Daily Archives: March 7, 2021

Hearing aids are increasingly using advanced chipsets and Bluetooth technology to help people hear ... [+] more clearly.

March 3rd marked World Hearing Day. Because of this, I thought I would make the day by making todays post about the changes that are happening in the world of hearing loos and how advanced audio technology is helping millions of people to hear more clearly and easily.

Hearing aids are a bit like reading glasses. We dont want to think about them until we really need them. But while reading glasses havent changed much in many years, hearing aids have undergone a steady evolution with new technologies like miniaturization and advanced audio processing changing how hearing aids function. Advanced technology is bringing big changes for people who suffer from hearing loss.

Ive become increasingly interested in the recent convergence between the earphone and hearing-aids and how advanced technology is improving hearing devices and helping people with their hearing loss. I decided to find out a bit more about whats currently on offer in the world of hearing aids and what the latest technology can deliver for people whove reached the stage in life where they may need a little help to hear properly.

Denmark probably has more hearing aid manufacturers than any other country. Big names in the hearing aid industry, like Widex, Amplifon and GN Resound, are all headquartered there. The small Nordic nation has been specializing in audio electronics ever since Peter Bang and Sven Olufsen set up their electronics business back in 1925. Bang & Olufsen went on to create some of the most iconic and cool audio gear that the world has ever seen.

A classic scene from BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers where Mrs Richards (played by Joan Sanderson) has ... [+] trouble with her ancient hearing aid as Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) and waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs) try to make themselves understood.

Denmarks success in audio electronics is down to a ready supply of highly skilled labor and some incredibly inventive engineers. This has resulted in the Danish audio industry specializing in miniaturized electronics in much the same way that Switzerland is a center of excellence for watchmaking.

To find out what todays ultimate hearing aids have to offer, I approached Widex, one of the market leaders, to find out a bit more about current tech trends in the industry. The company launched the Widex Moment in 2020 and has leveraged miniaturization, processing power and Bluetooth technology to push the envelope of hearing aid design. The advanced technology has helped to make hearing aids smaller, more powerful and even more user-friendly.

As far as Im aware, I dont need a hearing aid just yet, but I guess I do experience some falling off of the upper-frequency range, as we all do over time. I also experience a certain amount of tinnitus and, like so many of us, I dont always find it easy to focus on conversations when Im in a crowded room and theres a lot of background noise.

My image of hearing aids hasnt changed much since my childhood when I vaguely recall a maiden aunt wearing a large radio device on a belt. The device had a long and twisted cable with something that looked a bit like an ear trumpet on the end of it. It would howl and squeak and was often kept turned off to conserve the batteries which were ridiculously expensive and hardly lasted for any time at all. Even though the aunt had her hearing aid, I can still remember relatives having to shout at her so she could hear them.

Denmark's Widex is just one of the hearing aid manufacturers that is using the latest technology to ... [+] make hearing aids smarter.

Back in the post-war years, hearing damage was very common. Whether the hearing impairment was caused to soldiers returning from the Second World War, having experienced pounding artillery for days on end, or from munitions workers who toiled away in noisy factories and foundries with no ear protection, it was common to see people sporting large hearing aids that often seemed to be pretty ineffective.

Youd be forgiven for thinking that hearing impairment would be less common these days but thats not the case. The widespread use of headphones following the launch of the first Sony Walkman, back in the late 1970s, may have been responsible for a new epidemic of hearing loss, some of it due to listening to music at raised volume levels for long periods.

According to theWorld Health Organisation, 468 million people have some form of hearing loss, which is about 6.1% of the global population. Some 432 million of those are adults who have developed hearing problems, often as a result of exposure to high sound levels. Furthermore, a third of all people over the age of 65 experience some level of hearing loss. Hearing is a big problem and its an even bigger market.

When the hearing aids aren't charging they are stored in a special carry case to protect the ... [+] delicate balanced armature drivers from damage.

To find out what the latest hearing aid technology has to offer, I arranged to borrow a pair of the very latest hearing aids from Widex. The Widex Moment is a new type of hearing aid thats small enough to sit discreetly behind the ear. It uses Bluetooth technology to enable users to stream music directly from their smartphones. Additionally, its fitted with super sensitive microphones that monitor and then relay the sounds into the users ear canal in as little as 0.5 milliseconds. Widex claims this is the lowest latency of any hearing aid on the market and its the companys secret weapon for making the Moment not sound like a traditional hearing aid.

The problem with traditional hearing aids is latency. The gap between picking up a sound and then processing it and amplifying it before relaying the signal into the ear canal has an enormous effect on how the user perceives sound. The Widex Moment can relay sound in near real-time thanks to an advanced chipset that processes the sound and amplifies it at lightning speed.

