Librem 5 review: The Linux-based smartphone is not close to consumer ready – TechRepublic

Posted on March 18, 2020 by admin

There could be a method to Purism's madness, because the Librem 5 mobile device proves one very important thing.

Image: Purism

What do you do when you're sent a device for review that is clearly not ready for public consumption--or even ready for review? That's a tough question to answer, but it's one I will attempt to do in the following paragraph in my review of the Purism Librem 5 Linux-based smartphone.

This is one of the smartphones I've been anticipating for quite some time and, based on the product updates, I assumed the Librem 5 would be something mind-blowingly special.

My mind was blown. Unfortunately, not in the good way.

You must go into this, as I did, knowing that the reviewed product is in early beta.

I was unable to get the Librem 5 to make calls.

The Librem 5 is plastic and massive.

The Librem 5's battery lasts about an hour or two tops (which I was informed of by Purism).

The Librem 5 device gets really hot when charging (again, I was made aware of this).

Wireless was incredibly slow,

The Librem 5's screen is less-than responsive.

I could go on and on about downsides to the Librem 5, but considering this phone is so far away from being review or consumer ready, I decided to take a different approach.

SEE: IT pro's guide to the evolution and impact of 5G technology (TechRepublic download)

At first blush, it is be really easy to draw the conclusion that Purism is struggling to get this device consumer ready. Purism started the Librem 5 crowdfunding campaign in 2017, and three years might as well be an eternity in tech time.

I don't generally like to approach the easy conclusions; instead, I want to look at one particular aspect of what Purism has done with the Librem 5: The company proved the Linux smartphone can work.

You're probably thinking, "Aren't you contradicting yourself?" I know, I know--the Librem 5 is far from truly "working." In fact, every time you go to use the far-too-clunky device, your first thought is, "Will it work this time?" And half the time the answer to that unnerving question is "no."

But Librem is a mostly functioning example of what Linux can actually do to "be a smartphone."

How can I say that, when so much of the phone doesn't function? Because the Librem 5 at least gives us the bones of an open source smartphone. And even if this device never makes it to market, it should serve as a sign of hope to the open source community that it can be done. To me, that proves there is a method to Purism's madness.

I remember back when I had a Ubuntu Touch phone for review; this device had moderately spec'd hardware, but an interface that hobbled the phone out of the box. From my perspective, the Ubuntu Phone failed for one reason: The operating system.

The Librem 5 took a lesson from that failure and brought to life a mobile version of PureOS that actually functions. Yes, even though the phone is riddled with problems, the interface works quite well. In fact, this mobile platform requires zero learning curve. Take the device out of the box, power it on, walk through whatever welcome/onboarding screens that are necessary, and start using your new Linux-powered phone.

If Purism manages to reach a consumer-level release, that will be the initial experience for users of all skills. And if the Librem 5 proves only that Linux can be made into a fantastically user-friendly mobile platform, it's a success.

These are the items Purism needs to immediately address with the Librem 5:

The phone must be able to actually make phone calls. Even after inserting a working SIM card, the review unit was still unable to place that first call.

The screen must be more responsive. At the moment, you have to be very deliberate in your tapping and swiping; otherwise, nothing registers.

Wi-Fi speed must be improved. Even using a gigabit network, page loading speeds of everyday sites was abysmal.

The hardware is WAY too big. No consumer will carry around a 6 x 3 x .5 plastic brick. Until Purism reduces the thickness of the Librem 5 by half, this phone will only sell to Linux enthusiasts who want a web server in their pocket (Figure A).

Figure A

The Purism Librem 5 compared to a OnePlus 6 Android smartphone.

Image: TechRepublic/Jack Wallen

Notice that I didn't say anything about the UI--that's because the interface is the one thing Purism has done seriously right with the Librem 5. It's really good. In fact, how about a screenshot? In order to do that, I had to walk through the following steps:

Install openssh-server, grim, and libnotify-bin.

SSH into the phone.

Create a bash script that uses the grim command.

Give the bash script the proper permissions.

