U.S.-Australia cyber security agenda,” as Huawei is beholden to the Chinese government, and allowing China to gain control of a 5G network could enable it to control “everything.”

In addition to benefiting from Chinese government funding, Huawei’s organization includes a Chinese government committee for reasons the company apparently has not explained. U.S. officials have long suggested that the company’s hardware could include backdoors, permitting Chinese government monitoring of users’ communications, and eventually controlling public infrastructure in the 5G era. Even without a major role in the U.S. market, however, Huawei has grown to become the largest telecommunications manufacturer in the world, and it’s worked with many leading companies on both mobile devices and standards.

Australia’s government has been concerned about Huawei for years. The country banned Huawei from bidding on building its high-speed national broadband network in 2012, and renewed the ban in 2013 even after Turnbull — at that point the Communications Minister for a recently elected coalition government — supported a review. Briefings from Australian national security agencies convinced the new government to maintain the ban.

Despite government concerns, Huawei has continued to lobby for a role in the Australian market, and has recently forged deals with carriers Optus and Vodafone. Huawei was included in an Australian Department of Communications 5G working group late last year, and carrier Optus promised this month to become Australia’s first 5G carrier in early 2019, using some Huawei equipment.

In statements, Optus said that it “saw no need for the type of Government intervention that is reportedly being considered in other jurisdictions,” and Vodafone said that it “has rigorous controls in place to ensure all statutory and regulatory requirements, and best practice security standards, are met and maintained.” It’s unclear whether Australia’s government will completely freeze Huawei out, but the report suggests that the company’s strong investments in 5G development have placed it ahead of European telecom hardware companies, making its offerings difficult to ignore.

1,000 Dreams Fund and Twitch launch charity event for women streamers

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 09:00 AM PST


The nonprofit 1,000 Dreams Fund (1DF) is celebrating Women’s History Month with its Twitch BroadcastHER Grant for women creators who livestream. From March 1 to April 1, it has partnered with Twitch to run a charity stream that will feature 10 women broadcasters. The goal is to encourage folks to donate to 1DF to contribute to the BroadcastHER Grant. The nonprofit also wants to use the event to raise awareness about the challenges women face when they seek financial support for creative projects.

The Twitch BroadcastHER Grant will run for two semesters, with respective deadlines of May 1 and October 1. Women who are either a Twitch Affiliate or Twitch Partner may apply, and the grant will be between $500 to $2,000. The funds aren’t meant to cover living costs, rather, they’re intended to be spent on travel to conventions or conferences, hardware upgrades, and educational material related to “creative or artistic pursuits.”

“Applicants have to meet our criteria but what we are most interested in is: What is her story, and how will this funding help?” said 1DF CEO Christie Garton in an email to GamesBeat. “That is what we focus on with all our grant-making decisions. There has to be a demonstration of financial need but what we are most interested in understanding is what is she doing now to reach her dreams in broadcasting and how can our grant help take her to the next level. A clear focus and explanation on what their ‘end goal’ is in broadcasting will be the difference-maker.”

1DF started in 2015, and it’s since awarded over $100,000 in aid to young women who are pursuing college or careers. Garton connected with members of the Twitch team and women broadcasters at last year’s TwitchCon, and the idea of running a charity stream was born. So far, it’s partnered with Twitch broadcasters Friskk, Gillyweedtv, and Theluckmusic for the Streams for Dreams event. Not all the women featured will have a focus on gaming, since the charity is meant to boost broadcasters in every category.

“These women are true entrepreneurs, boldly building brands and forging full-time careers in broadcasting,” said Garton. “Not surprisingly, many of the same challenges these women have faced are some of the same challenges women face when it comes to achieving equality in the workplace. From harassment to being overly judged to even making less money than their male counterparts, it runs the gamut. 1DF will actually be featuring the stories of a few of these female broadcasters and their interviews are quite eye-opening in terms of these challenges.”

India takes first 5G step after its 4G service is ranked world’s slowest

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 08:35 AM PST


Faced with atypically slow 4G cellular networks, India has taken its first step towards higher-speed 5G service, as leading Indian carrier Bharti Airtel and China’s Huawei have successfully completed India’s first 5G network trial. Last week, India committed to finalizing its 5G roadmap by this June and reportedly plans widespread 5G deployments in 2020.

Conducted in the city of Manesar near Delhi, the Bharti Airtel-Huawei 5G test achieved 3Gbps speeds and approximately 1 millisecond latency on the 3.5GHz band, which is said to be “the highest measured throughput for a mobile network in 3.5 GHz band with 100 MHz bandwidth.” Speeds of nearly 5Gbps have been achieved in 5G tests using other radio frequencies, but the cellular industry has focused on delivering performance of around 1Gbps per customer.

India’s moves towards 5G are significant because of the country’s huge population and unusually sluggish 4G networks. Bharti Airtel alone services over 290 million mobile customers, and even a young rival, Jio, has over 100 million customers. However, mobile industry analytics firm OpenSignal notes that India only experienced an “explosion” in 4G use last year, thanks largely to a free calling/cheap data price war sparked by Jio.

OpenSignal’s February 2018 global LTE report ranked India dead last in 4G speeds, despite great availability of 4G signals around the country. Indian customers could expect average 4G speed of only 6.07Mbps — 10Mbps lower than the global average, and one-seventh as fast as leading 4G country Singapore. Viewed in perspective, Indian customers in 2018 have mobile internet speeds akin to what U.S. customers experienced during the 2010-2011 transition from 3G to 4G networks.

According to The Economic Times, Indian carriers previously urged the government to “go slow” on auctioning 5G spectrum, as Jio’s price war led to massive debts. But Bharti Airtel is pushing forward with the new technology.

“The promise of 5G is endless,” said Bharti Airtel network director Abhay Savargaonkar. “It will be a game changer, and it will change the way we live, work, and engage. We look forward to working closely with our partners for developing a robust 5G ecosystem in India.”

Google launches ARCore out of preview, will expand Lens to Android and iOS devices

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 08:00 AM PST


Ahead of Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, Google today launched ARCore 1.0, letting developers create AR experiences on Android. Releasing ARCore out of preview means developers can publish apps that can understand your environment, and place objects in it, on the Google Play store. Google today also announced plans to expand its Google Lens feature in Google Assistant and Google Photos to more devices “in the coming weeks.”

ARCore is an Android software development kit (SDK) that brings augmented reality to existing and future Android phones without requiring additional sensors or hardware. The first preview was released in August, and the second preview arrived in December.

100 million ARCore devices

When Google first announced ARCore, the company promised to have ARCore support 100 million devices with the launch of version 1.0. Google says it has now delivered on that promise: “ARCore works on 100 million Android smartphones, and advanced AR capabilities are available on all of these devices.”

The 100 million figure boils down to just 13 Android smartphones (Android 7.0 Nougat or above is required unless otherwise specified): Google Pixel, Google Pixel XL, Google Pixel 2, Google Pixel 2 XL, Samsung Galaxy S8, Samsung Galaxy S8+, Samsung Galaxy Note8, Samsung Galaxy S7, Samsung Galaxy S7 edge, LG V30 (Android Oreo required), LG V30+ (Android Oreo required), Asus Zenfone AR, and the OnePlus 5.

But Google isn’t stopping there. The company says it has partnered with Android manufacturers to ensure that their devices coming out this year will support ARCore. The company named Samsung, Huawei, LGE, Motorola, ASUS, Xiaomi, HMD/Nokia, ZTE, Sony Mobile, and Vivo.

The team also made a special effort to call out China as its next target. “We’ll be supporting ARCore in China on partner devices sold there — right now, that’s Huawei and Xiaomi — to enable them to distribute AR apps through their app stores,” Google announced today.