The sound is carried from each hearing aid down a thin tube which terminates in a balanced armature driver. The balanced armature is a tiny high-resolution speaker encircled by a small silicone comb fitting that enables some natural sound to reach the wearers eardrum so that natural sound can mix with the processed sound coming from the hearing aid.

The Widex Moment incorporates some incredible small components so the hearing aids don't look too ... [+] large.

The mix of natural sound and processed sound is only possible due to the super-low latency of the Widex Moment. This is now possible thanks to a combination of two chipsets. One chip is a flexible core processor while the other has an accelerated core for achieving low-latency processing. The two chips provide a balance between processing efficiency and flexibility.

To find out how the Widex Moment could be tuned for my hearing, I had to arrange an online demo with a Widex audiologist on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Widex carried out my remote demoby using a smartphone app and a Bluetooth device that bridges between the hearing aids and the smartphone. This is where the technology gets interesting and impressive. I slipped the hearing aids into my left and right ears and after pressing a few buttons and firing up the smartphone app, the audiologist, thousands of miles away, was able to communicate directly with my hearing aids.

The consultation process enables the patient and the audiologist to communicate with a two-way video chat much like Facetime or Zoom. This enables the audiologist to visually check the fit of the aids and to chat to the patient to find out a bit more about their lifestyle and the kind of hearing problems they experience. Using the software, the audiologist can conduct a full-spectrum hearing test remotely. The patient sits there while the hearing aids test the patients hearing before sending the results directly back to the audiologist.

The Widex Moment is the latest model from the Danish hearing aid company and it uses two processors ... [+] to cut latency down to a near real-time 0.5ms.

Within a few minutes, the audiologists software can create personalized hearing profiles for the patient and those profiles can be remotely programmed into the hearing aids. Theres no need to visit a hearing center as everything can be done remotely. I had three profiles downloaded to the hearing aids I was wearing. One of the profiles was the Widex PureSound with a ZeroDelay profile.

PureSound delivers an imperceptible 0.5ms delay, although that level of processing can drain the batteries a little more quickly than a less processor-intensive profile. Its possible to use the Widex smartphone app to switch over to a regular hearing profile that has slightly longer latency for situations where ZeroDelay isnt required. My third custom profile was tuned for music listening, enabling me to stream music from my smartphone directly to the hearing aids over Bluetooth. The music profile boosts the bass response of the driver and provides a more satisfying sound for listening to music, something that music lovers will appreciate as regular hearing aids dont usually make music sound so good.

Another piece of technology in the Widex Moment thats worth mentioning is WidexLink Binaural InterEar communication which ensures that the two hearing aids are in perfect synchronization. This is an essential feature because when hearing aids are out of sync with each other, they can make hearing particularly difficult. The technology involves each hearing aid communicating with the other at up to 21 times a second to accurately adjust the sound so that both devices are singing from the same hymn sheet.

Thanks to miniaturisation and efficient rechargeable batteries, hearing aids are now small and ... [+] discreet.

The Widex Moment has four A/D (analog to digital) converters which the company claims deliver the highest linear input range in the industry at 113dB SPL. These are paired with a linear input dynamic range of 108dB which preserves the integrity of the sound is amplified and provides a cleaner listening experience. The microphones used in each hearing aid are high-definition locator models. These multi-channel microphones use a fully adaptive directional system with low-frequency compensation. By focusing on speech in each channel and adapting to non-speech noise, the high-definition locator emphasizes speech coming from all directions, minimizing the risk of missing important speech cues. Its the perfect eavesdropping technology.

As youd expect with cutting-edge technology, theres an element of artificial intelligence involved. The Widex Moment uses a real-time, machine-learning algorithm called SoundSense Learn. This helps listeners hear by combining real-time machine learning and input from the listener to analyze over two million sound comparisons. The more the patient uses this feature, the more the hearing aid learns how they hear and want to hear. Data is stored and processed in the cloud, so even if a patient loses a hearing aid, the valuable profile that they have created through machine learning wont be lost.

Now we come to the most important matter of battery life. The days of replacing batteries with expensive button cells are now over. Thats good for running costs and its also good for the environment. Each Widex Moment has a rechargeable battery that can work for up to 16 hours on a single charge. The batteries are recharged at night using a supplied charging cradle. The batteries are good for around three years of average use and then they can be replaced by Widex at one of the companys service centers.

A silicone comb encircling the Widex Moments' balanced armature drivers allow a certain amount of ... [+] external sound to filter through for a more natural sound.

It was interesting to try out the Widex Moment for a few days. First off, the comfort levels are superb, I hardly knew they were there. Fitting the aids was very easy and secure when moving around. The big surprise is how clear the hearing aids sound. Theres an uncanny clarity. It freaked me out a little because, with the hearing aids in, I could hear upper registers more clearly and crisply.