Run the command.

Use the scp command to copy the photo from the phone to the desktop.

The screenshot shows the gist of how the interface works (Figure B).

Figure B

The Purism Librem 5 homescreen is somewhat reminiscent of an upside down version of previous Android releases.

You have running apps on top and installed apps on the bottom, both delineated by an app search bar. Everything is a quick tap away, and applications can be installed from within GNOME Software. That's right, GNOME Software. So you'll have access to plenty of open source software. I even installed LibreOffice, just to see if it could be done. Although the office suite did install, launching it caused the device to choke. What does that mean? The hardware isn't up to the task of running such a large desktop application. In fact, while attempting to run LibreOffice while the device was charging, it made the hardware almost too hot to touch. Lesson learned.

The Librem 5 requires zero learning curve as I have ever witnessed with a mobile device. It wouldn't matter which platform you were coming from (Android or iOS), you could be up to speed on PureOS in seconds.

And that, my friends, is what Purism has proved: Linux does have a successful path to the mobile phone rank and file. The Librem 5 is a long, long, long way off from being consumer ready. But if Purism can fix the problems and find more consumer-friendly hardware, this Linux smartphone could finally gain traction in an incredibly challenging market.

And, yes, just for fun I did install the Apache web browser onto the phone (Figure C).

Figure C

Running the Apache web server on the Purism Librem 5 smartphone is actually quite simple.

Clearly, the Librem 5, once it's ready, will have a lot of Linux goodness up its sleeve that most other phones cannot touch.

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Digital Transformation: Deutsche Telekom Counts on Camunda for Process Automation and RPA Orchestration – GlobeNewswire

Posted on March 18, 2020 by admin

BERLIN, March 17, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Open-source software provider Camunda is powering Deutsche Telekoms customer service sector with its successful Process Automation platform. The leading German telecommunications provider has embraced process automation to drive digital transformation company-wide and replace inefficient processes. At Deutsche Telekom, Camunda enables the orchestration of more than 2,500 individual software robots (RPA bots), as well as the transition of the current frontend automation to a less maintenance-intensive and better-integrated backend automation, providing further automation and savings opportunities.

Deutsche Telekom aims to better support the customer service function digitally and improve process automation. The company has moved further than most European businesses in developing an army of more than 2,500 RPA bots to automatically handle and improve manual processes, resulting in annual savings of approximately 100 million euros. The next step for the company is to transform this "front-end automation" technology which is expensive to maintain, manage errors and control business processes end-to-end into backend automation, integrated more strongly with core IT systems.

With Camunda BPM, there is now a central platform for process automation that ensures IT systems and RPA bots can be addressed directly via APIs, and all required information can be exchanged digitally from start to finish. Going forward, these RPA bots will be increasingly replaced by API-based interfaces, which is easily done without having to further adapt the business processes in Camunda. This shift will provide a smooth migration to an IT infrastructure that enables a sustainable digital transformation.

"We are proud to have made the move towards digital transformation very early on and built one of the largest RPA platforms in Europe," says Marco Einacker, Vice President Service IT at Deutsche Telekom. "Building on our RPA experience, we are now entering the next phase, automating processes from start to finish with the help of Camunda to accelerate digital transformation quickly and sustainably."

"Automated processes are at the heart of any digital enterprise," says Jakob Freund, CEO, Camunda. "To achieve this, business and IT must effectively collaborate and processes must be continuously managed across a wide range of technical systems. RPA is a useful short-term solution for many companies to selectively automate the work of individual components in legacy systems. The next step is to include these isolated RPA bots in continuous process control and, where possible, gradually replace them with real API services. We are delighted to accompany Deutsche Telekom on its way to becoming a digital enterprise with Camunda BPM."

With Camunda BPM software, complete processes and complex decisions can be designed, automated and improved. This cohesive approach makes it easier for companies to manage complex processes across multiple IT systems automatically, much faster and more cost-effectively than before. Camunda supports the established BPMN and DMN standards, which enables effective communication between business stakeholders and software developers. With end-to-end management in Camunda, there is a complete overview across all processes, including the involved RPA bots used to monitor individual operations, which is especially important for improving the overall performance of processes.