New ARCore features

In addition to supporting more devices, ARCore 1.0 brings improvements to make the development process faster and easier, including better environmental understanding that enables users to place virtual assets on any textured surfaces, like posters, furniture, toy boxes, books, cans, and so on. Android Studio 3.1 Beta now supports ARCore in the emulator, so developers can quickly test apps right on their desktop.

To highlight the latest use cases, Google has partnered with a few developers to showcase their plans to use AR in their apps. Snapchat has an immersive FC Barcelona Camp Nou stadium experience, Sotheby’s International Realty lets you visualize different room interiors inside your home, Porsche puts its Mission E Concept vehicle right in your driveway, and Otto lets you place pieces from an exclusive set of furniture in your room. Sony says its Ghostbusters World is “coming soon,” though not in time for the 1.0 launch. In China, Easyhome Homestyler lets you place over 100,000 pieces around your home, JD.com allows you to figure out whether appliances will fit, and NetEase has a bunch of AR games.

Developers will want to check out the SDK updates available on GitHub: Android, Unity, and Unreal.

Google Lens expansion coming soon

Google Lens may still be in preview, but Google plans to expand its availability for both Google Assistant and Google Photos “in the coming weeks.” The feature, which was first announced at the company’s I/O 2017 developer conference in May, uses computer vision to quickly recognize objects, businesses, and other things around you. The functionality has only been available in Google Assistant and Google Photos on Google Pixel devices.

Google Photos for Android and iOS will get Lens built-in so that when you take a picture, you get more information about what’s in your photo. The feature will be limited to English-language users; Android users will need the latest version of the app, while Apple users will also need iOS 9 and newer.

Google Assistant for Android will get live camera-based Lens functionality on “compatible flagship devices” from Samsung, Huawei, LG, Motorola, Sony, and HMD/Nokia. The update will be available for English-language users in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Singapore, Spain, the U.K., and the U.S.

Since launch, Google has added text selection features, the ability to create contacts and events from a photo in one tap, and other improvements to Lens. Google Lens can automatically create contact information from a business card, scan barcodes, or even recognize landmarks, video games, movies, books, and other works of art. Google promises it will soon be able to “identify the breed of a cute dog you saw in the park” — the feature will gain improved support for recognizing common animals and plants in the coming weeks.

While they target completely different use cases — ARCore is all about letting Android developers build augmented reality experiences and Lens is a Google service powered by AI and computer vision — they both make your smartphone camera smarter. You can expect a lot more of this type of evolution in the next few years, and not just from Google.

The DeanBeat: Microsoft’s Phil Spencer steps up as a diversity leader

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 08:00 AM PST


Phil Spencer, executive vice president of gaming at Microsoft, spoke from the heart about diversity and being a leader in building a better culture at the company at the opening of the elite game conference, the DICE Summit, this week in Las Vegas. I was proud to see a leader of the game industry and one of the top people at Microsoft call for the game industry to do a better job embracing inclusiveness.

Spencer, who joined Microsoft as an intern a couple of decades ago, delivered this message in a personal way. Spencer noted how he was stopped by a man in a wheelchair once at the Brasil Game Show. The man said that the Xbox was his outlet, the truest expression of himself in the world, where he could play as an equal with everyone else on Xbox Live.

“It’s one of those lightning bolt moments that change you,” he said.

Above: Phil Spencer talks about moments that change you.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

Spencer also had a moment of failure in 2016 at the Game Developers Conference, when Microsoft sponsored a party that offended many women (and men) because it featured scantily clad go-go dancers. Spencer had to apologize for the “unequivocally wrong” mistake. Spencer said he took the blame because “it is a leader’s job to take the hit” and learn from failure.

“The backlash was furious,” he said. “Internal backlash was even harder.”

He said those events, one of inspiration about the accessibility of games, and another about a blind spot that made people feel unwelcome, were both part of learning how to evolve the company’s culture so that it can embrace diversity and find a way to deliver games to more of the world’s population.

Spencer’s father was a chemical engineer, and he gave his kids a Sinclair computer when they were young. They played and built games together on that computer. In 1997, Spencer got hooked on the game Ultima Online, one of the earliest massively multiplayer fantasy online role-playing games.

“It was a fully imagined world, a living world,” Spencer said.

Game companies have excelled at creating worlds for gamers, taking the intersection of art and science and making magic out of it, Spencer said. He talked about the amazing worlds of games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Uncharted, Halo, and Minecraft.

Above: Phil Spencer runs all of gaming at Microsoft.

Image Credit: AIAS

But he noted how Microsoft lost its way, as employees were demoralized as the company missed major trends in the tech industry.

“Morale hit a low,” he said. “We were massively frustrated we kept missing big trends.”

Inside the company, there was a tradition of infighting and fiefdoms, Spencer said. In meetings, the goal seemed like to prove you were the smartest person in the room, and quieter voices were often ignored. Spencer said it would have been better to reward the person who was the most curious in the room.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took over four years ago and started initiatives to change Microsoft’s culture.

“We hit refresh on everything,” he said. “Going from a know-it-all culture to a learn-it-all culture.”

Spencer said Nadella wants to make Microsoft a safe and inclusive place for all, with a culture designed for “collective impact” where all employees are on board with the mission of achieving greater diversity. That’s not easy, and it has seemed painfully slow at times, Spencer said. At the time, Microsoft was losing market share in games, and employees wondered if the company had become tone-deaf when it came to communicating with and understanding game fans.

“I had to win back customers, and win back my team’s trust,” he said.

Above: Phil Spencer believes we can top 2 billion gamers and more.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

During this time, he said Microsoft started becoming a place where people can embrace inclusiveness when it comes to gender, race, ability, and geography.

“Four years into it, we are still taking actions and changing behaviors,” he said. “We are learning how to figure this out. Every success or failure helps us discern the best of who we are. It enables our best work.”

Instead of jumping to conclusions, Spencer said it is OK in this process to ask questions and to listen.

“Ask the quietest people in the room what they are thinking,” he said. “I make sure I hear their ideas. Often the best insights come from the quiet ones. How can I bring the entire team along so we can deliver success together? Am I building a world where all of us can thrive and achieve more.”

Studies have shown that women who speak up aren’t trusted as much as men who do. And studies have shown that diverse teams get better results, Spencer said. A more diverse team can create games that are suitable for a more diverse audience.

Yet gaming culture isn’t always inclusive, and that has to change, Spencer said. Online harassment is common in games, and those who are harassed tell their friends about their experiences and discourage others from deciding to play games.

The goals are to build empathy and trust, create accountability, develop a growth mindset, listen and amplify, and stand by leadership principles. Spencer said that one estimate is that gaming will top 2 billion gamers worldwide in three years, and the job at hand is to organize the industry and the company to prepare for this massive opportunity.”

“We have the responsibility to make gaming for everyone,” he said. “Gaming has the unique ability to bring people together. Gaming is the only art form where you walk in someone else’s shoes.”

He noted that movies like Black Panther are breaking through in showing that “representation matters,” and the “power of story is greater than the power of conversation.” He added, “The pen might be mightier than the sword. But today I believe the pixel is mightier than the pen.”

I thought that it was an excellent speech. I told Spencer it was good to see a leader in games step up in such a major way. But I also wondered why he didn’t include more examples of progress or how Microsoft was truly changing games and its teams. Why didn’t he include stats on the game staff’s make-up?

He absorbed my feedback, and he said that he didn’t want any part of the speech to come off as a victory lap or come off as something like bragging about results. He didn’t want to bring up only Microsoft examples, and so he pointed to Black Panther.