My hearing can obviously register those upper frequencies but when I took the aids out, the sound of the radio I was listening to seemed more muffled and less distinct. That was a little worrying as I wondered if I was experiencing a hearing decline. Im approaching the age when people do suffer some hearing loss and I would need to conduct a full-spectrum hearing test to find out for certain but a part of me isnt too keen on that in case I dont like the result.

Theres no doubt that hearing-aid technology has come a very long way since the maiden aunt with the large hearing aid. The use of miniaturization and dual-core processing providing super-low latency means that wearing a hearing aid has never felt less like wearing a hearing aid. Im really glad I found out more about what is on offer as there are several companies making earphones that claim to be hybrid devices enabling them to be used as regular earphones as well as helping with hearing loss helpers. They are not licensed medical devices and there is a danger that using such a crude device to boost hearing loss could do more harm than good.

When fully charged, the Widex Moment can work for up to 16 hours thanks to tiny but powerful ... [+] rechargable batteries.

Theres no doubt that some very advanced technology is used in cutting-edge devices like the Widex Moment. Its also fair to say that these hearing aids dont come cheap. I dont have a specific price to quote for a pair of hearing aids like the Widex Moment as pricing depends on the amount of hearing loss. To give a rough idea, I think it would be sensible to budget up to $4,000 for two hearing aids, which includes the consultation to get everything set up. Theres also the cost of ongoing care and occasional servicing to budget for but its hard to put a price on good hearing in much the same way that its hard to put a price on good eyesight or health in general. Still, its good to know that advanced technology is being used to make hearing loss something more people can live with.

The main thing I can take away from my short experience with a pair of hearing aids is to say that if you think you have a hearing problem and its impacting your quality of life, it would be well worth seeking the help of a professional audiologist to see if a hearing aid could help with your hearing loss. None of us likes to admit that were getting older, but it is nice to see advanced technology being used to make devices that can improve peoples quality of life. Hearing aids have changed and those awful devices I saw elderly relatives wearing when I was a small child are, thankfully, a thing of the past.

Excerpt from:

Advanced Audio Technology Is Helping People Hear More Clearly - Forbes

Slow shipments. Not enough employees. Soaring costs. Depleted inventories.

The supply chain is full of knots and holes right now, spots for companies to stumble. And there are ways to mitigate these challenges, from increased automation to higher wages, but they all come with a cost.

To address supply chain and demand challenges, General Die Casters Inc. in Twinsburg has been running overtime and installing automated equipment, said CEO and president Brian Lennon. He has raised wages to attract employees and is starting to work with a temp agency in Puerto Rico to bring in more people.

And the company has been engaging in a lot of communication with its customers, trying to figure out what each actually needs in order to keep running while inventory slowly builds back up.

Communication has been critical at MVP Plastics Inc. in Middlefield and K-J Fasteners Inc. in Eastlake, too.

"The good thing about this is it's not isolated," said MVP Plastics president and CEO Darrell McNair. "It's all the way through."

MVP Plastics is part of the supply chain for its customers in markets like automotive, consumer and HVAC. McNair said it's been a matter of being "in sync" on delivery plans all the way through the chain.

At manufacturer and distributor K-J Fasteners, president Kirk Stonebrook has been reminding employees that they're the link between customers and the market, and they need to educate customers on the factors contributing to cost increases. It's a matter of building trust, he said.

In the fall, the company's customers increased inventory because of the ongoing uncertainty. More recently, K-J has been trying to stock up on products that are locked in on older pricing in the hopes of riding out the increases.

Stonebrook said K-J Fasteners also is setting long-term buying options with customers, looking at ways to amortize or absorb the current increases. Based on his research, he expects the supply chain problems and the subsequent prices to ease, though it could take months.

Mark Vickers, client executive at Sedlak Supply Chain Consultants in Highland Hills, said companies have been increasing the amount of inventory they keep on hand. Before COVID, Sedlak would have encouraged customers to reduce on-hand inventory to cut the costs associated with storing it, but in this time of disruption, having extra inventory is a must.

Another trend Vickers has seen is more investment in technology.

Companies were adopting technology to meet increased customer demands before the pandemic, Vickers said. But the pandemic encouraged companies to pick up the pace, as social distancing-driven e-commerce increased business at the same time as labor disruptions due to COVID-19 grew. More automation helps companies address both needs.

"If you're not automating some or most of your labor, you're getting crushed right now," Vickers said.

It's to the point where automated systems aren't seen as an investment, he said; they're just a cost of doing business.