The new solution with Camunda BPM was introduced within Deutsche Telekom in 2019 and has been in production since the beginning of 2020.

About Camunda

Camunda is an open source software company innovating process automation with a developer-friendly approach that is standards-based, highly scalable and collaborative for business and IT.

A community of thousands of users across companies such as Allianz, ING and T-Mobile design, automate and improve mission-critical business processes end-to-end with Camunda, enabling them to build software applications more flexibly, collaboratively and efficiently, gaining the business agility, visibility and scale needed to drive digital transformation. One of the fastest growing companies in EMEA as ranked by Deloitte, Camunda is based in Berlin with offices in San Francisco and Denver, USA. To learn more visit: https://camunda.com/

Press:Germany:presse@camunda.com

USA & International:Jessica Jaffe, Sift Communications, Jessica.Jaffe@siftpr.comJill Reed, Sift Communications, Jill.Reed@siftpr.com

Gammy is an adaptive brightness application for Windows and Linux – Ghacks Technology News

Posted on March 18, 2020 by admin

You've probably heard of or used applications like F.lux or Lightbulb, which dim the screen to display warmer colors at night. Windows 10 has a night mode that does a similar job.

But what about overly bright applications during the day? They can still be a nuisance, and changing to night mode isn't exactly a good solution. Gammy is an open source software that can help you in such scenarios. This portable application supports adaptive brightness that makes bright on-screen content easy on the eyes.

Run it and you'll see it starts on the system tray. The second you run it, you'll notice that your brightness has automatically been dimmed (if your display's brightness was set to a high level). Double click the tray icon and an interface pops-up. This is an always on top window, so you can use different programs and observe how the brightness changes.

The interface has a bunch of sliders which you use to set the minimum and maximum brightness levels, so the program doesn't dim the screen or increase brightness too much. The offset percentage is the setting that Gammy uses to calculate the brightness, if it's higher the brightness will be as well.

The Temperature setting is used to define the color temperature levels, similar to that in F.lux and other screen dimming applications. The maximum temperature is 6500K and goes down to 2000K. Enable the "auto" option to let Gammy automatically adjust the brightness at a time that you select. To set the time click on the three-dot button next to the option, and you'll be able to set the Start and End time.

Note: The Linux version has a padlock button that supports cranking the brightness level all the way up to 200%. The application is otherwise similar to the Windows program.

Uncheck the auto brightness option and you'll see another slider appear that you can use to adjust the brightness level manually. Click and drag the bottom right corner of the interface to view three additional options. This allows you to control the Adaption speed, Threshold and Screenshot rate. The Adaption Speed determines how fast the brightness changes, while threshold checks for the difference in content to apply the change. Screenshot rate is explained in the next section.

If you have a smartphone, you may be aware how the automatic brightness works on it. Most handsets these days have a special component called ambient light sensor, which, as the name indicates, detects the amount of light that's available and adjusts the screen brightness accordingly.

Such sensors aren't available on computers, so how does Gammy support Adaptive Brightness? According to the documentation on the developer's website, Gammy takes a screenshot from time to time. The program uses the contents (colors) as a reference to adjust the brightness of the screen. The Screenshot rate configured in milliseconds is the time taken between two screenshots.

Note: The application uses the GPU to take the screenshot, and the interface that it uses is apparently not available in Windows 7. So, technically Gammy is only supported on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.

Obviously it is not possible to show you the difference in the brightness level in a video recording of the screen. But, here's a demo showing how the program changes the setting, and how quickly it happens.

Try it yourself. If you are working on an application that has a dark background, the brightness level will be reduced automatically. Switch to a program with a lighter backdrop like Notepad, and it will raise the brightness. It works fine even when shifting from one browser tab to another. You may set Gammy to run at startup by right-clicking the tray icon.