Above: Phil Spencer of Microsoft embraces diversity the DICE Summit.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

I talked to a number of DICE attendees who were impressed with what Spencer said. But one white male told me that he had always hired people based on merit, period. Why should he consider anything else? How can he hire diverse people if the pool of candidates is small, because women and minorities self-select to do something else instead of learning the craft of making games?

I asked him if he could answer questions about his focus on merit. Did he ask his friends for job candidates, and were his friends all white males? Did he seek out diverse friends who might have diverse candidates? I think that made him think.

And I think that is a wonderful result.

Apple’s AirPower wireless charging pad will reportedly ship in March

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 06:51 AM PST


Apple’s wireless charging pad AirPower will likely ship in March, according to a new report from the generally reliable Japanese blog MacOtakara. While Apple pre-announced the multi-device Qi charging accessory last September with an ambiguous 2018 release date, the blog suggests that its development cycle may have been prolonged due to special challenges in charging the Apple Watch Series 3.

AirPower is designed to simultaneously refuel 2017 or newer iPhones and Apple Watches, as well as 2016 AirPods when the devices are placed inside an upcoming wireless charging case. Although the concept seems simple — place up to three devices wherever you want on the white pill-shaped surface — the engineering was apparently difficult. For one thing, iPhones demand more power than AirPods and Apple Watches, and any of the devices might be placed anywhere on the pad.

MacOtakara suggests that extra engineering was needed to enable Apple Watch Series 3 charging using the Qi-based AirPower. The Apple Watch’s convex back was originally designed only to charge with non-Qi concave magnetic chargers, versus a flat Qi surface. AirPower apparently uses a special radio signal to detect the latest Apple Watch and enable it to charge over Qi — a feature that “can be used only by Apple,” according to the report.

Apple has not divulged pricing for AirPower, but some have speculated that the pad may sell for an astounding $199, based on a placeholder price listed last November on a Polish website. The Apple Store currently sells Apple-made wireless Apple Watch charging cables for $29 and third-party wireless iPhone charging pads for $60, suggesting that a three-device charger would likely go for less. AirPower is expected to be available simultaneously in Apple and third-party retail stores.

Google Assistant to add over 30 languages and multilingual support by the end of 2018

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 06:00 AM PST


Google Assistant will soon be able to complete multiple tasks with a single command, speak more than 30 languages, and allow people to use more than one language with their AI assistant. The news comes days before Mobile World Congress, which begins Monday in Barcelona, Spain.

"The Assistant is already available in eight languages, and by the end of the year it will be available in more than 30 languages, reaching 95 percent of all eligible Android phones worldwide," Google VP of product Nick Fox said today in a blog post.

Recently added languages include Hindi, while Russian support appears to be on the way.

Multilingual support that allows people to speak more than one language to Google Assistant is also planned for later this year, starting with English, French, and German.

The addition of multilingual support is sure to help users who, for example, speak more than one language at home or feel most comfortable verbalizing commands in more than one language. Giving users the ability to speak more than one language may help Google understand how to best make voice computing services fit the natural way people speak in different regions around the world.

Also coming in the weeks ahead are Routines to complete multiple tasks with a single utterance. First announced last fall, Routines will allow you to do things like turn on the lights, read your reminders, and play your music. Beginning with commands like "Hey Google, I'm home," Google Assistant will be able to respond to Routines for situations like when you’re on your way to work, on your way home, and arrive home.

Prior to the emergence of Google Assistant Routines, the My Day feature for a calendar rundown, traffic report, and latest news was the only multi-action feature available for Google Assistant.

Amazon first brought multitask Routines to Alexa last fall.

The ability to create location-based reminders with a Google Home smart speaker will also become available in the weeks ahead so you can say things like “Remind me to print my report when I get to work.” Location-based reminders were previously made available for smartphones.

Finally, the Assistant Mobile OEM program to give mobile device makers ways to build deeper integrations with Google Assistant and integrate emerging tech like AI chips was also announced today.

Since its debut in 2016, Google Assistant has spread from the Allo chat app and Google Home speaker to Android smartphones and tablets, Android Auto, Android Wear, and Pixelbooks. Google Assistant is rumored to be coming next to Chromebooks, a move that would give educators the opportunity to extend the AI assistant to their students, since half of all primary and secondary students in the United States use Chromebooks.

Meet Sony’s first full screen smartphones: Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 05:27 AM PST


As more and more manufacturers have adopted nearly bezel-less, 18:9 displays and have even begun to move them downmarket, Sony Mobile has remained stubbornly attached to generous top and bottom bezels throughout its lineup. That will end  Sunday, on the eve of Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress, when the company introduces its first pair of redesigned flagships: the Xperia XZ2 (pictured below) and XZ2 Compact.

According to a person who spent time with the devices, the 5.7-inch XZ2 and its 5.0-inch little brother boast largely the same features, with a few caveats. At the heart of these Android 8.0.0 Oreo-powered handsets is Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line system-on-a-chip for 2018: the Snapdragon 845 (also expected in some variants of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+).

The XZ2 sports 3D glass on both faces of its aluminum frame, with the front offering a larger screen-to-body ratio than any previous Xperia. Its glossy finish comes in four different colors — black, silver, green, and pink — and is contrasted by the non-scratch polycarbonate finish on the XZ2 Compact. Both models’ full HD LCDs are protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 5.

Around back is the same 19-megapixel, f/1.8 camera setup found on the XZ Premium, capable of 4K HDR recording and super-slow motion capture in Full HD resolution. The camera component layout is slightly different on the XZ2 Compact. As with the Xperia XA2 and XA2 Ultra, which debuted at CES, the backs of these models now also house a fingerprint scanner, unseating it from the power button.

“S Force” stereo speakers adorn the front face of the phones, and XZ2 (but not Compact) supplements the audio with a haptic feedback system that syncs up vibrations to the sound.

Certified for ingress protection, XZ2 features a 3180mAh battery that’s chargeable either via USB-C or wirelessly, while XZ2 Compact has a smaller, 2870mAh pack and only wired charging.

Tune in on February 26, 8:30 a.m. Barcelona time, to learn pricing and release specifics (although the devices should be available sometime in March).

Split raises $17 million to help companies test new software features with targeted groups

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 04:30 AM PST


Split, a platform that allows companies to experiment with new product features, has raised $17 million in a series B round of funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Accel Partners and Harmony Partners.

Founded in 2015 out of Redwood City, California, Split offers a feature experimentation platform designed to help engineering and product teams test new features with a select, focused group of end users. This allows them to release multiple versions of the same feature simultaneously, or perhaps test new features for groups of customers on a specific subscription plan. Split gives companies data and analytics to measure the impact of planned improvements and upgrades.

Split had previously raised around $10 million in funding, and with another $17 million in the bank, the company said it plans to grow its engineering team and “expand its go-to market operations” across the U.S. The latest round comes just a few months after Split officially launched its product to the public.

The broader software testing market is a $34 billion industry globally, and many companies exist to ensure that products perform as they should when they ship to the public. Just this week, two ex-Googlers launched Mabl to bring machine learning to software testing. However, Split nestles in a different segment in that it’s less about bug-finding than it is about identifying and fine-tuning core improvements before they’re considered for inclusion in a final product. Similar companies include A/B testing platform Optimizely, which had raised around $150 million in funding before it was acquired by investment firm Vista Equity Partners six months ago.

“What gives any organization a competitive advantage today is access to their real-time metrics — the ability to monitor, target, and correlate these metrics and to extract value and insights from them,” noted Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Arif Janmohamed. “Split is building the strongest team in the industry to reimagine what experimentation means for agile software delivery and data-driven product development.”