Sedlak Supply Chain Consultants offers distribution center design and supply chain optimization services. Locally, one of the companies it has worked with recently is SupplySide Group in Beachwood, a maker of packaging and storage products.

Changes in delivery models and the growth of online ordering caused big changes for the company during the pandemic, said chairman Ansir Junaid.

Orders have increased, but become smaller. And to ship more efficiently, many customers started shipping directly from SupplySide's sites instead of their own stores, said senior vice president of Supply Side USA Ibrahim Shamsi. That meant SupplySide had to become more efficient, too.

SupplySide worked with Sedlak on automation, as well as ensuring the company had flex space for the future, so it could diversify or take on special projects where it saw fit, Shamsi said.

Bill Koehler, CEO of economic development organization Team NEO, said he has heard larger companies talk about plans to restructure or invest in technologies to tackle supply chain challenges this past year. On the technology side, companies have been seeking more visibility in their supply chains and finding ways to better manage data, he said.

Those trends were underway pre-COVID, but have been accelerated by the pandemic.

Another potential solution to some of the problems in the supply chain could be reshoring products from overseas.

A recent report from Heartland Forward, an Arkansas-based think tank, makes that case. Specifically, it calls for bringing more products back to the middle of the country, noting the "culture, skilled labor pool and training programs, as well as infrastructure to support production facilities" in the region because of its historical dependence on the sector. The report, which was funded in part by a grant from statewide economic development nonprofit JobsOhio, said that reshoring can protect intellectual property and shorten supply chains.

The COVID-19 pandemic created the need for shortened or redundant supply chains, as labor market shortages arose and cargo and travel embargoes were put in place, the report stated.

Reshoring some products from overseas could be an option, Koehler said, but determining what products would be a fit requires visibility of demand across companies.

To make it worthwhile, a product would have common features. Koehler said that has happened with products like personal protective equipment, where the desired features for masks and gowns were common. It's more difficult to find common components across industries like automotive, where automakers and product lines are more differentiated.

The problems filling today's supply chain have been building for years. And there are no easy answers. But Northeast Ohio's manufacturers are staying agile and looking for solutions for both the short term and the long.

This is the second part in a two-part series looking at the impact COVID-19 has had on the supply chain. Click here for a look at some of the challenges local manufacturers are facing.

See the article here:

Increased communication, technology and costs are necessary to tackle supply chain challenges - Crain's Cleveland Business

GUANGZHOU, China China is looking to boost research into what it calls "frontier technology" including quantum computing and semiconductors, as it competes with the U.S. for supremacy in the latest innovations.

In its five-year development plan, the 14th of its kind, Beijing said it would make "science and technology self-reliance and self-improvement a strategic pillar for national development," according to a CNBC translation.

Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday that China would increase research and development spending by more than 7% per year between 2021 and 2025, in pursuit of "major breakthroughs" in technology.

China's technology champions such as Huawei and SMIC have been targeted by U.S. sanctions as tensions between Beijing and Washington have ramped up in the past few years.

As such, China has concentrated on boosting its domestic expertise in areas it sees as strategically important, such as semiconductors. And now it has laid out seven "frontier technologies" that it will prioritize not just for the next five years, but beyond too.

China plans to focus on specialized chip development for AI applications and developing so-called open source algorithms. Open source technology is usually developed by one entity and licensed by other companies.

There will also be an emphasis on machine learning in areas such as decision making. Machine learning is the development of AI programs trained on vast amounts of data. The program "learns" as it is fed more data.

AI has been a key field for Chinese companies and the central government over the last few years. Major companies such as Alibaba and Baidu have been investing in the technology.

China and the U.S. are competing for AI dominance. A group of experts chaired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said China could soon replace the U.S. as the world's "AI superpower."

Semiconductors are a critical area for China and one it has invested a lot in over the past few years but the country has struggled to catch up to the U.S., Taiwan and South Korea.

The problem is the complexity of the semiconductor supply chain. Taiwan's TSMC and South Korea's Samsung are the two most advanced chip manufacturers but they rely on tools from the U.S. and Europe.

Washington has put SMIC, China's biggest chip manufacturer, on an export blacklist called the Entity List. SMIC cannot get its hands on American technology. And the U.S. has reportedly pushed to stop Dutch company ASML from shipping a key tool that could help SMIC catch up to rivals.

Since China doesn't have the companies that can design and make the tools that its chip manufacturers require, it relies on companies from other countries. This is something China wants to change.

In its five-year plan, China says it will focus on research and development in integrated circuit design tools, key equipment and key materials.

Chips are incredibly important because they go into many of the devices we use such as smartphones but are also important for other industries.

China plans to research areas such as how to stop diseases of the brain.