Gammy is an open source application. The Windows version requires Visual C++ 2017. The Linux build is a Qt5 app. Instructions for compiling and running the Linux version are available on the download page.

Author Rating

Software Name

Gammy

Operating System

Windows, Linux

Software Category

Multimedia

Price

Free

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Quantum computing, AI, China, and synthetics highlighted in 2020 Tech Trends report – VentureBeat

Posted on March 18, 2020 by admin

The worlds tech industry will be shaped by China, artificial intelligence, cancel culture, and other key trends, according to the Future Today Institutes 2020 Tech Trends Report.

Now in its thirteenth year, the document is put together by the Future Today Institute and director Amy Webb, who is also a professor at New York Universitys Stern School of Business. The report attempts to recognize connections between tech and future uncertainties, like the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as the spread of diseases like COVID-19.

Among major trends in the report, 2020 is expected to be the synthetic decade.

Soon we will produce designer molecules in a range of host cells on demand and at scale, which will lead to transformational improvements in vaccine production, tissue production, and medical treatments. Scientists will start to build entire human chromosomes, and they will design programmable proteins, the report reads.

Augmentation of senses like hearing and sight, social media scaremongering, new ways to measure trust, and Chinas role in the growth of AI are also listed among key takeaways.

Artificial intelligence is again the first item highlighted on the list, and the tech Webb says is sparking a third wave of computing comes with positives, like the role AlphaFold can play in discovering cures for diseases, as well as negatives, like AIscurrent impact on the criminal justice system.

Tech giants in the U.S. and China like Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft in the United States and Tencent and Baidu in China continue to deliver the greatest impact. Webb predicts how these companies will shape the world in her 2019 bookThe Big Nine.

Those nine companies drive the majority of research, funding, government involvement, and consumer-grade applications of AI. University researchers and labs rely on these companies for data, tools, and funding, the report reads. Big Nine AI companies also wield huge influence over AI mergers and acquisitions, funding AI startups, and supporting the next generation of developers.

Other AI trends include synthetic data, a military-tech industrial complex, and systems made to recognize people.

Visit the Future Today Institute website to read the full report, which flags trends that require immediate action and highlights trends by industry.

Webb urges readers to digest the 366-page report in multiple sittings, rather than trying to read it all at once. She typically debuts the report with a presentation to thousands at the SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, but the conference was cancelled due to COVID-19.

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Quantum computing, AI, China, and synthetics highlighted in 2020 Tech Trends report - VentureBeat

Global Quantum Computing Market (2020 to 2025) – Investment in R&D of Technology and Development is Strategically Important – ResearchAndMarkets.com -…

Posted on March 18, 2020 by admin

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Global Quantum Computing Market: Analysis By Solution Type (Hardware, Software, Full Stack), Application (Optimization, Simulation, Sampling, Machine learning), End User, By Region, By Country (2020 Edition): Market Insight, Competition and Forecast (2020-2025)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The Global Quantum Computing Market, valued at USD 101.12 Million in the year 2019 has been witnessing unprecedented growth in the last few years on the back of need for secure communication and digitization.

Quantum Computing is the use of quantum-mechanical phenomena and it promises to address problems that conventional computing solutions cannot handle. Increasing need for secure communication and digitization and race to make Quantum computer commercially feasible among the leading countries is one of the major reasons behind the increasing Quantum Computing market globally. Additionally, emergence of advance applications, need for secure communication and digitization is likely to supplement the Quantum Computing market value in the near future.

Among the solution type in the Quantum Computing market (Hardware, Software and Full Stack), all the three are gaining popularity globally and is expected to keep growing in the forecast period. Companies are likely to make major investment in hardware and software individually than on full stack.

Among Application (Optimization, Simulation, Sampling, Machine learning), optimization will be the mostly used application in Quantum computing and is expected to keep grow in future. And Machine learning will also show rapid growth. Among End User (Aerospace & Defense, BFSI, R&D, Healthcare, and Others), Aerospace and defense is leading the end user of quantum computing, and in future we can expect BFSI to use Quantum computing more. All the end-user sectors users are expected to use more of QC in the near future.