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How Kayak stays ahead of the game with AI (VB Live)

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 04:10 AM PST


Practical use cases for AI are delivering concrete, powerful business results, from reducing customer service costs to reliably helping deliver what a customer wants, when they want it and where. It’s time to get AI-savvy to keep your competitive edge. Join Kayak’s chief scientist and others at this VB Live event to learn how.

Register here for free.


“Data science is the core of Kayak,” says Matthias Keller, chief scientist at travel booking giant Kayak.  Since its inception, Kayak has used machine learning to improve the experience on their sites behind the scenes. Machine learning powers everything from sorting recommendations to uncovering the best prices at any given moment to recommending the best flights for your buck. But now they’re entering a new domain with natural language processing and computer vision.

With NLP, the company can process hundreds of thousands of user-generated hotel and flight reviews, condense them into a few snippets that capture the general essence of them all, and sort each item into the buckets users are searching for. NLP is also powering Kayak’s march into AI integration with chat bots and assistants such as Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Slack, Facebook Messenger, and more, in multiple languages via both voice and text.

In other words, you can now ask Alexa, ‘Is my flight on time?’ in Spanish, and get the status, the gate, and more.

It happened organically, Keller says.

“Our project didn't even start with saying, ‘We want to build an Alexa skill,'” he explains. “Our project started with, ‘We want to be able to understand natural language in the travel domain.'”

It began with building a piece of software that was able to understand conversational requests like, ‘I want a flight to San Francisco on Sunday for three days.’ And the team wasn’t even initially very sure where to put this type of system. They learned quickly that it wouldn’t be a good fit for web pages, but soon found a great fit in Slack and then Amazon Alexa. And it’s getting more sophisticated every day.

“We’re trying to make the assistant smarter, more personalized, more transactional, allowing you to book real trips, knowing who you are, knowing what you're up to,” Keller says. “When you say, I have to be at this meeting, in a perfect world it would look in your calendar and know where that meeting is and find you a hotel next to the meeting.”

The vision is to ensure that the variety of ways a user can interact with Kayak become perfectly synchronized — from searching the websites to getting on the mobile app to using Alexa or Google Assistant or Facebook Messenger bots.

“All these devices should be able to understand context and know everything about what you've been doing,” Keller says.

For example, you start to search for a flight on your browser, and then you should be able to continue the conversation with Alexa while you wash dishes, checking prices and daydreaming about Hawaii. These connections are all intended, ideally, to create a personalized experience that keeps the user coming back for more — the perpetual challenge of getting the right information packed up in the right format at the right time, helping the user get done exactly what the user wants to get done.

The tricky part is ensuring that the responses measure up, Keller says. There's the eternal issue of the consumer’s limited attention span — you can't keep up an endless conversation about things that the user doesn't want to have or that are out of context.

“We're realistic here,” Keller says. “You're not going to use our Alexa skill because you want to have a conversation. You're going to use it because you want to get something done.”

Today, it's finding out if your flight is on time, or checking prices; in the future, it’ll be asking Alexa to rebook your flights and reserve a car for you.

They’re not stopping there, Keller says. AI opens up the possibilities of information crowdsourcing — for instance, ways to assess the wait times at airports from our users in the Kayak app, to algorithms that help them understand which 10 different ways a traveler can get from one side of the airport to the other, and which is most effective in what situation and when.

“We want to do fundamentally new things in how we get and process this data to get actionable results to users that can help them tremendously during travel,” he adds.

To learn more about AI use cases that can transform your business, and how to get started, join this VB Live event featuring Forrester Senior Analyst Brandon Purcell and Kayak Chief Scientist Matthias Keller.


Don’t miss out!

Register now for free.


You'll learn:

  • What technologies fall under the AI umbrella
  • How companies like Kayak use AI to understand customers and personalize experiences
  • How to identify the right AI use case for your business
  • Common challenges firms face when implementing AI
  • Why AI's time in the sun has finally come, and why it's here to stay

Speakers:

  • Brandon Purcell, Senior Analyst, Forrester
  • Matthias Keller, Chief Scientist, Kayak
  • Pradeep Elankumaran, CEO and Co-Founder of Farmstead
  • Rachael Brownell, Moderator, VentureBeat

Samsung rescues data-saving privacy app Opera Max and relaunches it as Samsung Max

Posted: 23 Feb 2018 02:18 AM PST


Samsung has rescued Opera Software’s Opera Max data-saving, privacy-protecting Android app from oblivion and relaunched it today as Samsung Max.

Norwegian tech company Opera, which first became known for its desktop browser when it launched in 1995, has offered mobile browser apps across various platforms for years. But in 2014 it launched the standalone Opera Max app for Android to give its users more bang from their data plan, along with some VPN-like features. The app compresses data such as photos, music, and videos while promising "no noticeable loss of quality." Opera Max can also block background processes to conserve battery and data.

The app was given a number of new features over the past few years, but last August the company revealed it was pulling the plug on Opera Max once and for all. The reason, according to Opera at the time:

The product had a substantially different value proposition than our browser products, and represented a different focus for Opera. We, therefore, focus on our browsers and other upcoming services.

Opera delisted the app from Google Play, though it did state that the app would remain functional for a period of time and promised that it would inform existing users before terminating server-side functionality.

Well, it appears D-Day has come, and Samsung has stepped in to save the app. No details are available as to whether Samsung paid anything for the app, but given that Opera was going to shutter the service anyway, it’s likely Samsung paid very little — if anything — to take it over. VentureBeat has reached out to the companies and will update when, or if, we hear back.

Unfortunately, as with many Samsung apps, Samsung Max will only work on certain Samsung Galaxy-branded devices. So if you’ve been happily using Opera Max on a non-Samsung device for the past six months, the next update that rolls out will render the app useless for you.

Those with a compatible Samsung device will receive the new Samsung Max update automatically if they have Opera Max installed, and the app will also come preloaded on some devices in India, Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria, Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand, South Africa, and Vietnam. Everyone else (with a compatible Samsung device) will be able to download the Samsung Max app from Google Play or the Galaxy Apps store.

Above: Samsung Max: The app formerly known as Opera Max

Samsung Max is effectively the same as Opera Max, though the Korean technology giant said that it will “improve” the data-saving and privacy-protection modes, and it has also given the interface and UX a bit of a spit shine. It also looks like Samsung Max is no longer a VPN, instead offering a DNS masking service that doesn’t alter your IP address.

“All over the world, data has become a commodity, but many plans are simply still too expensive for consumers that want to get the most out of the latest technology built into their devices,” noted Seounghoon Oh, vice president for the Samsung R&D Institute in India. “With Samsung Max, our users in every corner of the globe now have increased autonomy and control over their data usage and privacy in an era of rising security threats, fraudulent apps, and user profiling.”

Samsung’s launch comes just a few months after Google launched Datally, an Android app that helps users track and conserve mobile data.

Intel withheld chip flaw info from U.S. government until after public leak

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 10:02 PM PST


(Reuters) — Intel did not inform U.S. cyber security officials of the so-called Meltdown and Spectre chip security flaws until they leaked to the public, six months after Alphabet notified the chipmaker of the problems, according to letters sent by tech companies to lawmakers on Thursday.

Current and former U.S. government officials have raised concerns that the government was not informed of the flaws before they became public because the flaws potentially held national security implications. Intel said it did not think the flaws needed to be shared with U.S. authorities as hackers had not exploited the vulnerabilities.

Intel did not tell the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team, better known as US-CERT, about Meltdown and Spectre until Jan. 3, after reports on them in online technology site The Register had begun to circulate.

US-CERT, which issues warnings about cyber security problems to the public and private sector, did not respond to a request for comment.

Details of when the chip flaws were disclosed were detailed in letters sent by Intel, Alphabet and Apple Inc on Thursday in response to questions from Representative Greg Walden, an Oregon Republican who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The letters were seen by Reuters.