But it also says that it plans to look into "brain-inspired computing" as well as "brain-computer fusion technology," according to a CNBC translation. The five-year plan did not elaborate on what that could look like.

China laid out seven "frontier" technologies in its 14th Five Year Plan. These are areas that China will focus research on and include semiconductors and brain-computer fusion.

Yuichiro Chino | Moment | Getty Images

However, such work is already underway in the U.S. at Elon Musk's company Neuralink. Musk is working on implantable brain-chip interfaces to connect humans and computers.

With the outbreak of the coronavirus last year, biotechnology has grown in importance.

China says it will focus on "innovative vaccines" and "research on biological security."

China's research will concentrate on understanding the progression of cancer, cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic diseases.

The government also says that it will research some "cutting-edge" treatment technologies such as regenerative medicine. This involves medicine that can regrow or repair damaged cells, tissues and organs.

China says it will also be looking at key technologies in the prevention and treatment of major transmissible diseases.

Space exploration has been a top priority for China recently. Beijing said it will focus on research into the "origin and evolution of the universe," exploration of Mars as well as deep sea and polar research.

In December, a Chinese spacecraft returned to Earth carrying rocks from the moon. It was the first time China has launched a spacecraft from an extraterrestrial body and the first time it has collected moon samples.

And in July, China launched a mission to Mars called Tianwen -1.

CNBC's Iris Wang contributed to this report.

Read more:

In battle with U.S., China to focus on 7 'frontier' technologies from chips to brain-computer fusion - CNBC

This commentary was written by Bill Driegert, co-founder of Uber Freight. The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates.

For as long as Ive been in freight, it has been an opaque industry. Carriers, brokers and shippers have always lacked information, as pricing and capacity data were historically gathered through brute force: lots of phone calls, emails and parsing through load boards. We are well into a technology revolution driving transparency and access to data in the freight markets. Before the pandemic, I wrote about how instant pricing and frictionless tendering would transform the logistics industry. At the time, I had no idea how 2020 would unfold or how dramatically the revolution would accelerate.

Uber Freights real-time pricing API was in its early stages when COVID hit, with only a handful of implementations. As the pandemic escalated, shippers and carriers were suddenly reacting to dramatic rebalancing of consumer demand within their networks, creating a highly volatile freight market. Accurate, real-time information became essential to ensure the right trucks found the right freight, and API adoption exploded twentyfold year-over-year.

Looking ahead to the rest of 2021, instant pricing and execution are top of mind for more and more providers and shippers. Innovators worldwide are finding new ways to simplify and disintermediate the execution layer of the supply chain, and providers like Uber Freight are meeting the challenge by powering one-touch booking with instant pricing and massive-scale API integrations across all major TMS providers. Weve extended our own solutions beyond instant spot pricing to instant short-term rates through our rate locking tool. This is a competitive market where both shippers and carriers demand competitive prices, but we can make it more resilient than ever if we prioritize a frictionless, insights-driven booking experience.

Its an exciting time for logistics. The entire ecosystem is building products to improve shipper and carrier experiences. While we are all hopeful this year will bring a return to normalcy, freight markets are never stable indefinitely. Outside of shocks to the system, like COVID or the electronic logging device mandate back in 2018, freight rates are always in flux due to seasonal cycles and the longer boom-bust cycles of capacity entering and exiting the market. No matter how the market plays out, instant access to information will continue to push the industry forward.

I have long advocated that better execution trumps better planning every time. We cant predict the future, but if we leverage instant information and execution to react and adapt, we can thrive.

When I last wrote about the RFP process, I explained how outdated and manual bidding and contracting processes slow down the industry, making shippers and carriers less responsive and less resilient. Thats even more true with todays unpredictable demand and supply patterns. Spot volume rose 250% when consumers first scrambled for medical and cleaning supplies in March. Supply networks rapidly shifted, and rates consistently rose through the rest of 2020 as carriers and shippers had to adjust to surging and shifting demand patterns. Rates rose 31% in June alone and an additional 8% in July.

To quickly navigate these market fluctuations, shippers leveraged pricing and tendering APIs to supplement their static routing guides and displace outdated spot tendering mechanisms. The bidding process enabled shippers to access prices and move loads in seconds, not days or weeks. That expectation has been normalized and more shippers turned to APIs for instant pricing and real-time capacity. API adoption increased dramatically over the past year, with every major TMS vendor announcing partnerships to launch new capabilities. Uber Freight saw API volumes grow 15% just from May to June, and scale up 150% overall versus pre-COVID volumes. Real-time contracting is the next frontier. With our rate locking tool, small shippers who historically had too little freight to warrant a full RFP but enough freight that continually spot quoting was tedious, now have an effortless option to contract on near-term commitments.