The North American market is expected to lead the global market in the forecast period because of intensive investment on research and development of Quantum computers. Additionally, support by government and race for quantum supremacy is expected to infuse market growth tremendously. Additionally, the major involvement of technology leaders such as IBM Corporation, Google, and Intel will be fuelling the growth of Quantum computing market.

Key Target Audience

Key Topics Covered:

1. Report Scope and Methodology

2. Strategic Recommendations

2.1 Focus should be on very strong technical team

2.2 Investment in R&D of technology and development.

3. Quantum Computing: Product Overview

4. Global Quantum Computing Market: Sizing and Forecast

4.1 Market Size, By Value, Year 2015-2019

4.2 Market Size, By Value, Year 2020-2025

4.3 Global Economic & Industrial Outlook

5. Global Quantum Computing Market Segmentation, By Solution Type

5.1 Global Quantum Computing Market: By solution type

5.2 Competitive Scenario of Global Quantum Computing Market: By solution type (2019 2025)

5.3 By Hardware - Market Size and Forecast (2015-2025)

5.4 By Software- Market Size and Forecast (2015-2025)

5.5 By Full Stack - Market Size and Forecast (2015-2025)

6. Global Quantum Computing Market Segmentation, By Application

6.1 Competitive Scenario of Global Quantum Computing Market: By Application (2019 & 2025)

6.2 By Optimization- Market Size and Forecast (2015-2025)

6.3 By Simulation - Market Size and Forecast (2015-2025)

6.4 By Sampling - Market Size and Forecast (2015-2025)

6.5 By Machine learning- Market Size and Forecast (2015-2025)

7. Global Quantum Computing Market Segmentation, By End User

7.1 Competitive Scenario of Global Quantum Computing Market: By End User (2019 & 2025)

7.2 By Aerospace and Defense- Market Size and Forecast (2015-2025)

7.3 By BFSI - Market Size and Forecast (2015-2025)

7.4 By R&D - Market Size and Forecast (2015-2025)

7.5 By Healthcare- Market Size and Forecast (2015-2025)

7.6 By others- Market Size and Forecast (2015-2025)

8. Global Quantum Computing Market: Regional Analysis

8.1 Competitive Scenario of Global Quantum Computing Market: By Region (2019 & 2025)

9. North Americas Quantum Computing Market: An Analysis

10. Europe Quantum Computing Market: An Analysis

11. Asia Pacific Quantum Computing Market: An Analysis

12. Rest of World Quantum Computing Market

13. Global Quantum Computing Market Dynamics

13.1 Global Quantum Computing Market Drivers

13.2 Global Quantum Computing Market Restraints

13.3 Global Quantum Computing Market Trends

14. Market Attractiveness

14.1 Market Attractiveness Chart of Global Quantum Computing Market - By Solution Type (Year 2025)

14.2 Market Attractiveness Chart of Global Quantum Computing Market - By Application (Year 2025)

14.3 Market Attractiveness Chart of Global Quantum Computing Market - By End User, Year-2025)

14.4 Market Attractiveness Chart of Global Quantum Computing Market - By Region, Year-2025)

15. Competitive Landscape

15.1 Market Share Analysis

15.2 Competitive Positioning (Leaders, Challengers, Followers, Niche Players)

16. Company Profiles (Business Description, Financial Analysis, Business Strategy)

16.1 Microsoft

16.2 Google

16.3 IBM

16.4 Intel

16.5 D-wave systems

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/raio0z

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UC Riverside to lead scalable quantum computing project using 3D printed ion traps – 3D Printing Industry

Posted on March 18, 2020 by admin

UC Riverside (UCR) is set to lead a project focused on enabling scalable quantum computing after winning a $3.75 million Multicampus-National Lab Collaborative Research and Training Award.

The collaborative effort will see contributions from UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC Santa Barbara, with UCR acting as project coordinator.