Alphabet said that security researchers at its Google Project Zero informed chipmakers Intel, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and SoftBank Group Corp-owned ARM Holdings of the problems in June.

It gave the chipmakers 90 days to fix the issues before public disclosing them, standard practice in the cyber security industry intended to give the targets of bugs time to fix them before hackers can take advantage of the flaws.

Alphabet said it left the decision of whether to inform government officials of the security flaws up to the chipmakers, which is its standard practice.

Intel said it did not inform government officials because there was "no indication that any of these vulnerabilities had been exploited by malicious actors," according to its letter.

Intel also said it did not perform an analysis of whether the flaws might harm critical infrastructure because it did not think it could affect industrial control systems. But Intel said that it did inform other technology companies that use its chips of the issue, according to its letter.

Intel, Alphabet and Apple could not immediately be reached for comment.

AMD, ARM, Microsoft, and Amazon.com also responded to questions from lawmakers.

Microsoft said that it did inform several antivirus software makers about the flaws "several weeks" ahead of their public disclosure to give them time to avoid compatibility issues. AMD said that Alphabet extended the disclosure deadline from the standard 90 days twice, first to Jan. 3, then to Jan. 9.

Studio MDHR debuts with 3 big awards for Cuphead

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:25 PM PST


Cuphead was a hell of a hard game. I know that.

But Cuphead earned three major awards on Thursday night at the DICE Awards, the peer-voted awards staged by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. The debut title from Studio MDHR was nominated in five categories.

It was a tough game, with a focus on controlling analog sticks precisely at every moment of difficult boss fights.

The game was lovingly illustrated with hand-drawn art that was reminiscent of 1930s cartoons. So it was no surprise the game won for best achievement in animation. It also won for best original music and best art direction.

Above: Studio MDHR’s Maja Moldenhauer accepts award for best animation at DICE Awards.

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

Maja Moldenhauer, executive producer and artist on Cuphead, gave a talk at the DICE Summit, the elite gaming event co-located with the DICE Awards, about how tough it was to pull together a game studio and build the game that two brothers, Chad and Jared Moldenhauer, dreamed about building for a long time. They mortgaged their homes, quit their jobs, and signed up Microsoft’s ID@Xbox as a publisher.

“I got the call to talk here, and I thought, ‘I was a little bit confused. What am I going to teach these people? I’m a student here,” said Maja Moldenhauer, in an interview with GamesBeat. “It was from a fresh lens, fresh perspective. Not having made 20 years before, how did we pull it off? We had a view from the trenches.”

She said she didn’t want to romanticize the fairy tale of making the game, because it was so hard to do. She noted that the brothers wanted the game to be as hard as the games they grew up playing on their old Sega machines. Maja Moldenhauer’s role evolved as she, a financial analyst, realized that she could do a better job keeping them all on schedule.

“They weren’t going to compromise on that,” she said. “I tried to keep them on schedule. It was a good balance.”

DICE Awards Game of the Year — Nintendo cleans up with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:23 PM PST


Nintendo scored big at the DICE Awards, one of gaming’s biggest nights for honoring the best games of the year. Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild won Game of the Year.

The DICE Awards are selected by industry peers who are members of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, which has 33,000 members. The Legend of Zelda came away with four of the 24 awards, and Nintendo itself won 10 awards as either developer or publisher.

The game takes players on a world of adventure as they travel across vast fields, through forests and over mountain peaks as they discover what has become of the kingdom of Hyrule. It played a big role in the success of the launch of the Nintendo Switch hybrid home and portable game console.

Cuphead, developed by the tiny Canadian developer Studio MDHR, won three awards. Games honored with two awards each were Sony’s Horizon Zero Dawn, Ready At Dawn’s Lone Echo/Echo Arena, PUBG’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Nintendo Snipperclips.

Other top honorees were Fire Emblem Heroes for Mobile Game of the Year, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for Racing Game of the Year, Injustice 2 for Fighting Game of the Year, FIFA 18 for Sports Game of the Year, Snipperclips for the Sprite Award, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds for Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay.

"Every year, the DICE Awards brings the global interactive entertainment industry under one roof to recognize and honor the very best in video games – the games that captivated and inspired us, and kept us entertained for hours on end," said Meggan Scavio, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, in a statement. "On behalf of the Academy, I am thrilled to congratulate this year's winners of the 21st DICE Awards."

Above: If Betty Boop was an evil sea monster.

Image Credit: Microsoft

In addition to the awards for the industry's best games and creators from the previous year, the DICE Awards also celebrated Genyo Takeda, special corporate advisor at Nintendo, with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

He is the seventh recipient to receive the honor from the Academy. Takeda was recognized for having been at the forefront of shaping the video games hardware industry in his career-long tenure at Nintendo with the development of the Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube and the Wii system.

The 21st annual DICE Awards ceremony was co-hosted for the second time by Greg Miller, cofounder of internet video show and podcast Kinda Funny, and Jessica Chobot of Nerdist News. The show came at the end of the elite gaming event DICE Summit 2018 event in Las Vegas.

Here’s the full list:

Game of the Year

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo

Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo

Above: Aloy has guts in Horizon: Zero Dawn

Image Credit: Dean Takahashi

Outstanding Achievement in Game Design

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo

Immersive Reality Technical Achievement

Lone Echo/Echo Arena

Publisher: Oculus Studios
Developer: Ready At Dawn

Immersive Reality Game of the Year

Lone Echo/Echo Arena

Publisher: Oculus Studios
Developer: Ready At Dawn

Mobile Game of the Year

Fire Emblem Heroes

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Intelligent Systems and Nintendo

Handheld Game of the Year

Metroid: Samus Returns

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: MercurySteam and Nintendo

DICE Sprite Award

Snipperclips

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: SFB Games

Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

Publisher: Bluehole
Developer: PUBG Corporation

Above: If you team up, the action can get pretty intense in PUBG.

Image Credit: Microsoft/Bluehole

Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Publisher: Ubisoft Entertainment
Developer: Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris

Sports Game of the Year

FIFA 18

Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Electronic Arts

Role-Playing Game of the Year

NierR: Automata

Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: PlatinumGames

Racing Game of the Year

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo

Fighting Game of the Year

Injustice 2

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Developer: NetherRealm Studios

Family Game of the Year

Snipperclips

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: SFB Games

Adventure Game of the Year

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo

Action Game of the Year

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

Publisher: Bluehole
Developer: PUBG Corporation

Outstanding Technical Achievement

Horizon Zero Dawn

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Guerrilla Games

Outstanding Achievement in Story

Horizon Zero Dawn

Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Developer: Guerrilla Games

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design

Super Mario Odyssey

Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo

Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition

Cuphead

Publisher: StudioMDHR
Developer: StudioMDHR

Outstanding Achievement in Character

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice – Senua

Publisher: Ninja Theory
Developer: Ninja Theory

Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction

Cuphead

Publisher: StudioMDHR
Developer: StudioMDHR

Outstanding Achievement in Animation

Cuphead

Publisher: StudioMDHR
Developer: StudioMDHR

Nintendo’s Genyo Takeda gets lifetime achievement award at DICE Awards

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 09:06 PM PST


Genyo Takeda, 68, received the Lifetime Achievement award at the prestigious DICE Awards tonight during the DICE Summit elite gaming event in Las Vegas.

Takeda was honored for his work on generations of Nintendo game consoles, including the Nintendo 64, GameCube, and the Nintendo Wii.

He was formerly general manager of Nintendo’s Integrated Research & Development division, and was the co-representative director and technology fellow until he retired in 2017. He joined Nintendo in 1972 was started his work in R&D in 1981.