The rising need for instant visibility and pricing automation has never been clearer, and more providers are responding by launching new enterprise shipper products that enable easy-to-use priority controls and one-click access to real-time pricing. The industry is focused on ensuring both shippers and carriers of all sizes can benefit from the new era of transparency and end-to-end freight control. Looking ahead, API adoption and the transparency of up-front pricing will be table stakes, while creating a more adaptable and balanced market.

Real-time pricing not only improves the RFP process, but also shippers internal operations. By digitizing their pricing and contract decision-making, shippers can automate key touchpoints of both processes and reduce manual friction across the board. The traditional contracting process is incredibly burdensome, taking months and hours of analysis, carrier meetings and multiple rounds of follow-ups. The spot process isnt much better but happens daily, load by load.

The future is touchless for shippers, carriers and intermediaries. Just one month into the pandemic, providers like Uber Freight were announcing their commitment to moving tens of thousands of touchless loads.

Imagine freight being so automated that it feels effortless and out of mind. This may seem like a lofty goal, but at Uber Freight, we increased our own operational efficiency significantly throughout 2020, including driving full tracking automation to 78%, while also improving all core service and reliability measures.

As we head further into 2021, API adoption and internal efficiencies will be crucial for the entire logistics industry to prepare for and thrive in a post-COVID world.

Read the original here:

Viewpoint: The freight execution technology revolution is here - FreightWaves

FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WV News) After years of recruiting federal agencies to the I-79 Technology Park in Fairmont, the High Technology Foundation has been able to successfully partner with Gov. Jim Justices office to further expand the recruitment process to encompass the entire state.

Jim Estep, president and CEO of the foundation, said the partnership has been a long time coming, and he hopes that other state officials get on board with the initiative.

We have, for the first time, been able to forge a partnership with the Governors Office to actively pursue additional federal operations not just to the I-79 Technology Park but also to the entire state, expanding our federal anchor model as more of a statewide economic diversification strategy, Estep said.

We are developing that partnership, called the Opportunity Move program, he said. Its being championed directly by Gov. Jim Justice, and were hoping that during this legislative session, theyre putting together funding resources so we can really ramp this effort up and make it a major component of the states economic development strategy.

Estep said hes been trying to bring the states attention to the idea of federal agency recruitment for a number of years, and now that he has it, he hopes to make it clear just how beneficial it would be to both the state and country to bring more federal agencies to West Virginia.

I really cant overstate how important it is that Gov. Jim Justice has embraced our federal anchor strategy, Estep said.

This is the first time that the state has really stepped up, and Im certainly very grateful for that, he said. Im also energized because of the potential. I think that this is actually a very opportune time, because the pandemic has emphasized the national security problems that Washington, D.C., has with so many federal operations clustered together.

In addition to that, we are in uncharted territory when it comes to our national deficit. We are simply never going to solve that problem by having so many federal operations actually operating in the Greater Washington, D.C., area. Its literally the worst place in the country to spend taxpayer money. With that motivation, its the ideal time for the state of West Virginia in an organized, systematic manner to recruit as many as we can to our state.

While Operation Move is a big program that Estep hopes will launch in full soon, he said recruitment efforts for the I-79 Technology Park are still going at full strength, as well, and he hinted that a deal could be signed with new agencies in a matter of months.

We have been working with a couple of potential new federal agencies who we think may be very close to coming to the park, Estep said. 2020 really slowed everything down, but it didnt totally derail everything. Were already seeing signs that things may start to pick up. Im hoping that, maybe by summer, well be able to announce that another federal anchor is coming to the park.

One of the largest federal agencies that Estep and the foundation have recruited to the park is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has grown its presence in Fairmont over the past few years.

Weve brought not only their supercomputing center, but two ground stations and cybersecurity, Estep said. That makes us one of the most massive data collection places in the country, but maybe one of the only in the entire country that combines both data collection with supercomputing computation.

Having this unique combination of NOAA assets also puts us at the potential epicenter of what could be a multibillion-dollar expansion of the private climate and weather industry, which is already like $7 billion or something like that.

Estep explained that the climate and weather industry is driven by the data that NOAA collects, and if access to that data could be increased, everyone would make more money.

Private companies take that data and do things with it and sell it, but anybody in that sector is going to tell you that getting access to that data and working with that data is pretty challenging, Estep said. NOAA and the U.S. Commerce Department believe that they can make double from this private climate and weather sector if they create a way where people, and entrepreneurs especially, could get access to data much more easily.

Estep said NOAA reached out to some cloud providers several years ago to ask if the agencys data could be stored in their clouds free of charge. Then, the cloud providers could sell the data to private entrepreneurs in the climate and weather industry.