Scalable quantum computing

Quantum computing is currently in its infancy but it is expected to stretch far beyond the capabilities of conventional computing in the coming years. Intensive tasks such as modeling complex processes, finding large prime numbers, and designing new chemical compounds for medical use are what quantum computers are expected to excel at.

Quantum information is stored on quantum computers in the form of quantum bits, or qubits. This means that quantum systems can exist in two different states simultaneously as opposed to conventional computing systems which only exist in one state at a time. Current quantum computers are limited in their qubits, however, so for quantum computing to realize its true potential, new systems are going to have to be scalable and include many more qubits.

The goal of this collaborative project is to establish a novel platform for quantum computing that is truly scalable up to many qubits, said Boerge Hemmerling, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at UC Riverside and the lead principal investigator of the three-year project. Current quantum computing technology is far away from experimentally controlling the large number of qubits required for fault-tolerant computing. This stands in large contrast to what has been achieved in conventional computer chips in classical computing.

3D printed ion trap microstructures

The research team will use advanced 3D printing technology, available at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, to fabricate microstructure ion traps for the new quantum computers. Ions are used to store qubits and quantum information is transferred when these ions move in their traps. According to UCR, trapped ions have the best potential for realizing scalable quantum computing.

Alongside UCR, UC Berkeley will enable high-fidelity quantum gates with the ion traps. UCLA will integrate fiber optics with the ion traps, UC Santa Barbara will put the traps through trials in cryogenic environments and demonstrate shuttling of ion strings while the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will be used to characterize and develop new materials. The project coordinator, UCR, will develop simplified cooling schemes and research the possibility of trapping electrons with the traps.

We have a unique opportunity here to join various groups within the UC system and combine their expertise to make something bigger than a single group could achieve, Hemmerling stated. We anticipate that the microstructure 3D printed ion traps will outperform ion traps that have been used to date in terms of the storage time of the ions and ability to maintain and manipulate quantum information.

He adds, Most importantly, our envisioned structures will be scalable in that we plan to build arrays of interconnected traps, similar to the very successful conventional computer chip design. We hope to establish these novel 3D-printed traps as a standard laboratory tool for quantum computing with major improvements over currently used technology.

Hemmerlings concluding remarks explain that many quantum computing approaches, while very promising, have fallen short of providing a scalable platform that is useful for processing complex tasks. If an applicable machine is to be built, new routes must be considered, starting with UCRs scalable computing project.

Early quantum technology work involving 3D printing has paved the way for UCRs future project. When cooled to near 0K, the quantum characteristics of atomic particles start to become apparent. Just last year, additive manufacturing R&D company Added Scientific 3D printed the first vacuum chamber capable of trapping clouds of cold atoms. Elsewhere, two-photon AM system manufacturer Nanoscribe introduced a new machine, the Quantum X, with micro-optic capabilities. The company expects its system to be useful in advancing quantum technology to the industrial level.

The nominations for the 2020 3D Printing Industry Awards are now open. Who do you think should make the shortlists for this years show? Have your say now.

Subscribe to the 3D Printing Industry newsletter for the latest news in additive manufacturing. You can also stay connected by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook.

Looking for a career in additive manufacturing? Visit 3D Printing Jobs for a selection of roles in the industry.

Featured image showsUniversity of California, Riverside campus. Photo via UCR.

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Edward Snowden: This is the first time in a while I’ve felt like buying bitcoin. – FXStreet

Posted on March 18, 2020 by admin

The infamous whistleblower, Edward Snowden, has recently tweeted that he is considering buying Bitcoin. Snowden is a former Central Intelligence Agency employee who is now a fugitive after leaking highly classified National Security Agency documents. He believes that there isnt any particular reason behind the recent crypto sell-off that saw BTC lose 50% of its value in two days.

This is the first time in a while Ive felt like buying bitcoin. That drop was too much panic and too little reason.