He was a game designer, creating things like the save system for The Legend of Zelda. He also created games such as Punch-Out! and StarTropics. And he made Nintendo’s first arcade game, EVR Race, in 1975.

He thanked Hiroshi Yamauchi, the now-deceased longtime CEO of Nintendo.

“He trusted me and gave me the opportunity to lead the technology effort at Nintendo,” Takeda said.

Humbly, he said he accepted the award on behalf of all of the engineers who worked on hardware consoles at all companies throughout the industry.

PlayStation Network is down again — Sony has engineers working on it

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 07:21 PM PST


Sony knows that you’re having trouble getting into some games on your PlayStation 4 this evening. The publisher has acknowledged an outage of its PlayStation Network service, and it has dispatched a team to get the servers back up and running. The company has updated the PSN status page to confirm the problem.

“You may have some difficulty launching games, applications, or online features,” reads Sony’s PSN page. “Our engineers are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible, and we thank you for your patience.”

If you are trying to get online in games like Monster Hunter: World, Call of Duty: WWII, or Fortnite, you may encounter errors making that connection. Your PS4 may also have issues booting into Netflix, Hulu, or other online streaming-video platforms.

This is already the fourth significant PSN outage so far in 2018. The service went offline for most users around the world twice at the end of January — once January 23 and again on January 26. Earlier this month, the network had issues on February 8, and now again today. Sony has not provided any details into what is causing PSN to have so many troubles.

Tonight’s outage does not seem widespread. Sony has confirmed the problem, but it seems like it is only affecting a small number of people, according to the number of complaints on social media. I’ll update when the service is back online for everyone.

Update at 8:10 p.m. Pacific: PSN is back up and running.

FCC publishes net neutrality order, and now the fight really begins

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 07:14 PM PST


Today, the FCC's so-called "Restoring Internet Freedom Order," which repealed the net neutrality protections the FCC had previously created with the 2015 Open Internet Order, has been officially published. That means the clock has started ticking on all the ways we can fight back.

While the rule is published today, it doesn't take effect quite yet. ISPs can't start blocking, throttling, or paid prioritization for a little while. So while we still have the protections of the 2015 Open Internet Order and we finally have a published version of the "Restoring Internet Freedom Order," it's time to act.

First, under the Congressional Review Act (CRA), Congress can reverse a change in regulation with a simple majority vote. That would bring the 2015 Open Internet Order back into effect. Congress has 60 working days—starting from when the rule is published in the official record—to do this. So those 60 days start now.

The Senate bill has 50 supporters, only one away from the majority it needs to pass. The House of Representatives is a bit further away. By our count, 114 representatives have made public commitments in support of voting for a CRA action. Now that time is ticking down for the vote, tell Congress to save the existing net neutrality rules.

Second, it is now unambiguous that the lawsuits of 22 states, public interest groups, Mozilla, and the Internet Association can begin. While the FCC decision said lawsuits had to wait ten days until after the official publication, there was some question about whether federal law said something else. So while some suits have already been filed, with the 10-day counter from the FCC starting, it's clear that lawsuits can begin.

And, of course, states and other local governments continue to move forward on their own measures to protect net neutrality. 26 state legislatures are considering net neutrality legislation and five governors have issued executive orders on net neutrality. EFF has some ideas on how state law can stand up to the FCC order. Community broadband can also ensure that net neutrality principles are enacted on a local level. For example, San Francisco is currently looking for proposals to build an open-access network that would require net neutrality guarantees from any ISP looking to offer services over the city-owned infrastructure.

So while the FCC's vote in December was in direct contradiction to the wishes of the majority of Americans, the publishing of that order means that action can really start to be taken.

This story originally appeared on the EFF’s blog.

Faceit brings the U.K. its first Counter-Strike: Global Offensive major

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 06:17 PM PST


U.K. esports fans will have more to look forward to than just tuning into see how the London Spitfire are doing in the Overwatch League. Esports platform Faceit is bringing the biggest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament to the U.K. later this year. The CS: GO Major will see 24 teams competing for a $1 million prize pool. The finals will take place from September 20 to September 23 at the SSE Arena, Wembley in London.

Faceit has hosted competitions for other games like Rocket League, but its roots lie in CS: GO. Faceit has previously hosted the open qualifiers for CS: GO Majors, but for its U.K. effort, it will be running all qualifiers and events on its platform. It also created and runs the annual  Esports Championship Series tournament, which awards $3 million in prizes. Last year, YouTube snapped up exclusivity rights to broadcast that competition.

CS: GO is one of the most popular esports games in a market that is slated to hit $906 million in revenue this year. It draws a large audience on livestreaming sites like Twitch. In 2017, the Eleague Major 2017 Grand Final saw over a million concurrent viewers at its peak. Faceit’s London Major will be the second one this year; Eleague’s Boston Major concluded on January 28 with Cloud9 taking home the gold.

Discord offers esports teams Verified Servers

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 04:17 PM PST


Discord is expanding its Verified Servers program to include esports teams and leagues. The company has already welcomed game developers and musicians to start official channels on the powerful chat app. Now, fans of Team Liquid and Cloud 9 can find the online homes for those squads on Discord to connect with their favorite players and fellow fans.

The esports expansion hits Discord today with 20 new verified servers for its 90 million members. This should simplify community management for these teams that thrive on a deeply engaged audience.

“When it came to making a decision on what social communication tools to use for community, Discord was the obvious choice,” Team Liquid co-chief executive officer Steve Arhancet said in a statement. “It’s where all the gamers are. And, it is the only social messaging app that allows for a real-time back-and-forth between the teams and the fans. Our Discord server is the official hub for Liquid fans, players, and staff; and host to our pro team events.”

Like verification on other social platform, verified esports teams on Discord get a check mark to let fans know they’re legitimate. This should give fans the confidence to join and start sharing stories about their favorite pro League of Legend play.

Esports organization DreamHack, which holds regular events around the world, is also getting a verified server.

“At DreamHack we had always used IRC to communicate with our communities until Discord came around,” DreamHack chief technology officer Markus Viitamäki said. “Today we've more or less moved away from IRC to only use Discord. With our server verified our community knows where to find us and can be confident it's actual DreamHack personnel answering their questions.”

Mixed reality analytics are critical for VR/AR startups

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 03:40 PM PST


As I wrote back in June, startups in the VR/AR space are wading through a shroud of mystery as to when the industry's winter will give way to widespread traction and mainstream adoption. I also offered an example of an exceptional case earlier this month about how a UK-based startup, VirtualSpeech, meandered through a series of different combinations of product-market fits and revenue models until they were able to spot an intersection with a traditional industry that delivered a revenue positive outcome.

Unfortunately, most of VirtualSpeech's peers aren't (or weren't) so lucky, which in most cases isn't owing to any particular failing on their part per se, but is rather a consequence of facing the market reality of a long and perhaps overextended hype cycle. That the landscape is murky is a continual fact of existence for the industry at this point in time, but the fog does seem to be starting to clear.

"The reality is, we are dealing with a distinct situation where a lots of capital was invested in hardware and then more capital was injected into content under the presumption that content is King." Benjamin Durham, the chief operating officer at Thrillbox, an immersive streaming data management platform, told me. "However, we are now learning that the consumer is King. Not content. What is interesting, that we as a community must work towards understanding, is why the retention is so difficult."

When the customer is king in a murky market landscape, the priority has to be on doubling your efforts on how to approach the task of understanding your end-users, head to toe and inside out, which in this case means employing mixed reality analytics tools and methods to track their behaviors and interactions within an immersive setting. The problem, however, is that the majority of VR/AR startups appear to be altogether missing, lacking, ignoring, or even actively avoiding the effective use of this new breed of intelligence and performance tools that are inherently designed for comprehending the dynamics of user interactions in 3D worlds.