Estep said the idea wasnt embraced that well, with Amazon, Microsoft and Google being the only companies to take NOAA up on the request, at least partially.

To increase interest in the idea, both for cloud providers and private entrepreneurs, Estep said the High Technology Foundation has partnered with Amazon, Microsoft, West Virginia University and others to hold a March 17 virtual conference where NOAA can talk about the advantages of storing and purchasing its data.

We could hold this event and follow it up with a series of business competitions and hack-a-thons and whatever to try and, for lack of a better word, harvest ... ideas for new companies or innovation that would drive customers to the cloud providers, which would then drive the demand for the cloud providers to put more of NOAAs data in the cloud, he said.

Estep said he plans on holding a series of similar conferences and events to further plant the seeds of innovation, and its possible that the climate and weather industry could mean huge things for West Virginias economy.

On a bigger picture, the question here from a vision perspective is, Is data the next West Virginian coal scene? Estep said. Youre basically mining NOAAs climate and weather data for economic value.

Fairmont News Editor John Mark Shaver can be reached at 304-844-8485 or jshaver@theet.com.

Go here to see the original:

High Technology Foundation partners with West Virginia governor's office to spur federal agency recruitment - WV News

Women and Technology & Data Awards 2021: All the Winners - WatersTechnology.com

Here are the 34 category winners from this years Women in Technology & Data Awards. The two highest-profile categories of this years awardsWatersTechnologys woman of the year and trailblazer (lifetime achievement) awardwent to Vrinda Menon (JP Morgan) and Linda Coffman (SmartStream Technologies),respectively. Another notable performance this year isMiranda Morads win in the legal/compliance professional of the year category, her third win in succession.

Click on this link for previous Women in Technology & Data Awards.

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Women and Technology & Data Awards 2021: All the Winners - http://www.waterstechnology.com

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee and East Tennessee State University have partnered to create the BlueSky Institute to address a shortage of technology graduates in the state.

The BlueSky Institute is an accelerated program in which students earn a bachelor's degree from ETSU in two years. The first cohort will be 15 to 20 students taught by two full-time faculty members on site, and the number of on-site faculty members is planned to grow to four by the second year.

Following a work-based model, students in the BlueSky Institute will be mentored one-to-one by a BlueCross employee. Students will also live together and begin classes on the BlueCross campus in Chattanooga in the summer of 2022.

The program comes as a response to the ratio of technology jobs to technology graduates in Tennessee, where there are 4,100 open tech jobs but 1,000 graduates to fill them, said Scott Wilson, corporate communications and community relations vice president at BlueCross.

Additionally, BlueCross has outsourced some jobs that the company is unable to fill locally because demand outpaces available talent. When they do hire employees, the company spends months training new hires on new skills as the field continues to rapidly change.

"It's really been about capacity more than anything else," said Roy Vaughn, senior vice president and chief communications officer at BlueCross. "We would prefer to hire them locally, but really it's more about capacity and the ability to scale up and back on projects that might be a priority in a given year."

The BlueSky Institute is not philanthropic, but aims to serve the community through recruitment of students in six priority high schools in Hamilton County Schools: Brainerd, East Ridge, Hixson, Howard, Red Bank and Tyner.

"We know from our work ... here locally that there is already a critical mass of qualified students if you look just in terms of GPA scores or ACT scores who are already coming out of those six schools," said JD Hickey, president and CEO of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. "But we also believe and this is one of the founding principles for us that any student that's had sufficient exposure and that's got the interest, no matter what the background is, can be capable of learning this skill set and succeeding in these jobs."

Working together

Tony Pittarese, senior associate dean at ETSU's College of Business & Technology, said the university first heard about the program when BlueCross put out a request for proposals laying out 51 areas in which they wanted student competencies.

BlueCross wanted skills in technology areas like database design, secure coding, cybersecurity and advanced computer science skills along with soft skills like communication and teamwork.

"As I looked how those pieces aligned with our portfolio that we offer in the department of computing, we could cover every one of those 51 areas," Pittarese said.

BlueCross met with eight different universities before deciding, Wilson said, and ETSU was the best fit.

"Everyone was excited about this idea, but why we're partnering with ETSU is the entrepreneurial nature of their program matched this idea," Wilson said. "It was easy to find people who liked this idea, but a university setting is not entrepreneurial and doesn't always fit, so ETSU has been extremely flexible, and we're following their lead, and it's really been a great partnership."

BlueSky Institute will be an extension of a degree program that exists on the ETSU campus. The degree is a bachelor of science in computing with a concentration in information systems and is already accredited, Pittarese said.