In addition to Snowden, several others believe in something similar about BTC. Barry Silbert, CEO of Digital Currency Group, tweeted:

I'm buying. This is why bitcoin was invented

The founder and CEO of cryptocurrency and blockchain recruitment firm Crypto Capital Venture, Dan Gambardello, says Bitcoin is a good buy after the plummet but warns that it might not be a wise move considering that the market is gripped by fear.

Id say buy the Bitcoin dip, but I feel like that would be irresponsible. Markets are operating out of complete fear and panic and technical analysis is next to useless until things settle down.

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Edward Snowden: This is the first time in a while I've felt like buying bitcoin. - FXStreet

Is Your Company Using Artificial Intelligence To Transform An Industry? Nominations For The Forbes 2020 AI 50 List Are Now Open – Forbes

Posted on March 18, 2020 by admin

Is AI core to growing your business?

Artificial intelligence technology is powering big changes across all industries, but its tough to separate out the companies with truly transformative applications from marketing hype. Thats why Forbes is compiling a list of promising startups that are emerging as leaders in this space.

Is AI at the heart of what your company does, not just a driver for an auxiliary business or way to improve an existing product? We want to hear from you.

Nominations are now open for the second annual Forbes AI list, which seeks to highlight private companies that are applying artificial intelligence to solve problems in innovative ways.

Forbes, in partnership with Sequoia Capital and Meritech Capital, will evaluate hundreds of companies based on metrics including revenue, growth and valuation, with a panel of experts weighing in on how innovative and mission-critical each companys use of AI is (versus buzzwords thrown onto a slide-deck).

We welcome any U.S.-based private company to apply by filling out this form by Friday, April 10. The number of nominations wont influence our selection, so stick to just one per company, please.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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Is Your Company Using Artificial Intelligence To Transform An Industry? Nominations For The Forbes 2020 AI 50 List Are Now Open - Forbes

Artificial intelligence myths: Reality check – Livemint

Posted on March 18, 2020 by admin

Very few subjects in science and technology have caused much excitement right now as artificial intelligence as some of the worlds brightest minds have said that its potential to revolutionise all aspects of our lives.

AI makes it practical for machines to understand from experience, act human-like jobs, and adapt to the latest inputs. The concept works by amalgamating enormous data with quick, smart algorithms, and iterative processing, enabling the software to decipher by analysing patterns in the data in an automatic way.

There is science and well thought algorithm behind all the artificial solutions, where you need to set up proper expectations and clarification to avoid any rumours and myths around the outputs.

While the notion of AI is turning into a massive component of business and consumer transformations, its execution is generally stagnated because of some misconceptions associated with it.

Myth 1: AI will deliver magical resultsimmediately

The path to AI success is hard and takes time, and not just because of the technology. You also need a strategic framework and an iterative approach to avoid delivering a random set of disconnected AI solutions. The temptation is to go for moonshots to deliver the magic, but such projects often fail to live up to expectations because you dont have the basics homework done.

AI is not a magic, it requires rigour, logical thinking and long term strategy with a patience to do multiple iteration to get to the result.

Myth 2: AI Will Replace Human Jobs

Most of the times, management look at AI solutions to replace human and reduce the operational cost, creating a sense of fear among the employees.

So, if you think that AI solutions might strip human from their jobs, then you are undeniably wrong.

Reality is, AI and human need each other. AI is at its most valuable when it augments peoples capabilities. It can remove the duplicate work, freeing people up for more strategic activities. That has the added benefit of making people more motivated, productive, and loyal. Enterprise AI also relies on people to feed it the right data and work with it the right way. Often, AI doesnt provide conclusive answers to issues, but rather highly informed recommendations that an actual human can weigh to make the final decision.

Myth 3: AI Implementation Needs Huge Investment

Artificial developments resolutions appear to be tremendously scientific and complicated. This inclination recommends that just a modern tech organisation, including Google, Amazon, or Apple, with an extended team of experts and billion-dollar budgets can pay for implementing AI. In reality, there are a lot of smart tools existing for an enormous variety of organisation, which can be utilised to implement AI in their business procedures.