Shifting the mindset, yesterday

One factor at play is that we have a generation of teams with backgrounds in 2D web, native, and mobile applications entering the scene as the pioneers of an emerging tech that intends to disrupt traditional industries. What's ironic is that these same would-be disruptors tend to overlook the fact that in order to approach the task, effectively, they have to simultaneously let go of the old tool-kits and practices that served them so well when their products were indeed 2D. It's the catch-22 that forces old habits to die hard.

I asked CEOs of two mixed reality analytics platforms to illustrate what the actual tally is of startups that are equipped with the right sort of analytics to navigate through the landscape intelligently. While Alexander Haque at Retinad believes the number of startups that actively use mixed reality analytics in a "rigorous, methodological and effective way" to be between 10 percent to 15 percent, Lucas Toohey at ObserVR scores it below 5 percent.

Above: Retinad's virtual reality analytics platform

Image Credit: Retinad's virtual reality analytics platform

Either way, that makes for a major blind spot, which is understandable given we're still somewhat in the cowboy days of founders following their guts and intuitions, but it inevitably leaves them incredibly vulnerable as they navigate blindly without the right tools to intimately understand the operative dynamics at work between users and the immersive solutions or experiences on stage. In an industry where the products and user interfaces are in constant flux in lieu of any industry standards, understanding how early adopters interact with their products and platforms by way of 3D data sets shouldn't be optional.

"We have discovered there is a lack of awareness of the distinct types of data sets generated by Immersive media deployments that go beyond the traditional 2D video engagement analytics that marketing and distribution teams have become accustomed to. It is this lack of awareness and proper framing of expectations, amongst a confluence of other things, that has prevented Immersive media from graduating from "experimental marketing budget land." Durham told me.

A curious case of 2D informing 3D

It seems paradoxical that the primary analytic tools that many VR/AR startup teams are working with to collect and digest their data would be the same ones that they would use for a 2D application. It's also turning out to be a recurrent theme as it shares some parallels to my recent story on the need for VR browsers to break free from their 2D web browser legacies, which in large part serve as anchors that ultimately hinder, buffer, or stall a startup's capacity to build and fine-tune a product or platform to its maximum immersive potential.

One of the more peculiar legacy tools that has continued to linger as an awkwardly applied solution in the context of VR/AR is the antiquated heatmap.

"The problem with heatmaps is that they are generally poorly defined, in that they have no raw quantitative data to go along with them, to help tell a story and are generally not translated into a use-case that a user cares about. Simply put, just knowing where people have looked, is not enough." Haque told me.

Using traditional digital tools to understand a user in VR/AR is like walking in shoes too small, or even with no shoes at all. The chief question is whether they are suited to deliver the kind of behavioral and user insights that reveal the key metrics that the product strategy ought to revolve around. That's the path to establishing effective feedback loops, which in turn create the kind of positive feedback cycles that boost a startup's performance across the board.

"The use and value of analytics in VR/AR is not drastically different than current technologies, but what is new is the type of data we are able to collect in three-dimensions. Tracking user onboarding, how long it takes for users to learn and re-use key controls, how users move about their physical world, and what elements in an experience are getting engaged with the most are all important questions to ask and can be backed by data. It is more about building intuitive VR/AR experiences than anything else. This naturally increases session length and overall retention." Toohey told me.

Conclusion

Ultimately, to fail to embrace and employ mixed reality analytics is tantamount to rolling dice in circumstances that are already exceedingly ungenerous and unforgiving, which is the natural climate of a hype cycle, after all, and is exactly what you sign up for when you step into the ring. My guess is that many startups will only wake up to this necessity gradually, which will likely be too little and too late for most. My hope, however, is that I'm wrong and that we can look forward instead to seeing the pace of adoption towards data-driven models begin to accelerate this year.

Amir Bozorgzadeh is cofounder and CEO at Virtuleap, the host of the Global WebXR Hackathon and the startup powering up the Gaze-At-Ratio (GAR) XR metric.

Google’s DeepMind wants AI to spot kidney injuries

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 03:01 PM PST


Google subsidiary DeepMind announced today that it's working with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to use machine learning in an attempt to predict when patients will deteriorate during a hospital stay.

Deterioration (when a patient’s condition worsens) is a significant issue, since care providers can miss warning signs for potentially lethal conditions that arise as part of other treatment. DeepMind and the VA aim to tackle Acute Kidney Injury (AKI), which, as the name implies, occurs when a person's kidneys temporarily stop working as well as they should. That can mean kidney failure, or just injury that reduces kidney function. AKI can be fatal if untreated.

DeepMind's goal is to improve algorithms used to detect AKI so that doctors and nurses can treat patients more quickly. Dominic King, the clinical lead for DeepMind Health, said in a blog post that the two organizations are already familiar with the condition, which is why they're choosing to tackle it first.

The company will have access to more than 700,000 medical records that have been stripped of any identifying personal details. Using those records, DeepMind and the VA aim to determine whether it's possible to predict the onset of AKI — and patient deterioration more broadly — using machine learning.

One of the key things to note here is that it's possible our current crop of machine learning algorithms, the data available, and other factors may make this a task that can't ultimately be solved through the application of AI.

DeepMind is also treading on sensitive territory by working with health data. The company ran afoul of regulators last year when the U.K.'s data protection watchdog said a deal the company had struck with that country's National Health Service to access Britons' anonymized health records failed to comply with the law.

The VA also had a run-in with data protection concerns. In 2016, the agency canceled a deal with AI startup Flow Health, which was supposed to use veterans' medical information to predict diseases. That was an abrupt end to what was meant to be a five-year contract empowering the startup to use veterans' genetic data and medical records.

All of that said, applications of machine learning have shown early promise in the realm of medicine. For example, a Google Brain team showed off its use of computer vision to detect heart disease earlier this week. DeepMind's work could help mitigate a major cause of hospital deaths.

Why human educators must assert control as bots enter the classroom

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 02:10 PM PST


In Brian Aldiss’ landmark short story “Supertoys Last All Summer Long,” a child whiles the day away with his sentient teddy bear. Since the story was published in 1969, the “boy and his robot” trope has become a staple of science fiction. According to new research, however, those relationships aren’t nearly so idyllic in real life.

During a six-month study at a Swedish primary school, students took lessons in urban geography from a robot tutor. As they played map-reading and city-planning games on an interactive touchscreen, the 10-to-12-year-olds received coaching from NAO-T14, Softbank Robotics’ “interactive companion robot,” which was often the only “authority” in the room. If that sounds like a setup for the best school day ever (No teachers! Playing with robots!), here’s a transcript of one boy’s valiant struggle to operate the touchscreen:

ROBOT: Can you see this symbol?

Oliver moves over to the tool buttons and presses the measuring tool. Oliver deactivates the compass button and the measuring tool button. Oliver presses the measuring tool again. Oliver deactivates the measuring tool again. Oliver signals to the researcher by knocking on the door.

ROBOT: Is there really a tourist center there?

Researcher enters room.

OLIVER: How does the measuring tool work?

RESEARCHER: [briefly explains how to use the measuring tool]

Researcher leaves the room. Oliver looks at the screen and around the room for approximately 30s, growing increasingly stressed. Oliver sits down in armchair in the room, begins to cry.

ROBOT (perceives the emotional distress and tries to engage Oliver in small talk): What is your favorite subject? Mathematics is a good subject for robots to learn since it’s based on special rules. I only know geography though.

Oliver looks at the robot, but continues to cry.

I’m not sure what’s more tragicomic, the robot’s patronizing instruction (“Is there really a tourist center there?”) or the fact that its idea of small talk involves waxing fondly about math. At any rate, the transcript is begging for adaptation into an indie short film.