Since the degree program will be shortened to two years, adjustments will be made surrounding the length of semesters for some courses and the amount of time spent in tutoring sessions. With a bachelor's degree, students will be able to move into leadership positions at BlueCross in the future, Hickey said.

Looking ahead

The organizations are still working out the logistics of housing for students and the costs of the program.

Ideally, students will live together as a cohort, but they are still ironing out the details. Currently, the ETSU student housing team is in the process of contacting local brokers, said BlueSky executive director Brad Leon.

Academic costs for the program, including tuition and fees, are $47,000 for the full duration of the program, Pittarese said. While students normally spread those costs over four years, it will be shortened for this program. However, the partner organizations think most students will qualify for scholarships and financial aid, particularly if they are Pell Grant recipients.

Down the line, the program hopes to use the Hamilton County Schools' Future Ready Institutes as a foundation to build on, Hickey said. The program hopes to grow to 50 students per cohort, Leon said.

Contact Anika Chaturvedi at achaturvedi@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.

Excerpt from:

BlueCross, ETSU create BlueSky Institute to address shortage of technology graduates - Chattanooga Times Free Press

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a lot ofchanges to restaurants. Since many casual restaurants had to close their doors and switch to take-out only, people were ordering fast food even more than usual. And because the "grab-and-go" factor is already a perk of fast-food restaurants, it was basically a no-brainer for those who hoped grab a meal and maintain social distancing.

Now, McDonalds, one of thepioneers of modern fast food, has decided to step it up when it comes to efficiency and consistent service. Somewhere in a Chicago suburb, an AI is currently taking drive-thru orders.

Somewhere in a Chicago suburb, an AI is currently taking drive-thru orders rather than a human employee. (iStock)

This could be the McFuture

The McDonalds app was supposed to help with convenience and shorter wait times, but it wasnt enough for the Golden Arches. There are over 14,000 McDonalds locations in the U.S. alone, and95% of those restaurants include a drive-thru lane, which means a lot of us are expecting to be able to drive-up and get our McNuggets, STAT.

The AI drive-thru may be able to help.The voice itself is described as female, similar to Alexa or Siri. Its connected to a digital menu, and can even suggest food if youre unsure about what to order.

It can be a bit unsettling to hear a robotic voice greet you instead of the voice of a human employee, but it might be something to get used to if McDonald's rolls this out to all locations. Just another bit of tech to add to the modern age.

Will this hel with drive-thru times?

The idea is that the AI will take care of the orders and allow human employees to focus on accuracy and quality of the food items. Fast-food places arealwayslooking to speed up their service to contend with their competitors, and McDonald's is hopingan AI drive-thru will help with this, even if its just a minute or two of difference. It can also be a great outlet for those who suffer social anxiety and find it difficult to speak with human employees.

Link:

New McDonald's drive-thru is using AI technology to take orders, make suggestions - Fox News

A bipartisan Senate bill aims to counter the influence of authoritarian nations such as China on artificial intelligence, 5G and other emerging technologies by creating an international partnership led by a new State Department office.

The Democracy Technology Partnership Act, introduced Thursday, describes a China that is using investment and coercion to instill emerging technologies with authoritarian principles and a U.S. that is failing to lead when it comes to technology governance. To mitigate this gap, the bill requires the secretary of state to build an International Technology Partnership Office focused on setting global technology standards.

The bill also authorizes the allocation of $5 billion for a technology trust fund to support research projects and other technology investments. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the lead sponsor for the bill, said the U.S. needs a strategy grounded in the strength of U.S. partnerships to prevent China from surpassing the U.S. in technology.

This bipartisan legislation will help foster partnerships among the U.S. and like-minded democratic countries to better protect and compete against China in critical emerging technologies while helping set global rules, standards, and protocols for the market, Warner said in a press release announcing the legislation.

Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., John Cornyn, R-Texas, Marco Rubio R-Fla., Ben Sasse R-Neb., Todd Young, R-Ind., and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. co-sponsored the bill. Four prominent former government officialsMadeleine Albright, former secretary of state, Stephen Hadley, former national security adviser, Ambassador Marc Grossman, former undersecretary of state for political affairs, and Adm. William McRaven, former commander of U.S. Special Operations Commandall endorsed the bill in the press release.

Albright called the partnership a powerful diplomatic tool to counter authoritarian influence.

It would also promote new avenues of cooperation between democratic nations to secure a better future for us all, she said.

The key technologies listed in the bill include AI and machine learning, 5G and other advanced wireless telecommunications technologies, semiconductors, biotechnology, quantum computing, surveillance technologies like facial recognition, and fiber optic cables. The bill also stipulates the partnership should work to provide alternatives to countries at risk of getting technologies from authoritarian regimes.

Read more:

Bill Aims to Counter China with International Technology Partnership - Nextgov