Myth 4: AI Algorithms are Competent to Process Any Data

Most of you must believe that ML algorithms are one of the most crucial elements in the entire system. An algorithm might appear to be robust and linked with the human brain, which can make intellect of any untidy data.

It is not possible, for algorithms, to make decisions without human intervention as they dont have magic power. It requires a specific piece of data to get impeccable results.

Myth 5: AI will Conquer Humanity

Machines are powerless to imagine similar to people and will barely be taught to do so. In fact, computers are going to have an optimistic impact on the world by supporting people in a lot of fields, building innovative business models, communities, and skills. Its certainly true that the advent of AI and automation has the potential to seriously disrupt labour and in many situations it is already doing just that. However, seeing this as a straightforward transfer of labour from humans to machines is a vast over-simplification. In fact, a lot of AI focus has been on reducing the drudgery" of day-to-day aspects of the work. AI gives an opportunity to upgrade your skills and move up in your career ladder at the same time.

About the Author: A technology and product leader, Rahul Kumar is Group Chief Product Officer with HT Media Group. An alumni of BIT Mesra, who later on honed his technology management skills from IIT Delhi, has been leveraging AI, ML and IOT to solve business and consumer problems across technology led startups and conglomerate.

Artificial intelligence recruited to find clues about Covid-19 – The Star Online

Posted on March 18, 2020 by admin

WASHINGTON: US health and technology specialists on March 16 said they had launched a new collaborative venture to assemble a dataset of tens of thousands of scientific papers and literature on the coronavirus, which would then be analysed by artificial intelligence programs to find patterns and answer questions raised by the World Health Organisation about the pandemic.

The dataset includes 29,000 articles, including 13,000 full-text pieces of medical literature, which will be made available on a special website allowing data scientists and artificial intelligence programmers to propose tools and software code that can unearth insights from the articles, White House officials and experts told reporters in a conference call.

The venture came together after the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued a call to tech companies and research groups to figure out how artificial intelligence tools could be used to sift through thousands of research articles being published worldwide on the pandemic, said Lynn Parker, deputy chief technology officer at the White House office.

With data scientists and machine language experts mining the literature compilation known as Covid-19 Open Research Dataset, experts and White House officials expect to get help developing vaccines, forming new guidelines on how long social distancing should be maintained and other insights, Michael Kratsios, the US chief technology officer said.

The venture includes the National Library of Medicine, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, Microsoft, Allen Institute of AI, Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (named for Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's founder, and his wife Priscilla Chan), and Kaggle, which is a unit of Google.

The Allen Institute's Semantics Scholar website will host the database of scientific articles and add to the collection over time, while Kaggle's platform, which provides access to about 4 million artificial intelligence researchers, will receive suggestions from the experts on tools and codes to use to mine the database, experts from both organisations said.

Scientists have been working and publishing their findings on various strains of coronavirus over the years, including other variants such as SARS, MERS, and the latest, Covid-19. The application of artificial intelligence tools to look for commonalities and differences among the thousands of such published articles will help the scientists spot things they may have missed, Eric Horvitz, Microsoft's chief scientific officer said.

"It's difficult for people to manually go through more than 20,000 articles and synthesise their findings," Anthony Goldbloom, co-founder and CEO of Kaggle said. "Recent advances in technology can be helpful here. We're putting machine readable versions of these articles in front of our community of more than 4 million data scientists. Our hope is that AI can be used to help find answers to a key set of questions about Covid-19."

"Sharing vital information across scientific and medical communities is key to accelerating our ability to respond to the coronavirus pandemic," said Cori Bargmann, head of science at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. "The new Covid-19 Open Research Dataset will help researchers worldwide to access important information faster."

Publishers of scientific journals and literature have agreed to make their full articles available to researchers so that machine learning algorithms can look for key insights from them, the experts said. As scientists around the world continue to publish new research, journal publishers have agreed to provide those articles in electronic form ahead of their printed versions, they said. CQ-Roll Call/Tribune News Service

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Artificial intelligence recruited to find clues about Covid-19 - The Star Online