Above: NAO-T14, getting ready to drop some knowledge.

Image Credit: © Volkova t a / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0 / GFDL

Oliver wasn't the only one who had issues with his automated tutor. The study, published in Computers in Human Behavior, reports that “students had a hard time understanding what the robot said over the noise produced by the motors in its gesturing arms.” When they could comprehend what the robot was saying, its “monotone voice” tended to produce inattention. (My own students have cited at least one of these two issues on their evaluations, so I can sympathize.)

In all seriousness, the study offers a stark reminder of the need for teachers to assert humane control of smart technology as it evolves. While relatively few instructors will have NAO as a teaching assistant anytime soon, we do have an ever-expanding menu of apps, tablets, and software at our disposal. Contemporary education’s fixation with data pressures us to deploy these tools in the name of “engagement” — activities that, more often than not, frame education purely in terms of quantifiable metrics. This drive for maximal efficiency will only accelerate with artificial intelligence’s permeation of our classrooms. Minus an empathetic teacher aware of technology’s depersonalizing power, sensitive students like Oliver will find themselves adrift in a sea of analytics dashboards and “mind-reading robo-tutors.” The whole episode reads as a parable about the dangers of leaving students to the care of unfeeling robots, especially given the proven benefits of teaching emotional intelligence to our students.

At the same time, it does little good to yearn for “dumb” boards and grading by candlelight. America’s chronic teacher shortage and the overcrowded classrooms that inevitably result from it makes technology the ultimate frenemy of harried educators. We may hate the eternal need to learn operating instructions, but it’s also the easiest way to keep track of 70 students at a time. At any rate, the presence (or absence) of technology isn’t the root issue. The study’s author concludes that malfunctioning technology, a “perceived lack of consistency and fairness,” and confusing instructions all produced “breakdowns that jeopardized children’s sense of agency.” In other words, what matters isn’t whether students are alone with an emotionally obtuse android, but whether they feel empowered in their quest for knowledge.

Instead of rejecting or ceding control to smart technology, then, teachers need to incorporate it into pedagogy that highlights students’ agency. Sometimes, this means building up to exercises that require sophisticated use of software. More often than not, it also means a steady dose of old-fashioned humanity: Modeling empathy, active listening, and other practices that treat students as whole persons. Teachers can also make use of apps that engage students’ feelings, tracking their emotions and guiding them through mindfulness exercises. Incorporating such practices can be time-consuming, but they allow students to process difficulty or frustration, reminding them that inability to achieve a certain score isn’t a death sentence.

If pedagogy-as-data-transfer rules the day, the Swedish experiment offers a taste of what the future of educational technology might look like. Thankfully, a growing cohort of startups prioritizes “emotive computing,” developing technology that educators could, one day, be used to customize coursework based on a student’s emotional response. In demonstrating demand for emotionally intelligent technology, teachers have the chance to steer the next 20 years of education. Conversely, if we merely use technology to convey information from screen to brain, the effect on our students may mirror the twist in “Supertoys Last All Summer Long”: The young protagonist turns out to be a robot himself.

Lucas Kwong is a professor of English at New York City College of Technology.

Kentucky’s AppHarvest seeks to create high-tech greenhouse jobs in coal country

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 01:58 PM PST


The unemployment rate in Pike County, Kentucky is 8.7 percent. Kentucky-born Jonathan Webb graduated from University of Kentucky with an opportunity to go into coal sales — Kentucky is the third-largest coal-producing state — but he turned it down in favor of a career path that promotes sustainability.

After working with the U.S. Army to implement renewable power resources such as solar power, Webb turned his sights to his hometown. The area has been growing alternative education and jobs for laid-off miners, such as coding bootcamps and solar projects requiring temporary manual labor.

Aiming to bring a new generation of agriculture into Pikeville, Webb founded AppHarvest — a soon-to-be $50 million high-tech greenhouse that will create 140 full-time jobs in Pikeville at a former surface coal mine. According to Webb, there are 1.2 million acres of reclaimed surface mine sites in Eastern Kentucky that can be reused.


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"We have folks in L.A.; New York; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C. in this echo chamber, especially in the environmental community, of what the decline of coal has meant to the region of Central Appalachia. There's a complete disconnect," says Webb. "The coal market went from supplying 70 percent of U.S. electricity almost 10 years ago to now 30 percent."

Webb decided that the best way to aggregate all of the new technology talent and provide a solid foundation of long-term jobs was through a greenhouse project. "I knew I was going to go back to Eastern Kentucky and develop a project, and high-tech ag was appearing to be what we were going to do."

"We're going to find the best technology at the lowest cost, and we're going to deploy it. A lot of these companies are doing their own research and development, then deploying that technology, and we think that should be bifurcated," says Webb.

With big advisors like Kentuckian Nate Morris from Rubicon Global in his corner, as well as support from Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin, Webb hopes to grow tomatoes, peppers, and more and distribute the produce nationwide. Pikeville's strategic location puts 65 percent of the U.S. population within a day's drive — reducing costs for consumers.

Above: Jonathan Webb

Currently operating out of the University of Pikeville, AppHarvest designed a greenhouse that will run on real-time software. The greenhouse will react to incoming weather patterns and temperature changes and will address fertilizer and humidity needs and report on metrics in real time.

"The environmental metrics of our greenhouse [are that] we use 80 percent less water than open field agriculture. We do not use pesticides or harsh chemicals," says Webb.

The AppHarvest team is taking the quality of the jobs they provide as seriously as the tomatoes they are growing. They're committed to providing competitive pay, along with health benefits and free coding classes on nights and weekends that will take place inside the greenhouse.

"We're going to encourage our employees to develop their own startup ideas. We're going to have a shared workspace in the greenhouse to create that community and then, if folks pitch us and we like it, we're going to support them and other entrepreneurs in the community," says Webb.

"The region of Central Appalachia is entrepreneurship-led by the coal industry, but there's a bit of transition taking place due to the sheer effect of what has happened with the decline of coal. We want to harness that mentality of facing grit."

Most recently, AppHarvest attracted one of the first seed investments from the Rise of the Rest fund, led by AOL cofounder Steve Case and J.D. Vance. AppHarvest will be breaking ground on the greenhouse this spring.

Webb is excited to be "working alongside the University of Pikeville in its goal of making Eastern Kentucky the high-tech greenhouse capital of the U.S."

This story originally appeared on Hypepotamus.com. Copyright 2018

IMGA’s mobile game award contenders pit big hits like Lineage 2 against indies such as Bury Me, My Love

Posted: 22 Feb 2018 01:45 PM PST


The 14th annual International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA) has announced 174 nominations in 13 different categories, including the Grand Prix award. Most of the winners will be determined by a jury panel, but folks can vote online for the People’s Choice award on the IMGA website. The IMGA Global awards ceremony will take place on March 20 in San Francisco.

IMGA holds several events throughout the year, recognizing games by region. It hosts award ceremonies in China, the Middle East and North Africa, and Southeast Asia. IMGA Global, on the other hand, takes a broad look at mobile games. The list of nominees is geographically diverse, the developers hailing from countries all over the world like Iran, Taiwan, Lithuania, and Brazil. Juggernauts like Tencent’s Arena of Valor and Netmarble’s Lineage 2: Revolution stand alongside indie darlings like The Pixel Hunt’s Bury Me, My Love and Bennett Foddy’s Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy.

Last year’s IMGA Global top award went to Niantic’s viral hit Pokémon Go. The contest also set a record with how many folks participated in voting for the People’s Choice award. Over 7,000 votes were cast and VNG Games Studio’s Sky Garden: Farm in Paradise ultimately won.

A full list of all 174 nominees can be viewed on IMGA’s site.

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